Behaviorist method

This method (from the English behavior - behavior) consists of studying the behavior of subjects of political processes - individuals and social groups. However, the American sociologists P. Lazarsfeld, T. Lasswell and others who substantiated this method focused attention mainly on the external circumstances of people’s behavior and, in fact, ignored the motives of their political behavior. This is fully consistent with the principles of behaviorism as one of the directions of modern psychology.

The political, legal, economic, moral and other consciousness of people, including subjects of political activity, remained outside the field of view of representatives of, so to speak, political scientific behaviorism, i.e. behaviorist doctrine of political activity. This gave rise to an underestimation of the role of value orientations, goals and, ultimately, the entire subjective side of people's political activity.

According to some authors, the origins of modern political scientific behaviorism should be sought in the positivist political sociology of Z.M. Makasheva. Research of management systems - M., Knorus, 2008. This is partly true: in both cases, one of the main methods of collecting data on the political behavior of subjects is the researcher’s observations,” quantitative methods of analyzing the data obtained, including statistical methods, are widely used , modeling, etc.

However, positivism in general and positivist political sociology in particular, unlike behaviorism, never ignored the consciousness of people, including the motives of their activities and value orientations. On the contrary, it is these factors that positivism assigns a decisive role in the behavior of people and in the social processes that develop during their activities, including political ones. Therefore, in this case they are the main subject of analysis of the entire political reality. As for the behavioral method of analyzing political phenomena and processes, it does not contribute to obtaining holistic scientific ideas about them - this is its main drawback.

Representatives of the behavioral school paid their main attention not to political institutions (for example, the state), but to the mechanisms of exercising power. The subject of their analysis was political behavior at the individual and socially aggregated level (in groups, social institutions, etc.). Behaviorists came to the attention of numerous aspects of the political process related to political behavior, such as voting in elections, participation in various other forms of political activity, including non-conventional forms (demonstrations, strikes, etc.), leadership, activity interest groups and political parties and even subjects of international relations. By studying these various aspects, they tried to answer the question: why do people behave in certain ways in politics?

At the same time, behavioralism was not free from some shortcomings and controversial issues. Most often, this methodological direction was criticized for the following typical features that D. Easton identifies:

an attempt to distance oneself from political reality and abstract from the “special responsibility” for the practical application of knowledge that is imposed by professional science;

the concept of the scientific nature of the procedure and methods, which led the researcher away from studying the individual himself, the motives and mechanism of his choice (“internal” behavior) to the study of the conditions that influence actions (“external” behavior of people). This could lead to political science becoming a “subjectless and non-human” discipline in which the study of human intentions and purposes occupies a rather modest place;

“the naive assumption that behavioral political science alone is free from ideological premises”;

uncritical perception of the “classical” positivist interpretation of the nature of scientific knowledge, despite the fact that, starting from the 19th century, critical statements were made more than once about this scientific direction and the idea was expressed about the presence of essential features of humanitarian knowledge;

inability to study the value aspects of political relations

an indifferent attitude towards the emerging fragmentation of knowledge, despite the need to use it to solve a complex of social problems.

In addition, among the shortcomings of this approach, it is necessary to note the lack of a systematic view of political processes and ignorance of the historical and cultural context.

The noted shortcomings of behavioralism, its inability to provide answers to many questions of political life, to predict some political events (for example, the events of the 60s) caused a crisis in this direction.

Behaviorist approach.

To explain behavior, behaviorism uses two basic concepts: stimulus (S) and response (R); while consciousness and other subjective concepts are denied. Behaviorists try to deal only with facts that can be observed.

American psychologist B. Skinner views personality as an isolated self, which has no place in the scientific analysis of behavior. To characterize personality, he introduces the concept of “pattern,” which denotes a certain set of behavioral reactions. Personality is the sum of patterns. Each individual response is based on previous experiences and genetic history.

B. Skinner significantly expanded I.P. Pavlov’s scheme for the formation of conditioned reflexes, proposing a model of so-called operant conditioning - rewards for desired reactions and punishment for undesirable reactions. Positive and negative stimuli that reinforce behavior regulate and control it.

B. Skinner denies the spontaneity of behavior and its sources that lie outside a person’s life experience. He is interested in controlling behavior, not predicting it.

Humanistic theories of personality.

