History and Systems of Psych. Psychology Assignment

History and Systems of Psychology 
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 History and Systems of Psychology
Question 1
a) Influence of Structuralism and Empiricism on Watson’s Proclamation 
Structuralism was a school of psychology started in 1879 by Wilhelm Wundt, championing for what he called elements. Proponents of structuralism argued that conscious elements could be broken down into their components and be identified by those elements (Watson, 1913). Wundt carried out much research in the laboratory, seeking to prove that all known elements could be broken down into their basic elements. Watson’s proclamation that he could take anyone at random and train him to become any specialist was a refutation of the structuralist school of psychology that had dominated the society at that time. Watson was opposed to structuralism because it argued that a person’s nature could be deduced from individual components of individual behaviors. His emphasis that he could train infants to become any specialist implied that infants are like blank-plates. That they are born without anything and that they could be taught new behavior depending on the type of environment that they were exposed to. 
Unlike structuralism, proponents of empiricism argued that knowledge is learned by experience. When Watson said that he could train infants to become whatever he wanted, he ruled out the possibility of the impact of genes on a person’s behavior. From Watson’s point of view, people are born without knowledge, and they only gain knowledge after exposure to experiences. According to Dewey (2008), Watson declared that he was a behaviorist. Behaviorists ruled out introspection, which was a special type of structuralism that claimed that one could do a self-examination of personal thoughts and feelings. Watson made his proclamation because he was opposed to the idea that thoughts or feelings had anything to do with a person’s behavior. He championed for a field of psychology that emphasized that behaviors be learned. An example is when one places his finger in the fire. If a child places a finger in the fire and the fire burns the finger so that the child feels pain, the child will grow up afraid of fire. Empiricism holds here because the knowledge will have been gained from experience. This, however, is against structuralism or introspection which could have called for one to inspect the feeling of pain and find the cause of pain. Structuralism focused on private behavior, while empiricism and behaviorism focused on external observable factors. 
b) Some Psychologists would support 
It is still common to find psychologists supporting the role of external factors on behavior. Even though some psychologists argue that genes have a direct influence on behavior, behaviorists still support Watson’s school of thinking because he carried out a study in the lab and proved that behavior is learned. Operand conditioning and classical conditioning are extensions of Watson’s behavior. Proponents of operant conditioning argue that behaviors are learned. Behaviors can be positive or negative. Positive behavior can be learned through reinforcement or punis...