Behaviorism
Focus only on observable behavior. Don’t study consciousness directly — it can’t be measured. Strong emphasis on stimulus–response relationships and learning.
Key figure: B.F. Skinner.
A strict behaviorist would say:
- we can observe a child hearing words
- we can observe the child saying words
- we can observe rewards, corrections, repetition
- that is what psychology should explain
They would avoid saying things like:
- “the child has an internal grammar system”
- “the mind is using built-in language rules”
That is why Chomsky attacked behaviorism. He argued this observable-behavior-only explanation is too weak, because children say things they were never directly taught.
Behaviorism’s real legacy is methodological — it pushed psychology toward rigorous, objective methods. Then the Cognitive Revolution opened the black box back up.