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Whilst there is fundamental disagreement between behaviourist and humanist ideologies in the matter of the degree of choice that individuals might exercise over the circumstances of life, it seems that many humanist, self-development writers have no difficulty making use of learning concepts introduced by psychologists of the behaviourist school. To the extent therefore, that behaviourist concepts of learning have been embraced by humanist, self-development writers, there is little conflict. In various schools of psychology beginning with Freud, a particularly persistent idea concerns the progression of the individual through some set of pre-defined, developmental stages to eventually reach full maturity - should development proceed normally. The appeal of such paradigms lies in simplification of the problems of mental health, and the relative ease by which treatment may be prescribed, according to such models, once a person's improper development has been diagnosed. Many of these models have been proposed by developmental psychologists such as Erikson, who postulates eight distinct stages of development from infancy to old-age. But as McNeil pointed out, ideas about the nature of development have pervaded literature since the earliest times - Erikson would, no doubt, be aware of Shakespeare's seven ages of man. Let us begin therefore with some consideration of what is meant by the phrase: humanistic notions of self-development. McNeil (1979) says that, in this context, 'development refers to movement over time in the direction of complexity of organisation of a living organism'. It is a statement reminiscent of Piaget's proposal concerning how the developing child is seeking to make sense of the world. In order to evolve an understanding, he proposes, the child makes use of processes which he defines as, assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation, he says, is the process of fitting new information into existing understanding; and accommodation, he proposes, is concerned with the modification of old ideas to produce new frames of reference. An interesting, and related, alternative to this proposal comes from the area of personal constructs. Kelly proposed that individuals modify their thinking as their personal constructs are reinforced or challenged by new information - moving to tighter or looser constructs as a consequence. Bannister & Fransella (1986), explain that tighter constructs are those which are well-articulated and closely related; looser constructs are poorly verbalised and vaguely related. Kelly argued that development occurs when a person moves from loose constructs to tight constructs, and vice versa. Thus it appears that Kelly's & Piaget's ideas about cognitive development are similar, in that they both seek to explain how people expand their thinking paradigms to cope with new information. In Sara Meadows' discussion of fundamental theoretical issues in cognitive development, (Bryant & Coleman 1995) she emphasises the important distinction between change and development. Is the process of development, she asks rhetorically, merely a matter of change, or is it more concerned with 'progress and improvement'? Developmental approaches have perhaps emphasised the former, or have treated the matter of progress and improvement as if it were a question of pre-programmed change. In the nature versus nurture discussions which have focused on the relative importance of heredity and environmental factors in the development of the individual, humanist and behaviourist theory both emphasise the significance of the environment. Beneath this broad agreement however, there is fundamental disagreement. A major area of contention concerns the matter of freewill in connection with the progression of individuals through life, toward some ultimate goal; a process which has been termed self-actualisation by some psychologists, including both Maslow & Rogers, of the humanist school. Behaviourist theory seeks to reduce the importance of freewill in the decisions which govern individual actions - according to the Oxford Companion to the Mind (Gregory (1987), it is 'the central tenet of behaviourism'. Humanist theory, on the other hand, is primarily concerned with the concept of self - according to Tennant (1993) in his Psychology and Adult Learning, it is the 'hallmark of humanistic psychology'. Behaviourism then, proposes that the human being is simply a product of the environment over which the individual exercises little control. Behaviourist theory was heavily influenced by the work of John Watson. The article from the Oxford Companion states that he was 'born in Greenvine', his mother was 'a zealous Baptist', his father was a 'misfit' who 'enjoyed bourbon' and who finally left his 'pious wife' to take up residence with two 'Indian women'. The entry further suggests that it was Watson's personal dislike of Carl Rogers - a major influence in humanistic thinking - that 'made him hostile' to the ideas of humanism. It is interesting to note, in passing, that the argument that Watson's behaviourist theories were essentially, a product of his personal circumstances is itself a product of the behaviourist mentality. Whilst acknowledging the formative effect of environmental factors, humanism additionally postulates that the formulation of the concept of self is central to both the process of individual development itself, and also to the ultimate product of that process - the formation of character and the achievement of some ultimate goal or purpose in life. In The Concept of Human Development, McNeil puts it this way, 'the humanistic position [is that] human nature is what you make it; and the ultimate limits of what can be constructed with human clay are perhaps beyond imagination.' The degree of choice which individuals may or may not exercise over the circumstances of life is the substance of an interesting philosophical discussion; and not one we will dwell on here. Whether or not the choices we make are the ones we are pre-determined to make, we may see that these two ideologies - behaviourism and humanism - sit at the opposite ends of what we may call the freewill versus determinism construct. The darker side of behaviourism has been thoroughly explored in the novels of Orwell and Huxley. Nineteen Eighty Four and Brave New World were both primarily concerned with the prospect of state control by behaviourist means - Orwell cleverly using rats as a means of shaping Winston's behaviour to produce the required response. We will now consider to what extent behaviourist theory has been incorporated