Mar 29, 20213 min read

Human Conception from Behavioral Psychology

Updated: Nov 28, 2023

Behaviorism, also known as the psychology of behavior, is a learning theory based on the idea that all behaviors are acquired through conditioning (Vergara, 2018). Behavior psychologists, including John Watson and Burrhus Skinner, sought to find objective principles for controlling the behavior of living organisms (García, n.d.). In correspondence with García (n.d.), their desire was to be absolutely faithful to the strictest rules of the scientific method.

According to this line of thinking, behavior can be systematically and observably examined, regardless of internal mental states (Vergara, 2018). This idea was originally proposed by Watson in "Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It" (García, n.d.). To fulfill this need, behavior psychologists arrived at their final result, which is to eliminate man from the stage of psychology, reducing him to a mere phenomenon, object of literary descriptions. In other words, according to Vergara (2018), only observable behavior should be taken into account, since perceptions, emotions, and moods are too subjective.

In the same vein, humans can be compared to machines, since in both systems, behavior can be predicted and controlled by laws (García, n.d.). Therefore, the behavior psychologist reduces human behavior to the same regulatory laws that govern animal behavior (García, n.d.). That is, there is no fundamental or qualitative difference between human behavior and animal behavior (Vergara, 2018). As a consequence, according to Vergara (2018), rats and pigeons have become the main source of data for behaviorists, since their environment is easy to control.

Furthermore, the behavioral stance minimizes or dispenses with the differentiating role of individual inheritance, arguing that for practical reasons, all men are equally endowed at birth and have great flexibility to be molded throughout life, depending on the type of conditioning to which they are exposed (García, n.d.). These psychologists believe that responses to environmental stimuli shape actions (Vergara, 2018). In short, behaviorism emphasizes the role of environmental factors in influencing behavior, almost excluding innate or inherited factors. Therefore, according to Vergara (2018), this branch of thought is considered a learning-centered approach.

Similarly, rigorous behaviorists believe that anyone can be trained to perform any task, regardless of their genetic background, personality traits, and internal thoughts (Vergara, 2018). Based on these premises, in correspondence with García (n.d.), behavior no longer belongs to the human being, and he is simply a biological organism that reacts to the stimulating situation according to laws that do not depend on him.

Additionally, behaviorism argues that if a particular behavior is reinforced, it tends to be repeated; however, if it is not reinforced, it is not learned (García, n.d.). That is, no matter how complicated it may be, all behaviors can be reduced to simple stimulus-response associations (Vergara, 2018). If this is true, then anyone who rewards or punishes another can get that person to do what they want (García, n.d.). In conformity with García (n.d.), this principle also effectively explains human behavior, which is inexorably achieved from infancy through the conditioning of parents, educators, society, among others, based on reward or punishment.

Lastly, from this perspective, humans are receptive beings, passive entities that simply respond to environmental stimuli (Universidad Internacional de Valencia, 2017). Therefore, people cannot be free, since behavior is entirely a function of conditioning (García, n.d.). According to García (n.d.), being unfree, they cannot be held responsible for their actions towards others, that is, they cannot assume responsibility for their own actions.

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