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'''Behaviorism''' or '''behaviourism''' is an approach to [[psychology]] based on the proposition that [[behavior]] can be researched [[Scientific method|scientifically]] without recourse to inner mental states.  It is a form of [[materialism]], denying any independent significance for the mind. A similar approach to  [[political science]] may be found in [[Behavioralism]].
 
  
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One of the assumptions of many behaviorists is that [[free will]] is [[illusion|illusory]], and that all behaviour is [[determinism|determined]] by a combination of forces comprising [[Genetics|genetic factors]] and the [[Nature versus nurture|environment]], either through [[classical conditioning|association]] or [[Operant conditioning|reinforcement]].
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'''Behaviorism''' is an approach within [[psychology]] based on the proposition that behavior, human as well as animal, can be researched [[Scientific method|scientifically]] and understood without recourse to inner mental states. Three major figures led to the development of this approach: [[Ivan Pavlov]], [[John B. Watson]], and [[B.F. Skinner]]. Their research produced theories of [[learning]] based entirely on reactions, or "responses," by the organism (human or animal), directly to stimuli in the environment through processes of [[conditioning]]. This was a significant turning point in psychology as a scientific discipline, and led to extensive research in [[comparative psychology]] and [[experimental psychology]], providing valuable data on how both animals and humans learn appropriate responses to their external environment.
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While such theories are no longer considered adequate to explain all forms of learning and behavior, nonetheless, methodologies developed through such studies continue to be utilized in numerous research programs that have greatly expanded understanding of human nature.
  
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The behaviorist school of thought ran concurrent with the [[psychoanalysis]] movement in psychology in the [[20th century]]. Its main influences were [[Ivan Pavlov]], who investigated [[classical conditioning]], [[John B. Watson]] who rejected [[Introspection|introspective methods]] and sought to restrict psychology to [[Experimental psychology|experimental methods]], and [[B.F. Skinner]] who sought to give [[Ethics|ethical]] grounding to behaviorism, relating it to [[pragmatism]], and conducted research on [[operant conditioning]].
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==Definition==
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'''Behaviorism''' was developed with the mandate that only observations that satisfied the criteria of the [[scientific method]], namely that they must be repeatable at different times and by independent observers, were to be admissible as evidence. This effectively dismissed [[introspection]], the main technique of [[psychologist]]s following [[Wilhelm Wundt]]'s [[experimental psychology]], the dominant paradigm in [[psychology]] in the early twentieth century. Thus, behaviorism can be seen as a form of [[materialism]], denying any independent significance to processes of the mind. A similar approach may be found in  [[political science]], known as "Behavioralism."
  
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==Approaches==
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The behaviorist school of thought ran concurrent with [[psychoanalysis|psychoanalytic]] movement, originated by the work of [[Sigmund Freud]], who was also a proponent of a mechanistic view of human nature, but regarded the [[mind]], particularly the [[unconscious]], as the arena in which uniquely human activities occurred.
  
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Within that broad approach, there are different emphases. Some behaviorists argue simply that the [[observation]] of behavior is the best or most convenient way of investigating psychological and mental processes. Others believe that it is in fact the only way of investigating such processes, while still others argue that behavior itself is the only appropriate subject of psychology, and that common psychological terms ([[belief]], [[objective]]s, etc.) have no referents and/or only refer to behavior. Those taking this point of view sometimes refer to their field of study as ''behavior analysis'' or ''behavioral science'' rather than psychology.
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One of the assumptions many behaviorists hold is that [[free will]] is an illusion. As a result, behaviorism dictates that all behavior is determined by a combination of [[genetics|genetic]] factors and the environment, either through classical or operant [[conditioning]]. Its main instigators were [[Ivan Pavlov]], who investigated classical conditioning, [[John B. Watson]] who coined the term "behaviorism," and sought to restrict psychology to experimental methods, and [[B.F. Skinner]] who sought to give grounding to behaviorism, conducting research on operant conditioning.
  
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[[Albert Bandura]]'s [[Social cognitivism|social cognitive]] approach grew out of this movement as well. Bandura's approach stresses mental ([[cognition|cognitive]]) processes in addition to observable behavior, focusing on not only the impact of the environment but also "observation, imitation, and thought processes" (Plotnik 8).
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===Key concepts===
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*'''[[Learning]]:''' A change in behavior attributed to the result of experience.
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*'''Parsimony:''' The principle that states in the [[philosophy of science]], a person should always opt for the simplest explanation.
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*'''Stimulus:''' Anything that may affect the environment and thereby affect an individual's behavior.
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*'''Response:''' Any reaction to a stimulus. For behaviorists, the response is limited to any measurable behavior.
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*'''[[Reflex]]:''' An unlearned response that is triggered by certain stimuli.
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*'''Voluntary Response:''' A response that the individual has control over.
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*'''Classical [[Conditioning]]:''' The study of learning that focuses on reflex responses.
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*'''Operant [[Conditioning]]:''' The study of learning that focuses on the changes in voluntary responses as a result of their consequences.
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*'''Radical Behaviorism:''' A position adopted by Watson and Skinner, which stated that the study of internal processes are impossible to study objectively and are irrelevant to understanding a person's behavior.
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*'''Behavior Modification:''' Applying conditioning principles to alter a person's behavior.
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*'''Equipotentiality:''' The idea that the principles of condition should apply to all behaviors and all species.
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*'''[[Ethology]]:''' The study of the behavior of animals in their natural habitat.
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*'''Species-specific Behavior:''' Sometimes referred to as [[instinct]]s, these are behaviors that are characteristic of a specific species.
  
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==Versions==
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==The founders of behaviorism==
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===[[John B. Watson]]===
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Early in the twentieth century, Watson argued, in his book ''Psychology from the Standpoint of a Behaviorist,'' for a [[psychology]] which concerned itself solely with the objective observation of behavior. At the time, this was a substantial break from the predominant structuralist psychology, which used the method of [[introspection]] and considered the study of behavior obsolete.
  
