Behaviorism

From RationalWiki

Behaviorism is a doctrine in psychology that holds that all human behavior is a result of environmental conditioning, and can be studied and predicted like any other natural science. As a consequence of this viewpoint, Behaviorists believe that human behavior can, in fact, be molded to the desired ends by appropriate intentional conditioning. Conversely, behaviorists held that much neurotic or psychotic behavior is the result of anti-social or self-destructive behavior resulting from harmful conditioning while while growing up in a dysfunctional family.

Part of the philosphical underpinning for behaviorism was that, in order to create a more scientific approach to psychology, it was necessary to dispose of concepts that were not observable or falsifiable. The behaviorists thus dispensed with the concept of the unconscious or subconscious mind and concentrated on quantifiable and observable phenomena.

Behaviorism was originally based on the research of Ivan Pavlov, of the famous salivating dogs. While most people are familiar with his conditioning of dogs to salivate when they were fed after the ring of a bell, few are aware of the fact that he measured very precisely the quantity of saliva excreted by each dog, documenting the fall off in response as the conditioned response was extinguished over time in the absence of the reward of food associated with the sound of the bell.

B.F. Skinner is a well known proponent of this view, and formulated his own variant, Radical Behaviorism.