behaviorist approach

Behaviorism (or behaviourism), also called the learning perspective (where any physical action is a behavior), is a philosophy of psychology based on the proposition that all things that organisms do—including acting, thinking and feeling—can and should be regarded as behaviors.^[1] The behaviorist school of thought maintains that behaviors as such can be described scientifically without recourse either to internal physiological events or to hypothetical constructs such as the mind.^[2] Behaviorism comprises the position that all theories should have observational correlates but that there are no philosophical differences between publicly observable processes (such as actions) and privately observable processes (such as thinking and feeling).^[3]


Behaviorism is a psychological movement that can be contrasted with philosophy of mind. 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. A modern example of such analysis would be Fantino and colleagues' work on behavioral approaches to reasoning.^[20] Other varieties, such as theoretical behaviorism, permit internal states, but do not require them to be mental or have any relation to subjective experience. Behaviorism takes a functional view of behavior

Stimuli and responses

Behaviourism, by focusing on

Th oughts, feelings and other inner mental states cannot be studied empirically, and so have no

place in behaviourist theory. Genetic variation, while presumably contributing to diff erences

among individuals, is also ignored, because traditionally it was not measurable (and is still largely

inaccessible). By contrast, environmental conditions are relatively easy to measure and study.observable events, sets its own limits on what can be studied.