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There is no generally agreed upon classification, and some would add to or modify this list.  
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Watson, unlike many of his colleagues, studied the adjustment of organisms to their environment. More specifically, he was interested in determining the particular stimuli that led organisms to make their responses. Watson's approach was much influenced by the work of [[Russia]]n physiologist [[Ivan Pavlov]], who discovered the phenomenon of classical [[conditioning]] in his famous study of dogs' digestive systems. Watson adopted Pavlov's model, emphasizing physiological responses and the role of stimuli in producing conditioned responses. For this reason, Watson may be described as a  "stimulus-response" (S-R) psychologist.
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<!---Please create these links with "behaviorism" for the sake of consistency. Thanks!—->
 
  
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*'''[[Classical behaviorism|Classical]]''': The behaviorism of Watson; the [[objective]] study of behavior; no mental life, no internal states; thought is [[covert]] speech.  
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====Methodological behaviorism====
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*'''[[Methodological behaviorism|Methodological]]''': The objective study of third-person behavior; the data of psychology must be inter-subjectively verifiable; no [[theoretical]] prescriptions.  It has been absorbed into general experimental and [[cognitive psychology]]. 
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Watson's theory persuaded most academic researchers of the importance of behavioral study. In the field of [[comparative psychology]] in particular, it was consistent with the warning note that had been struck by [[Lloyd Morgan]]'s canon, against some of the more [[anthropomorphism|anthropomorphic]] work, such as that of George Romanes, in which mental states had been freely attributed to animals. Watson's approach was eagerly seized on by researchers such as [[Edward L. Thorndike]] who had been studying [[cat]]s' abilities to escape from puzzle boxes. However, most [[psychologist]]s took up a position that is now called "methodological behaviorism:" They acknowledged that behavior was either the only, or the most effective, method of objective observation in psychology.
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*'''[[Radical behaviorism|Radical]]''': Skinnerian behaviorism; is considered radical since it expands behavioral principles to processes within the organism; in contrast to methodological behaviorism, does not require inter-observer agreement; not mechanistic or reductionist; hypothetical (mentalistic) internal states are not considered causes of behavior, phenomena must be observable at least to the individual experiencing them.
 
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*'''[[Logical behaviorism|Logical]]''': Established by Oxford philosopher [[Gilbert Ryle |Gilbert Ryle ]] in his book The Concept of Mind (1949).
 
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*'''[[Teleological behaviorism|Teleological]]''': Post-Skinnerian, purposive, close to [[microeconomics]].
 
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*'''[[Theoretical behaviorism|Theoretical]]''': Post-Skinnerian, accepts observable internal states ("within the skin" once meant "unobservable", but with modern technology we are not so constrained); [[dynamic]], but [[eclectic]] in choice of theoretical structures, emphasizes [[parsimony]].
 
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*'''[[Biological behaviorism|Biological]]''': Post-Skinnerian, centered on perceptual and motor modules of behavior, theory of behavior systems.
 
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*'''[[Interbehaviorism]]''': Founded by J. R. Kantor before Skinner´s writings and currently worked by L. Hayes; E, Ribes; and S. Bijou. Centered in the interbehavior of organisms, field theory of behavior; emphasis on human behavior.
 
  
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Two popular subtypes are '''Neo-''': [[Clark L. Hull|Hullian]] and post-Hullian, theoretical, group data, not dynamic, physiological, and '''Purposive''': [[Edward C. Tolman|Tolman]]’s behavioristic anticipation of cognitive psychology.    
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Among well-known twentieth century behaviorists taking this position were [[Clark L. Hull]], who described his position as "neo-behaviorism," and [[Edward C. Tolman]], who developed much of what would later become the cognitivist program. Tolman (1948) argued that [[rat]]s constructed "cognitive maps" of the mazes they learned to run, even in the absence of reward, and that the connection between stimulus and response (S->R) was mediated by a third component&mdash;the organism (S->O->R).  
  
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===J. B. Watson===
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Methodological behaviorism has remained the position of most [[experimental psychology|experimental psychologists]]. With the rise of interest in animal [[cognition]] since the 1980s, and more unorthodox views, such as Donald Griffin's (1976) argument that animals have [[consciousness|conscious]] [[mind]]s like those of humans, mentalistic language increasingly came to be used even in discussions of animal psychology, in both comparative psychology and [[ethology]]. However, even discussion of consciousness is in no way inconsistent with the position of methodological behaviorism.
  
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Early in the 20th century, Watson argued in his book ''Psychology from the Standpoint of a Behaviorist'' for the value of a psychology which concerned itself with behavior in and of itself, not as a method of studying [[consciousness]]. This was a substantial break from the structuralist psychology of the time, which used the method of introspection and considered the study of behavior valueless. Watson, in contrast, studied the adjustment of organisms to their environments, more specifically the particular stimuli leading organisms to make their responses. Most of Watson's work was [[comparative psychology|comparative]], i.e., he studied the behavior of animals. Watson's approach was much influenced by the work of Russian physiologist [[Ivan Pavlov]], who had stumbled upon the phenomenon of classical conditioning (learned [[reflex]]es) in his study of the digestive system of the dog, and subsequently investigated the phenomena in detail.  Watson's approach emphasized physiology and the role of stimuli in producing conditioned responses - assimilating most or all function to reflex. For this reason, Watson may be described as an S-R (stimulus-response) psychologist.
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===[[B.F. Skinner]]===
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B.F. Skinner, who carried out experimental work in the field of [[comparative psychology]] from the 1930s to the 1950s, remained behaviorism's best known theorist and exponent until his death in 1990. Skinner developed a distinct kind of behaviorist philosophy, which came to be called "radical behaviorism." He is credited with having founded a new version of psychological science, called behavioral analysis, or the "Experimental Analysis of Behavior," (EAB) after variations on the subtitle to his 1938 work, ''The Behavior of Organisms: An Experimental Analysis Of Behavior.''
  
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===Methodological behaviorism===
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While EAB differs from other approaches of behavioral research on numerous methodological and theoretical points, radical behaviorism departs from methodological behaviorism most notably in its acceptance of the treatment of [[feeling]]s, states of [[mind]], and [[introspection]] as existent and scientifically treatable. However, radical behaviorism stops short of identifying feelings as causes of behavior. Among other points of difference was a rejection of the [[reflex]] as a model of all behavior, and the defense of a science of behavior complementary to, but independent of, [[physiology]].
  
