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Behaviorism (English behavior — behavior) in a broad sense — a direction in psychology that studies the behavior of humans and animals as objectively observed reactions of the body to environmental stimuli.
Representatives: Edward Thorndike, Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, John Brodes Watson, Edward Chace Tolman, Burres Frederick Skinner, C. L. Hull.
Behaviorism (behavioral approach) is a variety, one of the directions of the behavioral approach, see →. For all the variety of directions within the behavioral approach, see →
Types of behaviorism
Behaviorism distinguishes between classical behaviorism and neobehaviorism. Classical behaviorism studies only externally observable behavior and does not distinguish between the behavior of humans and other animals. Neobehaviorism, in addition to the study of externally observed behavior, recognizes «intermediate variables» — internal factors of the body that serve as an intermediary link between the impact of stimuli and response muscle movements. See →
Behavioral direction: mission, vision, methods, therapy, effectiveness
Behaviorism was born as a protest against introspection. The behavioral direction considers a person as an organism, as an object of influence in full analogy with the natural-scientific approach. The main methods are classical and operant conditioning. And what is the efficiency? See →
Myths about behaviorism
Behaviorism is said to be:
- ignores the presence of the category of consciousness, sensory states and emotional experiences;
- sees only an automaton in a person and describes a person as a robot, a puppet and a machine;
- does not try to take into account cognitive processes, does not study the intentions or goals of a person;
- cannot explain creative achievements in the visual arts, music, literature, or exact sciences;
- does not give place to the individual core of the personality or his well-being;
- by necessity is superficial, unable to address the deeper layers of the soul or personality;
- “dehumanizes” a person, relativizes his values and destroys a person as a person;
- necessarily anti-democratic, since the subjects are manipulated by the researcher, so its results could be used by a dictator rather than by well-meaning statesmen;
- indifferent to the warmth and diversity of human life, incompatible with creative joy in the visual arts, music and literature, as well as with true love for one’s neighbor.
Perhaps this is true about some stage in the history of behaviorism, perhaps this can be said about some researchers. In general, these are myths. See →