into popular theories of self-development. To do this, we will evaluate the central themes of a few, self-development writers of the humanist school. The application of the humanistic approach to self-development can be seen in a body of popular writing from which we will consider the work of Steven Covey, Susan Jeffers, Jack Black and Zig Ziglar. Zig Ziglar's work is representative of many writers who have emphasised the importance of goal-setting in the process of self-development. The basic suggestion is that the management and allocation of time in daily and weekly schedules should be primarily goal-directed. Many such writers have cited the setting and reaching of a first goal as an important, first step in the process of becoming a goal-oriented individual. It is immediately apparent that the suggestion that goal-achievement carries its own rewards, and that these rewards are a valuable means of self-perpetuation, is based upon the positive reinforcement principle which is central to behaviourism. In his best-selling, book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, in which Steven Covey expounds the humanist approach, his habit number one is identified as 'be pro-active'. By this, he proposes that man (neutral gender) is fundamentally a decision-making creature, and that to exercise this capacity for decision-making is, by his definition, to be pro-active. At the opposite end of his construct is reactivity; the proposal that the nature of mankind might be analysed in terms of programmed, or conditioned responses to whatever stimuli are present. Covey states that the realisation that the human being has the freedom to choose responses in any situation, is the fruit of this habit. In becoming more 'effective', Covey's basic suggestion - to set about deliberately attempting to acquire certain, key habits - is fundamentally, a behaviourist suggestion. But not one which is alien to the humanist: John E Anderson had suggested that characteristics of developing systems included, activation, or the decision to act in a specific way (Covey's pro-activity); mechanisation, or the formation of habits; and cumulation, or the accumulation of good habits. Covey says that 'skill, attitude and knowledge' are the important factors in the acquisition of habits of character. By consciously choosing (attitude) to repeat a behaviour enough times (development of skill) in order to formulate and internalise a chosen (knowledge) habit, Covey sounds very close to the behaviourists; it was Watson, after all, who had first proposed 'strict habit training'. In many self-development books, of which Feel the Fear and do it Anyway is representative, the issue of fear is also addressed; often described as the fear of failure and the fear of success. If individuals are constantly moving, by choice, into situations which induce the fear response, then it becomes necessary to develop a strategy for dealing with it. The proposed strategy is often based upon behaviourist thinking - the conditioning, or de-conditioning of behaviour. The basic proposal is that fear may be overcome by confronting it - that is, recognising its presence but, by exercising what Covey has referred to as 'pro-activity', not allowing it to influence behaviour. The central themes of the book amount to a reworking of the concepts of 'flooding', or controlled exposure to the fear-inducing stimulus; 'modelling', or seeing others cope with the conditioned stimulus; and 'de-sensitisation' or counter-conditioning - some of the key principles of behaviour therapy. Jack Black's Mindstore program suggests an alternative approach. One of his proposals is for the individual to make adjustments of vocabulary in order to always translate statements into positive language, rather than expressing the events of life in negative terms. This is said to impact the feelings and emotions which flow as a response to thought stimuli. Each thought, he says, is processed through a stimulus, belief-system, response loop. Another of his central suggestions is that by the repetition of certain affirmations, it is possible to eventually convince the sub-conscious to change those beliefs about the individual which may be self-limiting. Physiological reactions, such as fear, need not then be the automatic response of a system so adjusted to process the stimuli presented by the circumstances of the current reality. Within these suggestions, the whole language of stimulus and response is borrowed from behaviourism. It seems therefore that whilst many popular self-development writers advocate humanistic notions of self-development such as the concept of self-actualisation, they have also borrowed freely from the principles of behaviourist psychology. That there is a wider disagreement between these two ideologies in relation to the role of freewill is a consideration which is largely ignored by humanist writers.
Bibliography Bannister Don & Fransella Fay (1986), Inquiring Man: The Psychology of Personal Constructs, New Hampshire: Croom Helm. Black Jack (1996), Mindstore for Personal Development, Thorsons. Bryant Peter E & Colman Andrew M (1995), Developmental Psychology, New York: Longman. Covey Steven (1997), The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Covey Leadership Centre. Gregory Richard L (1987), Oxford Companion to the Mind, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Jeffers Susan (1991), Feel the Fear and do it Anyway, Arrow Books. McNeil Elton B (1979), The Concept of Human Development, California: Wadsworth. Mowrer Hobart (1950), Learning Theory & Personality Dynamics, New York: Ronald Press. Piaget J (1961), 'The Genetic Approach to the Psychology of Thought', Journal of Educational Psychology, 52. Tennant Mark (1993), Psychology & Adult Learning, London: Routledge. Ziglar Zig [Zigglar] (1995), Goals: Setting & Achieving them On Schedule, Simon & Schuster.
References Bannister Don & Fransella Fay (1986), Inquiring Man: The Psychology of Personal Constructs, New Hampshire: Croom Helm, 77. Bryant Peter E & Colman Andrew M (1995), Developmental Psychology, New York: Longman. Gregory Richard L (1987), Oxford Companion to the Mind, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 71-77. McNeil Elton B (1979), The Concept of Human Development, California: Wadsworth, 1-6. Tennant Mark (1993), Psychology & Adult Learning, London: Routledge, 13.
Assignment To what extent is there a conflict between humanistic notions of self-development, and behaviourist conceptions of learning? Illustrate your argument with practical examples.
William A Edwards 2000 Words
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