What is behavioral psychology? How to use it

INTRODUCTIONS

Behavioural psychology also referred to as behaviourism in some quarters, attempts to establish links between human behaviour and the external world. It is based on the assumption that all human behaviour is a direct consequence of external stimuli. In other words, the discipline holds that there can be no behaviour without external stimuli. Indeed, advocates of this approach prefer "behaviour" to the more purposeful "action." Understandably, this view has come under some criticism, mainly because it seems to suggest that human behaviour is a mere reaction.

Behaviourism, moreover, is rigidly scientific and mainly aims to predict humans. behaviour, given a situation. The approach is also widely employed to study, document, and predict the behaviour of nonhuman animals as well. Advocates argue that the best way to predict human behaviour is by modifying and conditioning it. Therefore, it is not surprising that behaviourist principles have been widely applied in the corporate sector to boost productivity or reduce workplace stress: disciplines such as Management and Industrial Psychology draw heavily from behaviourism. Notably, behaviourism has also been widely applied in classrooms to condition student behaviour.

WHAT DOES BEHAVIORAL PSYCHOLOGY FOCUS ON?

Behavioural psychology focuses on human behaviours rather than thought processes, emotions or motivations. This involves measuring external behaviours, analysing how they correspond to environmental stimuli, and then using conditioning to shape or reshape those reactions.

Behavioural psychology can be a useful approach for psychological research because researchers can apply it to conditions and measure the changes in external behaviour more easily than they can measure internal states. Behavioural psychologists work with two types of conditioning, classical and operant conditioning. Here is what each involves:

1. CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

Classical conditioning starts by recognizing that the patient responds with a certain behavior to a natural stimulus. In Pavlov's study on classical conditioning, the natural stimulus was feeding a dog, and the behavior was the dog producing saliva. The psychologist adds a stimulus to the situation, bringing in this new action along with the natural stimulus each time.

Pavlov rang a bell every time he fed the dog. Finally, the patient responds to the additional stimulus in the same way they responded to the natural stimulus. When the bell rang, the dog would salivate.

2. OPERANT CONDITIONING

Operant conditioning involves more complex reinforcements but still operates on the idea that reinforcements can encourage or discourage behaviours. Operant conditioning uses two distinct kinds of reinforcements: Positive reinforcement: Positive reinforcement encourages positive behaviour by presenting somebody with a reward, such as praise, money or food when they perform the desired behaviour.

Negative reinforcement: Negative reinforcement involves presenting a person with something unpleasant, such as a noise or source of pain that is removed when they perform the desired behaviour.

Behavioural psychology that uses operant conditioning rarely involves any use of punishment, since punishment discourages negative behaviours rather than teaching new, positive behaviours.

What Does a Behavioural Psychologist Do?

Like all psychologists, behavioral psychologists will have a variety of job duties that include publishing findings, performing research, and treating patients. However, a behavioral psychologist helps people by suggesting new actions that can have a positive effect on patients' mental states.

Other psychologists may prefer using talk therapy. Also, several psychologist-medical doctors with specialization and expertise in psychology often prescribe medication before trying other treatment methods.

Use of Behavioural Psychology

Behavioural psychology is used in therapeutic applications in many situations. The most common way for behaviourism to be used is in the treatment of children with autism the behavioural analysis combined with conditioning can help children with mental health conditions, such as autism, to learn new techniques.