What is Behaviorism?

behaviorism is a School of Psychology that emphasizes the study of observable Behavior rather than subjective experiences or mental processes it is a theory that focuses on the actions that individuals take in response to external stimuli and how these actions can be modified through reinforcement and Punishment behaviorism emerged in the early 20th century as a reaction against the introspective methods of psychology that dominated the field at the time it was led by the American psychologist John Watson who famously declared that psychology as the behaviorist views it is a purely objective experimental branch of Natural Science Watson

argued that psychology should focus on observable behavior and reject any reference to subjective experiences which he believed were unscientific and impossible to measure another influential behaviorist was the American psychologist BF Skinner who developed the theory of operant conditioning which suggests that behavior is shaped by the consequences that follow it Skinner's work emphasized the role of reinforcement and Punishment in shaping behavior and led to the development of techniques such as behavior modification and token economies behaviorism is based on the following key principles one focus on observable Behavior behaviorism's focus on observable Behavior means that it studies

the actions of individuals in respon response to external stimuli such as Rewards or punishments two conditioning conditioning is the process by which individuals learn to associate a particular Behavior with a particular outcome there are two types of conditioning classical conditioning and operant conditioning classical conditioning involves learning to associate a neutral stimulus with a meaningful stimulus such as associating the sound of a bell with the arrival of food this type of conditioning was famously demonstrated by the Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov who conditioned dogs to salivate at the sound of a bell operant conditioning on the other

hand involves learning to associate a particular Behavior with a particular consequence such as receiving a reward or punishment this type of conditioning was developed by BF Skinner and is the basis for many behavior modification techniques three reinforcement and Punishment rein enforcement refers to any consequence that increases the likelihood of a behavior being repeated while punishment is its opposite it refers to any consequence that decreases the likelihood of a behavior being repeated reinforcement and Punishment can either be positive or negative positive reinforcement involves giving a reward while negative reinforcement involves removing an unpleasant stimulus both in

order to increase the likelihood of a behavior being repeated on the other hand positive punishment involves giving a punishment while negative punishment involves removing a pleasant stimulus both in order to decrease the likelihood of a behavior being repeated and four environmental factors behaviorists believe that behavior is shaped by environmental factors rather than internal mental processes this means that behaviorists focus on external factors such as rewards punishments and social interactions rather than internal ones such as thoughts and emotions criticisms one of the main criticisms of behaviorism is its reductionist approach to human behavior behaviorists View Behavior

as basically the result of a stimulus response relationship in which an external stimulus leads to a specific response this view however overlooks the complexity of human behavior and reduces it to a simple cause and effect relationship but human behavior is not always predictable it it is not always easy to identify the specific stimuli that lead to a particular Behavior behaviorism is also criticized for its lack of attention to cognitive processes cognitive processes are internal mental processes such as thinking reasoning and problem solving that play a significant role in human behavior by focusing only on observable

Behavior behaviorism ignores such cognitive processes limiting our understanding of human behavior and keeping us from developing effective treatments for psychological disorders finally behaviorism is criticized for its deterministic view of human behavior behaviorism suggests that all behavior is the result of external factors and that individuals have no control over their behavior this view however is overly simplistic and fails to take into account the complex interplay between internal and external factors that influence human behavior if you find this video helpful please give it a thumbs up follow us on social media and subscribe to our channel for

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