Psychologists were quick to begin using conditioning on children soon after it’s conception
Psychologists were quick to see how behaviorism would work on children. In 1920, John B. Watson demonstrated classical conditioning on Little Albert, a nine-month-old baby. He did this by clanging an iron pipe and showing him a rat at the same time, and Little Albert learnt to cry when he saw rats. It wouldn’t get through a modern ethics committee, particularly since they didn’t decondition him afterwards. No one knows what happened to Little Albert but, by 1928, Watson was writing manuals on using behavioral principles to bring up children. He considered that there were only three unconditioned emotions: fear, rage and love. Everything else was learnt by behaviorist principles and therefore parents needed to be careful to condition their child in the right way
Watson’s advice hasn’t dated well; in particular, his recommendation to interact with your children in a detached, business-like fashion. He did, however, start off a fashion for routine and habit-forming parenting which still continues today. Get the parent’s behavior right, was his message. The child will learn the correct behavioral associations, and all will be well. Behaviorism assumes that it is external entities that control learning.
References
- Fisher, Naomi. (2021). Changing Our Minds Chapter 2. Learning – Scientists, Processors and Rats (p. 42). London, UK: Robinson Publishing.
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Type:🔴 Tags: Politics / Education / Psychology Status:☀️