An approach to psychology first developed by john b. Watson (1878–1958) that rejected the notion of mental states and reduced all psychological phenomena to neural, muscular, and glandular responses. Contemporary behaviorism emphasizes the study of observable responses but is directed toward general behavior rather than discrete acts. It includes private events such as feelings and fantasies to the extent that these can be directly observed and measured.
A systematic approach or school of psychology that regards objective, observable manifestations as the key to an understanding of human behavior. Consciousness, feeling, and other subjective phenomena are disregarded as unnecessary or as mediating processes between stimulus and response.
An approach to psychology first developed by John B. Watson (1878-1958) that rejected the notion of mental states and reduced all psychological phenomena to neural, muscular, and glandular responses. Contemporary behaviorism emphasizes the study of observable responses but is directed toward general behavior rather than discrete acts. It includes private events such as feelings and fantasies to the extent that these can be directly observed and measured.
Branch of psychology concerned with objective observations of behavior, as evidence of such processes as intent and drive, without influence from personally biased (subjective) statements.
An approach to psychology postulating that only observable behavior need be studied, thus denying any importance to unconscious processes. Behaviorists are concerned with the laws regulating the occurrence of behavior.
A theory of conduct that regards normal and abnormal behavior as the result of conditioning rather than choice or will.