Behaviorism is a theory that behavior can be studied scientifically without reference to internal mental states. Behaviorists believe that all behaviors are learned through conditioning or observation of others. Some key behaviorist theorists include B.F. Skinner who developed principles of operant conditioning, Ivan Pavlov who discovered classical conditioning in dogs, and John B. Watson who argued behaviorism should study observable human behavior and its relationships to stimuli and responses. Behaviorists view humans as being controlled by their environments and neither inherently good nor bad by nature. However, behaviorism has been criticized for overgeneralizing from animal studies to humans and underestimating biological and cognitive influences on personality.

1. BEHAVIORAL PERSPECTIVE IN PERSONALITY
-The behavioral approach is based on the concept of explaining behavior through observation, and the belief that our
environment is what causes us to behave differently.
-Behaviorism is a theory of learning and it believes that all behaviors are acquired as a result of conditioning. Conditioning
occurs after a person interacts with his environment.
- As per behaviorism, behavior can be studied and analyzed in a systematic manner that can be observed and the behaviorist
does not have to take the internal mental state of the person into account
Basic Behaviorist Principles:
o Psychology should only attempt to study observable and measurable behavior.
o Mental processes cannot be studied scientifically.
o One of the behaviorist credos is "if you can't see it and can't measure it, it doesn't exist."
o All behaviors in humans (and most in animals) are learned.
o No behavior in human beings is innate (blank slate idea).
o The adult personality can change but only as a result of changes in environmental influences.
Motivational Theory:
Behaviorist believes that humans (and animals) are motivated primarily to receive rewards and to avoid punishments. Another
behaviorist credo is that "if a behavior is not reinforced, it will not continue."
View on Control of Human Behavior:
Behaviorists view humans as being controlled by their environments. In fact, many behaviorists see humans as being total
slaves to their environments.
View of Human Nature:
Behaviorists view humans as being born neither good nor bad by nature.
PROPONENTS:
B. F. Skinner’s Ideas
B.F. Skinner is well known for describing principles of operant conditioning. Skinner believed that the environment determines
behavior.
Ivan Pavlov’s Ideas
As part of his work, he began to study what triggers dogs to salivate. Ivan Pavlov studied the behavior of dogs and developed a
theory of classical conditioning, which explains how people associate two stimuli in their minds and react to one of them as
though it was the other.
John B. Watson’s Ideas
In The Ways of Behaviorism, Watson states that behaviorism is the scientific study of human behavior. It is simply the study of
what people do. Behavior can be reduced to relationships between stimuli and responses. A stimulus can be shown to cause a
response or a response can be traced back to a stimulus. All behavior can be reduced to this basic component. According to
Watson, "life's most complicated acts are but combinations of these simple stimulus- response patterns of behavior.

2. Albert Bandura’s Ideas
Albert Bandura pointed out that people learn to respond in particular ways by watching other people, who are called models.
Although Bandura agrees that personality arises through learning, he believes that conditioning is not an automatic, mechanical
process
Criticisms of Behavioral Approaches:
Behaviorist researchers often do animal studies of behavior and then generalize their results to human beings. Generalizing
results in this way can be misleading, since humans have complex thought processes that affect behavior.
Behaviorists often underestimate the importance of biological factors.
By emphasizing the situational influences on personality, some social-cognitive theorists underestimate the importance of
personality traits.