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Watson's Behaviorist theory persuaded most academic researchers in experimental psychology of the importance of studying behavior.  In the field of comparative psychology in particular, it was consistent with the warning note that had been struck by [[Morgan's Canon|Lloyd Morgan's canon]], against some of the more [[anthropomorphic]] work such as that of [[George Romanes]], in which mental states had been freely attributed to animals. It was eagerly seized on by researchers such as [[Edward L. Thorndike]] (who had been studying cats' abilities to escape from puzzle boxes). However, most psychologists took up a position that is now called [[methodological behaviorism]]: they acknowledged that behavior was either the only or the easiest method of observation in psychology, but held that it could be used to draw conclusions about mental states. Among well-known twentieth-century behaviorists taking this kind of position were Clark L. Hull, who described his position as [[neo-behaviorism]], and Edward C. Tolman, who developed much of what would later become the [[Cognitivism (psychology)|cognitivist program]]. Tolman argued that rats constructed cognitive maps of the [[mazes]] they learned even in the absence of reward, and that the connection between stimulus and response (S->R) was mediated by a third term - the organism (S->O->R). His approach has been called, among other things, purposive behaviorism.
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This philosophical position gained strength from the success of Skinner's early experimental work with [[rat]]s and [[pigeons]], summarized in his books ''The Behavior of Organisms'' (1938) and ''Schedules of Reinforcement'' (1957, with C. B. Ferster). Of particular importance was his discovery of the "operant response," which is famously remembered through what became known as "Skinner Box." An operant response contrasts with a reflex response in that it consists of a class of structurally distinct, but functionally equivalent, responses. For example, while a rat might press a lever with its left paw, its right paw, or even its tail, all of these different responses operate on the world in the same way and achieve a common outcome, namely, the depression of the lever. Thus, operants may be thought of as a series of responses that achieve similar ends or consequences.
  
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Methodological behaviorism remains the position of most experimental psychologists today, including the vast majority of those who work in [[cognitive psychology]] &ndash; so long as behavior is defined as including speech, at least non-introspective speech. With the rise of interest in [[animal cognition]] since the 1980s, and the more unorthodox views of [[Donald Griffin]] among others, mentalistic language including discussion of consciousness is increasingly used even in discussion of animal psychology, in both comparative psychology and [[ethology]]; however this is in no way inconsistent with the position of methodological behaviorism...
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Skinner's empirical work expanded on earlier research of trial-and-error [[learning]] by researchers such as [[Edward L. Thorndike|Thorndike]] and [[Edwin Ray Guthrie|Guthrie]]. Skinner also observed the effects of different schedules of reinforcement on the rates of operant responses made by the animals. He achieved remarkable success in training animals to perform unexpected responses, to emit large numbers of responses, and to demonstrate many empirical regularities within behavior. These findings lent some credibility to his radical conceptual analysis.
  
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==B.F. Skinner and radical behaviorism==
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====Relation to language====
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Skinner, who carried out experimental work mainly in comparative psychology from the [[1930s]] to the [[1950s]], but remained behaviorism's best known theorist and exponent virtually until his death in [[1990]], developed a distinct kind of behaviorist philosophy, which came to be called [[radical behaviorism]]. He is credited with having founded a new version of psychological science, which has come to be called behavior analysis or the [[experimental analysis of behavior]] after variations on the subtitle to his [[1938]] work ''The Behavior of Organisms: An Experimental Analysis Of Behavior''.  
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As Skinner turned from experimental work to concentrate on the philosophical underpinnings of a science of behavior, his attention turned to human [[language]]. His book, ''Verbal Behavior'' (1957) laid out a theory for the functional analysis of verbal behavior. The book was strongly criticized by the linguist [[Noam Chomsky]] (1959). Skinner did not respond in detail; but later he claimed that "[Chomsky] doesn’t know what I am talking about and for some reason is unable to understand it" (Skinner 1972).
  
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===Definition===
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What was important for a behaviorist analysis of human behavior was not language acquisition, so much as the interaction between language and overt behavior. In an essay republished in his 1969 book, ''Contingencies of Reinforcement,'' Skinner took the view that human beings could construct linguistic stimuli, which would then acquire control over their behavior in the same way that external stimuli could. The possibility of such "instructional control" over behavior meant that contingencies of reinforcement would not always produce the same effects on human behavior with the same reliability as they did in the various animals that had been studied.
  
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Skinner was influential in defining radical behaviorism, a philosophy codifying the basis of his school of research (named the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, or EAB.) While EAB differs from other approaches to behavioral research on numerous methodological and theoretical points, radical behaviorism departs from methodological behaviorism most notably in accepting treatment of feelings, states of mind and introspection as existent and scientifically treatable. This is done by identifying them as something non-[[dualistic]], and here Skinner takes a divide-and-conquer approach, with some instances being identified with bodily conditions or behavior, and others getting a more extended 'analysis' in terms of behavior. However, radical behaviorism stops short of identifying feelings as causes of behavior. Among other points of difference were a rejection of the reflex as a model of all behavior and a defense of a science of behavior complementary to but independent of physiology.
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==Behaviorism in philosophy==
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In many ways, behaviorism is both a [[psychology|psychological]] and a [[philosophy|philosophical]] movement. The basic premise of radical behaviorism is that the study of behavior should be an empirical [[science]], such as [[chemistry]] or [[physics]]. Behaviorists sought to create a discipline that forsook all hypothetical and subjective internal states of the organisms they studied.
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There are approaches within [[analytic philosophy]] that have named themselves, or have been coined by others, as behaviorist. In logical behaviorism (as held, for example, by [[Rudolf Carnap]] and [[Carl Hempel]]), the meaning of psychological statements are their verification conditions, which consist of performed overt behavior. [[Willard Van Orman Quine|Quine]] made use of a type of behaviorism, influenced by some of Skinner's ideas, in his own work on [[language]]. [[Gilbert Ryle]] defended a distinct strain of philosophical behaviorism, sketched in his book ''The Concept of Mind,'' in which his central claim was that instances of [[dualism]] frequently represented "category mistakes," and hence that they were really misunderstandings of the use of ordinary language.  
  
