Editing Behaviorism (section)

{{Short description|Systematic approach to understanding the behavior of humans and other animals}}{{About|behaviorism in psychology|the broader movement within the behavioral sciences|behavioralism}}

{{Use American English|date=October 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Psychology sidebar|basic}}
'''Behaviorism''' is a systematic approach to understand the behavior of humans and other animals.<ref>{{Cite web |date=15 June 2023 |title=Behaviourism &#124; Classical & Operant Conditioning, Reinforcement & Shaping &#124; Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/science/behaviourism-psychology}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Araiba |first=Sho |date=June 2019 |title=Current diversification of behaviorism |journal=[[Perspectives on Behavior Science]] |volume=43 |issue=1 |pages=157–175 |doi=10.1007/s40614-019-00207-0 |pmc=7198672 |pmid=32440649}}</ref> It assumes that behavior is either a [[reflex]] elicited by the pairing of certain [[antecedent (behavioral psychology)|antecedent stimuli]] in the environment, or a consequence of that individual's history, including especially [[reinforcement (psychology)|reinforcement]] and [[punishment (psychology)|punishment]] [[three-term contingency|contingencies]], together with the individual's current [[Motivation|motivational state]] and [[Stimulus control|controlling stimuli]]. Although behaviorists generally accept the important role of [[heredity]] in determining behavior, deriving from Skinner's two levels of selection: phylogeny and ontogeny.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tryon |first=Warren W. |date=2002 |title=Expanding the explanatory base of behavior analysis via modern connectionism: Selectionism as a common explanatory core. |url=https://doi.apa.org/doi/10.1037/h0099963 |journal=The Behavior Analyst Today |language=en |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=104–118 |doi=10.1037/h0099963 |issn=1539-4352|url-access=subscription }}</ref> they focus primarily on environmental events. The [[cognitive revolution]] of the late 20th century largely replaced behaviorism as an explanatory theory with [[cognitive psychology]], which unlike behaviorism views internal mental states as explanations for observable behavior.

Behaviorism emerged in the early 1900s as a reaction to [[depth psychology]] and other traditional forms of psychology, which often had difficulty making predictions that could be tested experimentally. It was derived from earlier research in the late nineteenth century, such as when [[Edward Thorndike]] pioneered the [[law of effect]], a procedure that involved the use of consequences to strengthen or weaken behavior.

With a 1924 publication, [[John B. Watson]] devised methodological behaviorism, which rejected [[introspection|introspective methods]] and sought to understand behavior by only measuring observable behaviors and events. It was not until 1945 that [[B. F. Skinner]] proposed that covert behavior—including [[cognition]] and [[emotion]]s—are subject to the same controlling variables as observable behavior,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Skinner |first=B.F. |date=1945 |title=The operational analysis of psychological terms. Psychological Review, 52(5), 270–277 |url=https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1946-00034-001 |journal=Psychological Review |volume=52 |issue=5 |pages=270–277 |doi=10.1037/h0062535 |via=APA|url-access=subscription }}</ref> which became the basis for his philosophy called [[radical behaviorism|''radical'' behaviorism]].<ref name="RadicalBehaviorismCAB">{{Cite book |last=Chiesa, Mecca |url=http://www.behavior.org/item.php?id=154 |title=Radical Behaviorism: The Philosophy and the Science |date=1994 |publisher=Authors Cooperative, Inc. |isbn=978-0962331145 |pages=1–241 |access-date=July 31, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170904195958/http://www.behavior.org/item.php?id=154 |archive-date=2017-09-04 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="ABA">{{Cite journal |last1=Dillenburger, Karola |last2=Keenan, Mickey |name-list-style=amp |date=2009 |title=None of the As in ABA stand for autism: Dispelling the myths |journal=Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disability |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=193–195 |doi=10.1080/13668250902845244 |pmid=19404840 |s2cid=1818966}}</ref> While Watson and [[Ivan Pavlov]] investigated how (conditioned) neutral stimuli elicit reflexes in [[Classical conditioning|respondent conditioning]], Skinner assessed the reinforcement histories of the discriminative (antecedent) stimuli that emits behavior; the process became known as [[operant conditioning]].

The application of radical behaviorism—known as [[applied behavior analysis]]—is used in a variety of contexts, including, for example, applied animal behavior and [[organizational behavior management]] to treatment of mental disorders, such as [[autism]] and [[substance abuse]].<ref name="JABA1968">{{Cite journal |last1=Baer, Donald M. |last2=Wolf, Montrose M. |last3=Risley, Todd R. |date=1968 |title=Some current dimensions of applied behavior analysis |journal=Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=91–7 |doi=10.1901/jaba.1968.1-91 |pmc=1310980 |pmid=16795165}}</ref><ref name="APA-Handbook-BehaviorAnalysis">{{Cite book |url=http://www.apa.org/pubs/books/4311509.aspx |title=APA Handbook of Behavior Analysis |publisher=American Psychological Association |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-4338-1111-1 |editor-last=Madden |editor-first=Gregory |series=APA Handbooks in Psychology Series; APA Reference Books Collection |publication-place=Washington, DC |oclc=771425225 |access-date=December 24, 2014}}</ref> In addition, while behaviorism and [[cognitive psychology|cognitive]] schools of psychological thought do not agree theoretically, they have complemented each other in the [[cognitive behavioral therapy|cognitive-behavioral therapies]], which have demonstrated utility in treating certain pathologies, including simple [[phobia]]s, [[Posttraumatic stress disorder|PTSD]], and [[mood disorders]].