Comparative View Of Two Dinsti

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of psychology was caused by his belief that the power of the scientific method rested on the idea of verifiability. In principle, scientific claims can always be verified (or disproved) by anyone who is able and willing to make the required observations. However, this power depends on studying things that can be observed objectively. Otherwise, the advantage of using the scientific approach -replacing vague speculations and personal opinion with reliable, exact knowledge - is lost.
For Watson mental processes were not a proper subject for scientific study because they are ultimately private events. After all, no one can see or touch another's thoughts. Consequently, if psychology were to be a science, it would have to give up consciousness as its subject matter and become instead the science of behaviour.

Behaviour refers to any overt (observable) response or activity by an organism. Watson asserted that psychologists could study anything that people do or say -shopping, ...

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that had begun its life a few decades earlier as the study of the mind now found itself heavily involved in the study of simple responses made by laboratory animals.

Watson's behaviourism had two specific objectives: to predict the response, knowing the stimulus, and to predict the stimulus, knowing the response. Watson's assumptions were stated directly and carefully, although not in formal postulation form. The major ones are:

1 Behaviour is composed of response elements and can be successfully analysed by natural scientific methods.
2 Behaviour is composed entirely of glandular secretions and muscular movements; thus it is reducible ultimately to physicochemical processes.
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