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===Experimental and conceptual innovations===
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Daniel Dennett likewise has acknowledged himself to be a type of behaviorist (Bennett 1993). It has sometimes been argued that [[Ludwig Wittgenstein]] defended a behaviorist position, and there are important areas of overlap between his philosophy, logical behaviorism, and radical behaviorism. (For example, the "beetle in a box" argument in which Wittgenstein referred to the concept wherein someone imagines that everyone has a box with a beetle inside. No one can look inside anther's box, and each claims to know what a beetle is only by examining their own. Wittgenstein suggested that in such a situation, the word "beetle" could not be the name of a thing, since everyone may perceive the beetle differently; the beetle "drops out of consideration as irrelevant.") However, Wittgenstein was not a behaviorist, and his style of writing is sufficiently elliptical to allow for a range of interpretations. [[mathematics|Mathematician]] [[Alan Turing]] has also sometimes been considered a behaviorist, but did not make this identification himself.
  
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This essentially philosophical position gained strength from the success of Skinner's early experimental work with rats and pigeons, summarised in his books ''The Behavior of Organisms'' (1938) and ''Schedules of Reinforcement'' ([[1957]], with C. B. Ferster) and others. Of particular importance was his concept of the operant response, of which the canonical example was the rat's lever-press. In contrast with the idea of a physiological or reflex response, an operant is a class of structurally distinct but functionally equivalent responses. For example, while a rat might press a lever with its left paw or its right paw or its tail, all of these responses operate on the world in the same way and have a common consequence. Operants are often thought of as species of responses, where the individuals differ but the class coheres in its function—shared consequences with operants and reproductive success with species. This is a clear distinction between Skinner's theory and S-R theory.
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==Criticisms of behaviorism==
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Behaviorism can be critiqued as an overly [[determinism|deterministic]] view of human behavior—by ignoring the internal psychological and mental processes, behaviorism oversimplifies the complexity of human behavior. Some would even argue that the strict nature of radical behaviorism essentially defines human beings as mechanisms without [[free will]].  
  
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Skinner's empirical work expanded on earlier research on [[trial-and-error]] learning by researchers such as Thorndike and Guthrie with both conceptual reformulations &ndash; Thorndike's notion of a stimulus-response 'association' or 'connection' was abandoned &ndash; and methodological ones &ndash; the use of the 'free operant', so called because the animal was now permitted to respond at its own rate rather than in a series of trials determined by the experimenter procedures. With this method, Skinner carried out substantial experimental work on the effects of different schedules and rates of reinforcement on the rates of operant responses made by rats and pigeons. He achieved remarkable success in training animals to perform unexpected responses, and to emit large numbers of responses, and to demonstrate many empirical regularities at the purely behavioral level. This lent some credibility to his conceptual analysis. It is largely his conceptual analysis that made his work much more rigorous than his peers, a point which can be seen clearly in his seminal work ''Are Theories of Learning Necessary?'' in which he criticizes what he viewed to be theoretical weaknesses then common in the study of psychology.
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The behaviorist approach has also been criticized for its inability to account for [[learning]] or changes in behavior that occur in the absence of environmental input; such occurrences signal the presence of an internal psychological or mental process.  
  
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===Relation to language===
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Finally, research by [[ethology|ethologists]] has shown that the principles of [[conditioning]] are not universal, countering the behaviorist claim of equipotentiality across conditioning principles.
  
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As Skinner turned from experimental work to concentrate on the philosophical underpinnings of a science of behavior, his attention naturally turned to human language. His book ''[[Verbal Behavior]]'' (1957) laid out a vocabulary and theory for functional analysis of verbal behavior. The book was strongly criticized in a review by the linguist [[Noam Chomsky]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=A Review of B. F. Skinner's Verbal Behavior|journal=Language|issue=35|number=1|year=1959|pages=26-58|author=Chomsky, Noam}}</ref> Skinner did not himself respond in detail; he claimed that "[Chomsky] doesn’t
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Behaviorism was developed as a counter to the introspective approach that relied primarily, if not entirely, on internal, self-reflection on conscious, mental activity. While radical behaviorism may be quite limited in its explanatory power, nonetheless, it served an important role in allowing psychology to develop a scientific pursuit of knowledge about human nature and behavior.  
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know what I am talking about and for some reason is unable to understand it".<ref>{{cite journal|author=Skinner, B. F.|title=I Have Been Misunderstood...|journal=Center Magazine|year=1972|issue=March-April|pages=63}}</ref>
 
  
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What was important for a behaviorist analysis of human behavior was not [[language acquisition]] so much as the interaction between language and overt behavior. In an essay republished in his [[1969]] book ''Contingencies of Reinforcement'', Skinner took the view that humans could construct linguistic stimuli that would then acquire control over their behavior in the same way that external stimuli could. The possibility of such "instructional control" over behavior meant that contingencies of reinforcement would not always produce the same effects on human behavior as they reliably do in other animals. The focus of a radical behaviorist analysis of human behavior therefore shifted to an attempt to understand the interaction between instructional control and contingency control, and also to understand the behavioral processes that determine what instructions are constructed and what control they acquire over behavior. Important figures in this effort have been Murray Sidman, A. Charles Catania, C. Fergus Lowe and Steven C. Hayes.
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Nevertheless, the link between stimulus and response is not just a simple, direct, cause and effect relationship. Factors beyond the stimulus are involved in determining the response. Actions occur based on purpose, and purpose is determined by the mind of the subject. Thus, a more complete understanding of human behavior would need to include both the external actions of the body and the inner life of the mind.
  
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==Molar versus molecular behaviorism==
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==Legacy==
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Despite such criticisms of behaviorism, the study of operant and classical [[conditioning]] has greatly contributed to the understanding of human behavior in [[psychology]]. Even though no longer an authoritative voice, behaviorism was the dominant force in North American psychology for a considerable period of the twentieth century.
  
