Behaviorism

Behaviorism (or behaviourism) is a

systematic approach to understanding the
behavior of humans and other animals.[1] It
assumes that all behaviors are either
reflexes produced by a response to certain
stimuli in the environment, or a
consequence of that individual's history,
including especially reinforcement and
punishment, together with the individual's
current motivational state and controlling
stimuli. Although behaviorists generally
accept the important role of heredity in
determining behavior, they focus primarily
on environmental factors.

Behaviorism combines elements of

philosophy, methodology, and
psychological theory. It emerged in the
late nineteenth century as a reaction to
depth psychology and other traditional
forms of psychology, which often had
difficulty making predictions that could be
tested experimentally. The earliest
derivatives of behaviorism can be traced
back to the late 19th century where
Edward Thorndike pioneered the law of
effect, a process that involved
strengthening or weakening overt behavior
through the use of reinforcement and
punishment.

During the first half of the twentieth

century, John B. Watson devised
methodological behaviorism, which
rejected introspective methods and sought
to understand behavior by only measuring
observable behaviors and events. It was
not until the 1930s that B. F. Skinner
suggested that private events—including
thoughts and feelings—should be
subjected to the same controlling
variables as observable behavior, which
became the basis for his philosophy called
"radical behaviorism."[2][3] While Watson
and Ivan Pavlov investigated the stimulus-
response procedures of classical
conditioning, Skinner assessed the
controlling nature of consequences and
also its potential effect on the antecedents
(or discriminative stimuli) that emits
behavior; the technique became known as
operant conditioning.

Skinner's radical behaviorism has been

highly successful experimentally, revealing
new phenomena with new methods, but
Skinner's dismissal of theory limited its
development. Theoretical behaviorism[4]
recognized that a historical system, an
organism, has a state as well as sensitivity
to stimuli and the ability to emit
responses. Indeed, Skinner himself
acknowledged the possibility of what he
called "latent" responses in humans, even
though he neglected to extend this idea to
rats and pigeons.[5] Latent responses
constitute a repertoire, from which operant
reinforcement can select.

The application of radical behaviorism—

known as applied behavior analysis—is
used in a variety of settings, including, for
example, organizational behavior
management and pediatric feeding
therapy, to the treatment of mental
disorders, such as autism and substance
abuse.[6][7][8] In addition, while behaviorism
and cognitive schools of psychological
thought may not agree theoretically, they
have complemented each other in
cognitive-behavior therapies, which have
demonstrated utility in treating certain
pathologies, including simple phobias,
PTSD, and mood disorders.

Varieties
There is no universally agreed-upon
classification, but some titles given to the
various branches of behaviorism include:

