Behaviourism

Behaviourism

1. Psychological behaviourism

   • John Watson
     • Behaiviour can be predicted and controlled.

2. Biological Behaviourism

3. Extreme form of social conditioning which adopts similar standpoint to hard determinism.

4. Stanford Prison Experiment.

   • ZImbardo.
   • Zimbardo simulated a prison, using real people as prison guards and prisoners, and observed how the environment would have an impact on them.
     • The experiment had alarming effects. The prisoners believed that they truly were in prison, and the prison guards gained a sense of power, treating the prisoners extremely badly and inflicting harsh punishments, much like those imposed in some real prisons. The experiment even had a negative impact on Zimbardo himself. The experiment had to be ended earlier than planned, because of the psychological damage that it was having on the participants. Even after the experiment, the prisoners viewed the experiment as real prison.

5. Abu Grahib prison attrocities.

   • In 2004 in Iraq, the Abu Grahib prison attrocities took place. Prisoners were paraded around naked and made to make human pyramids etc. They were led round on dog collars.
   • The treatment of the prisoners was terrible, but the prison guards were socially conditioned by their environment. They worked long hours and for many days without a break, and they slept among rubbish and in small cells themselves. All of the prison guards came from normal backgrounds, all were patriotic and God-fearing. This shows how much the conditions affected the people.

6. Behaviourism coincides with the idea of juvenile correction facilities, which try to change the behaviour of the juvenile deliquents through conditioning.