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Behaviorism
approach to psychology / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Behaviorism is an approach to study behavior based only on what can be directly seen.[1] Behaviorists focus on relationships between stimuli and responses.
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Unseen qualities such as states of mind (any condition which is significantly different from a normal waking state e.g. as a result of fear or anxiety) were not used in this type of study even though we know that the mind plays a part in all advanced animals' behaviors.[2] Behaviorism states that behavior can be studied without knowing what the physiology of an event is, and without using theories such as that of the mind.[3] By definition, all behavior can be observed.
Behaviorism also relied on another idea, that all human behavior was learned. Behaviorists believed that behavior could be explained by classical or operant conditioning. This is learning as a result of influences from past experiences. However, behaviorists denied the importance of inherited behaviors, instincts (inherent inclination of a living organism), or inherited tendency to behave. They did not believe, or ignored, the idea of heredity(passing of traits to offspring from parents), that something can come from a person's genes. This was the idea of the blank slate, that babies are born with a clean, empty mind. Humans, when born, are thought not to have mental experience or knowledge, and that everything is learned after they grow.[4] The blank slate premise is opposed by modern evolutionary psychology.
Major contributors, scientists to the field of behaviorism include C. Lloyd Morgan, Ivan Pavlov, Edward Thorndike, John B. Watson and B.F. Skinner.[5]
Pavlov researched classical conditioning through the use of dogs and their natural ability to salivate, produce water in their mouths. Thorndike and Watson rejected looking at one's own conscious thoughts and feelings ("Introspection"). They wanted to restrict psychology to experimental methods. Skinner's research leant mainly on behavior shaping using positive reinforcement (rewards rather than punishments).
Today, ideas from behaviorism are used in cognitive-behavioral therapy. Cognitive-behavioral therapy can help people deal with anxieties and phobias, as well as with certain forms of addiction.
As a scientific theory, behaviorism has largely been replaced by cognitive psychology.