Interbehaviorism: Proposed by Jacob

Robert Kantor before Skinner's writings.
Law of Effect: Although Edward
Thorndike's methodology mainly dealt
with reinforcing observable behavior, it
viewed internal states of mind as
antecedents preceding behavior, and is
much more similar to the cognitive-
behavior therapies than classical
(methodological) or modern-day
(radical) behaviorism. Nevertheless,
Skinner's operant conditioning was
heavily influenced by the Law of Effect's
principle of reinforcement.
Methodological behaviorism: Watson's
behaviorism states that only public
events (behaviors of an individual) can
be objectively observed, and although
thoughts and feelings are still
acknowledged, they are not considered
part of the science of behavior.[2][9][10]
Methodological behaviorism also
became the basis for the early approach
behavior modification in the 1970s and
early 1980s.
Psychological behaviorism: As
proposed by Arthur W. Staats, unlike the
previous behaviorisms of Skinner, Hull,
and Tolman, was based upon a program
of human research involving various
types of human behavior. Psychological
behaviorism introduces new principles
of human learning. Humans learn not
only by the animal learning principles
but also by special human learning
principles. Those principles involve
humans' uniquely huge learning ability.
Humans learn repertoires that enable
them to learn other things. Human
learning is thus cumulative. No other
animal demonstrates that ability,
making the human species unique.
Radical behaviorism: B. F. Skinner's
behaviorism theorizes that processes
within the organism are part of the
science of behavior, particularly the
presence of private events (such as
thoughts and feelings), and suggests
that environmental variables also
control these internal events just as they
control observable behaviors. Radical
behaviorism forms the core philosophy
behind behavior analysis. Willard Van
Orman Quine used many of radical
behaviorism's ideas in his study of
knowledge and language.[9]
Teleological behaviorism: Proposed by
Howard Rachlin, post-Skinnerian,
purposive, close to microeconomics.
Focuses on objective observation as
opposed to cognitive processes.
Theoretical behaviorism: Proposed by J.
E. R. Staddon,[11][12][13] adds a concept
of internal state to allow for the effects
of context. According to theoretical
behaviorism, a state is a set of
equivalent histories, i.e., past histories in
which members of the same stimulus
class produce members of the same
response class (i.e., B. F. Skinner's
concept of the operant). Conditioned
stimuli are thus seen to control neither
stimulus nor response but state.
Theoretical behaviorism is a logical
extension of Skinner's class-based
(generic) definition of the operant.
 Trace conditioning: A respondent
conditioning technique based on Ivan
Pavlov's concept of a "memory trace" in
which the observer must recall the
conditioned stimulus (CS). There is also
a time delay between the CS and
unconditioned stimulus (US), causing
the conditioned response (CR)—
particularly the reflex—to be faded over
time.

Two subtypes are:

Hullian and post-Hullian: theoretical,

group data, not dynamic, physiological
Purposive: Tolman's behavioristic
anticipation of cognitive psychology
Radical behaviorism

B. F. Skinner proposed radical behaviorism

as the conceptual underpinning of the
experimental analysis of behavior. This
view differs from other approaches to
behavioral research in various ways but,
most notably here, it contrasts with
methodological behaviorism in accepting
feelings, states of mind and introspection
as behaviors subject to scientific
investigation. Like methodological
behaviorism it rejects the reflex as a
model of all behavior, and it defends the
science of behavior as complementary to
but independent of physiology. Radical
behaviorism overlaps considerably with
other western philosophical positions
such as American pragmatism.[14]

Experimental and conceptual

innovations
This essentially 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[15] and Schedules
of Reinforcement.[16] 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.
Skinner's empirical work expanded on
earlier research on trial-and-error learning
by researchers such as Thorndike and
Guthrie with both conceptual
reformulations—Thorndike's notion of a
stimulus–response "association" or
"connection" was abandoned; and
methodological ones—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, 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. An
important descendant of the experimental
analysis of behavior is the Society for
Quantitative Analysis of Behavior.[17][18]

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 with
his 1957 book Verbal Behavior[19] and
other language-related publications;[20]
Verbal Behavior laid out a vocabulary and
theory for functional analysis of verbal
behavior, and was strongly criticized in a
review by Noam Chomsky.[21][22]
Skinner did not respond in detail but
claimed that Chomsky failed to
understand his ideas,[23] and the
disagreements between the two and the
theories involved have been further
discussed.[24][25][26][27][28][29] Innateness
theory, which has been heavily
critiqued,[30][31] is opposed to behaviorist
theory which claims that language is a set
of habits that can be acquired by means of
conditioning.[32][33][34] According to some,
the behaviorist account is a process which
would be too slow to explain a
phenomenon as complicated as language
learning. What was important for a
behaviorist's 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,[35] 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.
Recently, a new line of behavioral research
on language was started under the name
of relational frame theory.[36][37][38][39]

