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What Is Behaviorism?

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Classical Conditioning

Operant conditioning, frequently asked questions.

Behaviorism is a theory of learning based on the idea that all behaviors are acquired through conditioning, and conditioning occurs through interaction with the environment . Behaviorists believe that our actions are shaped by environmental stimuli.

In simple terms, according to this school of thought, also known as behavioral psychology, behavior can be studied in a systematic and observable manner regardless of internal mental states. Behavioral theory also says that only observable behavior should be studied, as cognition , emotions , and mood are far too subjective.

Strict behaviorists believe that any person—regardless of genetic background, personality traits , and internal thoughts— can be trained to perform any task, within the limits of their physical capabilities. It only requires the right conditioning.

Verywell / Jiaqi Zhou

History of Behaviorism

Behaviorism was formally established with the 1913 publication of John B. Watson 's classic paper, "Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It." It is best summed up by the following quote from Watson, who is often considered the father of behaviorism:

"Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select—doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors."

Simply put, strict behaviorists believe that all behaviors are the result of experience. Any person, regardless of their background, can be trained to act in a particular manner given the right conditioning.

From about 1920 through the mid-1950s, behaviorism became the dominant school of thought in psychology . Some suggest that the popularity of behavioral psychology grew out of the desire to establish psychology as an objective and measurable science.

During that time, researchers were interested in creating theories that could be clearly described and empirically measured, but also used to make contributions that might have an influence on the fabric of everyday human lives.

Types of Behaviorism

There are two main types of behaviorism used to describe how behavior is formed.

Methodological Behaviorism

Methodological behaviorism states that observable behavior should be studied scientifically and that mental states and cognitive processes don't add to the understanding of behavior. Methodological behaviorism aligns with Watson's ideologies and approach.

Radical Behaviorism

Radical behaviorism is rooted in the theory that behavior can be understood by looking at one's past and present environment and the reinforcements within it, thereby influencing behavior either positively or negatively. This behavioral approach was created by the psychologist B.F. Skinner .

Classical conditioning is a technique frequently used in behavioral training in which a neutral stimulus is paired with a naturally occurring stimulus. Eventually, the neutral stimulus comes to evoke the same response as the naturally occurring stimulus, even without the naturally occurring stimulus presenting itself.

Throughout the course of three distinct phases of classical conditioning, the associated stimulus becomes known as the conditioned stimulus and the learned behavior is known as the conditioned response .

Learning Through Association

The classical conditioning process works by developing an association between an environmental stimulus and a naturally occurring stimulus.

In physiologist Ivan Pavlov 's classic experiments, dogs associated the presentation of food (something that naturally and automatically triggers a salivation response) at first with the sound of a bell, then with the sight of a lab assistant's white coat. Eventually, the lab coat alone elicited a salivation response from the dogs.

Factors That Impact Conditioning

During the first part of the classical conditioning process, known as acquisition , a response is established and strengthened. Factors such as the prominence of the stimuli and the timing of the presentation can play an important role in how quickly an association is formed.

When an association disappears, this is known as extinction . It causes the behavior to weaken gradually or vanish. Factors such as the strength of the original response can play a role in how quickly extinction occurs. The longer a response has been conditioned, for example, the longer it may take for it to become extinct.

Operant conditioning, sometimes referred to as instrumental conditioning, is a method of learning that occurs through reinforcement and punishment . Through operant conditioning, an association is made between a behavior and a consequence for that behavior.

This behavioral approach says that when a desirable result follows an action, the behavior becomes more likely to happen again in the future. Conversely, responses followed by adverse outcomes become less likely to reoccur.

Consequences Affect Learning

Behaviorist B.F. Skinner described operant conditioning as the process in which learning can occur through reinforcement and punishment. More specifically: By forming an association between a certain behavior and the consequences of that behavior, you learn.

For example, if a parent rewards their child with praise every time they pick up their toys, the desired behavior is consistently reinforced and the child will become more likely to clean up messes.

