Psychological conductism holds that personality can be explained by observable behavior. It was in 1912 that Watson developed conductism, the general theory that includes psychological behaviorism. Subsequently, Skinner further expanded the theory with his formulation of radical conductism. of psychological behaviorism, which emphasizes a person’s personality and inner world.
Arthur W. Staats Psychological conductism extends conductism to the field of psychology. It posites that psychology can be explained by observable behaviors. The components of psychology include personality, learning and emotion.
- In this sense.
- Staats was the first to suggest that personality consists of a repertoire of learned behaviors arising from the interaction of the environment.
- Biology.
- Cognition and emotions; this personality theory is the main component of psychological behaviorism and therefore separates it from the theories of conductism that preceded it.
According to Staats’ personality theory, there are three behavioral repertoires that contribute to personality theory.
At birth, a baby does not have all these repertoires; later, he acquires them through complex learning and is able to handle various situations. An individual lives life largely according to their background and, as they grow, develops. a basic behavioral repertoire.
An individual’s basic behavioral repertoire and life situation will determine their behavior, which in turn will determine their personality profile. According to this model, biology interacts with the environment and contributes to the formation of personality.
Psychological behavior considers personality study very important, personality tests are considered essential because they allow to predict what behaviors people will exhibit and whether they will be at risk.
Tests also help identify the behaviors and contexts that facilitate them, helping to design environments that produce the desired behaviors, avoiding the development of undesirable behaviors.
Psychological behavior argues that as children develop, they learn basic repertoires on which other more complex repertoires are built, called cumulative learning. According to psychological behaviorism, this is a type of learning unique to humans.
Under this cumulative learning model, when children learn a repertoire such as language, they can build this repertoire with other repertoires, such as reading and grammar, from there, learning these reading and grammar repertoires leads to the acquisition of additional complex repertoires.
Staats’ research with his own children and in his studies underlined the importance of creation. It showed that early training of children in language development and cognitive development led to more advanced language development. The demonstration of greater intelligence in the intelligence tests made that clear. Studies on this subject in the field of behavioral analysis support their conclusions.
Staats indicates that we have a large number of words that provoke a positive or negative emotional response based on a previous classic conditioning, so they can translate their emotional response to any correspondence.
The basic theory of learning psychological behaviorism also states that emotional words have two additional functions: they will serve as rewards and punishments for learning other behaviors, as well as for provoking behaviors of rapprochement or avoidance.
Psychological behavior deals with several aspects of language. From their original development in children to their role in intelligence and abnormal behaviors; in fact, all of this supports it with basic and applied studies. For example, Staats’ 1972 article In Behavior Therapy helped introduce cognitive behavioral therapy (language) into the field of behavior.
Instead of accepting the concept of mental illness, psychological behaviorism holds that behavioral disorders are simply learned behavioral repertoires; or, in any case, the absence of driving directories, which would prevent the individual from managing the events of his life.
In fact, the theory of psychological behaviorism rejects the concept of mental illness; behavioral disorders, on the other hand, are composed of repertoires learned from abnormal behaviors; behavioral disorders are associated with the lack of assimilation of the basic repertoires needed to adapt to vital behaviors. Requirements.
Thus, psychological behaviorism suggests an approach related to associations and behavioral consequences for treating behavioral disorders, and also suggests prevention by identifying and intervening on the conditions that create them.