The behaviorist approach emerged from the belief that only observable actions can be studied scientifically. During the early part of the twentieth century, scientists wanted to separate themselves from philosophers who had speculated about the nature of the human mind without any empirical evidence to support their views. In order to do so, many US psychologists turned to the study of behaviorism, the idea being that if you observe what people do then you can determine how they think.
At the core of behaviorism is the idea that behavior is the outcome of an interaction between internal states and external stimuli. Physiological studies, particularly those conducted on animals, were instrumental in supporting this view. Behaviorists also used physiological research to support the concept of learning. In particular, they focused on the relationship between stimuli and responses that had been conditioned during previous experiences. Ivan Pavlov’s methods and ideas played a significant role in making behaviorism a leading field of study with its main focus based on conditioning and stimulus-response experiments.
