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Everything about Behaviorism

Systematic approach to understanding the behavior of humans and other animals

Behaviorism is a systematic approach to understanding the behavior of humans and other animals. It assumes that behavior is either a reflex elicited by the pairing of certain antecedent stimuli in the environment, or a consequence of that individual's history, including especially reinforcement and punishment contingencies, together with the individual's current motivational state and controlling stimuli. Although behaviorists generally accept the important role of heredity in determining behavior, deriving from Skinner's two levels of selection, they focus primarily on environmental events. The cognitive revolution of the late 20th century largely replaced behaviorism as an explanatory theory with cognitive psychology, which, unlike behaviorism, views internal mental states as explanations for observable behavior. Wikipedia →

🧭 Start here: a 6-step reading path

  1. Read the overview: BehaviorismA 5-minute orientation
  2. Skim a recent paper: Humble Behaviorism ReduxInfluential work since 2022
  3. Pick up a classic book: Charlie and the Chocolate FactoryThe most-reprinted book on the subject
  4. Read the landmark paper: Beyond behaviorism: On the automaticity of higher mental processes.Cited 702 times
  5. Go sideways: Radical behaviorismA closely related topic
  6. Go sideways: Experimental analysis of behaviorA closely related topic

📖 Definitions

Noun An approach focusing on observable behavior which, generally assuming that behavior is determined by the environment and denying any independent significance for mind, largely ignores any pathophysiological processes which may, or may not, underlie subjective, behavioral phenomena.

Noun The theory that a mental state is identical to the disposition or tendency to behave in accordance with the physical causes; statements about the mind are reducible to statements of physical behavior.

🗂️ The subject at a glance

  1. Varieties
  2. Experimental and conceptual innovations
  3. Relation to language
  4. Education
  5. Operant conditioning
  6. Respondent conditioning
  7. In philosophy
  8. Behavior analysis and culture
  9. Behavior informatics and behavior computing
  10. Criticisms and limitations
  11. Behavior therapy
  12. List of notable behaviorists

🏆 Landmark papers (most cited)

🆕 Influential since 2022

📚 Books worth reading

Ranked by number of editions on Open Library, a rough measure of how lasting a book is.

🔗 Related topics