Behaviorism is a theory of learning that focuses on observable behaviors and how they are influenced by the environment. It is based on the idea that all behavior is learned through conditioning, which is the process of pairing a stimulus with a response to create a new association.
“ The goal of instruction for the behaviorist is to elicit the desired response from the learner who is presented with a target stimulus”(Ertmer & Newby, 2013).
The main representative of behaviorism is John B. Watson, who is the father of behaviorism. Watson believed that all human behavior could be explained by stimulus-response relationships. He argued that even complex behaviors, such as language and thought, could be broken down into a series of simple stimulus-response associations.
Other notable scholars of behaviorism include:
● Ivan Pavlov
● Edward Thorndike
● B.F. Skinner