Importance Of Behaviorism And Neobehaviorism - 1012 Words

In chapter 11, the authors discuss neobehaviorism and neo-neobehaviorism. The authors also discuss the importance of operationism to the neobehaviorist and sociobehaviorism to the neo-neobehaviorist. These behaviorists believed that behavior should be observed objectively with precise scientific terms. Some of researchers (Bandura and Rotter) thought that cognitive processes were important and some thought that cognitive processes were not so important (Hull, Skinner, Tolman) when observing human and animal behavior. Keywords: neobehaviorism, neo-neobehaviorism, social cognitive theory, cognition, operationism Reaction Journal Eight: Behaviorism according to Tolman, Hull, Skinner, Bandura and Rotter This week’s reading was a†¦show more content†¦Also, by repeating a task, the subject creates a cognitive map in which he then is able to recall several different paths to the goal. Clark Hull had a similar theory, but instead of purposiveness, he called them drives. Some drives are related to survival (primary) and some are learned (secondary) from reacting to stimulus that helps reduce the primary drive. Sometimes these secondary drives can be considered reinforcements to the primary drive and can become primary drives. Hull came up with the hypothetico-deductive method, which basically meant making hypothesis, testing them, and making deductions about the results. The problem with Hull was that he was criticized for not using large groups when testing his hypotheses, thus making his results questionable. B. F. Skinner, on the other hand, never came up with hypotheses and simp ly looked objectively at responses. He was not concerned with internal processes and his method was only concerned with describing observable responses. Like Hull, Skinner used few subjects in his research and viewed humans as machine-like. Skinner also came up with the idea of operant conditioning where a response is observed even without an observable stimulus. Finally, Skinner also investigated reinforcement schedules to see if responses were affected by delaying reinforcement in a positive or negative manner. Skinner also believed that desired human behaviors could be modified through the use of