Behavioral Psychology is a branch of the study of the human
mind that classifies nearly all of the human mental patterns and processes along the lines of behavior, that which can be
observed, tested, and repeated in an experimental or clinical environment. This school of Psychology
is generally based in the work of the Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov, and the American psychologist BF Skinner (ship.edu, 2007 [online]).
The Behavioral Psychology School
is controversial for its rejection of the inner dimensions of mind as a subject of inquiry or a matter of validity. Nevertheless,
much of what we know and consider as psychology in the West is based in Behaviorism, attesting to the vast influence of Behavioral Psychology in the Academic environment in America. Behavioral Psychology is sometimes
also known as Institutional, Industrial, or Commercial Psychology. The development of this branch of Behavioral Psychology can also be found in the standard classification of mental diseases in the BDSM-III and
the prescription drug medicines proliferating in society today.
Ivan Pavlov worked to found Behavioral Psychology in Russia
at the beginning of the 20th century, conducting experiments with animals such as dogs and rats, studying the way
behavioral patterns were created through training, and their relation to biological processes, such as instinct and reflex.
Pavlov’s work in Behavioral Psychology combined elements of medicine, psychology,
surgery, and philosophy, and his writings had a wide spread influence. He is largely credited with founding the study of the
role of “conditioning” in Behavioral Psychology. A classic example
of Behavioral Psychology is Pavlov training dogs to respond to the ringing of
a bell. After associating the food of dogs with the sound of a bell, he found that even if food was not present, the dogs
would remember the association. When they heard the bell, over time, even if food was not given, the dogs would salivate,
become excited, expectant, etc. at the perception of the stimulus (nobelprize.org, 2007 [online]). This began a widespread movement in
the study of human and animal conditioning in the Behavioral Psychology that emerged
related to the work of Ivan Pavlov.
BF Skinner is associated with an even more radical
behaviorism than posited in traditional Behavioral Psychology. It is through his
work in Behavioral Psychology that we have the basis of a materialistic approach
to the study of consciousness, with the workings of different parts of the brain associated with different aspects of thinking,
as well as the development of pharmaceuticals to treat mental illnesses. In his main work, “The Behavior of Organisms” (1938) Skinner followed the work of Pavlov in Behavioral Psychology working with mice. He wrote
about Behavioral Psychology experiments with mice learning through positive and negative stimuli and repeated manipulation of variables
in limited events settings such as a controlled environment. Rats could be conditioned to learn to manipulate levers, receiving
stimuli such as food (positive) and electrical shocks (negative). The practitioner of Behavioral Psychology can study the process of learning, the application of stimuli, positive
and negative controls, to map a subject’s behavior patterns (mentalhelp.net, 2007 [online]). This was then extended
to human psychology with more wide reaching conclusions and applications industrially made by researchers in Behavioral Psychology.
Behavioral Psychology or Behaviorism became the acceptable
way to approach the study of the human mind by scientific methods, and its adherents began to dominate the Academic institutions
of America, in comparison to the Freudian and Jungian influence that was
more prevalent in Europe. In comparison with other psychologies, the scope and influence
of Behavioral Psychology is wide spread, particularly in mass media and communication,
as well as medical advances in psychological treatment techniques.
References
1. URL http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/skinner.html .
Last accessed 10 November 2007.
2. URL http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/ medicine/pavlov/readmore.html .
Last accessed 10 November 2007.
3. URL http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=8202&cn=91 .
Last accessed 10 November 2007.
