behaviourism
behaviourismAn approach which can be found in philosophy, but more especially psychology, which denies (with greater or lesser insistence) that consciousness has any relevance to the understanding of human behaviour. Behaviour is seen in terms of an identifiable and measurable response to external or internal, recognizable, and measurable stimuli. The response can be modified by reward or various forms of discouragement—a process known as conditioning. Behaviourism is thus both a theoretical orientation, of enormous influence in academic psychology, and a practical technique used to alter what is perceived as undesirable conduct.
As a theory, behaviourism blossomed at the beginning of the 20th century, as a reaction against the then dominant introspectionism. While introspectionism concentrated on the study of consciousness through self-examination, behaviourism rejected the idea that states of consciousness could be...
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