Behaviorism

Behaviorism is a way to study how people and animals act. It says that actions come from things around us or from what has happened before. When something nice happens after an action, the action is more likely to happen again. When something bad happens, the action is less likely to happen. This idea helps us understand why people and animals do what they do.

Behaviorism started in the early 1900s. It was a new way to study actions because other ways of studying the mind were hard to test. Scientists like Edward Thorndike showed how results can change behavior. John B. Watson said we should only look at things we can see. Later, B. F. Skinner said even thoughts and feelings follow the same rules as actions we can see.

Behaviorism is used to help people and animals in many ways. It can help teach skills, help animals learn, and support people with different ways of thinking or challenges. Even though some ideas about the mind are different from behaviorism, they work together in therapies that help people with fears, hard times, and mood changes.

Branches

Behaviorism has many different parts, each with its own ideas about how we learn and act.

Behavioral genetics was started by Francis Galton, who thought that what we are born with affects our behavior, but also what we learn from our surroundings matters.
Interbehaviorism was proposed by Jacob Robert Kantor before B. F. Skinner wrote his ideas.
Methodological behaviorism is John B. Watson's idea that scientists should only study things we can see, like actions, and not thoughts or feelings. This helped start the idea of behavior modification in the 1970s and 1980s.
Psychological behaviorism was created by Arthur W. Staats. It says humans learn in special ways that other animals do not, and these ways help us learn even more.
Radical behaviorism is B. F. Skinner's idea. He thought that even private thoughts and feelings are part of behavior and can be studied. He believed that what happens around us shapes even our inner experiences.
Teleological behaviorism was proposed by Howard Rachlin. It focuses on what we can observe and is similar to ideas in microeconomics.
Theoretical behaviorism was suggested by J. E. R. Staddon. It adds the idea of an internal state to explain how our past affects our actions today.

Modern-day theory: radical behaviorism

Main article: Radical behaviorism

B. F. Skinner used radical behaviorism as a base for studying how animals behave in experiments. This idea is different because it says that feelings and thoughts can also be studied like other behaviors. Skinner showed that even emotions like anger can be learned, just like actions we can see.

Experimental and conceptual innovations

Early studies in understanding behavior began in the early 1800s and are linked to behavioral neuroscience. The ideas became stronger through important experiments by Skinner with rats and birds. Skinner wrote about these ideas in his books The Behavior of Organisms and Schedules of Reinforcement.

One key idea from Skinner was the operant response. For example, a rat could press a lever using its left paw, right paw, or tail—these different actions all have the same result. This is different from simple reflexes. Skinner’s work built on earlier learning studies but introduced new ways to test behavior, letting animals respond at their own pace. His experiments showed how different rewards affect behavior, helping to prove his ideas about how learning works.

Relation to language

B.F. Skinner wrote a book called Verbal Behavior in 1957, where he shared his ideas about how people learn to use language. Some people, like Noam Chomsky, disagreed with Skinner’s views. Skinner believed that language is learned through habits, similar to how animals learn through rewards and consequences. He thought that people can create their own words and ideas, which then influence their actions, just like outside events do. This idea led to new studies about how language and behavior affect each other. Later, a new way of studying language called relational frame theory began.

Education

See also: Philosophy of education § Realism

B. F. Skinner's book Verbal Behavior (1957) helps us understand human behavior, especially how young children learn to talk and interact with caregivers. Skinner's ideas about how language works are often used to study how children develop speech. However, some people, like linguist Noam Chomsky, have questioned Skinner's views on how parents might help children learn language. Learning how we understand language is complicated, but two main ideas help explain it: whether language is something we are born knowing or something we learn over time.

Operant conditioning

Main article: Operant conditioning

Operant conditioning was created by B.F. Skinner in 1938. It is a way of learning where the chance of a behavior happening changes based on what happens after the behavior. If something good follows, the behavior is more likely to happen again. If something bad follows, the behavior is less likely to happen again. The tools used are either adding something (like a treat) or taking something away (like a toy).

There are four main ways this works:

Positive reinforcement: Giving something nice to encourage a good behavior. For example, giving a dog a treat when it sits on command.
Negative reinforcement: Taking away something unpleasant to encourage a good behavior. For example, a child might clean their room to avoid being nagged.
Positive punishment: Adding something unpleasant to stop a bad behavior. For example, a parent might use a firm hand to stop a child from doing something wrong.
Negative punishment: Taking away something nice to stop a bad behavior. For example, a child might lose video game time for failing a test.

Skinner tested these ideas using a special box for animals. He found that animals learned quickly when rewarded often. He also showed that new behaviors could be shaped by rewards. This idea works for people too — we repeat actions that give good results and avoid actions that give bad results.

Respondent conditioning

Main article: Classical conditioning

Respondent conditioning, also known as classical or Pavlovian conditioning, is an important way to understand how animals and humans learn. It does not need to think about feelings or thoughts. A famous example is from scientist Ivan Pavlov and his dogs. At first, when Pavlov gave the dogs meat, they naturally started to salivate. This is called an unconditioned response because it happens without any learning.

