One of the major critics of behaviorism was William McDougall. McDougall was a prominent psychologist in the early 20th century and his ideas were in direct opposition to the views of John B. Watson, the founder of behaviorism.
McDougall’s criticism of Watson’s system primarily stemmed from his rejection of the theory of instinct. McDougall believed that humans and animals possess innate instincts that guide their behavior. He argued that these instincts are biologically determined and serve as the basis for complex behaviors such as aggression, mating, and nurturing. Watson, on the other hand, rejected the concept of instinct and believed that all behavior could be explained through conditioning and environmental factors.
One of McDougall’s criticisms of Watson was that his total rejection of the method of introspection eliminated a great deal of valuable and legitimate data in psychology. Introspection was the method used by early psychologists to study and understand the inner experiences and mental processes of individuals. McDougall argued that by dismissing introspection, behaviorism was ignoring important aspects of human behavior and consciousness.
McDougall also criticized behaviorism for its exclusive focus on observable behavior, neglecting the role of cognition and subjective experiences. He believed that behaviorism oversimplified the complexities of human behavior by reducing it to simple stimulus-response associations. McDougall emphasized the importance of understanding the individual’s subjective experiences and mental processes in order to fully grasp human behavior.
In addition to McDougall, other critics of behaviorism included Gestalt psychologists such as Max Wertheimer and Kurt Koffka. They argued that behaviorism failed to account for the holistic nature of perception and cognition, focusing solely on the individual elements of stimuli and responses. Gestalt psychologists emphasized the importance of studying the whole rather than just the sum of its parts.
To summarize, William McDougall and other critics of behaviorism challenged its rejection of instinct theory, dismissal of introspection, and exclusive focus on observable behavior. They argued for a more holistic and comprehensive approach to understanding human behavior that takes into account subjective experiences, cognition, and the complexities of human nature.