The Branch of Behaviorism and Gestalt Theory
Behaviorism is a branch of psychology that is based on the observation of behavior, as well as its analysis, to better understand the stimuli that cause certain behaviors.
Edward Lee Thorndike (1874-1949), predecessor of American behavioral psychology, among its main contributions was the elaboration of the learning theory by essay-error “The Law of the Effect”, which describes whether an answer followed by a stimulus by a stimulus by a stimulusWhether satisfactory or not, there is always a reaction to the stimulus. To develop his investigations he relied on the study of animals, (cats), using tools such as the “the box puzzles” or “box-problem”, in which the animal had to act the mechanism to get out of it.
For its founder John B. Watson (1878-1958), psychology was the study of observable and measurable behavior. He claimed that it was possible to reach the desired behavior just by controlling the person’s environment. The root of his work was the basis of the studies and the legacy of the Russian Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936), he was the main representative of conditioning, which states that all behavior is caused by the stimulus-response relationship, which he called"Conditioned reflex", the study of this theory was very important for psychology to establish bases to the experimental study of behavior.
Bhurrus f. Skinner (1904-1990) extended the influence of behaviorism with its analysis of the consequences of behavior, thus developing neoconductism.
Both Watson and Skinner believed that the basic processes that investigated with certain animals, could also be practiced for humans, thought that the mind and nervous system were a "black box", worrying about what was happening inside, morethat what happened outside of it.
What is the most relevant contribution of behaviorism to psychology?
One of the most significant contributions of behaviorism is to be able to solve the behavior of human behavior, based on different research and methods to achieve the understanding of certain behavioral patterns and how to modify them, with the use of several techniques or methods.
As for the field of education, behavioral psychology made important contributions, since as we know behaviorism states that most of our behavior is based on learning. Referring to education this method ventured into special education, which is attributed to Bijou studies, methodologies, theories, about: autism, language problems, socialization, learning, partial or total auditory weakness, some capacities syndromedifferent, among others, all of them treated as a functional problem.
There are certain procedures prior to the modification of behavior, some of them, being the basis of behaviorism are the following:
The observation, which focuses on exploring the characteristics of a behavior, situations or events that occur at a given time.
Reinforcers, being the consequence followed to any behavior, in which over the years and using within behaviorism several types of reinforcers, both positive and negative, it has been possible to verify that using in certain positive reinforcing situations increases the probabilitiesthat the target behavior is reached and maintained. There are several types of reinforcements, since the observable case does not always work with the same method and even in the same case several reinforcers can be combined until the desired result.
Registration, the registration of observable behaviors is necessary, for this there are different types of narratives, scale of appreciation, comparison lists, observable protocols, codes of conduct, the use of chips, among others. In these records, the behavior against stimuli, reinforcers and their recurrence or maintenance is written down, until the intervention can declare a success reaching the target behavior.
Behavioral modification techniques, in which it can be seen although less and less effective the use of punishments, although there are both positive and negative, used before certain behaviors not quite appropriate and time was, all these techniqueso Methods are some of the reinforcers program, which have the same purpose with each other, which is to obtain and reach in a successful and permanent way to that desired behavior for the good of the subject and those involved.
Behaviorism covers many areas not only in education although for my criteria it is one of the most relevant areas and other contributions, its basis being learning and human behavior, which is necessary for everything else, in the social, organizational sphere, organizational,labor, personal, psychological, to mention some.
Gestalt theory arises as a model of philosophical and epistemological thought which sought to modify the discoveries and research that traditional science defended in the beginning. Thinkers like Kant and Descartes developed the theoretical basis on which this current and school developed.
It is a current of modern psychology that begins in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century, the most recognized exponents, who showed interest in certain games of the human mind were: Max Wertheimer (1880-1943), Wolfgang Köhler (1887-1967)and Kurt Koffka (1886-1941), to mention some. They focused on how we perceive or understand what surrounds us from our own mind. Studying thinking, learning and perception in the form of complete units, instead of analyzing each separate experience.
Although there is no translation into Spanish precisely, it can be interpreted as "totality", "structure", "organized unit", its motto was: "The whole is greater than the parts of the sum"
Gestalt therapy is raised from a humanistic approach, proposed alternatives to psychological paradigms and hence great contributions to cognitive psychology arose.
The ideas of this theory helps us better understand how we interpret and process reality.
What is the most relevant contribution of Gestalt to psychology?
One of the most relevant contributions, of this current exposed by Wertheimer is focused on configuring the mind, through stimulus grouping factors in simpler structures that arrive through sensory channels, such as;Perception or memory, thought, intelligence, resolution of problems, based on the experience we have in our environment, is the elaboration of "gestalt laws", also known as "laws of perception":
The law of proximity, partial or sequential grouping of elements by our distance based on distance.
Law of similarity, our mind groups similar elements in an entity, depends on the shape, size, color and other visual aspects of the elements.
Law of the good continuation, the details that maintain a pattern or direction tend to group together as part of a model.
Closing Law is characterized by the tendency of our brain to complete the spaces of a composition when the elements do not close.
Law of common destiny, objects that are grouped and move towards the same direction, sometimes these patterns usually deceive our brain with an illusion of movement.
As for the contribution for mental health as therapy, based on humanistic techniques, it is characterized by focusing more than in the disease in the search to generate health from the patient’s abilities. The therapy focuses on what is happening at the time, in "the here and now", subtracting importance from the past, because it has already passed and the future, since it has not yet arrived. It has influences of both psychoanalysis and oriental philosophy, which is based on living the present moment.
This therapy makes the patient take responsibility for what happens to him, without blaming anything, or anyone outside him.
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