NEO-BEHAVIOURISTS:Clark Hull, Edward Tolman, Edwin Gutherie

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History and Systems of Psychology PSY502

Lesson 20

NEO-BEHAVIOURISTS

Neo-Behaviourists are psychologists who adopted the line of thinking and methodology of Watson,

but were born or worked after Watson. Watsonian behaviourism gave a new direction to the science of

psychology. The old method of introspection and speculation as a means of information for psychology was

rejected and a more scientific outlook was adopted. Only concrete facts were considered which were

observable. Therefore, behaviourism became very much as the heart of psychological thought. Neo-

behaviourists followed the Watsonian line of thinking although they were born after Watson.

Clark Hull

The first neo-behaviourist was Clark Hull who was born in 1884 and died in 1952. He was an

engineer and a mathematician but later turned into a psychologist. He taught at the University of Wisconsin.

Hull attended Koffka's lecture on Gestalt psychology at Wisconsin University and was impressed with the

Gestalt School. He had also read Pavlov's English translation of "Conditioned Reflexes," and liked it very

much. His explanation of human behaviour therefore reflects both the Gestalt and the Pavlovian points of

view.

Since Clark Hull was basically a mathematician, he aimed at expressing his views in mathematical

terms very precisely. He gave a mathematical equation which explained his view point. The equation is as

follows:

SER=

D x V x K x SHR

Where:

SER,

is behaviour

D, is drive, our need within

V, is Valence or stimulus intensity

K, is incentive, motivation

SHR

is habit

Therefore, according to Hull, behaviour is dependent upon drive, valance, incentive and habit.

Since Hull was a behaviourist he tried to simplify behaviour and according to him, as a person acts in a

certain manner or behaves in a certain manner, the driving forces behind it are D, V, K and SHR. Drive

according to Hull is the need inside a person. A person may want to achieve a certain goal, reach a target or

perhaps want to have some possession for him. All these things constitute the drive inside the person are

expressed as D in Hull's equation.

V is the intensity of the stimulus that governs certain behaviour. In other words, it is how strongly

the stimulus is registered by the sense organs of the body.

K is the incentive or the motivation. It is the target or the reward that the individual or the subject

aims at. It serves as the incentive for the subject to behave in a certain manner which would allow him to

reach the reward.

The last component of Hull's equation of behaviour is SHR, which is the habit that a person

develops. Behaviourists had given the explanations for why habits are developed. Hull carried forward their

ideas and said that habits also serve in determining how a person behaves.

History and Systems of Psychology PSY502

In simple terms behaviour is the result of many factors that include D: drive, V: attraction or

repulsion, K: motivation and habit. As it can be seen, his theory rests mainly on looking at performance, on

observing overall overt behaviour and that is why he is classified as a behaviourist.

Edward Tolman

Edward Tolman was another American, who was born in 1886 and died in 1961. He studied at

Harvard and was impressed by William James and Watson. Tolman believed that psychology is a science of

behaviour and psychologists should concentrate on the study of behaviour only and in addition to it he said

that behaviour has a "purpose." That is why he is also called a "purposive behaviourist."

He defined behaviour in a precise equation that is:

B= f (S, A)

Where:

B is behaviour

f is the function of

S is situation variables

A is antecedent variables

This means that behaviour is a function of situational variables and antecedent variables.

A situational variable is any variable that is a part of the situation/environment that affects a subject's

behaviour in a way, for example the hot or cold weather.

An antecedent variable is a variable that is a part of the subject such as age, gender etc. and it impacts its

behaviour. Therefore, his explanation of behaviour was very precise. Because of his theory of explanation of

behaviour, Tolman is classified as a neo-behaviourist.

Edwin Gutherie

Edwin Gutherie was also a prominent neo-behaviourist who was born in 1886 and died in 1960.

Unlike his contemporary psychologists, Gutherie was less an experimentalist and more an observer.

Based upon his observations, he put forward the view that behaviour can be predicted and controlled by the

"law of recency," given by Thorndike, which states that "the last act is most likely to be repeated."

Therefore, behaviourism to Gutherie is repetition of the "last act." Thorndike proposed his law of recency

based on experiments that he conducted on cats. Therefore, the basis of Gutherie's thoughts resides in

experimentalism.

Gutherie had also read Freud and was impressed by his method of treatment of mental disorders.

Based upon his behaviourist outlook, Gutherie developed a theory of neurosis in his book "The Psychology

of Human Conflict" and because of this he may be regarded as one of the first behaviourist

psychotherapists. He explained neurosis to be caused due to conflict of responses.

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