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Skinner's view of behavior is most often characterized as a "molecular" view of behavior, that is each behavior can be decomposed into atomistic parts or molecules.  This view is inaccurate when one considers his complete description of behavior as delineated in the [[1981]] article, ''Selection by Consequences'' and many other works. Skinner claims that a complete account of behavior involves an understanding of selection history at three levels: [[biology]] (the [[natural selection]] or [[phylogeny]] of the animal); behavior (the reinforcement history or ontogeny of the behavioral repertoire of the animal); and for some species, [[culture]] (the cultural practices of the social group to which the animal belongs). This whole organism, with all those histories, then interacts with its environment. He often described even his own behavior as a product of his phylogenetic history, his reinforcement history (which includes the learning of cultural practices) interacting with the environment at the moment. Molar behaviorists, such as [[Howard Rachlin]] argue that behavior can not be understood by focusing on events in the moment.  That is, they argue that a behavior can be understood best in terms of the ultimate cause of history and that molecular behaviorist are committing a fallacy by inventing a fictitious proximal cause for behavior.  Molar behaviorists argue that standard molecular constructs such as "associative strength" are such fictitious proximal causes that simply take the place of molar variables such as rate of reinforcement.  Thus, a molar behaviorist would define a behavior such as loving someone as exhibiting a pattern of [[love|loving behavior]] over time, there is no known proximal cause of loving behavior, only a history of behaviors (of which the current behavior might be an example of) that can be summarized as love.
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A natural outgrowth of behaviorism is [[behavior therapy]], a technique of altering an individual's maladaptive reactions to particular stimuli. It involves the most basic of methods to alter human behavior, such as reward and [[punishment]], reinforcement, and even biofeedback, using [[conditioning]] techniques. The cultivation of life skills is often a central focus. While founded in behaviorism, such forms of behavior modification are used by [[psychotherapy|psychotherapists]], parents, and caretakers of the disabled, generally without any underlying behaviorist philosophy.  
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Recent experimental work (see ''The Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior'' and ''Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes''— 2004 and later) shows quite clearly that behavior is affected both by molar variables (i.e., average rates of reinforcement) and molecular ones (e.g. time, preceding responses).  What is needed is an understanding of the real-time dynamics of operant behavior, which will involve processes at both short and long time scales.
 
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==Behaviorism in philosophy==
 
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Behaviorism is both  a psychological movement and a [[philosophy of mind]]. The basic premise of ''radical behaviorism'' is that the study of behavior should be a [[natural science]], such as [[chemistry]] or [[physics]], without any reference to hypothetical inner states of organisms. Other varieties, such as ''theoretical behaviorism'', permit internal states, but do not require them to be mental or have any relation to subjective experience.  Behaviorism takes a functional view of behavior. 
 
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There are points of view within [[analytic philosophy]] that have called themselves, or have been called by others, behaviorist. In ''logical behaviorism'' (as held, e.g., by [[Rudolf Carnap]] and [[Carl Hempel]]), the meaning of psychological statements are their verification conditions, which consist of performed overt behavior. [[W. V. Quine]] made use of a type of behaviorism, influenced by some of Skinner's ideas, in his own work on language. [[Gilbert Ryle]] defended a distinct strain of philosophical behaviorism, sketched in his book ''The Concept of Mind.'' Ryle's central claim was that instances of dualism frequently represented 'category mistakes,' and hence that they were really misunderstandings of the use of ordinary language. [[Daniel Dennett]] likewise acknowledges himself to be a type of behaviorist. [http://ase.tufts.edu/cogstud/papers/msgisno.htm]
 
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It is sometimes argued that [[Ludwig Wittgenstein]] defended a behaviorist position, and there are important areas of overlap between his philosophy, logical behaviorism, and radical behaviorism (e.g., the ''beetle in a box'' argument). However, Wittgenstein was not a behaviorist, and his style of writing is sufficiently elliptical  to admit of a range of interpretations. Mathematician [[Alan Turing]] is also sometimes considered a behaviorist, but he himself did not make this identification.
 
  
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Behaviorism developed as a reaction to the [[introspection|introspective]] approach, which was unsuccessful in explaining mental processes. In many ways, behaviorism paved the way for a new, scientifically based psychology, which greatly advanced understanding of human behavior.
  
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==References==
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*Baum, W.M. 2005. ''Understanding Behaviorism: Behavior, Culture and Evolution''. Blackwell.
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*Bennett, Daniel C. 1993. [http://ase.tufts.edu/cogstud/papers/msgisno.htm The Message Is: There is No Medium.] Philosophy & Phenomenological Research. 53(4): 889-931.
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*Chomsky, Noam. 1959. "A Review of B. F. Skinner's Verbal Behavior." ''Language''. 35 (1): 26-58.
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*Ferster, C. B., and B. F. Skinner. 1957. ''Schedules of Reinforcement.''  New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
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*Griffin, Donald R. 1976. ''Question of Animal Awareness.'' ISBN 0865760020.
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*Lattal, K.A., and P.N. Chase. 2003. ''Behavior Theory and Philosophy.'' Plenum.
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*Mills, John A. 2000. ''Control: A History of Behavioral Psychology.'' New York University Press.
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*Plotnik, Rod. 2005. ''Introduction to Psychology.'' Thomson-Wadsworth. ISBN 0534634079.
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*Rachlin, H. 1991. ''Introduction to Modern Behaviorism,'' 3rd edition. New York: Freeman.
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*Skinner, B.F. 1938. ''The Behavior of Organisms.'' New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
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*Skinner, B.F. 1945. "The operational analysis of psychological terms"  ''Psychological Review''. 52: 270-277, 290-294.
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*Skinner, B.F. 1953. ''Science and Human Behavior.'' ISBN 0029290406.
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*Skinner, B.F. 1957. ''Verbal Behavior.'' Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
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*Skinner, B.F. 1969. ''Contingencies of Reinforcement: A Theoretical Analysis''. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
 +
*Skinner, B.F. 1972. "I Have Been Misunderstood…." In ''Center Magazine.'' March-April pages 63.
 +
*Skinner, B. F. 1981. "Selection by consequences." In ''Science'' 213: 501-514.
 +
*Skinner, B.F. 2002. ''Beyond Freedom & Dignity''. Hackett Publishing.
 +
*Staddon, J. 2001. ''The New Behaviorism: Mind, Mechanism, and Society.'' Philadelphia: Psychology Press.
 +
*Tolman, E.C. 1948. "Cognitive maps in rats and men." ''Psychological Review''. 55: 189-208.
 +
*Watson, J.B. 1913. [http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Watson/views.htm Psychology as the behaviorist views it.] In ''Psychological Review''. 20: 158-177.
 +
*Watson, J.B. 1919. ''Psychology from the Standpoint of a Behaviorist.''
 +
*Watson, J.B. 1924. ''Behaviorism.''
 +
*Zuriff, G.E. 1985. [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=86092256 ''Behaviorism: A Conceptual Reconstruction.''] Columbia University Press.
  
