Behaviorism as a Pedagogical Philosophy

Behaviorism is a school of thought in psychology that has been used interchangeably across the sciences. The Behaviorist school of thought believes that any acting, thinking, and feelings of an organism can be considered as his behavior. Behaviorism obtained its main influences from Ivan Pavlov who investigated classical conditioning. Pavlov did not necessarily approve of behaviorism, but his ideas were used by others such as B.F. Skinner who conducted research on operant conditioning.

While behaviorist and cognitive schools of thought in psychology may not agree, they have completed each other on therapeutic applications such as cognitive-behavioral therapy. While previous thinkers believed in introspection, Skinner believed in identified feelings as causes of behavior. Further, Skinner shifted his interest to verbal behavior in his research career, however, Noam Chomsky strongly criticized Skinner’s verbal behaviorist school of thoughts. 

Famous Behaviorist Rockstars

•         Ivan Pavlov
•         B.F. Skinner
•         Albert Bandura
•         Edward Lee Thorndike
•         John B. Watson

This website details the content of book titled Punished by Rewards.  The main topic of this book is to inform how behaviorism affect people's performance. Bribing people of any age to work or perform a specific task with incentives is detrimental in the long run. 

Works Cited

Baum, W.M. (2005) Understanding behaviorism: Behavior, Culture and Evolution. Blackwell.

Behaviorist. (2011). Retrieved from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/behaviorist

Behaviorist . (2011). Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/behaviorist?show=0&t=1303936660

Cherry, K. (2011). Albert Bandura - Biography of Albert Bandura. Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/profilesofmajorthinkers/p/bio_bandura.htm

Drumwright, B. (2002). Behaviorist Perspective. Retrieved from http://imet.csus.edu/imet3/drbonnie/personalitywebq/behaviorist.html

Graham, G. (2010). Behaviorism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). Retrieved from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/behaviorism

Greene, S. (2003, April 14). Ivan Pavlov. Retrieved from http://www.ivanpavlov.com/

John B. Watson. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/John_B._Watson

Martin, G. L., & Pear, J. (2002). Behavior Modification: What It Is and How to Do It, 7th ed. New York: Prentice-Hall.

Reinemeyer, E. (1999, May). Edward Lee Thorndike. Retrieved from http://www.muskingum.edu/~psych/psycweb/history/thorndike.htm

Kohn, A. (2011). Punished by Rewards. Retrived from http://www.alfiekohn.org/books/pbr.htm

Vargas, J. (2011, April 6). B.F. Skinner Foundation. Retrieved from http://www.bfskinner.org/BFSkinner/Home.html