My own saga: When I dropped out of engineering after my freshman year I gravitated into psychology. Behaviorism seemed consistent with a scientific predisposition, and Brown was behavioral (although not Skinnerian) in the early sixties. I didn't find out that I was a Skinnerian until I was in grad school ;-).
I've always had reservations about whether behaviorism offered a complete account of human action (as did Skinner, BTW, who viewed psychology as a subfield of biology and thought that physiology would ultimately complement psychology in providing a complete account of behavior), but I've yet to come across a better alternative (but I'm still looking). On May 23, 2012, at 7:52 PM, Joan Warmbold wrote: > Michael, > > My initial response is what took you so long to see the true way, lol? I > don't think age is a factor as I have been a faithful and true believer of > the science of behaviorism as studied by Skinner, Pavlov and Bandura since > my years as an undergraduate. To the contrary, I always have been > perplexed and saddened by the strong appeal of the plethora of > unscientific theories of personality that are based only on authoritative > evidence. > > Not that I don't understand the intrigue of the theories of Freud and Jung > as they both incorporate many intellectually complex and fascinating ideas > about the human psyche. And as I have told my students from day one, if > we had a popularity contest among the various theories, Carl Rogers > humanistic theory would win hands down. I mean, gee whiz, how can we not > want to embrace a theory that supports so many desirable and ego-boosting > perspectives about our nature, including the notion that we have free-will > and an inborn drive to self-actualize. The fact that Rogers' views never > had empirical support was of little concern. They reinforced our (naive) > view of ourselves and that was that. Meanwhile, that steely-eyed Skinner > guy kept insisting that we don't have free-will and that our experiences > played a crucial role in shaping our behaviors and choices. Poor B.F. was > done in by one of the basic elements of his research on operant > conditioning. His scientifically supported conclusions were simply too > punishing for many to hear. > > > But within recent years it cannot be ignored that just about every where > we turn, the learning principles discovered by the big three, Pavlov, > Skinner and Bandura, are enabling therapists to use behavioral strategies > that provide dramatic and amazing assistance to many we thought were > beyond our reach--like autistic children; veterans with PSTD; expanding > the movement capabilities of people who have had a stroke, MS or cerebral > palsy (see Edward Taub's use of shaping); people dealing with advanced OCD > or many years of dealing with panic attacks. > > So, though many still might prefer the ideas and theories of Freud, Jung, > Rogers, they have not truly advanced our ability to improve the lives of > those dealing with serious dysfunctions. We would have to be both blind > and dumb to not accept that it was the research of Skinner on operant > conditioning as well as Pavlov's work on classical conditioning and > Bandura's work on observational learning that have enabled therapists to > help patients make dramatic improvements in the lives of so very many. > > > Joan > > >> My graduate advisor once said to me - and he was in his 70s at the time - >> that "when you're young you're a democrat and when you're older you're a >> republican". I think the expression is also known as, "A democrat is just >> a republican who hasn't been mugged yet." >> >> Well, this change in political party hasn't happened to me yet, but I was >> wondering if I'm becoming more behavioristic as I grow older. I remember >> when I was an impressionistic lad I was all over Maslow/Rogers theory. >> Now I've grown somewhat pessimistic about the efficacy of all that talk >> therapy and I wonder if changing our circumstances is, in the end, more >> important in our lives than all that talk. >> >> Thoughts? >> >> Michael >> >> >> Michael A. Britt, Ph.D. >> [email protected] >> http://www.ThePsychFiles.com >> >> >> >> >> >> > > > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13438.3b5166ef147b143fedd04b1c4a64900b&n=T&l=tips&o=17994 > or send a blank email to > leave-17994-13438.3b5166ef147b143fedd04b1c4a649...@fsulist.frostburg.edu Paul Brandon 10 Crown Hill Lane Mankato, MN 56001 [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=18011 or send a blank email to leave-18011-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
