Behaviorist approaches focus on what we can see when it comes to understanding how our minds work. Instead of looking at what’s going on inside someone's head, behaviorists study what people do. They believe psychology should be based on facts we can observe.
Observable Behavior: Behaviorists say we should only look at things we can see. For example, if someone is sad, a behaviorist will look at their facial expressions, actions, or physical reactions instead of guessing what they are thinking.
Ignoring Unobservable States: Thoughts and feelings are seen as unimportant. Behaviorists like B.F. Skinner believed that to understand why someone acts a certain way, we should look at the causes and effects of their actions. For instance, instead of asking why someone is angry, they would look at what made the person angry and how they respond to it.
Conditioning: This idea suggests that we can learn or change our behaviors through conditioning. If someone gets nervous when speaking in front of a group, a behaviorist would focus on visible signs of that anxiety, like sweating or stuttering, rather than trying to figure out how the person feels inside.
Think about a child having a tantrum. A behaviorist would look for what made the child upset (like not getting a toy) and how they reacted (crying or screaming). They would not try to guess the child's feelings of frustration since those are harder to measure.
In summary, behaviorism avoids the complicated details of our feelings and thoughts. It focuses on what we can see and how actions relate to each other. This way of thinking has led to lots of conversations about how we understand our minds.
Behaviorist approaches focus on what we can see when it comes to understanding how our minds work. Instead of looking at what’s going on inside someone's head, behaviorists study what people do. They believe psychology should be based on facts we can observe.
Observable Behavior: Behaviorists say we should only look at things we can see. For example, if someone is sad, a behaviorist will look at their facial expressions, actions, or physical reactions instead of guessing what they are thinking.
Ignoring Unobservable States: Thoughts and feelings are seen as unimportant. Behaviorists like B.F. Skinner believed that to understand why someone acts a certain way, we should look at the causes and effects of their actions. For instance, instead of asking why someone is angry, they would look at what made the person angry and how they respond to it.
Conditioning: This idea suggests that we can learn or change our behaviors through conditioning. If someone gets nervous when speaking in front of a group, a behaviorist would focus on visible signs of that anxiety, like sweating or stuttering, rather than trying to figure out how the person feels inside.
Think about a child having a tantrum. A behaviorist would look for what made the child upset (like not getting a toy) and how they reacted (crying or screaming). They would not try to guess the child's feelings of frustration since those are harder to measure.
In summary, behaviorism avoids the complicated details of our feelings and thoughts. It focuses on what we can see and how actions relate to each other. This way of thinking has led to lots of conversations about how we understand our minds.