S15E1 - A Behavior

Update: 2025-10-09

Description

Behaviorism is a school of psychology emphasizing that environmental factors shape all observable behavior, which is learned through conditioning, rather than internal mental states. It focuses on principles like classical conditioning (associating stimuli) and operant conditioning (learning from consequences through reinforcement and punishment). Key figures include John B. Watson, who advocated for psychology to be an objective science based on what could be seen, and B.F. Skinner, who developed operant conditioning.

Key Aspects
Focus on the Observable: Behaviorists study actions that can be directly observed and measured, often through statistical and quantitative methods.

Environmental Influence: They prioritize the role of environmental factors and learning in shaping behavior.

Application in Various Fields: The behavioralist approach has been applied to understand animal and human behavior in psychology, economics, political science, and more.

Rejection of Internal States (in some fields): Early behavioralists in psychology and political science sometimes rejected the study of unobservable internal phenomena like thoughts or emotions, though this restriction later led to new approaches.

Economic Context: In behavioral economics, a behavioralist believes that cognitive biases and other psychological factors play a significant role in economic decisions, leading to market inefficiencies.

Types of Conditioning
Classical Conditioning: A process where a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a naturally occurring response, leading to the neutral stimulus eliciting the response on its own.

Operant Conditioning: Learning through consequences, where behaviors followed by reinforcement (rewards) become more probable, and behaviors followed by punishment become less probable.

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