 
==External links==
 
==External links==
 +
All links retrieved September 26, 2023.
  
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*[http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/cgi-local/DHI/dhi.cgi?id=dv1-30 ''Dictionary of the History of Ideas'':] Behaviorism
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*[http://www.bfskinner.org B.F. Skinner Foundation].
−
* [http://www.questia.com/library/psychology/other-types-of-psychology/behaviorism.jsp Books and Journal Articles On Behaviorism]
+
*[http://www.behavior.org The Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies].  
−
* http://www.biozentrum.uni-wuerzburg.de/genetics/behavior/learning/behaviorism.html
+
*[http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Skinner/Theories Classics in the History of Psychology].
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* http://www.bfskinner.org
+
*[http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/behaviorism/ Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry].  
−
* http://www.behavior.org
+
*[http://www.abainternational.org Association for Behavior Analysis International].  
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* http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Skinner/Theories
 
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* [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/behaviorism/ Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry]
 
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* http://www.abainternational.org
 
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* http://www.apa.org/divisions/div25/
 
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* [http://www.abainternational.org/ Association for Behavior Analysis]
 
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* [http://www.behaviorMachine.com/ behaviorMachine.com - Behavior Analysis for Everyone]
 
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* [http://homepage.uibk.ac.at/~c720126/humanethologie/ws/medicus/block1/inhalt.html Theory of Behavioral Anthropology (Documents No. 9 and 10 in English)]
 
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* [http://www.calaba.org California Association for Behavior Analysis]
 
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==References and further reading==
 
−
 
 
−
<references/>
 
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*Baum, W. M. (2005) ''Understanding behaviorism: Behavior, Culture and Evolution.''  Blackwell.
 
−
*Ferster, C. B., and Skinner, B. F. (1957).  ''Schedules of reinforcement''.  New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
 
−
*Mills, John A.,'' Control: A History of Behavioral Psychology'', Paperback Edition, New York University Press 2000
 
−
*Lattal, K.A and Chase, P.N. (2003) "Behavior Theory and Philosophy".  Plenum
 
−
*Plotnik, Rod. (2005) ''Introduction to Psychology''. Thomson-Wadsworth (ISBN 0534634079)
 
−
*Rachlin, H. (1991)  ''Introduction to modern behaviorism.'' (3rd edition.) New York: Freeman.
 
−
*Skinner,B.F., ''Beyond Freedom & Dignity'',  Hackett Publishing Co, Inc 2002
 
−
*Skinner, B. F. (1938).  ''The behavior of organisms''. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
 
−
*Skinner, B. F. (1945). The operational analysis of psychological terms. ''Psychological Review''. 52, 270-277, 290-294.
 
−
*Skinner, B. F. (1953). ''Science and Human Behavior'' (ISBN 0029290406)
 
−
*Skinner, B. F. (1957). ''Verbal behavior''. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
 
−
*Skinner, B. F. (1969).  ''Contingencies of reinforcement: a theoretical analysis''. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts
 
−
*Skinner, B. F. (1981). Selection by consequences. ''Science, 213,'' 501-514.
 
−
*Staddon, J.  (2001) ''The new behaviorism: Mind, mechanism and society.''  Philadelphia, PA: Psychology Press. Pp. xiii, 1-211.
 
−
*Watson, J. B. (1913).  Psychology as the behaviorist views it.  ''Psychological Review'', 20, 158-177. ([http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Watson/views.htm on-line])
 
−
*Watson, J. B. (1919). ''Psychology from the Standpoint of a Behaviorist''
 
−
*Watson, J. B. (1924). ''Behaviorism''
 
−
*Zuriff, G. E. (1985). [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=86092256 ''Behaviorism: A Conceptual Reconstruction''], Columbia University Press
 
−
 
 
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{{Credit1|Behaviorism|61043680|}}
 
{{Credit1|Behaviorism|61043680|}}

Latest revision as of 10:26, 26 September 2023


Psychology
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Behaviorism is an approach within psychology based on the proposition that behavior, human as well as animal, can be researched scientifically and understood without recourse to inner mental states. Three major figures led to the development of this approach: Ivan Pavlov, John B. Watson, and B.F. Skinner. Their research produced theories of learning based entirely on reactions, or "responses," by the organism (human or animal), directly to stimuli in the environment through processes of conditioning. This was a significant turning point in psychology as a scientific discipline, and led to extensive research in comparative psychology and experimental psychology, providing valuable data on how both animals and humans learn appropriate responses to their external environment.

While such theories are no longer considered adequate to explain all forms of learning and behavior, nonetheless, methodologies developed through such studies continue to be utilized in numerous research programs that have greatly expanded understanding of human nature.

Definition

Behaviorism was developed with the mandate that only observations that satisfied the criteria of the scientific method, namely that they must be repeatable at different times and by independent observers, were to be admissible as evidence. This effectively dismissed introspection, the main technique of psychologists following Wilhelm Wundt's experimental psychology, the dominant paradigm in psychology in the early twentieth century. Thus, behaviorism can be seen as a form of materialism, denying any independent significance to processes of the mind. A similar approach may be found in political science, known as "Behavioralism."

The behaviorist school of thought ran concurrent with psychoanalytic movement, originated by the work of Sigmund Freud, who was also a proponent of a mechanistic view of human nature, but regarded the mind, particularly the unconscious, as the arena in which uniquely human activities occurred.

One of the assumptions many behaviorists hold is that free will is an illusion. As a result, behaviorism dictates that all behavior is determined by a combination of genetic factors and the environment, either through classical or operant conditioning. Its main instigators were Ivan Pavlov, who investigated classical conditioning, John B. Watson who coined the term "behaviorism," and sought to restrict psychology to experimental methods, and B.F. Skinner who sought to give grounding to behaviorism, conducting research on operant conditioning.

