By the second decade of the twentieth century, the scientific Zeitgeist was shifting away from the less objective older sciences and toward the more objective science of behaviorism. The new science quickly grew popularity among the younger scientists. College students studying psychology and other sciences yearned for a chance to work with Watson. However, the popularity of behaviorism did not last very long. The behaviorist movement ultimately fell into the background as a more cognitive approach began to emerge.

The most important antecedent of behaviorism was animal psychology. Watson state

As the behaviorist movement was flourishing in the United States, the Gestalt revolution was simultaneously occurring in Germany. Despite the fact that both movements occurred at approximately the same time, they hardly shared any other similarities. One of the major dissimilarities between Gestalt psychology and Behaviorism was each movement’s idea on the value of consciousness in psychology. While Gestalt psychologists accepted the value of consciousness, behaviorists strongly refused to acknowledge the usefulness of consciousness in a truly scientific psychology. “Gestalt psychologists also disputed the behaviorists denial of the validity of introspection and their discarding any recognition of consciousness” (Schultz, 2000, p. 367). Koffka, the most inventive founder of Gestalt psychology, believed that without consciousness behaviorism was little more than a collection of animal studies.

Functionalism, another important antecedent of behaviorism, emphasized behavior and objectivity. It had little use for introspection and other methods dealing with consciousness. The scientific Zeitgeist of this time was moving toward a more objective approach to the study of science. William Montague presented a paper at the APA’s New York branch, which spoke about discarding the “concept of mind or consciousness to substitute the concept of behavior as the sufficient object of psychological study” (quoted in Benjamin, 1993, p. 77). It was apparent that the concept of consciousness was no longer welcome as part of the study of psychology. Angell, perhaps the most progressive functional psychologists, suggested “that it would be profitable if consciousness were forgotten and animal and human behavior described objectively instead” (Schultz, 2000, p. 272).

d that “Behaviorism is a direct outgrowth of the studies in animal behavior during the first decade of the twentieth century” (Watson, 1929, p. 327). Thorndike, the most important researcher in animal psychology, conducted an experiment that serves as a good example of the relationship between animal psychology and behaviorism. His puzzle box was designed to study animal learning as well as animal behaviors.

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