# Behaviorism Behaviorism is a school of psychology that dominated the field from roughly 1920 to 1960, founded by [[John B. Watson]] and later developed by [[B. F. Skinner]]. Its core claim: psychology should study only observable behavior, not unobservable mental states. Watson declared in 1913 that consciousness, thoughts, and feelings were outside the realm of science—only stimulus-response relationships could be objectively measured. Skinner's radical behaviorism extended this, arguing that mental states either don't exist or are irrelevant to explaining behavior. The Cognitive Revolution of the 1950s-60s overthrew behaviorism's dominance, led by figures like [[Noam Chomsky]], [[Jerry Fodor]], and [[George Miller]]. Chomsky's 1959 review of Skinner's *Verbal Behavior* was particularly devastating, showing that language acquisition couldn't be explained by stimulus-response conditioning alone. The mind returned to psychology as the [[Computational Theory of Mind]] emerged—treating thought as information processing rather than behavior patterns. Today, behaviorist techniques remain useful in therapy ([[Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)]]) and animal training, but the theoretical framework that rejected mental states is largely abandoned. ## Behaviorism vs Cognitive Science ``` ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ BEHAVIORISM vs COGNITIVE SCIENCE │ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ │ │ BEHAVIORISM (1920-1960) COGNITIVE (1960-present) │ │ ┌─────────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────────┐ │ │ │ │ │ ┌───────────┐ │ │ │ │ Stimulus ─────────────────▶│ │ MIND │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ (internal │ │ │ │ │ │ BLACK BOX │ │ │ states) │ │ │ │ │ │ (ignored) │ │ └─────┬─────┘ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ▼ │ │ ▼ │ │ │ │ Response │ │ Response │ │ │ └─────────────────────┘ └─────────────────────┘ │ │ │ │ "Only study what we "Mental representations │ │ can observe" are scientifically │ │ tractable" │ │ │ │ Key Figures: Key Figures: │ │ • John B. Watson • Noam Chomsky │ │ • B.F. Skinner • Jerry Fodor │ │ • Ivan Pavlov • George Miller │ │ │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ``` ## Types of Behaviorism | Type | Proponent | Core Claim | |------|-----------|------------| | **Methodological** | Watson | Psychology should only study behavior | | **Radical** | Skinner | Mental states don't explain behavior | | **Logical/Analytical** | Ryle, Wittgenstein | Mental terms refer to behavioral dispositions | | **Psychological** | Hull, Tolman | Intervening variables allowed | ## Core Principles | Principle | Description | |-----------|-------------| | **Observable behavior** | Only study what can be measured | | **Stimulus-response** | Behavior explained by S-R associations | | **Conditioning** | Learning through reinforcement | | **Environmental determinism** | Behavior shaped by environment | | **Anti-mentalism** | Reject internal mental states | | **Tabula rasa** | Mind is blank slate at birth | ## Classical vs Operant Conditioning | Aspect | Classical (Pavlov) | Operant (Skinner) | |--------|-------------------|-------------------| | **Mechanism** | Association | Reinforcement | | **Response** | Involuntary (reflexive) | Voluntary | | **Example** | Dog salivates at bell | Rat presses lever | | **Learning** | Stimulus pairing | Consequence-based | ## Criticisms (Cognitive Revolution) | Criticism | Source | |-----------|--------| | **Language poverty of stimulus** | [[Noam Chomsky]] | | **Can't explain productivity** | Infinite sentences from finite rules | | **Ignores mental representation** | [[Computational Theory of Mind]] | | **Can't account for insight** | Gestalt psychologists | | **Reductionist** | Misses cognitive complexity | | **Species-chauvinism** | Animal models don't scale | ## Legacy and Applications | Domain | Behaviorist Influence | | ------------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------- | | **[[Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)]]** | Behavior modification techniques | | **Animal training** | Operant conditioning, clicker training | | **Education** | Programmed instruction, feedback | | **Applied Behavior Analysis** | Autism therapy | | **Gamification** | Variable reinforcement schedules | ## Timeline | Year | Event | | ----- | ------------------------------------- | | 1898 | Thorndike's Law of Effect | | 1906 | Pavlov's classical conditioning | | 1913 | Watson's behaviorist manifesto | | 1938 | Skinner's *The Behavior of Organisms* | | 1957 | Skinner's *Verbal Behavior* | | 1959 | Chomsky's devastating review | | 1960s | Cognitive Revolution begins | ## References - Watson, John B. "Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It" (1913) - Skinner, B.F. *Verbal Behavior* (1957) - Chomsky, Noam. "Review of Verbal Behavior" (1959) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behaviorism ## Related - [[B. F. Skinner]] - [[Noam Chomsky]] - [[Computational Theory of Mind]] - [[Philosophy of Mind]] - [[John B. Watson]] - [[Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)]] - [[Tabula Rasa]]