One of the founders of humanistic psychology is the American researcher K. Rogers (1902-1990). He believed that every person has a desire to become as competent and capable as biologically possible. The main tenet of his theory is self-esteem, a person’s idea of himself, “I-concept,” generated in interaction with other people. But the formation of self-esteem does not take place without conflicts; it often does not coincide with the assessment of a person by others, and a dilemma arises - accept the assessment of others, or stay with your own. The ability for flexible self-esteem, the ability, thanks to experience, to re-evaluate the value system, arose earlier - all this is defined by K. Rogers as an important condition for the mental integrity of the individual and his mental health in various life situations.

Thanks to K. Rogers, the phenomenon of self-awareness and self-esteem, their functions “in the behavior and development of the subject, became an important subject of further psychological research by other representatives of the humanistic trend, US psychologists - G. Allport (1887-1967) and A. Maslow (1907-1970).

Maslow studied the problems of personal growth and development. His theory is a unique alternative to behaviorism and psychoanalysis, which denied creativity, love, altruism and other human values.

The central concept of humanistic psychology is self-realization.

While studying outstanding people, Maslow identified the characteristics of a self-actualizing personality:

1. effective perception of reality and a more comfortable attitude towards it.

2. Acceptance of yourself, others, nature.

3. Spontaneity, simplicity, naturalness.

4. centered on the task, not on oneself.

5. Some need for privacy.

6. Autonomy, independence from culture and environment.

7. Constant freshness of the assessment.

8. Selfishness and the experience of external states.

9. A sense of belonging, unity with others.

10. Deeper interpersonal relationships.

11. Democratic character structure.

12. Distinguishing between means and ends, good and evil.

13. Philosophical non-hostile sense of humor.

14. Creativity, self-actualizing.

A self-actualizing personality is not perfect; it can also experience negative sensations. Self-actualization is not an escape from a problem, but a movement from imaginary and simple problems to real and complex problems.

Maslow describes eight ways for an individual to self-actualize:

1. Complete and selfless experience of a life situation with increased awareness and interest.

2. The desire for personal growth in every life choice, even if it is associated with risk, especially with the risk of being in the unknown.

3. Become real, exist in fact, and not just in potential.

4. Honesty and taking responsibility for your actions. The answers to the questions that arise must be sought within yourself.

5. Development of the ability to make “best life choices”, the ability to trust one’s judgments and intuition, and act in accordance with it.

6. Development of your potential capabilities.

7. The desire for “peak experience,” when we more fully understand the world and ourselves, think, act and feel clearly and accurately.

8. Identifying your “defenses” and working to abandon them.

In addition, A. Maslow’s concept is known, in which he identifies a hierarchy of fundamental needs of developing people from lower to higher:

1) physiological needs;

2) security needs;

3) needs for love and affection;

4) needs for recognition and evaluation;

5) the need for self-actualization.

Not all individuals reach the level of self-actualization. Characteristics of a person who has reached the level of self-actualization are ease in behavior, business orientation, selectivity, depth and democracy in relationships, independence, manifestations of creativity, and the like.

Methods of behaviorism

We could already see that during the initial development of scientific psychology it sought to associate itself with the older, respectable, mature natural science of physics. Psychology has constantly sought to adopt the methods of the natural sciences and adapt them to its own needs. This tendency is most clearly visible in the behaviorist doctrine of thinking.

Watson fought for the psychologist to always limit himself exclusively to the data of the natural sciences, that is, to what is an observable quantity - in other words, behavior. Consequently, only strictly objective research methods were allowed in behavioral laboratories. Watson's methods included the following: observation with or without instruments; testing methods; verbatim recording methods and conditioned reflex methods.

The observation method is the necessary basis for all other methods. Objective testing methods have been used previously, but Watson suggested that when testing, they should not evaluate a person’s mental qualities, but his behavior. For Watson, test scores were not a measure of intelligence or personality; they demonstrated the subject's reaction to certain stimuli or stimulating situations created during the test - and nothing else.

The verbatim recording method is more controversial. Since Watson was so strongly opposed to introspection, the use of verbatim recording in his laboratory seemed highly controversial. Some psychologists saw this as a compromise by which Watson allowed introspection to sneak in through the back door after it had been kicked out the front porch. Why did Watson allow verbatim recording? Despite his hostility towards introspection, he could not completely ignore the work of psychophysicists who made extensive use of introspection. Consequently, he suggested that since speech reactions are objectively observable phenomena, they are of the same interest to behaviorism as any other motor reactions. Whatsop said: “To speak is to do; So it's behavior. Talking openly or silently (thinking) is as objective a form of behavior as playing baseball” (Watson. 1930. P. 6).