Education
Behaviourism focuses on one particular
view of learning: a change in external
behaviour achieved through using
reinforcement and repetition (Rote
learning) to shape behavior of learners.
Skinner found that behaviors could be
shaped when the use of reinforcement
was implemented. Desired behavior is
rewarded, while the undesired behavior is
not rewarded.[40] Incorporating
behaviorism into the classroom allowed
educators to assist their students in
excelling both academically and
personally. In the field of language
learning, this type of teaching was called
the audio-lingual method, characterised by
the whole class using choral chanting of
key phrases, dialogues and immediate
correction.
Within the behaviourist view of learning,
the "teacher" is the dominant person in the
classroom and takes complete control,
evaluation of learning comes from the
teacher who decides what is right or
wrong. The learner does not have any
opportunity for evaluation or reflection
within the learning process, they are
simply told what is right or wrong. The
conceptualization of learning using this
approach could be considered "superficial"
as the focus is on external changes in
behaviour i.e. not interested in the internal
processes of learning leading to behaviour
change and has no place for the emotions
involved the process.
Operant conditioning
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Operant conditioning was developed by

B.F. Skinner in 1937 and deals with the
modification of "voluntary behaviour" or
operant behaviour,.[41][42][43] Operant is a
set of stimulus that produces meaningful
consequences to an animal. It can further
divided into Reinforcement (stimulus that
increase the probability of performing
behaviors) and punishment (stimulus that
decrease the probability of performing
behaviors). The core tools of operant
conditioning, are either positive (delivered
following a response), or negative
(withdrawn following a response).[44] The
following descriptions explained the
concepts of four common types of
operant conditioning in details:

Positive reinforcement: Providing a

stimulus that an individual desires to
reinforce desired behaviors. For
example, a child loves playing video
games. His mother reinforced his
tendency to provide a helping hands to
other family members by providing more
time for him to play video games.
Negative reinforcement: Removing a
stimulus that an individual does not
desire to reinforce desired behaviors.
For example, a child hates being nagged
to clean his room. His mother reinforces
his room cleaning by removing the
undesired stimulus of nagging after he
has cleaned.
Positive punishment: Providing a
stimulus that an individual does not
desire to decrease undesired behaviors.
For example, a child hates to do chores.
His parents will try to reduce the
undesired behavior of failing a test by
applying the undesired stimuli of more
chores around the house.
 Negative punishment: Removing a
stimulus that an individual desires in
order to decrease undesired behaviors.
For example, a child loves playing video
games. His parents will try to reduce the
undesired behavior of failing an exam by
removing the desired stimulus of video
games.

Classical experiment in operant

conditioning, for example the Skinner Box,
"puzzle box" or operant conditioning
chamber to test the effects of operant
conditioning principles on rats, cats and
other species. From the study of Skinner
box, he discovered that the rats learned
very effectively if they were rewarded
frequently with food. Skinner also found
that he could shape the rats' behavior
through the use of rewards, which could, in
turn, be applied to human learning as well.

Skinner's model was based on the premise

that reinforcement is used for the desired
actions or responses while punishment
was used to stop the undesired actions
responses that are not. This theory proved
that humans or animals will repeat any
action that leads to a positive outcome,
and avoiding any action that leads to a
negative outcome. The experiment with
the pigeons showed that a positive
outcome leads to learned behavior since
the pigeon learned to peck the disc in
return for the reward of food.

Ratio and interval

In operant conditioning experimentation,

research frequently presented
reinforcement and punishment based on
either time (interval) or number of
responses (ratio). They can be fixed and
variable by nature. The following
descriptions are four common types of
ratio and interval schedules:
Fixed ratio: Presenting a reinforcement
or punishment after a certain number of
responses are met. For example, after a
child finished 3 homework assignments,
the parents presented him a gift. In this
case, a reinforcer is present only after 3
responses are made. Therefore, this is a
FR3 schedule (the short form of Fixed
ratio 3, the number after fixed ratio
representing the number of responses
made in order to pursue a
reinforcement/punishment)
Fixed interval: After an individual/animal
performed one targeted behavior (e.g.
pressing a bar for food in rats), the
reinforcement or punishment is
presented after a fixed amount of time.
For example, after the rats presses a
bar, it will receive some food 60
seconds after the behavior of pressing
the bar.
Variable ratio: Presenting reinforcement
or punishment after several number of
random responses are met. For
example, after the first time a child
finished 3 homework assignments, the
parents presented him a gift. But for the
following four times, the child receives a
gift after he finished 1, 2, 3 and 1
homework assignments. In this case,
the child received a gift after finishing
an average of 2 homeworks. Therefore,
this is a VR2 schedule (the short form of
Variable Ratio 2, the number after
variable ratio representing the average
number of responses made in order to
pursue a reinforcement/punishment).
Variable interval: Presenting
reinforcement or punishment after
random interval of time has pass
through. For example, at the first five
trials, if a child finished a homework
assignment, the parents presented him
a gift after 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 minutes
respectively. In this case, the gift is
presented only if a child finished a
homework and wait for a variable period
of time. Therefore, this is a VI3 schedule
 (the short form of Variable Interval 3, the
number after variable interval
representing the average time after an
individual performed the targeted
behavior).

