The Behaviorist Paradigm
Behaviorism is a theory of learning. The behaviorist perspective dominated much of the psychology of learning during the first half of the 20th century and remains a critical component of our understanding of human learning to the current time. This site is designed to provide you with a background in the basic elements of this theoretical perspective as well the application of these ideas to teaching.
Behaviorism, the doctrine, is committed in its fullest and most complete sense to the truth of the following three sets of claims.
1.Psychology is the science of behavior. Psychology is not the science of mind.
2.Behavior can be described and explained without making ultimate reference to mental events or to internal psychological processes. The sources of behavior are external (in the environment), not internal (in the mind, in the head).
3.In the course of theory development in psychology, if, somehow, mental terms or concepts are deployed in describing or explaining behavior, then either (a) these terms or concepts should be eliminated and replaced by behavioral terms or (b) they can and should be translated or paraphrased into behavioral concepts.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy- Behaviorism.
Retrieved on 2/17/2011 from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/behaviorism/