Dispositional Optimism Essay -- Psychology, Behaviorism

Behaviorism is an essential part of our daily lives since it reflects how we learn and deal with varying circumstances. Schacter, Gilbert and Wegner (2011) states that behaviorism restricts psychologists to focus strictly on observable behavior it rejects the emphasis of the conscious and unconscious mind (p. 16). Ivan Pavlov, who was a Russian physiologist, discovered this concept when he researched the role that saliva play on digestion. In his experiment, he gave the dogs meat powder to see how they would salivate to it. After a while, he noticed that the dogs salivated even before he gave them forage if the dogs saw the white lab coat, put in the harness, hear the sound of a buzzer, or the ringing of a bell. He then concluded that these dogs were development from the environment, which at first, they thought was an annoyance, leading Pavlov to the innocent conditioning process - which says that we learn through pairings and association (Ryan, G. (2013) Lectures o n Learning. Personal Collection of G. Ryan, Suffolk County Community College, Bren cardinalod NY). Another countenance of behaviorism was John B. Watson, who wanted to demonstrate that even sophisticated behaviors such as emotion are subject to classical conditioning. Watson conducted a study know as Little Albert, where he taught the infant to fear the white rat, which was originally a neutral stimulus. Every time the rat appeared, he would bang two metal pipes together to scare the infant. Consequently, it resulted to Little Albert to fear similar objects to the rat- known as stimulus generalization, and in this case, it was a broad selection of animals. However, according to the authors Schacter, Gilbert, and Wegner (2011) classical conditioning stu... ...the end, you are the only one who can truly put you in the dark. Moreover, you, yourself, are the one who can take you out of your darkness. ReferencesBrodhagen, A., Wise, D. (2008). Optimism as a Mediator Between the Experience of Child Abuse, Other Traumatic Events, and Distress. Journal Of Family Violence, 23(6), 403-411Brunk, L., Hirsch, J. K., LaLonde, S. M., Morris, A. P., and Wolford, K., 2007 (2007). Dispositional Optimism as a Moderator of the Relationship Between Negative Life Events and Suicide Ideation and Attempts. cognitive Therapy & Research, 31(4), 533-546.Ryan, G. (2013) Lectures on Learning. Personal Collection of G. Ryan, Suffolk County Community College, Brentwood NYSchacter, D. L., Gilbert, D.T., and Wegner, D.M., (2011). Learning (p. 16 and 177). Psychology (Second Edition). New York, N.Y Worth Publishers.