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, press out 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 surmise known as guileless Conditioning he trained dogs to salivate whenever he rang a bell. Dogs energise a natural reflex response to salivate when they see food, Pavlov rang a bell when the dogs were granted food and after several repetitions of this action, the dogs began to salivate whenever they perceive the bell, even when there was non any food there. This approach spurned the idea of the conscious mind. Albert Ellis & Aaron T Beck developed the present form of the Cognitive approach to psych ology in the 1950s. This development emerged from a growing dissatisfaction with the narrow margin 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 persons behavior. This approach has a purpose to ignore mental processes. Behaviorists believe that studying the brain is not lastly the best or most effective way to understand behavior. A person might act oddly in one occurrence 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 behavior of others, as well as the expectations of others in any particular given situation, for exam ple John Watson believed that given the right environment anybody could be make into anything. Sources of Information ====================== Psychology A New Introduction by Richard Gross, overcharge 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