Pavlov then rang a bell each time he gave the dogs meat. After doing this many times, the dogs began to salivate just when they heard the bell, even if no meat was given. The bell became a signal that told the dogs to expect meat. This is called a conditioned response because it was learned through experience.

Behaviorist John Watson used ideas from classical conditioning to understand how people learn behaviors. He believed psychology should focus on observing behavior instead of inner thoughts or feelings. He also thought the goal was to predict and control behavior, and that there is no big difference between how humans and animals behave.

In philosophy

Main article: Logical behaviorism

Behaviorism is a way of thinking about the mind that focuses on how we act and react to the world around us. It sees behavior as something we can study like science does with things such as chemistry or physics. At first, behaviorists didn’t look at inner feelings or thoughts as reasons for why we act the way we do. But later, B.F. Skinner said that even thoughts and feelings are types of behavior that follow the same rules as actions we can see.

Some thinkers who study how we use language also share ideas with behaviorism. For example, Ludwig Wittgenstein talked about how what we say connects to what we do. Others, like W. V. O. Quine and Gilbert Ryle, also brought behaviorist ideas into their work, helping us understand how our actions and words fit together.

Behavior analysis and culture

Behavior analysis has always looked at how culture affects behavior. Over time, the way we study culture has changed. At first, culture was seen as something that influences our actions. Later, it became a topic of study on its own. This led to research on group habits and big changes in behavior. After important work by Glenn in 1986, many studies have focused on understanding how cultures develop and change.

Behavior informatics and behavior computing

As we collect more information about how people act and make choices, it becomes important to understand this from a technology point of view. Behavior informatics and behavior computing help us learn more about why and how behaviors develop, change, and impact decisions.

Recent studies in healthcare and health psychology show that personal health plans work better than one-size-fits-all approaches. New tools for sensing and communication, along with better ways to analyze data, can help change health behaviors. These tools, together with data science, allow us to study behaviors in real life. This has led to the growth of behavioral informatics, a field that studies how to track, evaluate, model, and guide behaviors using computers and data.

Criticisms and limitations

In the second half of the 20th century, behaviorism lost much of its influence because of the rise of cognitive psychology. This change happened because many people felt that behaviorism did not look closely enough at what happens in our minds. This led to the growth of the cognitive therapy movement.

Three important things helped shape cognitive psychology:

Noam Chomsky wrote a strong review in 1959 that criticized behaviorism, starting what we call the "cognitive revolution".
Advances in computer science made people think about how human thinking might work like a computer. Allen Newell and Herbert Simon worked on artificial intelligence (AI) and helped connect thinking to how computers work.
Research centers like George Mandler's Center for Human Information Processing, started in 1964, helped formalize the study of cognitive psychology.

Some recent thinkers have raised concerns about behaviorism's practical focus. They worry that it can accept ideas that aren't well-tested just because they seem useful. Others feel that the many different areas of social science make it hard to share ideas and work together. Some believe that these differences are natural and help us survive.

Early on, behaviorists argued that cognitive psychology's focus on mental states wasn't scientific. But cognitive neuroscience has shown strong links between brain activity and what we think, supporting cognitive psychology.

Behavior therapy

Main article: Behavior therapy

Behavior therapy helps people change unhealthy or harmful behaviors by using learning methods. It builds on ideas from scientists like Ivan Pavlov, who showed how animals learn through experiences. Other methods include teaching through rewards and copying behaviors.

Behavior analysis

Main article: Applied behavior analysis

Applied behavior analysis, or ABA, is a way to understand and change behavior by studying how the environment affects it. It started with research by B.F. Skinner and others. ABA helps improve behaviors by looking at what situations or events might be causing them. This method has been used to support people with learning challenges and autism, helping them develop useful skills and reduce difficult behaviors.

ABA has grown into many areas, including helping children learn in school, supporting people with health issues, and even training animals. It has special techniques for teaching children with autism, such as breaking tasks into small steps and using rewards to encourage learning. These methods have been shown to help many children improve their communication and social skills.

Cognitive-behavior therapy

Main article: Cognitive-behavior therapy

Cognitive-behavior therapy, or CBT, is a type of behavior therapy that also looks at thoughts and feelings. It helps people change not just their actions, but also their ways of thinking and feeling, which can improve their overall well-being. CBT has been used to help with many issues, including anxiety, depression, and stress.

Related therapies

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT)
Applied animal behavior
Behavioral activation
Behavior modification
Behavior therapy
Biofeedback
Clinical behavior analysis
Contingency management
Desensitization
Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT)
Direct instruction
Discrete trial training
Exposure and response prevention
Exposure therapy
Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing
Flooding (psychology)
Functional analytic psychotherapy (FAP)
Habit reversal training
Organizational behavior management
Pivotal response treatment
Positive behavior support
Prolonged exposure therapy
Social skills training
Systematic desensitization

List of notable behaviorists

Here are some important people who studied behavior: