Editing Psychology (section)

=== Behaviorist ===
{{Main|Behaviorism|Psychological behaviorism|Radical behaviorism}}
[[File:Skinner teaching machine 01.jpg|thumb|Skinner's [[teaching machine]], a mechanical invention to automate the task of [[programmed instruction]]]]
[[File:Little Albert experiment (1920).webm|thumb|thumbtime=192|The film of the [[Little Albert experiment]]]]
A tenet of behavioral research is that a large part of both human and lower-animal behavior is learned. A principle associated with behavioral research is that the mechanisms involved in learning apply to humans and non-human animals. Behavioral researchers have developed a treatment known as [[behavior modification]], which is used to help individuals replace undesirable behaviors with desirable ones.

Early behavioral researchers studied stimulus–response pairings, now known as [[classical conditioning]]. They demonstrated that when a biologically potent stimulus (e.g., food that elicits salivation) is paired with a previously neutral stimulus (e.g., a bell) over several learning trials, the neutral stimulus by itself can come to elicit the response the biologically potent stimulus elicits. [[Ivan Pavlov]]—known best for inducing dogs to salivate in the presence of a stimulus previously linked with food—became a leading figure in the Soviet Union and inspired followers to use his methods on humans.<ref name=SirotkinaSmith /> In the United States, [[Edward Lee Thorndike]] initiated "[[connectionism|connectionist]]" studies by trapping animals in "puzzle boxes" and rewarding them for escaping. Thorndike wrote in 1911, "There can be no moral warrant for studying man's nature unless the study will enable us to control his acts."{{r|Leahey 2001|pp=212-5|q=}} From 1910 to 1913 the American Psychological Association went through a sea change of opinion, away from [[Mentalism (psychology)|mentalism]] and towards "behavioralism." In 1913, John B. Watson coined the term behaviorism for this school of thought.{{r|Leahey 2001|pp=218-27|q=}} Watson's famous [[Little Albert experiment]] in 1920 was at first thought to demonstrate that repeated use of upsetting loud noises could instill [[phobia]]s (aversions to other stimuli) in an infant human,<ref name=Watson1913 /><ref>J.B. Watson & R. Rayner, "Conditioned emotional responses", ''Journal of Experimental Psychology'' 3, 1920; in Hock, ''Forty Studies'' (2002), pp. 70–76.</ref> although such a conclusion was likely an exaggeration.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://htpprints.yorku.ca/archive/00000198/01/BHARRIS.HTM |last1=Harris |first1=B. |date=February 1979 |title=Whatever happened to Little Albert? |journal=American Psychologist |volume=34 |issue=2 |via=History & Theory of Psychology Eprint Archive |pages=151–160 |doi=10.1037/0003-066X.34.2.151 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120803155410/http://htpprints.yorku.ca/archive/00000198/01/BHARRIS.HTM#selection-15.0-15.35 |archive-date=3 August 2012 }}</ref> [[Karl Lashley]], a close collaborator with Watson, examined biological manifestations of learning in the brain.<ref name=ThompsonZola />

[[Clark L. Hull]], [[Edwin Guthrie]], and others did much to help behaviorism become a widely used paradigm.<ref name=Goodwin /> A new method of "instrumental" or "[[operant conditioning|operant]]" conditioning added the concepts of [[reinforcement]] and [[punishment]] to the model of behavior change. [[Radical behaviorism|Radical behaviorists]] avoided discussing the inner workings of the mind, especially the unconscious mind, which they considered impossible to assess scientifically.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1037/0003-066X.62.6.590 |pmid=17874899 |title=Looking for Skinner and finding Freud |journal=American Psychologist |volume=62 |issue=6 |pages=590–595 |year=2007 |last1=Overskeid |first1=Geir |citeseerx=10.1.1.321.6288 }}</ref> Operant conditioning was first described by Miller and Kanorski and popularized in the U.S. by [[B.F. Skinner]], who emerged as a leading intellectual of the behaviorist movement.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Miller | first1 = S. | last2 = Konorski | first2 = J. | year = 1928 | title = Sur une forme particulière des reflexes conditionels |trans-title=On a particular form of conditional reflexes |language=fr | journal = Comptes Rendus des Séances de la Société de Biologie et de Ses Filiales | volume = 99 | pages = 1155–1157 }}</ref><ref>Skinner, B.F. (1932) ''The Behavior of Organisms''{{page needed|date=February 2019}}</ref>

[[Noam Chomsky]] published an influential critique of radical behaviorism on the grounds that behaviorist principles could not adequately explain the complex mental process of [[language acquisition]] and language use.<ref>Chomsky, N. (1959). Review of Skinner's Verbal Behavior. ''Language, 35'', 26–58. [http://www.chomsky.info/articles/1967----.htm] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150929070654/http://www.chomsky.info/articles/1967----.htm|date=29 September 2015}}</ref>{{r|Schlinger 2008|pp=|q=}} The review, which was scathing, did much to reduce the status of behaviorism within psychology.{{r|Leahey 2001|pp=282-5|q=}} [[Martin Seligman]] and his colleagues discovered that they could condition in dogs a state of "[[learned helplessness]]", which was not predicted by the behaviorist approach to psychology.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Seligman M.E.P. |author2=Maier S.F. |year= 1967 |title=Failure to escape traumatic shock |journal=Journal of Experimental Psychology |volume=74 |issue=1 |pages=1–9 |doi=10.1037/h0024514 |pmid=6032570 |citeseerx=10.1.1.611.8411 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author1=Overmier J.B. |author2=Seligman M.E.P. |year=1967 |title=Effects of inescapable shock upon subsequent escape and avoidance responding |journal=Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology |volume=63 |issue=1 |pages=28–33 |doi=10.1037/h0024166 |pmid=6029715 |s2cid=17310110 }}</ref> [[Edward C. Tolman]] advanced a hybrid "cognitive behavioral" model, most notably with his 1948 publication discussing the [[cognitive map]]s used by rats to guess at the location of food at the end of a maze.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1037/h0061626 |pmid=18870876 |title=Cognitive maps in rats and men |journal=Psychological Review |volume=55 |issue=4 |pages=189–208 |year=1948 |last1=Tolman |first1=Edward C. |s2cid=42496633 }}</ref> Skinner's behaviorism did not die, in part because it generated successful practical applications.{{r|Schlinger 2008|pp=|q=}}

The [[Association for Behavior Analysis International]] was founded in 1974 and by 2003 had members from 42 countries. The field has gained a foothold in Latin America and Japan.<ref>Ruben Ardila, "Behavior Analysis in an International Context", in Brock (ed.), ''Internationalizing the History of Psychology'' (2006).</ref> [[Applied behavior analysis]] is the term used for the application of the principles of operant conditioning to change socially significant behavior (it supersedes the term, "behavior modification").<ref>{{cite book| last1=Pierce| first1=W. David| last2=Cheney| first2=Carl D.| date=16 June 2017| orig-year=1995| title=Behavior Analysis and Learning: A Biobehavioral Approach| url=https://www.routledge.com/Behavior-Analysis-and-Learning-A-Biobehavioral-Approach-Sixth-Edition/Pierce-Cheney/p/book/9781138898585| edition=6| location=New York| publisher=[[Routledge]]| pages=1–622| isbn=978-1138898585| access-date=3 June 2021| archive-date=3 June 2021| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210603031001/https://www.routledge.com/Behavior-Analysis-and-Learning-A-Biobehavioral-Approach-Sixth-Edition/Pierce-Cheney/p/book/9781138898585| url-status=live}}</ref>