The verbatim method of behaviorism was a concession that was widely discussed by Watson's critics. They insisted that Watson was merely offering a semantic substitution. He accepted that verbatim recording could be inaccurate and was not a satisfactory substitute for more objective methods of observation, and therefore limited the use of verbatim recording methods to only those situations in which they could be confirmed, such as observations and descriptions of differences between tones (Watson. 1914). Verbatim records that were not subject to verification—including, for example, imagesless thoughts or reports of sensations—were simply excluded.

The most important research method in behaviorism was the conditioned reflex method, which was developed in 1915, two years after Watson formally proclaimed behaviorism. At first, conditioned reflex methods were used in a limited range, and it was Watson who was credited with their widespread introduction into American psychological research. Watson told psychologist Ernest Hilgard that his interest in conditioning was heightened by studying the work of Bekhterev, although he later paid tribute to Pavlov (Hilgard. 1994).

Watson described conditioned reflexes in stimulus-related terms. A conditioned reflex is developed when a reaction is associated or associated with a stimulus different from the one that originally caused this reaction. (A typical conditioned reflex is for dogs to salivate in response to the sound rather than the sight of food.) Watson chose this approach because it provided objective methods for studying and analyzing behavior—namely, reducing behavior to single stimulus-response pairs (S -R). Since all behavior can be reduced to these elementary components, the method of conditioned reflexes made it possible to conduct studies of complex human behavior in laboratory conditions.

Thus, Watson continued the atomistic and mechanistic tradition founded by the British empiricists and adopted by structural psychologists. He intended to study human behavior in the same way that physicists study the universe—by breaking it down into 414 individual components, atoms, or elements.

The exclusive commitment to the use of objective methods and the elimination of introspection meant a change in the role of the people being tested. For Wundt and Titchener, subjects were both observers and observed. This means that people themselves made observations of the experiences of their consciousness. Thus, their role was much more important than the role of the experimenter himself.

In behaviorism, subjects are given a much more modest role. They do not observe anything else; on the contrary, they are constantly watched by the experimenter. The participants in the experiment began to be called subjects, or subjects, and not observers (DanzJgcr. 1988; Scheibe. 1988). True observers were now experimenters, psychologists - researchers who determined the experimental conditions and observed how subjects reacted to them. Thus, the people tested were demoted in status. They were no longer observing, they were only demonstrating their behavior. And behavior is inherent in anyone - an adult, a child, a mentally ill person, a pigeon, a white rat. This approach reinforced the view of people as simple machines: “the input is a stimulus, the output is a reaction” (Burt. 1962, p. 232).

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The classical behaviorist approach is one of the main directions in psychology, the method of which is the observation and experimental study of the body's reactions to external stimuli for further mathematical substantiation of the relationship between these variables. The development of behaviorism became a prerequisite for the formation of an accurate transition from speculative conclusions to mathematically based ones. The article describes: the behaviorist approach to the study of personality, the history of the development of this direction and its significance in modern life of society. The latter is presented using the example of the use of behavioral principles in the development of political science.

Behaviorist approach in psychology

Behaviorism in psychology arose on the basis of the methodology of the philosophy of positivism, which considers the study of the directly observable. Hence, the subject of the study of psychology should be human behavior, which really exists, and not consciousness or the subconscious, which cannot be observed.

The term "behaviourism" comes from the English behavior and means "behavior". Thus, the purpose of studying this direction in psychology is behavior - its prerequisites, formation and the ability to control it. Human actions and reactions are the units of study of behaviorism, and behavior itself is based on the well-known “stimulus-response” formula.

The behaviorist approach to personality has become a body of knowledge that is based on experimental studies of animal behavior. Adherents of this direction in psychology have created their own methodological base, goal, subject, methods of study, as well as methods for correcting behavior. Some of the theses of behaviorism have become the basis for other sciences, the purpose of which is to study the actions of people. But a particularly large contribution has been made in the theory and practice of teaching and raising children.

Representatives of behaviorism in psychology

The behaviorist approach has a long history of developing and improving its scientific methods of research and therapy. Its representatives began by studying the elementary principles of animal behavior and came to a system of practical application of this knowledge on humans.

The founder of classical behaviorism, D. Watson, was an adherent of the opinion that only what can be observed is real. He attached importance to the study of 4 acts of human behavior:

visible reactions;
hidden reactions (thinking);
hereditary, natural reactions (for example, yawning);
hidden natural reactions (internal processes of the body).

He was convinced that the strength of the reaction depends on the strength of the stimulus, and he proposed the formula S = R.