Classical conditioning
Although operant conditioning plays the
largest role in discussions of behavioral
mechanisms, classical conditioning (or
Pavlovian conditioning or respondent
conditioning) is also an important
behavior-analytic process that need not
refer to mental or other internal processes.
Pavlov's experiments with dogs provide
the most familiar example of the classical
conditioning procedure. At the beginning,
the dog was provided a meat
(unconditioned stimulus, UCS, naturally
elicit a response that is not controlled) to
eat, resulting in increased salivation
(unconditioned response, UCR, which
means that a response is naturally caused
by UCS). Afterwards, a bell ring was
presented together with food to the dog.
Although bell ring was a neutral stimulus
(NS, meaning that the stimulus did not had
any effect), dog would start salivate when
only hearing a bell ring after a number of
pairings. Eventually, the neutral stimulus
(bell ring) became conditioned. Therefore,
salvation was elicited as a conditioned
response (the response same as the
unconditioned response), pairing up with
meat—the conditioned stimulus) [45]
Although Pavlov proposed some tentative
physiological processes that might be
involved in classical conditioning, these
have not been confirmed. The idea of
classical conditioning helped behaviorist
John Watson discover the key mechanism
behind how humans acquire the behaviors
that they do, which was to find a natural
reflex that produces the response being
considered.

Watson's "Behaviourist Manifesto" has

three aspects that deserve special
recognition: one is that psychology should
be purely objective, with any interpretation
of conscious experience being removed,
thus leading to psychology as the "science
of behaviour"; the second one is that the
goals of psychology should be to predict
and control behaviour (as opposed to
describe and explain conscious mental
states); the third one is that there is no
notable distinction between human and
non-human behaviour. Following Darwin's
theory of evolution, this would simply
mean that human behaviour is just a more
complex version in respect to behaviour
displayed by other species.[46]
In philosophy
Behaviorism is a psychological movement
that can be contrasted with philosophy of
mind.[47][48][49] 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 as causes for their
behavior.[50][51] Behaviorism takes a
functional view of behavior. According to
Edmund Fantino and colleagues: "Behavior
analysis has much to offer the study of
phenomena normally dominated by
cognitive and social psychologists. We
hope that successful application of
behavioral theory and methodology will
not only shed light on central problems in
judgment and choice but will also generate
greater appreciation of the behavioral
approach."[52]

Behaviorist sentiments are not uncommon

within philosophy of language and analytic
philosophy. It is sometimes argued that
Ludwig Wittgenstein defended a logical
behaviorist position[10] (e.g., the beetle in a
box argument). In logical positivism (as
held, e.g., by Rudolf Carnap[10] and Carl
Hempel),[10] the meaning of psychological
statements are their verification
conditions, which consist of performed
overt behavior. W. V. O. Quine made use of
a type of behaviorism,[10] influenced by
some of Skinner's ideas, in his own work
on language. Quine's work in semantics
differed substantially from the empiricist
semantics of Carnap which he attempted
to create an alternative to, couching his
semantic theory in references to physical
objects rather than sensations. Gilbert
Ryle defended a distinct strain of
philosophical behaviorism, sketched in his
book The Concept of Mind.[10] 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,[53] though he offers extensive
criticism of radical behaviorism and
refutes Skinner's rejection of the value of
intentional idioms and the possibility of
free will.[54]

