Psychology of behavior

Behavioral psychology (or Behaviorism), also called the learning perspective is a theory of learning based upon the idea that all behaviors are acquired through conditioning. Conditioning occurs through interaction with the environment. According to behaviorism, behavior can be studied in a systematic and observable manner with no consideration of internal mental states. The most notable behaviorists were : Sigmund Freud, Erikson, Alfred Adler, Carl Rogers, Karen Horney, Burrhus F. Skinner, Abraham Maslow,and Victor Frankl. Psychologists have identified two major types of learning: Classical conditioning and Operant conditioning.

Classical conditioning

Classical conditioning (also Pavlovian or respondent conditioning, Pavlovian reinforcement) is a form of associative learning that was first demonstrated by Ivan Pavlov. The original and most famous example of classical conditioning involved the salivary conditioning of Pavlov's dogs. Pavlov had been studying the secretion of stomach acids and salivation in dogs in response to the ingestion of varying amounts and kinds of food. While doing that, he observed a curious phenomenon: Sometimes stomach secretions and salivation would begin in the dogs when they had not yet eaten any food. He saw that the dog were responding not only on the basis of a biological need , but also as a result of learning – or, as it came to be called , classical conditioning.

Operant conditioning

Operant conditioning is learning in which a voluntary response is strengthened or weakened , depending on its favorable or unfavorable consequences. Operant conditioning is distinguished from classical conditioning (also called respondent conditioning) in that operant conditioning deals with the modification of "voluntary behavior" or operant behavior. Operant conditioning was coined by behaviorist B.F. Skinner, which is why you may occasionally hear it referred to as Skinnerian conditioning. As a behaviorist, Skinner believed that internal thoughts and motivations could not be used to explain behavior. Instead, he suggested, we should look only at the external, observable causes of human behavior. Skinner also developed the theory of confirmation. Skinner distinguishes between positive and negative confirmations or in other words rewards and punishments. Most of the time animals (and also people) learn faster when they get a reward or positive confirmation. They will also learn how to avoid negative things, but this learning process goes more slowly.

To sum up, psychology of behavior is a learning theory that only focuses on objectively observable behaviors and discounts any independent activities of the mind, but this learning theory does not account for all kinds of learning, since it disregards the activities of the mind, and does not explain some learning–such as the recognition of new language patterns by young children–for which there is no reinforcement mechanism.

References:

http://psychology.about.com/od/behavioralpsychology/Behavioral_Psychology.htm

http://library.thinkquest.org/26618/en-1.1.2=erikson.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behaviorism

http://psychology.about.com/od/profilesofmajorthinkers/p/pavlov.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operant_conditioning

http://library.thinkquest.org/26618/en-1.1.6=Skinner.htm

Picture References:

http://content.answers.com/main/content/img/getty/8/5/3274685.jpg

http://www.skewsme.com/behavior/pavlovdog.jpg

http://www.crystalinks.com/skinner.jpg