Behaviorism

4 Commentsby   |  04.02.13  |  Student Posts

Behaviorist Techniques were being employed long before Skinner presented his full theory. We can see examples of conditioning employed everywhere in our advertising, and they have been useful in child rearing for millennia. Advertisers and marketers have put countless hours into understanding ways of influencing (and manipulating) our behaviors, but I guess thats another conversation. When it comes to behaviorism, we can all think of times in our past when classic or operant conditioning was used on us to encourage certain behaviors and discourage others. However, for me the main draw in behaviorism is the idea of perhaps using conditioning on ourselves to take more control of our own behavior. I suppose some goals of this would be to become less impulsive, more productive, or manage time better. These are just a few examples, and there needs to be more study into how possible it is to truly condition ones self, but if there is a way to use behaviorist techniques to take exact control of our own behavior, it could be incredibly beneficial.

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4 Comments

  1. Emily Bibb
    2:11 pm, 04.03.13

    I agree with you that using behaviorist techniques to control our own behavior could be really valuable. Your examples of goals that could be achieved through self-conditioning are all things that I struggle with, so I am sure that many people would find it beneficial! I am interested to find out if there is research behind how possible something like this would be, but I think it is a great idea.

  2. Forrest Norman IV
    4:48 pm, 04.03.13

    Bahavorial tecniques may not have the best and most realistic understanding of our actions however their results speak for themselves. Behavorial tecniques are practical quick and have lasting results which make them popular tool for any psycholigist.

  3. Paige Wilson
    5:13 pm, 04.03.13

    I think that the behaviorist’s idea that we can control our impulses and actions is empowering. We are not at the mercy of our ambiguous subconscious or our past experiences. Behavioral therapy is straight forward and largely effective. I agree that more research should be done on these techniques.

  4. Gavin Lane
    9:23 pm, 04.03.13

    Jason,

    I liked when you mentioned that conditioning has been used on us in the past. I believe this is right on point. You see many examples of this in school especially. If you get a question right you get a candy, for good behavior you get a gold star. It seems like we were destined to be conditioned from the beginning!

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