This is Dennett's main point in

"Skinner Skinned." Dennett
argues that there is a crucial
difference between explaining
and explaining away… If our
explanation of apparently
rational behavior turns out to be
extremely simple, we may want
to say that the behavior was not
really rational after all. But if
the explanation is very complex
and intricate, we may want to
say not that the behavior is not
rational, but that we now have a
better understanding of what
rationality consists in.
(Compare: if we find out how a
computer program solves
problems in linear algebra, we
don't say it's not really solving
them, we just say we know how
it does it. On the other hand, in
cases like Weizenbaum's ELIZA
program, the explanation of
how the computer carries on a
conversation is so simple that
the right thing to say seems to
be that the machine isn't really
carrying on a conversation, it's
just a trick.)

— Curtis Brown, Philosophy

of Mind, "Behaviorism:
Skinner and Dennett"[55]
Molecular versus molar behaviorism

Skinner's view of behavior is most often

characterized as a "molecular" view of
behavior; that is, behavior can be
decomposed into atomistic parts or
molecules. This view is inconsistent with
Skinner's complete description of behavior
as delineated in other works, including his
1981 article "Selection by
Consequences".[56] Skinner proposed that
a complete account of behavior requires
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
then interacts with its environment.
Molecular behaviorists use notions from
melioration theory, negative power
function discounting or additive versions
of negative power function discounting.[57]

Molar behaviorists, such as Howard

Rachlin, Richard Herrnstein, and William
Baum, argue that behavior cannot be
understood by focusing on events in the
moment. That is, they argue that behavior
is best understood as the ultimate product
of an organism's history and that
molecular behaviorists are committing a
fallacy by inventing fictitious proximal
causes for behavior. Molar behaviorists
argue that standard molecular constructs,
such as "associative strength", are better
replaced by molar variables such as rate
of reinforcement.[58] Thus, a molar
behaviorist would describe "loving
someone" as a pattern of loving behavior
over time; there is no isolated, proximal
cause of loving behavior, only a history of
behaviors (of which the current behavior
might be an example) that can be
summarized as "love".
21st-century behavior analysis

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The early term behavior modification has

been obsolete since the 1990s as it
currently refers to the brief revival of
methodological behaviorism in the 1970s
and early 1980s.[59][60][61] Applied behavior
analysis—the term that replaced behavior
modification—has emerged into a thriving
field.

The independent development of

behaviour analysis outside the US also
continues to develop, In terms of
motivation, there remains strong interest
in the variety of human motivational
behaviour factors, e.g.,.[62][63][64][65][66]
Some, may go as far as suggesting that
the current rapid change in organisational
behaviour could partly be attributed to
some of these theories and the theories
that are related to it.[67]

The interests among behavior analysts

today are wide-ranging, as a review of the
30 Special Interest Groups (SIGs) within
ABAI indicates. Such interests include
everything from developmental disabilities
and autism, to cultural psychology, clinical
psychology, verbal behavior,
Organizational Behavior Management
(OBM; behavior analytic I–O psychology).
OBM has developed a particularly strong
following within behavior analysis, as
evidenced by the formation of the OBM
Network and the influential Journal of
Organizational Behavior Management
(JOBM; recently rated the 3rd highest
impact journal in applied psychology by ISI
JOBM rating).

Applications of behavioral technology,

also known as applied behavior analysis or
ABA, have been particularly well
established in the area of developmental
disabilities since the 1960s. Treatment of
individuals diagnosed with autism
spectrum disorders has grown especially
rapidly since the mid-1990s. This demand
for services encouraged the formation of a
professional credentialing program
administered by the Behavior Analyst
Certification Board, Inc. (BACB) and
accredited by the National Commission for
Certifying Agencies. As of early 2012,
there are over 300 BACB approved course
sequences offered by about 200 colleges
and universities worldwide preparing
students for this credential and
approximately 11,000 BACB certificants,
most working in the United States. The
Association of Professional Behavior
Analysts was formed in 2008 to meet the
needs of these ABA professionals.