Watson's follower E. Thorndike developed the theory further and formulated the following basic laws of human behavior:

exercises - the relationship between conditions and reactions to them depending on the number of reproductions;
readiness - the conduction of nerve impulses depends on the individual’s internal readiness for this;
associative shift - if an individual reacts to one of many stimuli, then the remaining ones will subsequently cause a similar reaction;
effect - if the action brings with it pleasure, then this behavior will occur more often.

Experimental confirmation of the theoretical foundations of this theory belongs to the Russian scientist I. Pavlov. It was he who experimentally proved that conditioned reflexes can be formed in animals if certain stimuli are used. Many people know his experiment with the formation in a dog of a conditioned reaction to light in the form of salivation without reinforcement in the form of food.

In the 1960s, the development of behaviorism expanded. If previously it was considered as a set of individual reactions to stimuli, then from now on the introduction of other variables into this scheme begins. Thus, E. Tolman, the author of cognitive behaviorism, called this intermediate mechanism a cognitive representation. In his experiments with mice, he showed that animals find a way out of the maze on the way to food in different ways, following a previously unfamiliar route. Thus, he demonstrated that the goal for the animal is more important than the mechanisms for achieving it.

Principles of behaviorism in psychology

If we summarize the conclusions reached by representatives of classical behaviorism, we can highlight several principles of this approach:

behavior is an individual’s reaction to environmental stimuli with the help of which he adapts (the reaction can be both external and internal);
personality is the experience acquired by a person in the process of life, a set of behavior patterns;
Human behavior is shaped by the social environment, not by internal processes.

These principles are the thesis provisions of the classical approach, which were later developed and challenged by followers and critics.

Types of conditioning

Human development occurs through learning - assimilation of experience of interaction with the outside world. These include mechanical skills, social development, and emotional development. Based on this experience, human behavior is formed. The behaviorist approach examines several types of learning, the most famous of which are operant and classical conditioning.

Operant involves the gradual assimilation by a person of experience in which any of his actions will entail a certain reaction. Thus, the child learns that throwing toys around can make parents angry.

Classical conditioning tells the individual that one event is followed by the next. For example, upon seeing the mother's breast, the child understands that this act will be followed by the taste of milk. This is the formation of an association, the elements of which are one stimulus followed by another.

Stimulus-response relationship

Theoretically proposed by Watson and practically substantiated by Pavlov, the idea that a stimulus is equal to the reaction to it (S - R) was aimed at ridding psychology of “unscientific” ideas about the existence of a “spiritual, invisible” principle in man. Research conducted on animals extended to human mental life.

But the development of this theory also changed the “stimulus-response” scheme. Thus, Thorndike noted that the expectation of reinforcement strengthens the connection between stimulus and response. Based on this, a person performs an action if he expects a positive result or avoids a negative consequence (positive and negative reinforcement).

E. Tolman also considered this scheme to be simplified and proposed his own: S - I - R, where between the stimulus and the reaction are the individual physiological characteristics of the individual, his personal experience, and heredity.

Learning from a Behaviorist Perspective

Behaviorism became the basis for the development of the behavioral approach in psychology. Although these directions are often identified, there is still a significant difference between them. The behaviorist approach considers personality as the result of learning, as a set of externally presented reactions, on the basis of which behavior is formed. Thus, in behaviorism, only those actions that manifest themselves externally have meaning. wider. It includes the principles of classical behaviorism, cognitive, etc. The internal actions of the body (thoughts, feelings, roles), which are created by the individual and for which he is responsible, are also subject to research.

The behaviorist approach has received many modifications, among which the most common are those by A. Bandura and D. Rotter. Scientists have expanded our understanding of human behavior. They believed that the actions of an individual are determined not only by external factors, but also by internal predisposition.

A. Bandura noted that readiness, faith, expectations - as internal determinants - interact with reward and punishment, external factors equally. He was also confident that a person is capable of independently changing his behavior under the influence of the attitude of the surrounding world towards him. But the main thing is that a person can form a new plan of action by simply observing the behavior of other people, even without their direct influence. According to the researcher, a person has a unique ability to self-regulate his behavior.

J. Rotter, developing this theory, proposed a system for predicting human behavior. According to the scientist, a person will act based on 4 conditions: behavioral potential (the degree of probability of behavior in response to some stimulus), expectation (the subject’s assessment of the likelihood of reinforcement in response to his behavior), reinforcement value (assessment of the personal significance of the reaction to actions) and psychological situation (external environment in which the action may occur). Thus, the potential of behavior depends on the combination of these three factors.

Hence social learning - skills and patterns of behavior in the social world, which are determined both by external factors and by the internal predisposition of the individual.

