Watson and Skinner’s behaviorism

Behaviorism was inaugurated with Watson’s 1913 article entitled “Psychology: As Behaviorists View It”. Watson took behavior as the object of Psychology. The founder of Behaviorism gave consistency to Psychology by having an observable, measurable object of study. The experiments of this science could be reproduced in the laboratory, under different conditions and on different subjects. This perspective led to the rupture of Psychology with Philosophy, since before Psychology acquired the status of science, in the positivist sense of the term, it had as its object the study of the soul, and, therefore, it was framed within philosophical studies. Watson defended the functionalist conception, that is, “behavior should be studied as a function of certain environmental variables” (TEIXEIRA, 2007, p.44). Certain stimuli cause the organism to give a certain response, as organisms adjust to environments through hereditary equipment and through the formation of habits. Watson sought a psychology without a soul, without a mind, without the researcher’s subjective traits regarding the analysis of the subjects’ behavior. This study was widely disseminated in the States due to its practical applications: “it became important for having defined the psychological fact, in a concrete way, from the notion of behavior (behavior)” (TEIXEIRA, 2007, p.43)

However, the perspective that the object of study of this psychological current would be only behavior has been modified. Behaviorism understands behavior as an interaction between what the subject does and the environment in which he does something: “Behaviorism is dedicated to the study of interactions between the individual and the environment, between the individual’s actions (his responses) and the environment (stimulations)” (TEIXEIRA, 2007, p.45). Behavioral psychologists coined the terms “response” and “stimulus” to mention what the organism does and also to mention the environmental variables that interact with the subject. Thus, “Behavior, understood as individual-environment interaction, is the basic unit of description and the starting point for a science of behavior” (TEIXEIRA, 2007, p.45). This means that man is studied from his interaction with the environment and that he is also seen as a producer and product of these same interactions.

BF Skinner’s Radical Behaviorism

After Watson, we have another important researcher of the same line: BF Skinner. Radical Behaviorism, as it was named by Skinner, was widely accepted in the United States and Brazil. This researcher proposed that this philosophy of Behavioral Science should be given through the experimental analysis of behavior.

This psychological current is based on the formulation of operant behavior. However, the human being presents several types of behaviors which were classified by Skinner as follows: reflexive, voluntary and operant behaviors. The operant behavior is the one that has the stimulus emitted by the environment and this triggers an observable behavior. Reflex behavior is one in which the individual acts involuntarily. Voluntary behavior is a conscious action of the individual in relation to some fact that occurs in the environment.

Skinner claimed that all human behavior could be shaped by controlling stimuli in the environment. According to his theory, it would be possible to create or exclude behaviors by inserting or eliminating stimuli in the environment. The environmental stimuli were identified and named by the behaviorist psychologist as: positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement and punishment. Positive reinforcement is the stimulus applied by the researcher to an organism shortly after it has performed a behavior desired by the researcher. Thus, there is a greater probability that this behavior will be repeated. In negative reinforcement, the aversive stimulus is withdrawn in order to make the desired behavior more likely to be repeated. It is worth noting that both types of reinforcers aim to increase the frequency of a given behavior. Another stimulus is punishment, which can be negative – when a stimulus desired by the organism is withdrawn by the researcher – or positive – when an aversive stimulus is introduced. Punishment aims to extinguish behaviors that are undesirable. This type of stimulus was used in traditional teaching in order to shape the behavior of undisciplined students.

The “Skinner Box” was an instrument for experiments with animals and it was through this experiment that the psychologist was able to describe the types of reinforcers. This experience was used in the modeling of behaviors and it was through it that it was possible to notice the obtaining of new behaviors through reinforcement and, also, that unwanted behaviors were extinguished with the non-reinforcement of the behavior. The relationship between learning and control of environmental stimuli within this perspective is evident. That is, learning is seen as a product of the teacher’s organization of stimuli. Thus, the teacher has the task of rigorously planning each class, organizing and controlling the stimuli in the environment, and also using the reinforcement scale so that the student obtains appropriate behaviors that are consistent with the school environment.

After exposing the main points of the behaviorist current, we can note that its conception of learning is environmentalist, or rather, both development and learning are determined by the environment, and therefore great importance is given to the stimuli found in this environment. .

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