Psychology

John, B Watson and B, F Skinner are both behavioral psychologists whose major theoretical underpinnings focus much on the stimulus response theory. The two strongly uphold the notion that human behavior is highly influenced by factors occurring within the environment and that the environment can be altered in away  to make human beings behave the way you want them to behave (Morris  Todd, 2000). Thus, the environment can be enriched to enhance development while on the extreme contrast it can be impoverished to inhibit behavior.  The Environment stands to be the biggest shaper of human personality, behavior and the learning process.

John B. Watson who was a close associate to Ivan Pavlov presented his theory on classical conditioning as an elaboration of the Pavlovs experiment with dogs to confirm whether the same experiences could be applied on human subjects. Unlike Ivan Pavlov, John Watson conducted his experiment with a human subject baby Albert , from which he wanted to establish whether the principles applied in Classical conditioning of dogs could work on human beings as well (Lerner, 2002).

He advanced his theory by conditioning baby Albert to fear. In setting up his experiment, he used a white teddy bear which could be presented to baby Albert any time when he was awake and Albert would love to play with the bear. With time Albert formed passion with the bear and anytime he would wake up he cried loudly to be given the bear (Leonard, 2002). Watson observed this experience and staged to present the bear to baby Albert and at the same time bung a loud noise. In this case Watson begun presenting the bear to baby Albert any time he showed interest and at the same time bung a very loud terrifying noise. With repeated experiences baby Albert begun to fear the bear since he had begun associating it with a terrifying, disturbing noise. Thus, with time Baby Albert become conditioned to fear all white colored bears.

From this experience Watson confirmed the stimulus response theory of Ivan Pavlov. That is, organisms in one way or another respond to stimulus occurring in the environment in one way or another. Environmental signals trigger the elicitation of responses. Organisms learn to form associations with stimulus depending on the situation they are subjected to.

Neutral stimuli trigger the elicitation of   neutral responses, while conditioned stimuli trigger conditioned responses. For instance, Alberts natural interest to white bears is a good example of a neutral stimulus eliciting a neutral response. On the other hand the loud bung plus the white bear are basic examples of conditioned stimulus while fear is a good example of conditioned response.

The foundation of Skinners theory on operant conditioning is grounded on the notion that learning in human beings is a function of change of relatively overt behaviors. Changes in human behavior occur as a result of individuals response to stimuli or events occurring within the environment (Morris  Todd, 2000). The kinds of responses elicited by human actions generate consequences which alter the behavior of human beings. Ones a specific kind of stimulus response that is (S-R) pattern is rewarded, different individuals become conditioned to respond. Reinforcement plays the central key element is elaborating the Skinners S-R connection theory. He uses the term reinforcement to refer to anything which can be used to strengthen the desired response. Reinforcement could therefore be a good grade in class, a verbal word, or an increased feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment.

Additionally, Skinner talks of negative reinforcementsreinforcers which refer to various forms of stimulus which occur as a result of an increase in the frequency of responses especially when they are withdrawn. Such kind of reinforces include aspects such as punishment which is used to eliminate overt behaviors (Lerner, 2002). In daily life events many people do a lot of actions without realizing why they do them. Some negative and positive reinforcements to a greater extend have conditioned human thoughts and actions to behave in a particular pattern.

Tolman who initially begun as a behaviorist psychologist and later on changed to the Gestalt school of thought described his system of psychology as relatively purposive behaviourism since to a greater extend it captured his notion that living things and especially human beings produce or emit different behaviors for some adaptive purposes. Highly influenced by Kurt Lewins ideas, Tolman thus adopted and incorporated some Gestalts concepts and ideas in his work.

Tolman unlike B, F Skinner and Watson highly disliked the mechanistic reductionistic behaviorism perspectives, founded on the principles of stimulus respond system. Tolman strongly believed that human beings do more beyond responding to stimulus (Morris  Todd, 2000). Therefore, according to his conviction, human beings strive towards achieving greater goals and heights by acting on their attitudes, beliefs and changing conditions.Tolman disapproved the Stimulus -Response theory by arguing that reinforcement is not the most necessary element for learning. His approach to understanding human behavior was unlike the conceptualization held by Watson and B, F Skinner, who strongly emphasized on the stimulus response theory.

Tolman upheld the notion that human behavior was holistic, cognitive and purposive. Thus, human behavior is not a product of stimulus emission but it is a form of cognitive coping mechanism in line with various patterns of stimuli (Lerner, 2002). Tolman, in his analysis justifies his notion on human behavior as characterized by three basic parts in learning which work hand in hand with the gestalt theories namely, the sign or rather signal for action, significant or relatively the goal for behavior and finally means  end relations which act as internal relationships and processes  for human behavior.
Unlike the behaviorists, Tolman believes that learning in human beings is an accumulation of the gestalts signs which later become configured into cognitive maps and stored as human knowledge in memory (Leonard, 2002). Continuous input of information from the environment remains as a continuous process which keeps on influencing human behavior in such a manner which causes the gestalts signs to be selected one by one selectively and leaving others unselected depending on individuals goals and purposes or rather other factors.

Due to this kind of experiences learning stands out as unique to each and every individual. Tolman conceptualizes the concept of cognitive map, as a form of an internal perceptual kind of representation of the external environmental landmarks and features to be fitted into memory (Morris 7 Todd, 2000). Tolman argued that human beings acquire large amount of cues from the environment and they indeed build up large volumes of expectancies about their changeable characteristics and performances. By the use of these internal representations of the physical space human beings strive to achieve their goals while knowing clearly where they are heading to, guided by the complex environmental features.

Using this model, short cuts and other types of variable routes become very common. Whereas on the extreme contrast behaviorists perceive human training as a method of building and establishing certain forms of sequenced responses. Tolman believed that training should lead to a certain tendency towards achieving goals projected towards a definite place (Leonard, 2002). Thus, subjects in this case would learn and realize where they are going rather than how to go. Tolman therefore was a centralist psychologist, who believed that learning was a dominant attribute that was borne of mans nervous system. This was however an extreme contrast of the peripheralism view held by the behaviorist psychologists.