Key concepts

  • Learning: A change in behavior attributed to the result of experience.
  • Parsimony: The principle that states in the philosophy of science, a person should always opt for the simplest explanation.
  • Stimulus: Anything that may affect the environment and thereby affect an individual's behavior.
  • Response: Any reaction to a stimulus. For behaviorists, the response is limited to any measurable behavior.
  • Reflex: An unlearned response that is triggered by certain stimuli.
  • Voluntary Response: A response that the individual has control over.
  • Classical Conditioning: The study of learning that focuses on reflex responses.
  • Operant Conditioning: The study of learning that focuses on the changes in voluntary responses as a result of their consequences.
  • Radical Behaviorism: A position adopted by Watson and Skinner, which stated that the study of internal processes are impossible to study objectively and are irrelevant to understanding a person's behavior.
  • Behavior Modification: Applying conditioning principles to alter a person's behavior.
  • Equipotentiality: The idea that the principles of condition should apply to all behaviors and all species.
  • Ethology: The study of the behavior of animals in their natural habitat.
  • Species-specific Behavior: Sometimes referred to as instincts, these are behaviors that are characteristic of a specific species.

The founders of behaviorism

John B. Watson

Early in the twentieth century, Watson argued, in his book Psychology from the Standpoint of a Behaviorist, for a psychology which concerned itself solely with the objective observation of behavior. At the time, this was a substantial break from the predominant structuralist psychology, which used the method of introspection and considered the study of behavior obsolete.

Watson, unlike many of his colleagues, studied the adjustment of organisms to their environment. More specifically, he was interested in determining the particular stimuli that led organisms to make their responses. Watson's approach was much influenced by the work of Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov, who discovered the phenomenon of classical conditioning in his famous study of dogs' digestive systems. Watson adopted Pavlov's model, emphasizing physiological responses and the role of stimuli in producing conditioned responses. For this reason, Watson may be described as a "stimulus-response" (S-R) psychologist.

Methodological behaviorism

Watson's theory persuaded most academic researchers of the importance of behavioral study. In the field of comparative psychology in particular, it was consistent with the warning note that had been struck by Lloyd Morgan's canon, against some of the more anthropomorphic work, such as that of George Romanes, in which mental states had been freely attributed to animals. Watson's approach was eagerly seized on by researchers such as Edward L. Thorndike who had been studying cats' abilities to escape from puzzle boxes. However, most psychologists took up a position that is now called "methodological behaviorism:" They acknowledged that behavior was either the only, or the most effective, method of objective observation in psychology.

Among well-known twentieth century behaviorists taking this position were Clark L. Hull, who described his position as "neo-behaviorism," and Edward C. Tolman, who developed much of what would later become the cognitivist program. Tolman (1948) argued that rats constructed "cognitive maps" of the mazes they learned to run, even in the absence of reward, and that the connection between stimulus and response (S->R) was mediated by a third component—the organism (S->O->R).

Methodological behaviorism has remained the position of most experimental psychologists. With the rise of interest in animal cognition since the 1980s, and more unorthodox views, such as Donald Griffin's (1976) argument that animals have conscious minds like those of humans, mentalistic language increasingly came to be used even in discussions of animal psychology, in both comparative psychology and ethology. However, even discussion of consciousness is in no way inconsistent with the position of methodological behaviorism.

B.F. Skinner

B.F. Skinner, who carried out experimental work in the field of comparative psychology from the 1930s to the 1950s, remained behaviorism's best known theorist and exponent until his death in 1990. Skinner developed a distinct kind of behaviorist philosophy, which came to be called "radical behaviorism." He is credited with having founded a new version of psychological science, called behavioral analysis, or the "Experimental Analysis of Behavior," (EAB) after variations on the subtitle to his 1938 work, The Behavior of Organisms: An Experimental Analysis Of Behavior.

While EAB differs from other approaches of behavioral research on numerous methodological and theoretical points, radical behaviorism departs from methodological behaviorism most notably in its acceptance of the treatment of feelings, states of mind, and introspection as existent and scientifically treatable. However, radical behaviorism stops short of identifying feelings as causes of behavior. Among other points of difference was a rejection of the reflex as a model of all behavior, and the defense of a science of behavior complementary to, but independent of, physiology.

This philosophical position gained strength from the success of Skinner's early experimental work with rats and pigeons, summarized in his books The Behavior of Organisms (1938) and Schedules of Reinforcement (1957, with C. B. Ferster). Of particular importance was his discovery of the "operant response," which is famously remembered through what became known as "Skinner Box." An operant response contrasts with a reflex response in that it consists of a class of structurally distinct, but functionally equivalent, responses. For example, while a rat might press a lever with its left paw, its right paw, or even its tail, all of these different responses operate on the world in the same way and achieve a common outcome, namely, the depression of the lever. Thus, operants may be thought of as a series of responses that achieve similar ends or consequences.

Skinner's empirical work expanded on earlier research of trial-and-error learning by researchers such as Thorndike and Guthrie. Skinner also observed the effects of different schedules of reinforcement on the rates of operant responses made by the animals. He achieved remarkable success in training animals to perform unexpected responses, to emit large numbers of responses, and to demonstrate many empirical regularities within behavior. These findings lent some credibility to his radical conceptual analysis.

Relation to language

As Skinner turned from experimental work to concentrate on the philosophical underpinnings of a science of behavior, his attention turned to human language. His book, Verbal Behavior (1957) laid out a theory for the functional analysis of verbal behavior. The book was strongly criticized by the linguist Noam Chomsky (1959). Skinner did not respond in detail; but later he claimed that "[Chomsky] doesn’t know what I am talking about and for some reason is unable to understand it" (Skinner 1972).

What was important for a behaviorist analysis of human behavior was not language acquisition, so much as the interaction between language and overt behavior. In an essay republished in his 1969 book, Contingencies of Reinforcement, Skinner took the view that human beings could construct linguistic stimuli, which would then acquire control over their behavior in the same way that external stimuli could. The possibility of such "instructional control" over behavior meant that contingencies of reinforcement would not always produce the same effects on human behavior with the same reliability as they did in the various animals that had been studied.