Modern behavior analysis has also

witnessed a massive resurgence in
research and applications related to
language and cognition, with the
development of relational frame theory
(RFT; described as a "Post-Skinnerian
account of language and
cognition").[68][36][37][38] RFT also forms the
empirical basis for the successful and
data-driven acceptance and commitment
therapy (ACT).[69][70][71][72][73][74]
Some of the behavior analytic journals
include the Journal of Applied Behavior
Analysis (JABA), the Journal of the
Experimental Analysis of Behavior (JEAB),
the Journal of Organizational Behavior
Management (JOBM), Behavior and Social
Issues (BSI), the Journal of Contextual
Behavioral Science (JCBS), as well as the
Psychological Record.

Currently, the US has 14 ABAI accredited

MA and PhD programs for comprehensive
study in behavior analysis.

Behavior analysis and culture

Cultural analysis has always been at the
philosophical core of radical behaviorism
from the early days (as seen in Skinner's
Walden Two, Science & Human Behavior,
Beyond Freedom & Dignity, and About
Behaviorism).

During the 1980s, behavior analysts, most

notably Sigrid Glenn, had a productive
interchange with cultural anthropologist
Marvin Harris (the most notable proponent
of "cultural materialism") regarding
interdisciplinary work. Very recently,
behavior analysts have produced a set of
basic exploratory experiments in an effort
toward this end.[75] Behaviorism is also
frequently used in game development,
although this application is
controversial.[76]

Behavior informatics and

behavior computing
With the fast growth of big behavioral data
and applications, behavior analysis is
ubiquitous. Understanding behavior from
the informatics and computing
perspective becomes increasingly critical
for in-depth understanding of what, why
and how behaviors are formed, interact,
evolve, change and affect business and
decision. Behavior informatics[77][78] and
behavior computing[79][80] deeply explore
behavior intelligence and behavior insights
from the informatics and computing
perspectives.

Criticisms and limitations

In the second half of the 20th century,
behaviorism was largely eclipsed as a
result of the cognitive revolution.[81][82]
This shift was due to methodological
behaviorism being highly criticized for not
examining mental processes, and this led
to the development of the cognitive
therapy movement. In the mid-20th
century, three main influences arose that
would inspire and shape cognitive
psychology as a formal school of thought:

Noam Chomsky's 1959 critique of

behaviorism, and empiricism more
generally, initiated what would come to
be known as the "cognitive
revolution".[83]
Developments in computer science
would lead to parallels being drawn
between human thought and the
computational functionality of
computers, opening entirely new areas
of psychological thought. Allen Newell
and Herbert Simon spent years
developing the concept of artificial
intelligence (AI) and later worked with
cognitive psychologists regarding the
implications of AI. The effective result
was more of a framework
conceptualization of mental functions
with their counterparts in computers
(memory, storage, retrieval, etc.)
Formal recognition of the field involved
the establishment of research
institutions such as George Mandler's
Center for Human Information
Processing in 1964. Mandler described
the origins of cognitive psychology in a
2002 article in the Journal of the History
of the Behavioral Sciences[84]
In the early years of cognitive psychology,
behaviorist critics held that the empiricism
it pursued was incompatible with the
concept of internal mental states.
Cognitive neuroscience, however,
continues to gather evidence of direct
correlations between physiological brain
activity and putative mental states,
endorsing the basis for cognitive
psychology.

