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ABSTRACT: The evolution of behaviorism from its explicit beginning with John B. Watson's declaration in 1913 to the behaviorisms of the present is considered briefly. Contributions of behaviorism to scientific psychology then and now are critically assessed, arriving at the conclusion that regardless of whether or not its opponents and proponents are aware, the essential points of behaviorism have now been absorbed into all of scientific psychology. It will assist the progress of the science of psychology if its focus now shifts away from incessant relivings of outdated argumentation to empirical discovery and theory construction based on those discoveries.
Key words: behaviorism, Watson, Titchener, introspection, cognitive psychology, consciousness, Wittgenstein, science of psychology
Reductive materialism in general and strict Behaviorism in particular. . .are instances of the numerous class of theories which are so preposterously silly that only very learned men could have thought of them. (Broad, 1923, p. 17)
Psychology has been in a state of perpetual flux throughout its history; more so, it would seem, than any other scholarly discipline. Neverending debates, verging on bickering and sometimes acrimonious, have been about fundamental issues that on any reasonable consideration would be expected to have been resolved by now but have not been. Issues such as what constitutes the proper subject matter of psychology, what kinds of questions should be posed in psychological inquiry, by what methods data should be obtained, how such data should be interpreted, and even the issue, if it is one, of the place and importance of theory in psychological science. Thus far, the condition of contemporary psychology broadly, and the causes of that condition in any detail, have remained unexamined.
Most textbooks on the history of psychology merely chronicle events, dates of emergence of theories, births and deaths of eminent persons, etc., and stop there. There is, however, room, indeed urgent need, for a comprehensive study that deals with such issues. If we do not know how we got here, we are liable to go astray in deciding where we go from here.
The dimensions of this paper are minuscule in the face of that daunting task, and no such attempt is made. Here only behaviorism, its emergence and growth, its contemporary state, and its future will be discussed-all...