Behaviorism in philosophy

In many ways, behaviorism is both a psychological and a philosophical movement. The basic premise of radical behaviorism is that the study of behavior should be an empirical science, such as chemistry or physics. Behaviorists sought to create a discipline that forsook all hypothetical and subjective internal states of the organisms they studied.

There are approaches within analytic philosophy that have named themselves, or have been coined by others, as behaviorist. In logical behaviorism (as held, for example, by Rudolf Carnap and Carl Hempel), the meaning of psychological statements are their verification conditions, which consist of performed overt behavior. Quine made use of a type of behaviorism, influenced by some of Skinner's ideas, in his own work on language. Gilbert Ryle defended a distinct strain of philosophical behaviorism, sketched in his book The Concept of Mind, in which his central claim was that instances of dualism frequently represented "category mistakes," and hence that they were really misunderstandings of the use of ordinary language.

Daniel Dennett likewise has acknowledged himself to be a type of behaviorist (Bennett 1993). It has sometimes been argued that Ludwig Wittgenstein defended a behaviorist position, and there are important areas of overlap between his philosophy, logical behaviorism, and radical behaviorism. (For example, the "beetle in a box" argument in which Wittgenstein referred to the concept wherein someone imagines that everyone has a box with a beetle inside. No one can look inside anther's box, and each claims to know what a beetle is only by examining their own. Wittgenstein suggested that in such a situation, the word "beetle" could not be the name of a thing, since everyone may perceive the beetle differently; the beetle "drops out of consideration as irrelevant.") However, Wittgenstein was not a behaviorist, and his style of writing is sufficiently elliptical to allow for a range of interpretations. Mathematician Alan Turing has also sometimes been considered a behaviorist, but did not make this identification himself.

Criticisms of behaviorism

Behaviorism can be critiqued as an overly deterministic view of human behavior—by ignoring the internal psychological and mental processes, behaviorism oversimplifies the complexity of human behavior. Some would even argue that the strict nature of radical behaviorism essentially defines human beings as mechanisms without free will.

The behaviorist approach has also been criticized for its inability to account for learning or changes in behavior that occur in the absence of environmental input; such occurrences signal the presence of an internal psychological or mental process.

Finally, research by ethologists has shown that the principles of conditioning are not universal, countering the behaviorist claim of equipotentiality across conditioning principles.

Behaviorism was developed as a counter to the introspective approach that relied primarily, if not entirely, on internal, self-reflection on conscious, mental activity. While radical behaviorism may be quite limited in its explanatory power, nonetheless, it served an important role in allowing psychology to develop a scientific pursuit of knowledge about human nature and behavior.

Nevertheless, the link between stimulus and response is not just a simple, direct, cause and effect relationship. Factors beyond the stimulus are involved in determining the response. Actions occur based on purpose, and purpose is determined by the mind of the subject. Thus, a more complete understanding of human behavior would need to include both the external actions of the body and the inner life of the mind.

Legacy

Despite such criticisms of behaviorism, the study of operant and classical conditioning has greatly contributed to the understanding of human behavior in psychology. Even though no longer an authoritative voice, behaviorism was the dominant force in North American psychology for a considerable period of the twentieth century.

A natural outgrowth of behaviorism is behavior therapy, a technique of altering an individual's maladaptive reactions to particular stimuli. It involves the most basic of methods to alter human behavior, such as reward and punishment, reinforcement, and even biofeedback, using conditioning techniques. The cultivation of life skills is often a central focus. While founded in behaviorism, such forms of behavior modification are used by psychotherapists, parents, and caretakers of the disabled, generally without any underlying behaviorist philosophy.

Behaviorism developed as a reaction to the introspective approach, which was unsuccessful in explaining mental processes. In many ways, behaviorism paved the way for a new, scientifically based psychology, which greatly advanced understanding of human behavior.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Baum, W.M. 2005. Understanding Behaviorism: Behavior, Culture and Evolution. Blackwell.
  • Bennett, Daniel C. 1993. The Message Is: There is No Medium. Philosophy & Phenomenological Research. 53(4): 889-931.
  • Chomsky, Noam. 1959. "A Review of B. F. Skinner's Verbal Behavior." Language. 35 (1): 26-58.
  • Ferster, C. B., and B. F. Skinner. 1957. Schedules of Reinforcement. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
  • Griffin, Donald R. 1976. Question of Animal Awareness. ISBN 0865760020.
  • Lattal, K.A., and P.N. Chase. 2003. Behavior Theory and Philosophy. Plenum.
  • Mills, John A. 2000. Control: A History of Behavioral Psychology. New York University Press.
  • Plotnik, Rod. 2005. Introduction to Psychology. Thomson-Wadsworth. ISBN 0534634079.
  • Rachlin, H. 1991. Introduction to Modern Behaviorism, 3rd edition. New York: Freeman.
  • Skinner, B.F. 1938. The Behavior of Organisms. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
  • Skinner, B.F. 1945. "The operational analysis of psychological terms" Psychological Review. 52: 270-277, 290-294.
  • Skinner, B.F. 1953. Science and Human Behavior. ISBN 0029290406.
  • Skinner, B.F. 1957. Verbal Behavior. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
  • Skinner, B.F. 1969. Contingencies of Reinforcement: A Theoretical Analysis. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
  • Skinner, B.F. 1972. "I Have Been Misunderstood…." In Center Magazine. March-April pages 63.
  • Skinner, B. F. 1981. "Selection by consequences." In Science 213: 501-514.
  • Skinner, B.F. 2002. Beyond Freedom & Dignity. Hackett Publishing.
  • Staddon, J. 2001. The New Behaviorism: Mind, Mechanism, and Society. Philadelphia: Psychology Press.
  • Tolman, E.C. 1948. "Cognitive maps in rats and men." Psychological Review. 55: 189-208.
  • Watson, J.B. 1913. Psychology as the behaviorist views it. In Psychological Review. 20: 158-177.
  • Watson, J.B. 1919. Psychology from the Standpoint of a Behaviorist.
  • Watson, J.B. 1924. Behaviorism.
  • Zuriff, G.E. 1985. Behaviorism: A Conceptual Reconstruction. Columbia University Press.

External links

All links retrieved September 26, 2023.

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