Behaviorism Overview

Study Notes

Behaviorism views the mind as a machine, influenced by outside events. Prior events determine future actions.
Thoughts and feelings are behaviors (or stimuli).
Strict behaviorists do not need to study personality, as differences between individuals are explained by environmental rewards and punishments.
Situational specificity of behavior supports the behavioral perspective.
Animals are used to study behavior, like rats and pigeons, because it's more ethical.
Key elements of behavioral theory include: empiricism, learning principles, situational specificity, and rejecting the medical symptom-disease model.
Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is a practical application, using methods like mood tracking, behavioral tracking, and contingency management.

John Watson founded behaviorism at the University of Chicago. His work moved from animals to, then marketing.
Ivan Pavlov's research on dogs led to the concept of conditioned emotional responses.
This research is important in understanding how experiences can be associated with emotions, shaping future reactions.
"Baby Albert" was a famous participant in experiments on classical conditioning.
Extinction is a crucial concept in behavioral therapy, pairing the feared stimulus with positive or neutral stimuli to lessen the association. Systematic desensitization is an example.
Counterconditioning uses incompatible responses to extinguish unwanted behaviors (like using relaxation techniques).

B.F Skinner used operant conditioning to control environments and study animal behavior (e.g., the "baby box").
Skinner focused on rewards (as more powerful and controllable than punishment) in shaping behavior.
His book, Walden Two, details his perspectives.

Personality is less important than process, in that behavior is caused by operant conditioning.
Operant conditioning involves generalized reinforcers.
Schedules of reinforcement, such as variable, interval, or ratio schedules, affect behavior.
Shaping is the process of guiding behavior towards a desired outcome.
Behaviorism explains all psychopathology as learned and changeable behavior.

Functional analysis (ABC assessment) is used.
Each part of the analysis (Antecedent, Behavior, Consequence) needs to be operationally defined to be specific.