Introduction
Psychology initially lacked objectivity, and thus it was difficult to label it as a science. Drawing on Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Titchener’s works, psychology was focused on examining one’s consciousness through introspection. Psychologists at the time were not concerned with observable behavior but rather mental states such as thoughts and feelings. From this, assumptions were made as to how the mind organizes information, the factors that affect the mind, and the structure of the mind. Sigmund Freud contributed to this mentalistic approach by focusing on internal conflicts that take place in the unconscious mind and how these unresolved conflicts could lead to psychopathology. Freud’s work spread quickly and took a stronghold in Europe. Many psychologists in the United States believed in Freud’s work, but there were a few who wanted psychology to return to a science, including John Watson.
John Watson founded behaviorism with the goal to scientifically study human...
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DiBlasi, T., Waters, L. (2017). Behaviorism. In: Vonk, J., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_1230-1
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