Who Stated That Man Is An Animal Psychologist

John B. Watson (1878–1958) is regarded as one of the founders of the discipline of psychology, extending ideas of a scientific discipline of behaviour to exist plant in the work of the Russian scientist Ivan Pavlov. He rejected the idea of introspection—that it was possible to think most consciousness in a scientific way, or to apply the mind to recall about the mind. The only reliable material for scientific analysis was the observable facts of behaviour. For this reason, there were no important differences between studying homo and animal behaviour. In his book of 1914, "Behavior", Watson outlines the founding principles of Behaviourism: that reliable knowledge of human psychology can only be gleaned from observing empirical behaviours; that human and animal behaviours are learned in fundamentally the aforementioned fashion, via a process of stimulus and response; and that inquiry into the dynamics of behaviour can be the basis of improvements in education.

It has been maintained by its followers generally that psychology is a study of the science of the phenomena of consciousness. Information technology has taken every bit its problem … the analysis of complex mental states … The world of concrete objects (stimuli, including here annihilation which may excite activity in a receptor), which forms the total phenomenon of the natural scientist, is looked upon merely as means to an finish … [Behaviour] information … have no value per se. They possess significance only insofar equally they may throw light upon conscious states.

The time seems to have come up when psychology must discard all reference to consciousness; when it need no longer delude itself into thinking that it is making mental states the object of observation … A psychology of interest to all scientific men would take as its starting point, first, the observable fact that all organisms, human and fauna akin, practise adjust themselves to their surroundings … Sure stimulae lead organisms to make … responses … [G]iven the responses, the stimulae tin can be predicted; given the stimulae, the responses can be predicted …

[T]he behavior of animals can be investigated without appeal to consciousness … The position is taken here that the behavior of man and the behavior of animals must be considered on the aforementioned plane …

Psychology as the behaviorist views it is a purely objective experimental branch of natural science. Its theoretical goal is the prediction and control of behavior. Introspection [reflections on mental states] forms no essential office of its methods, nor is the scientific value of its data dependent upon the readiness with which they lend themselves to estimation in terms of consciousness.

[T]he desire in all such work is to gain an accurate knowledge of the adjustments [responses] and the stimulae calling them forth. The reason for this is to acquire general and particular methods by which behavior tin be controlled … If psychology would follow the plan suggested, the educator, the doctor, the jurist, and the business man could use the data in a practical way, as soon equally information technology could be experimentally obtained.

Watson, John B. 1914. Beliefs: An Introduction to Comparative Psychology. New York: Henry Holt and Company. pp. 1–2, 7, 27, 1, 11. || Amazon || WorldCat

Source: https://newlearningonline.com/new-learning/chapter-6/supporting-material/watson-on-the-science-of-psychology

Posted by: miercirmly1939.blogspot.com