Behavior, Behaviorism

In psychology, behavior is a response of an organism to a stimulus or stimuli. Sometimes behavior is further clarified as overt or covert.

Overt behavior can be observed, recorded, and measured and is sometimes called observable behavior. When observable behavior forms a reliable pattern it may be considered a personality trait like the trait of agreeableness.

Covert behavior refers to internal responses like thoughts that occur in response to a stimulus. A stimulus may be an image in the mind or an external event like a song or phrase that "triggers" a mental response.

A related concept is behaviorism, which is a theoretical approach to the psychological study of organisms based on that which can be observed and measured rather than unobservable mental states. The founder of behaviorism is John B. Watson (1913).

Cite this article

Sutton, G. W. (2021, September 22). Behavior, behaviorism. Psychology Concepts and Theories. Retrieved from https://suttonpsychology.blogspot.com/2021/09/behavior-behaviorism.html

Reference

Watson, J. B. (1913). Psychology as the behaviorist views it. Psychological Review, 20(2), 158–177. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0074428