Behavioral approach in political science

The usual legal method in political science, which studied legal and political institutions, was replaced by the behavioral method in the 50s. Its purpose was to study the nature of the political behavior of people as citizens and political groups. This method made it possible to qualitatively and quantitatively analyze political processes.

The behaviorist approach in political science is used to study the behavior of an individual as part of the political system and the incentives that motivate him to action - motives, interests. Thanks to him, such concepts as “personality”, “attitude”, “beliefs”, “public opinion”, “behavior of the electorate” began to be heard in political science.

Main points

The focus should shift from political institutions to individual behavior within the framework of the life of the state.
Basic credo: Political science must also study what is directly observable using rigorous empirical methods.
The dominant motive for participation in political activity is based on psychological orientation.
The study of political life should strive to reveal the cause-and-effect relationships that exist in society.

Representatives of behaviorism in political science

The founders of the behavioral approach to politics are C. Merriam, G. Gosnell, G. Lasswell. They came to the conclusion that political science needed methods of "rational" control and social planning. Using Thurstone's idea about the connection between human behavior and his attitudes, scientists adapted it to political science and made it possible to move from the analysis of government institutions as the main object of study to the analysis of power, political behavior, public opinion and elections.

This idea was continued in the works of P. Lazersfeld, B. Barelson, A. Campbell, D. Stokes and others. They analyzed the election process in America, summarized the behavior of people in a democratic society and came to several conclusions:

participation of the majority of citizens in elections is the exception rather than the rule;
political interest depends on a person's level of education and income;
the average citizen, as a rule, is poorly informed about the political life of society;
election results largely depend on group loyalty;
should be developed to benefit real human problems in times of crisis.

Thus, the development of the behavioral method in political science produced a real revolution and became a prerequisite for the formation of an applied science about the political life of society.

Behaviorist-oriented approach in the psychology of learning. Cognitive educational psychology. Psychoanalytic pedagogy. Humanistic educational psychology. Social-genetic direction in educational psychology. Cultural-historical and activity approaches in foreign educational psychology.

Modern foreign educational psychology is represented by various schools and directions. For analysis, we will highlight those areas of educational psychology that determine the main trends in its development in recent decades and are leading in world psychology. These include the behaviorist-oriented approach and cognitive psychology, psychoanalytic pedagogy, humanistic psychology, social genetic approach, cultural-historical psychology.

Behaviorist-oriented approach in educational psychology

Behaviorism formed the psychological basis for a number of didactic theories and models of teaching in modern foreign schools, mainly American. The first practical application of behavioral learning theory was the so-called programmed training. The main features of the programmed learning model are the identification of educational goals and a sequential (element-by-element) procedure for achieving them.

Programmed learning is based on ways of finding means to control the learning process. It is considered as a way of organizing training that solves the problem of managing the learning process of schoolchildren using technical devices (machine option) or based on traditional educational books (machineless option). Programmed learning relies on logic algorithmization educational activities of schoolchildren. Training is carried out according to a program that determines the content and order of operations necessary to master the educational material. Educational tasks are provided to students sequentially, in parts called steps or frames.

There are two main options for programmed training - linear And branched. In accordance with the linear construction of programs, students work on all pieces of information to be assimilated according to a single scheme, in one given sequence. The extensive program involves students choosing their own individual path of advancement in knowledge, depending on their level of preparedness.

Educational goals in programmed training are formulated in the language of external observable actions (motor, speech, etc., which together form observable behavior). Dividing educational goals and the learning process as a whole into separate elements leads to the fact that students acquire a set of separate skills.

One of the main principles of programmed learning is the principle of feedback: the student and teacher receive information about the effectiveness of mastering the material throughout the course of training. Based on feedback information, which performs the function of control and evaluation in learning, decisions are made on the further advancement of students in the mastered content. In this regard, programmed training required program developers (didacts, methodologists) to carefully study operational composition of training activities, those. identifying the structure of schoolchildren’s actions when they perform a specific educational task. This, as well as the use of technical didactic means, is the advantage of programmed learning.

Modern options for programmed training are personalized learning systems, computer (computer-assisted) learning, online learning. All of them retain the general features of programmed learning, but have different technical and software capabilities that allow them to achieve higher learning results in various school disciplines.

Critics of programmed learning say that individualized approaches create an atmosphere of cold, mechanical and dehumanized learning. In programmed learning there is no spontaneous communication between the teacher and students, as well as between the students themselves. It is also noted that all that is important in educational material cannot be reduced to a level at which it can be programmed or broken down into individual steps.