What is behavioral psychology? Learn more about this psychological movement, its classic studies, and why its therapeutic influences still matter.
Have you ever wondered whether your internal predisposition or your environment has a more significant influence on your behavioral choices? This dilemma is often called the nature vs. nurture debate and has led to different schools of thought in psychology. Hence, some psychologists explain behaviors through biological and internal underpinnings, whereas others focus on the behavioral effects of upbringing and environmental factors, and yet, many others fall somewhere in between.
On the nurture end of the nature-nurture spectrum is a branch of psychology, which was extremely popular in the first half of the 20 th century, known as behavioral psychology or behaviorism. In this article, you’ll discover key theories and examples of behavioral psychology and how its certain concepts are still influential.
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Behavioral psychology assumes that individuals acquire all behaviors through their interactions with the environment. Therefore, behavioral psychologists—also known as behaviorists— believe that our actions are shaped by external stimuli, such as laws, education, socioeconomic forces, etc., and not internal stimuli, which include thoughts, emotions, and personality, among others. For instance, in behaviorism, anxiety can be explained as a behavior acquired from the environment, such as by being around others with anxiety, and not due to internalized traumatic experience or genetic inclinations.
The famous quote by the founding father of behavioral psychology, John Watson, illustrates the overarching stance of behaviorists: “Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own special world to bring them up in and I’ll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select—doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief, and yes, beggarman and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors .” (Watson, 1930). Let’s find out about the theory behind this nurture-centered approach to studying behavior.
In the early 20 th century, mainstream psychology was focused on introspection and psychoanalysis. Therefore, during that period, many psychologists attributed most behaviors to subconscious influences. Given the impossibility of observing and measuring thoughts, emotions, and desires objectively, behavioral psychology emerged as a way to introduce a more scientific approach to studying behavior, by linking actions to observable external influences (Logue, 2013).
Some consider behavioral psychology as a theory of learning (Bryant et al., 2013), in which all actions of an individual are learned behaviors. Behaviorists believe that all behaviors are learned through a process called conditioning, whereby an external stimulus or “condition” causes a behavioral reaction. For example, a professor may use a reward system to incentivize students’ learning. When students come to class prepared, they can earn stars, which can then be transformed into extra points for the final grade. In fact, many teacher-centered classroom practices are based on behaviorism concepts (Serin, 2018).
Historically, there are two behavioral psychology theories: methodological behaviorism and radical behaviorism (Moore, 2013). The methodological theory is the original behaviorism established by Watson, with the goal of predicting and controlling behavior. Radical behaviorism, spearheaded by B. F. Skinner, agrees with the goal of the former but also accepts that organisms have innate behaviors (Moore, 2013).
Behavioral psychology was extremely popular and influential from the 1920s until the 1960s and became the dominant school of thought in psychology. Some researchers attribute behavioral psychology’s popularity to its objective and measurable approach, similar to those of natural sciences like physics and chemistry.
Behavioral Psychology Criticism
Despite its eminence, behavioral psychology has been criticized for being a one-dimensional approach to understanding human behavior, as it doesn’t take into account other factors, such as free will, thoughts, feelings, or culture (Moore, 2013). For example, Freud argued that behavioral psychology was limited because it disregards the unconscious mind’s thoughts, feelings, and desires, while Carl Rogers and other humanistic psychologists believed it to be rigid because it relies heavily on conclusions derived from animal studies and doesn’t consider personal agency (Cherry, 2022). Nonetheless, behavioral psychology has advanced our understanding of numerous behaviors and led to a variety of techniques that continue to benefit the field, such as behavior analysis, behavior modeling, or aversion therapy.
To learn more about behavioral psychology, you can watch the short video below.
Circling back to what we talked about before, behaviorism emerged out of the need to establish a branch of psychology based on objective measurements at a time when psychology was dominated by introspective interpretations. Yet, the scientific rigidity of behaviorism, its limitations, and its complete disregard of conscious processes led to the cognitive revolution of the mid-20th century (Miller, 2003). So was born a new psychology branch studying consciousness, memory, and other cognitive processes, and fittingly named cognitive psychology.
Although cognitive psychology was born as a response to behavioral psychology, it incorporated its predecessor’s scientific approach. With the emergence of cognitive psychology, researchers started designing laboratory experiments to study mental processes, such as attention, creativity, implicit memory, perception, and metacognition. Later, with the rise of computers in research settings, cognitive psychology adopted novel approaches, such as information processing (Lachman, Lachman & Butterfield, 2015).
Given the contrasting stances of behavioral and cognitive psychologists, various disputes emerged. One of the best-known debates between the two camps was over language acquisition. More specifically, behavioral psychologists insisted that humans were born as “blank slates” and infants acquired language purely by observation. In contrast, proponents of cognitive psychology, such as the well-known linguist Noam Chomsky, argued that infants had an innate capacity for language acquisition (Richelle, Foster & Rondal, 1976).
