What was the historical and cultural context of the learning perspective?

The concepts of the behaviorism were shaped by historical and cultural context of the 20th century. Until the 1950s, it was very popular in the USA due to its simplicity. At this time, considering psychology as scientific discipline had appeared to have reached a dead end. People now tend to believe in the sciences that are observable through scientific experiments. Behaviorism offered simple explanations of behaviors by using environmental stimulus and responses. Combining this with the ideas of social changes – behavior changes according to environment, behaviorism had become appealing to the American mentality and the optimism about the future. The society of the USA has a strong belief in capitalism which based in business environment. Relating this to behaviorism, those who can adapt best to the changing business situations will gain the most profit.
Behaviorism was started by behaviorists such as Pavlov, Watson, and Throndike during the 1900s. These pioneer behaviorists tend to focus on scientific and objective ways to study human behaviors. Observable human behaviors were studied and explained in simplest forms, concerning the responses to the environmental stimulus. Through the 1960s, behaviorism was modified by Skinner, Garcia, and Seligman. Combining these ideas with the new insights from the cognitive and biological perspectives, behaviorism had evolved into the learning perspective.

Essay 3 Introduction

Sigmund Freud’s classic psychoanalytic theories were modified by the theories of the Neo-Freudians psychologists such as Erik Erikson and Alfred Alder. They were two of the neo-Freudian psychologists who made significant contribution to the better understanding of human behavior. While agreeing with Freud on the ideas concerning the structure of personality and the importance of childhood experiences, they also disagreed with some of his other theories. In contrast to Freud’s theories of psychosexual development, Erikson proposed the theories of psycho-social which focused more on social interaction rather than sexuality. Alder’s theories also contradict Freud’s ideas of drives. He thinks that human beings are driven by the desire for perfection rather than sexuality and aggression. The theories of these Neo-Freudian psychologists contributed the broadening of Freud’s narrow point of view which created better understanding of human behavior.