Chapter Summary<\/summary>\nThis chapter explores the rise, dominance, and decline of behaviourism in twentieth-century American psychology, using Thomas Kuhn\u2019s concept of the scientific paradigm as a critical thinking tool. It traces how behaviourism redefined psychology as the study of observable behaviour, rooted in empiricism, environmental determinism, and prediction and control. Through the work of key figures such as John B. Watson, B. F. Skinner, Edward Tolman, and John Garcia, the chapter examines how behaviourism functioned as a paradigm that shaped research questions, methods, and assumptions about human and animal nature. The chapter discusses how anomalies, including Chomsky\u2019s critique of language acquisition, Tolman\u2019s theory of cognitive maps, and Garcia\u2019s findings on biological constraints, challenged the coherence of the behaviourist model. These tensions culminated in the replacement of behaviourism with a new paradigm centred on internal mental processes and symbolic representation: the cognitive revolution. In addition to tracing this epistemological and ontological shift, the chapter also interrogates behaviourism\u2019s alignment with systems of power and discipline, drawing on Michel Foucault\u2019s concepts of social control. While behaviourism no longer dominates psychology, its legacy persists in applied fields such as behaviour therapy, education, and artificial intelligence. The chapter invites us to reflect critically on how scientific frameworks both reflect and shape the societies in which they arise.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Chapter 11 – Quiz<\/h2>\n\n\n\n