List of notable behaviorists

Nathan Azrin
Don Baer
Albert Bandura
Dermot Barnes-Holmes
Vladimir Bekhterev
Sidney W. Bijou
Charles Ferster
Jacque Fresco
Doreen Granpeesheh
Edwin Ray Guthrie
Betty Hart
Steven C. Hayes
Richard J. Herrnstein
Clark L. Hull
Brian Iwata
Alan E. Kazdin
Fred S. Keller
Robert Koegel
Jon Levy
Marsha M. Linehan
Ole Ivar Lovaas
F. Charles Mace
Jack Michael
Neal E. Miller
O. Hobart Mowrer
Charles E. Osgood
Ivan Pavlov
Murray Sidman
B. F. Skinner
Kenneth W. Spence
J. E. R. Staddon
 Edward Thorndike
Edward C. Tolman
John B. Watson
Montrose Wolf
Joseph Wolpe

See also
Antecedent stimuli
Behavior analysis of child development
Behavioral change theories
Behavioral economics
Behavioral medicine
Behavioral neuroscience
Counterconditioning
Criminology
Dog behaviorist
Emergency psychiatry
Ethology
Functional analysis (psychology)
Habituation
List of publications in psychology
§ Behaviorism
The Logic of Modern Physics
Law of effect
Mentalism (psychology)
Models of abnormality § Behavioural
model
Observational learning
 Operationalization
Pharmacology § Behavioral
pharmacology
Perceptual control theory
Professional practice of behavior
analysis
Punishment
Reinforcement
Relational frame theory
Token economy
Verbal Behavior
ZebraBox
Zoosemiotics

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

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Further reading
Baum, W.M. (1994) Understanding
behaviorism: Behavior, Culture and Evolution.
Blackwell.
Cao, L.B. (2013) IJCAI2013 tutorial on
behavior informatics and computing .
Cao, L.B. (2014) Non-IIDness Learning in
Behavioral and Social Data , The Computer
Journal, 57(9): 1358–1370.
Chiesa, Mecca (1994). "Radical Behaviorism:
The Philosophy and the Science". Authors
Cooperative, Inc.
Cooper, John O., Heron, Timothy E., &
Heward, William L. (2007). "Applied Behavior
Analysis: Second Edition". Pearson.
Ferster, C.B. & Skinner, B.F. (1957).
Schedules of reinforcement. New York:
Appleton-Century-Crofts.
Malott, Richard W. Principles of Behavior.
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice
Hall, 2008. Print.
Mills, John A., Control: A History of
Behavioral Psychology, Paperback Edition,
New York University Press 2000.
Lattal, K.A. & Chase, P.N. (2003) "Behavior
Theory and Philosophy". Plenum.
Pierce, W. David & Cheney, Carl D. (2013).
"Behavior Analysis and Learning: Fifth
Edition". Psychology Press.
Plotnik, Rod. (2005) Introduction to
Psychology. Thomson-Wadsworth (ISBN 0-
534-63407-9).
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 (270–7): 290–4.
doi:10.1037/h0062535 .
Skinner, B.F. (1953). Science and Human
Behavior (ISBN 0-02-929040-6) Online
version .
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. (31 July 1981). "Selection by
Consequences" (PDF). Science. 213 (4507):
501–4. Bibcode:1981Sci...213..501S .
doi:10.1126/science.7244649 .
PMID 7244649 . Archived from the original
(PDF) on 2 July 2010. Retrieved 14 August
2010.
Klein, P. (2013) "Explanation of Behavioural
Psychotherapy Styles". [10] .
Staddon, J. (2014) The New Behaviorism,
2nd Edition. Philadelphia, PA: Psychology
Press. pp. xi, 1–282.
Watson, J.B. (1913). Psychology as the
behaviorist views it. Psychological Review,
20, 158–177. (on-line ).
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.
LeClaire, J. and Rushin, J.P. (2010)
Behavioral Analytics For Dummies. Wiley.
(ISBN 978-0-470-58727-0).

Videos
Noam Chomsky on Behaviorism

External links

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Graham, George. "Behaviorism" . In
Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
"Behaviorism" . Internet Encyclopedia of
Philosophy.
Dictionary of the History of Ideas:
Behaviorism
Books and Journal Articles On
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Wuerzburg University: behaviourism
B.F. Skinner Foundation
Cambridge Center for Behavioral
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Skinner's Theories
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(Documents No. 9 and 10 in English)
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Examining Learning From Multiple
Perspectives by Michigan State
University
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