LYCOS RETRIEVER
Behaviorism: Study
built 307 days ago
Behaviorism is the study of human behavior focusing on one’s observable behavior as a response to the natural stimuli in the world. One common belief in Behaviorism is that one’s behavior, and subsequent learning, is only a response to all of the stimuli one encounters during their life. By studying stimuli one can predict behavior. Behaviorism assumes that the thoughts of a person can not be measured, and only occur as a result of previous stimuli.
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Behaviorism relates to a school of politics that developed in the 50s and 60s in the USA. This school represented a revolt against institutional practices in the study of politics and called for political analysis to be modeled upon the natural sciences. That is to say that only information that could be quantified and tested empirically could be regarded as 'true' and that other normative concepts such as 'liberty' and 'justice' should be rejected as they are not falsifiable. This is a version of what has been called scientific empiricism, the view that all beliefs can, at least in principle, be proved scientifically. Skinner has been roundly criticized for his political/social pronouncements, which many perceive as based on serious philosophical errors. His recommendations ... reflect not science, but his own covert preferences.
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The principal question Watson asked was 'what useful purpose does behavior serve?' - Behaviorism was born. In this field of study only observable behaviors were to be examined and a wider number of subjects could now be studied (unlike Structuralism), including animals, children, the retarded and the insane.
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