The Psychology Book (20 page)

the phenomenon of

Clark L. Hull states

B.F. Skinner
publishes

Noam Chomsky

imprinting
, where baby

that
drive reduction

Verbal Behavior,
in which

writes a critical

animals assume a parent

(satisfying our basic

he claims that speech is

review of
Verbal

because of sensory

human needs) is the

a product of past

Behavior
that helps

information received

only true basis of

behavioral and

spark the
cognitive

at a critical time.

reinforcement.

genetic history
.

revolution
.

1935

1943

1957

1959

1938

1948

1958

1960S

Edwin Guthrie suggests

Cognitive Maps in Rats

Joseph Wolpe conducts

Neal Miller’s

that
“single-trial

and Men
by Edward

desensitization

experiments lead

learning”
is adequate;

Tolman suggests that

techniques
on war

to the discovery

conditioning need not

we develop
cognitive

veterans suffering from

of
biofeedback

rely on repetition.

maps
while we go

“war neurosis.”

techniques.

about our daily lives.

behavior. The shift from “mind” to

consequences, not by a preceding

this time was Edward Tolman,

“behavior” as a basis for the study of

stimulus. Although the concept

a behaviorist whose theories

psychology was revolutionary, and

was similar to ideas proposed by

had not dismissed the importance

was even accompanied by a

William James, it radically altered

of perception and cognition, due

“behaviorist manifesto”—the paper

the course of behaviorism, taking

to his interest in German-based

Psychology as the Behaviorist Views

into account genetic factors and

Gestalt psychology. Advances in

It
, delivered in 1913 by Watson.

explaining mental states as a result

neuroscience, explored by another

In the US, which was leading the

(rather than as a cause) of behavior.

behaviorist, Karl Lashley, also

field in psychology, behaviorism

played a part in shifting the

became the dominant approach for

The cognitive revolution

emphasis from behavior to

the next 40 years. Evolving from

By the mid-20th century, however,

the brain and its workings.

the idea of Pavlovian or classical

psychologists were questioning the

Behaviorism had now run its

conditioning came Watson’s

behaviorist approach. Ethology, the

course, and was superseded by the

assertion that environmental

study of animal behavior, showed

various branches of cognitive

stimuli alone shape behavior;

the importance of instinctive as well

psychology. However, its legacy,

innate or inherited factors are not

as learned behavior—a finding that

particularly in establishing a

involved. The next generation

sat uncomfortably with strict ideas

scientific methodology for the

included the “radical behaviorist”

of conditioning. A reaction to

subject, and in providing models

B.F. Skinner, who proposed a

Skinner’s ideas also sparked the

that could be used in psychological

rethink of the stimulus–response

“cognitive revolution,” which

experimentation, was a lasting one.

notion in his theory of “operant

turned attention once again from

Behavioral therapy is also still in

conditioning”—which stated that

behavior back to the mind and

use today, as an essential part of

behavior was shaped by

mental processes. A key figure at

cognitive-behavioral therapy. ■

60

THE SIGHT OF

TASTY FOOD MAKES

A HUNGRY MAN’S

MOUTH WATER

IVAN PAVLOV (1849–1936)

IN CONTEXT

An
unconditioned

stimulus
(such as being

M
any of the key discoveries

made when modern

psychology was still in its

APPROACH

presented with food)…

infancy were the result of research

Classical conditioning

by scientists working in other fields.

BEFORE

Ivan Pavlov, a Russian physiologist,

Early 12th century
Arab

is one of the best known of these

…can provoke an

physician Avenzoar (Ibn Zuhr)

early pioneers, whose investigations

unconditioned response

performs experiments on

into the secretion of saliva during

(such as beginning to salivate).

animals in order to test

digestion in dogs led him to some

surgical procedures.

unexpected conclusions.

