[Week 3] RESEARCH II

Research b). Can Behaviorism Represent the Positivism in Psychology?

My Topic 
Human can't understand all secrets of human mind only by behaviorism.



What I Hope to Learn from This Research
I want to understand the limitation of behaviorism through positivism. I think that behaviorism is one kind of positivism, so behaviorism may share the same limitation with positivism. Before proving my hypothesis, I should prove premise in my hypothesis that behaviorism is one kind of positivism.



Notes

1. The term behaviorism refers to the school of psychology founded by John B. Watson based on the belief that behaviors can be measured, trained, and changed. Behaviorism was established with the publication of Watson's classic paper "Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It". Behavior can be studied in a systematic and observable manner with no consideration of internal mental states. It suggests that only observable behaviors should be studied, since internal states such as cognitions, emotions, and moods are too subjective.

2.  "The Invisible doesn't Exist." - B.F. Skinner (1904~1990)

3. Positivism is a way of thinking developed by Auguste Comte and is based on the assumption that it is possible to observe social life and establish reliable, valid knowledge about how it works. Positivism also argues that sociology should concern itself only with what can be observed with the senses and that theories of social life should be built in a rigid, linear, and methodical way on a base of verifiable fact. It has had relatively little influence on contemporary sociology, however, because it is argued that it encourages a misleading emphasis on superficial facts without any attention to underlying mechanisms that cannot be observed.


Final Thought

Positivism focuses on the scientific and objective evidences and researching. It excepts invisible and abstract hypothesis and datas from study. Like this, In psychology, Behaviorism focuses on visible human's behavior and considered abstract phenomenon like belief and desire, which are important things for Sigmund Freud as useless things in studying. However, Positivism is used in many fields such as philosophy, science and meteorology and behaviorism is used in relatively narrow fields like pedagogy and psychology.  So, I can reach the conclusion that behaviorism is one kind of positivism.