The Behaviorist and Cognitive Approaches to Psychology Essay -- Papers

The Behaviorist and Cognitive Approaches to Psychology In this essay I am going to explore two of the major approaches to Psychology, Cognitive theories and Behaviorist theories. I will discuss in some detail the two approaches, state how they compare and illustrate the similarities and the differences between them. John Watson, one of the founders of Behaviorism, based his theories on the principles of learning outlined by Pavlov who suggested the theory known as Classical Conditioning; he trained dogs to salivate whenever he rang a bell. Dogs have a natural reflex response to salivate when they see food, Pavlov rang a bell when the dogs were given food and after several repetitions of this action, the dogs began to salivate whenever they heard the bell, even when there was not any food there. This approach rejected the idea of the conscious mind. Albert Ellis & Aaron T Beck developed the present form of the Cognitive approach to psychology in the 1950’s. This development emerged from a growing dissatisfaction with the narrowness of the behaviorist approach as it neglects complex human activities such as planning and communication. Behaviorists emphasize the relationship between the environment surrounding a person and how it affects a person’s behavior. This approach has a tendency to ignore mental processes. Behaviorists believe that studying the brain is not ultimately the best or most effective way to understand behavior. A person might act oddly in one particular environment, but normal in others. Whilst cognitive psychologists agree with the behaviorist theory that the environment surrounding a person does have some inf... ...hey may be thinking or feeling, if focuses on what you can see not the emotions. It is difficult to measure the thinking or feeling of independence and the behaviour of others, as well as the expectations of others in any particular given situation, for example John Watson believed that given the right environment anybody could be made into anything. Sources of Information ====================== Psychology – A New Introduction by Richard Gross, Rob McIlveen, Hugh Coolicun, Alan Clamp and Julia Russell (Twelfth Edition) Hilgards Introduction to Psychology by Rita L Atkinson, Richard C Atkison, Edward G Smith, Daryl J Bern and Susan Nolen-Hoeksema (Second Edition) Basic Psychology by Henry Gleitman (First Edition) www.sntp.net/behaviourism.thml http://scs.une.edu.au/Materials/573/573_4.html