Behaviorism and cognitive psychology differ in how they view and study behavior. Nevertheless, they are two important movements in psychology that have implications for certain aspects of society, such as education or economics. Moreover, both branches of psychology have been essential for the development of cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT.
Some of the most famous studies in psychology are examples of the behavioral approach, including Pavlov’s study with dogs, Skinner’s research with pigeons, and Watson and Rayner’s experiments with a young boy known as little Albert. Before we dive into these interesting studies, let’s discuss some common terminology.
In his research, Pavlov and his assistants introduced different edible and non-edible items to dogs and then measured saliva production. Salivation occurs automatically as a result of a certain stimulus and is not under conscious control. However, Pavlov noticed that dogs would salivate even in the absence of food and smell, making him realize that dogs were responding to something else. He then realized the dogs started to associate the research assistants’ white lab coats with food, as the technicians usually fed them.
After these informal observations were designed into an experiment, Pavlov discovered that if a neutral stimulus was present in the dog’s environment when the dog received food then that stimulus could become associated with feeding and cause salivation even in the absence of food. Today, this is known as classical conditioning.
Although Pavlov discovered classical conditioning in 1897, his work still inspires research today and has important applications for psychology, including behavioral modification and treatment for phobias, anxiety, and panic disorders.
Behavioral Psychology: Skinner’s Pigeons
Operant conditioning, sometimes referred to as instrumental conditioning or Skinnerian conditioning, is a type of learning that uses rewards or punishments to associate a behavior with a consequence. For example, giving a dog a treat every time he raises the left paw teaches the dog that raising the paw can earn him more treats.
In this case, “operant” refers to “controlled by its consequences,” meaning that an association is made between a behavior (i.e., lifting the paw) and a consequence (i.e., receiving a treat) for it (Goldman, 2012). And this is what Skinner discovered in one experiment with pigeons. He found that rewarding a bird for a specific behavior increased the frequency of that behavior (Staddon & Cerutti, 2003).
We all use operant conditioning in our daily lives, and depending on whether a reward or punishment is added or removed, there are four types of operant conditioning, which are positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, and negative punishment. Here is an example of each type of operant conditioning:
Soon, Watson noticed that Albert developed phobias of objects with similar characteristics to the rat, such as the family dog, a fur coat, cotton wool, and Christmas masks. In the end, Watson and Rayner proved that emotional responses could be conditioned in humans too (Harrison, 1979).
Although this is one of the most famous studies in psychology, it’s also controversial and widely criticized. One ethical concern is the fundamental idea behind the study, conditioning an infant to fear. By today’s research standards, the study wouldn’t be allowed, considering the little boy was harmed during the experiment, as he left the study with a previously nonexistent fear. Also, the researchers did not desensitize Albert after the experiment ended to weaken his association of furry animals with loud noises. This can also be problematic for creating a potentially life-long phobia for the infant.
To learn more about these three widely known experiments, you can watch the short video below.
ABA uses methods such as positive reinforcement, shaping (rewarding the child for smaller steps toward a new skill), fading (reducing the child’s dependence on the therapist for help), and prompting (encouraging the child to try a behavior) (Foxx, 2008). One important characteristic of applied behavior analysis is the intensive instructional scheduling, meaning at least five days a week, 25 hours per week, and year-round (Lord & McGee, 2001).
Despite its numerous benefits, ABA has received some criticism too. While the earliest version of ABA therapy used punishments, critics say that the treatment can still be too hard for children, as it is extremely repetitive. Another criticism of ABA is that it’s mainly focusing on eliminating behaviors instead of building skills. Some ABA practitioners agree and argue that the focus should be on what kids should be doing. Lastly, critics argue that ABA tries to make kids with autism fit neurotypical standards, meaning that it tries to make kids act like everyone else.
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Pioneered in the 1960s by Aaron Beck and Albert Ellis, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is a therapeutic intervention that teaches people how to identify and modify destructive thinking patterns that have a negative impact on behavior and emotions. CBT focuses on challenging cognitive distortions (thoughts, beliefs, attitudes) and associated behaviors to solve current emotional or behavioral problems. Therefore, this type of therapy helps individuals avoid triggers, improve self-control, and develop coping mechanisms for day-to-day stressors.
Exposure therapy may help break the cycle of fear and avoidance by exposing you to the source of the fear in a safe environment. A therapist might start gradually exposing you to what you fear (for instance, they can show a picture) and then continue with other therapeutic techniques until you overcome the fear and stop avoiding it.
Behavioral psychology was the dominant school of psychology in the first part of the 20th century and some of its best-known studies include Pavlov’s conditioning experiments with dogs, Watson’s Little Albert experiment, and Skinner’s pigeon studies of operant conditioning. The results of these studies and others influenced generations of psychologists and how we think about behavior. Although behaviorism is not as popular as it once was, various therapeutic techniques are based on this movement, helping people overcome their problems even today.
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