Behaviorism

This is the sourcebook for one of the most significant movements in twentieth-century psychology.

“Two opposed points of view,” John B. Watson wrote in 1925, “are still dominant in American psychological thinking: introspective or subjective psychology, and behaviorism or objective psychology.” His statement is still true today. Reacting against traditional psychology’s emphasis on feelings and introspection, and its lack of precise categories, Watson proposed a methodological approach to psychological problems that would be logical, precise, and scientific. Consciousness, he believed, was not a usable hypothesis: the proper subject of human psychology is the behavior of the human being. Behaviorism aimed to free psychology from elusive, vague concepts and establish it as a true natural science.

ISBN-13: 9780393005240

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: Norton - W. W. & Company - Inc.

Publication Date: 05-17-1970

Pages: 324

Product Dimensions: 5.20(w) x 7.80(h) x 0.70(d)

John Watson (1878-1958) was an American psychologist who in the early 1900's codified and forcefully publicized behaviorism, which became the dominant school of psychology in the United States during the 1920s and 1930s. Watson served as professor of psychology at Johns Hopkins University, and also as lecturer at the New School for Social Research. In addition to Behaviorism he authored Psychology From the Standpoint of a Behaviorist.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION I. WHAT IS BEHAVIORISM? II. HOW TO STUDY HUMAN BEHAVIOR Ill. THE HUMAN BODY Part 1-The structures that make behavior possible. IV. THE HUMANB ODY Part 11-The glands in everyday behavior. V. ARE THERE ANY HUMAN INSTINCTS? Part I-On the subject of talent, tendencies and the inheritance of all so-called 'mental' traits. VI. ARE THERE ANY HUMAN INSTINCTS? Part 11-What the study of the human young teaches us. VII. EMOTIONS Part I-A general survey of the field and some experimental studies. VIII. EMOTIONS Part 11-Further experiments and observations on how we acquire, shift and lose our emotional life. IX. OUR MANUAL HABITS X. TALKING AND THINKING XI. DO WE ALWAYS THINK IN WORDS XII. PERSONALITY