There are... for us no instincts—we no longer need the term in psychology. Everything we have been in the habit of calling an 'instinct' today is a result largely of training—belonging to man's learned behavior.
John B. WatsonRead
Psychology, as the behaviorist views it, is a purely objective, experimental branch of natural science which needs introspection as little as do the sciences of chemistry and physics.... The position is taken here that the behavior of man and the behavior of animals must be considered in the same plane.
Interpretation
Watson argues that psychology should be an objective and empirical science, akin to chemistry and physics.
John B. Watson's quote emphasizes the objective nature of psychology as a scientific field, advocating that it should be studied experimentally and without relying on introspection. He asserts that the behaviors of humans and animals should be analyzed in a similar manner, suggesting that the principles of behavior are universal and that psychological science should align with the rigor found in the natural sciences.
In practice
In a psychology conference to highlight the importance of empirical research methods.
There are... for us no instincts—we no longer need the term in psychology. Everything we have been in the habit of calling an 'instinct' today is a result largely of training—belonging to man's learned behavior.
The Behaviorist cannot find consciousness in the test-tube of his science.
Nobody ever told us all matter radiated. We just assumed it did.
Now that we can read and write the genetic code, put it in digital form and translate it back into synthesized life, it will be possible to speed up biological evolution to the pace of social evolution.
Wherever there is a design that is highly successful in a broad range of similar environments, it is apt to emerge again and again, independently - the phenomenon known in biology as convergent evolution. I call these designs 'good tricks.'
Venus has a runaway greenhouse effect. I kind of want to know what happened there because we're twirling knobs here on Earth without knowing the consequences of it. Mars once had running water. It's bone dry today. Something bad happened there as well.
Deep non-REM sleep almost hits the save button on those recently acquired informational pieces so that when you wake up the next morning, you have remembering rather than forgetting.
I've been so lucky to have done two spacewalks. If you looked at your wristwatch, I was outside about 15 hours, which is about 10 times around the world. And, you know, there's a whole time dilation, distortion thing.
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