During the 1890s, Pavlov carried

1890
In
Principles of

out a series of experiments on dogs,

If an unconditioned

Psychology,
William James

using various surgically implanted

stimulus is accompanied

states that in animals “the

devices to measure the flow of

by a
neutral stimulus

feeling of having executed

saliva when these animals were

(such as a ringing bell)…

one impulsive step is an

being fed. He noted that the dogs

indispensable part of the

salivated not only when they were

stimulus of the next one.”

actually eating, but also whenever

…a
conditioned response

they could just smell or see some

AFTER

begins to develop.

appetizing food. The dogs would

1920
John B. Watson’s

even salivate, in anticipation of

“Little Albert” experiment

food being produced, when they

demonstrates classical

were simply being approached by

conditioning in humans.

one of their keepers.

After repeated episodes,

1930s
B.F. Skinner shows

Pavlov’s observations led him

the
conditioned stimulus

that rats can be “conditioned”

to investigate the links between

alone (the ringing bell)…

various stimuli and the responses

to behave in a specific way.

they elicited. In one experiment,

1950s
Psychotherapists

he set off a clicking metronome

employ “conditioning” as

just before offering food to the

…will
provoke
a

part of behavior therapy.

conditioned response

dogs, repeating this process until

(beginning to salivate).

the animals always associated the

sound with a good meal. This

BEHAVIORISM 61

See also:
William James 38–45 ■ John B. Watson 66–71 ■ B.F. Skinner 78–85 ■ Stanley Schachter 338

stimulus (bell, buzzer, or light)

with pain or some form of threat

and food had been established,

and began to elicit a conditioned

the dogs would respond to the

response of fear or anxiety.

stimulus by salivating.

The principle of what is now

known as classical or Pavlovian

Conditioned response

conditioning, as well as Pavlov’s

Pavlov concluded that the food

experimental method, marked a

offered to the dogs was an

groundbreaking step in the

“unconditioned stimulus” (US),

emergence of psychology as

because it led to an unlearned, or

a truly scientific, rather than

“unconditioned” response (UR)—in

philosophical, discipline. Pavlov’s

this case, salivation. The click of

work was to be hugely influential,

the metronome, however, only

particularly on US behaviorist

Pavlov’s dogs
would salivate simply

became a stimulus to salivation

psychologists, such as John B.

at the sight of someone in a white lab

after its association with food had

Watson and B.F. Skinner. ■

coat. They had become “conditioned”

been learned. Pavlov then called

to associate the coat with eating, as

this a “conditioned stimulus” (CS).

whoever fed them always wore one.

The salivation in response to the

metronome was also learned, so

“conditioning” eventually resulted

was a “conditioned response” (CR).

in the dogs salivating in response

In later experiments, Pavlov

to the click of the metronome alone.

showed that conditioned responses

Facts are the air of science.

In further experiments, Pavlov

could be repressed, or “unlearned,” if

Without them a man of

replaced the metronome with a

the conditioned stimulus was given

science can never rise.

bell or buzzer, a flashing light, and

repeatedly without being followed

Ivan Pavlov

whistles of different pitches.

by food. He also demonstrated that

However, regardless of the nature

a conditioned response could be

of the stimulus used, the result

mental as well as physical, by

was the always same: once an

carrying out experiments in which

association between the neutral

various stimuli were associated

Ivan Pavlov

Ivan Pavlov, the eldest son of a

here that he carried out his

village priest in Ryazan, Russia,

famous research into the

was initially destined to follow in

digestive secretions of dogs,

his father’s footsteps. However, he

which won him the Nobel Prize

quickly abandoned his training at

in 1904. Pavlov retired officially

a local seminary, transferring

in 1925, but continued his

to the University of St. Petersburg

experiments until his death from

to study natural science. After

pneumonia in February 1936.

graduation in 1875, he enrolled at

the Academy of Medical Surgery,

Key works

where he gained a doctorate and

later a fellowship. In 1890, Pavlov

1897
Lectures on the Work of

became a professor at the Military

the Principal Digestive Glands

Medical Academy, and was also

1928
Lectures on Conditioned

made director of the physiology

Reflexes

department at the Institute of

1941
Conditioned Reflexes

Experimental Medicine. It was

and Psychiatry