Thorndike realized that the correct response occurred by chance during the first trial and it wasn't until several trials later that the correct response occurred because of learning. The behaviors of the cat would become less randomized until the cat could immediately escape the puzzle box on the first attempt. Watson's experiment on Peter, the 3-year old boy who feared rabbits, similarly required several trails until learning occurred. During each trial, a rabbit would be brought progressively closer to Peter while he was eating inside of the room. Eventually, Peter got used to the rabbit and learned to no longer fear rabbits. .
The experiments conducted by behaviorists had many similarities to the experiments conducted by animal psychologists. Also, the basic ideas of behaviorism were similar to the ideas of animal psychologists. "Thorndike believed that psychology must study behavior, not mental elements or conscious experience" (Schultz, 2000, p. 255). Behaviorists agreed with the belief of this animal psychologist. They felt that conscious experience was meaningless for a science of behavior. Furthermore, the movement toward greater objectivity in science was similar in behaviorism, animal psychology and functionalism.
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.