Overview Of The Psychological Theory Of Behaviourism
In this essay I will explain and evaluate a psychological theory and how it informs knowledge of human development, making strong links to social work application. ‘Psychological theory was developed by Wilhelm Wundt 1879. He opened the first laboratory dedicated to psychology, and it is usually regarded as the beginning of modern psychology. Indeed, Wundt is often regarded as the father of psychology’.
Edward Thorndike was a behaviourist whose theories on learning were crucial in the development of operant conditioning. Thorndike was best known for his use of puzzle boxes in his experiments with cats. He would put a cat in a puzzle box and a piece of fish outside. The cat needed to use a lever to open the box to get to the fish. He noticed that once the cats discovered that the lever worked in their mission to get to the fish, they would continue using the lever and increase in their speed of finding and using it. This is what has led Thorndike to develop his Law of Effect theory. Behaviours that give favourable results (like a cat getting fish) are more likely to be repeated in the future because the consequence was pleasant, behaviours that gave unfavourable results are more likely to stop and not be repeated in the future. Ivan Pavlov discovered, whilst studying dogs, that when the dogs heard the footsteps of the lab technician, who brought their food, the dogs would salivate, this is called a reflex. He discovered the dogs would salivate on hearing the footsteps even without their being any food. Pavlov then conducted a study in which he rang a bell every time he fed the dogs. He discovered just ringing a bell made the dogs salivate. Pavlov called this classical conditioning. B. F. Skinner gave focus to behaviours which are essentially voluntary and change in the light of responses this is known as the ABC approach. A – antecedent, B – behavior, C – consequences. Weak behaviour can be reinforced, strong behaviour can be sustained and undesirable behaviour can be extinguished. According to this principle, behaviour that is followed by pleasant consequences is likely to be repeated, and behaviour followed by unpleasant consequences is less likely to be repeated. John B. Watson controversially experimented with a child ‘little Albert’. The child’s reactions were tested against various stimuli such as; furry material, a ball of cotton, blocks and a white rat. Watson and his assistant would hit an iron bar with a hammer behind Little Alberts head every time he reached for the furry animals, this action frightened the child and over time Little Albert became frightened of furry animals. He had associated them with the experience of the taught behaviour. Watson showed that people could be conditioned to react in certain ways. Albert Banduras Social Learning Theory suggests that people learn from one another, via observation, imitation, and modelling. The theory has often been called a bridge between behaviourist and cognitive learning theories, because it encompasses attention, memory, and motivation. Bandura believed that conditioning only partly explains behaviour and we also learn from what we see and hear, the Bobo doll experiment proved this. Children witnessed acts of aggression by an adult against a large blow up doll, the Bobo doll, the children copied the violence against the Bobo doll as portrayed by the adult. Proving that people often copy or imitate without conditioning or reinforcements taking place.
Behaviourism is a worldview that operates on a principle of stimulus-response which means learn by experience. Classical conditioning depends on developing associations between events, Operant conditioning involves learning from the consequences of our behaviour.
Before a theory can be used in social work to support families in crisis, ‘it is important to remember that the crisis has to be understood from the perspective of the person experiencing it and this might be influenced by their race, gender, age and other differences between people’.
It is important in social work to recognize the complexity of human development and the theories that explain it. By the time a social worker is involved with a service user, many are at a crisis point in their lives and it is important for social workers to have sound knowledge of psychological theories and their effects if they are to offer any guidance and support. Some service users would have had negative role models, display inappropriate expression of feelings, have bad habits, Control issues, and display behaviours based upon misconceptions. However, understanding the service user’s history and discussing and planning together, many techniques can improve the lives of the service user. A family at crisis point who require intervention from social workers wouldn’t need to have their children removed (unless it is not safe for the child to remain with them) but would need to learn how to parent effectively, many psychology theories can be used to support a family with their parenting skills, behaviour of their children, addiction and many other problems that go against socially constructed norms.
Behaviourism if used correctly could improve their lives. Using Bandura’s social Learning Theory that people learn from one another, via observation, imitation, and modelling could easily be used. Encouraging the family to engage in organised social events where other families would be displaying appropriate behaviour the family in crisis would be able to observe acceptable behaviour, and with support, implement this practice into their family lives. The behaviourist approach has many advantages and is relatively easy to understand, to learn and to use effectively and can be used alongside other interventions and practice approaches. Its systematic approach and use of techniques, plus the focus on target behaviours, means that its effectiveness can be seen straight away which encourages the continued use. Disadvantage to behaviourism is that it doesn’t consider the persons mental state or wellbeing and results will only be made if the participant fully engages with the approach. The sources of an individual's behaviour are external, in the environment, and not internal, the mind.
The psychodynamic approach, contrary to behaviourist approach, explains the unconscious parts of the psyche (mind). Psychodynamic psychologists such as Freud, assumed that behaviour is influenced by three parts of the psyche; id, which is unconscious part of our personality demanding immediate satisfaction and governed by pleasure principle; superego, which forms the sense of morality part of the mind, uses guilt and anxiety to perfect and civilise our behaviour; ego, governed by the reality principle, which finds a way of forming a compromise between id and superego. The psychodynamic approach, studies the relationship between the mind, personality and psychism of the individual, and they consider that a person's behaviour is driven by emotions, mental aspects and subconscious forces. Social workers using the psychodynamic theories, would look at what happened in the service user’s childhood, using that knowledge to empower the service user to acquire those social skills that they missed in their childhood; and which have been at the roots of their difficulties. ‘The psychodynamic approach doesn’t give quick results, it can be quite traumatic for the service user to re-tell their childhood experiences, thoughts and feelings and can run the risk of creating an unhealthy dependency to the social worker’.
The holistic approach enables you to understand a person’s life journey and how it has affected them, from the high points in their lives to the low points as they see them. The holistic approach is to look at the whole picture of the service user and the crisis they are in. This can however be traumatic for the service user as it looks at what led them to where they are now, holding them in the trauma not moving on, the holistic approach can be limited as it relies on the motivation of the user.