Timing Plays a Role

The process of operant conditioning seems fairly straightforward—simply observe a behavior, then offer a reward or punishment. However, Skinner discovered that the timing of these rewards and punishments has an important influence on how quickly a new behavior is acquired and the strength of the corresponding response.

This makes reinforcement schedules important in operant conditioning. These can involve either continuous or partial reinforcement.

• Continuous reinforcement involves rewarding every single instance of a behavior. It is often used at the beginning of the operant conditioning process. Then, as the behavior is learned, the schedule might switch to one of partial reinforcement.
• Partial reinforcement involves offering a reward after a number of responses or after a period of time has elapsed. Sometimes, partial reinforcement occurs on a consistent or fixed schedule. In other instances, a variable and unpredictable number of responses or amount of time must occur before the reinforcement is delivered.

Uses for Behaviorism

The behaviorist perspective has a few different uses, including some related to education and mental health.

Behaviorism can be used to help students learn, such as by influencing lesson design. For instance, some teachers use consistent encouragement to help students learn (operant conditioning) while others focus more on creating a stimulating environment to increase engagement (classical conditioning).

One of the greatest strengths of behavioral psychology is the ability to clearly observe and measure behaviors. Because behaviorism is based on observable behaviors, it is often easier to quantify and collect data when conducting research.

Mental Health

Behavioral therapy was born from behaviorism and originally used in the treatment of autism and schizophrenia. This type of therapy involves helping people change problematic thoughts and behaviors, thereby improving mental health.

Effective therapeutic techniques such as intensive behavioral intervention, behavior analysis, token economies, and discrete trial training are all rooted in behaviorism. These approaches are often very useful in changing maladaptive or harmful behaviors in both children and adults.

Impact of Behaviorism

Several thinkers influenced behavioral psychology. Among these are Edward Thorndike , a pioneering psychologist who described the law of effect, and Clark Hull , who proposed the drive theory of learning.

There are a number of therapeutic techniques rooted in behavioral psychology. Though behavioral psychology assumed more of a background position after 1950, its principles still remain important.

Even today, behavior analysis is often used as a therapeutic technique to help children with autism and developmental delays acquire new skills. It frequently involves processes such as shaping (rewarding closer approximations to the desired behavior) and chaining (breaking a task down into smaller parts, then teaching and chaining the subsequent steps together).

Other behavioral therapy techniques include aversion therapy , systematic desensitization , token economies, behavior modeling , and contingency management.

Criticisms of Behaviorism

Many critics argue that behaviorism is a one-dimensional approach to understanding human behavior. They suggest that behavioral theories do not account for free will or internal influences such as moods, thoughts, and feelings.

Freud, for example, felt that behaviorism failed by not accounting for the unconscious mind's thoughts, feelings, and desires, which influence people's actions. Other thinkers, such as Carl Rogers and other humanistic psychologists , believed that behaviorism was too rigid and limited, failing to take into consideration personal agency.

More recently, biological psychology has emphasized the role the brain and genetics play in determining and influencing human actions. The cognitive approach to psychology focuses on mental processes such as thinking, decision-making, language, and problem-solving. In both cases, behaviorism neglects these processes and influences in favor of studying only observable behaviors.

Behavioral psychology also does not account for other types of learning that occur without the use of reinforcement and punishment. Moreover, people and animals can adapt their behavior when new information is introduced, even if that behavior was established through reinforcement.

A Word From Verywell

While the behavioral approach might not be the dominant force that it once was, it has still had a major impact on our understanding of human psychology . The conditioning process alone has been used to understand many different types of behaviors, ranging from how people learn to how language develops.

But perhaps the greatest contributions of behavioral psychology lie in its practical applications. Its techniques can play a powerful role in modifying problematic behavior and encouraging more positive, helpful responses. Outside of psychology, parents, teachers, animal trainers, and many others make use of basic behavioral principles to help teach new behaviors and discourage unwanted ones.

John B. Watson is known as the founder of behaviorism. Though others had similar ideas in the early 1900s, when behavioral theory began, some suggest that Watson is credited as behavioral psychology's founder due to being "an attractive, strong, scientifically accomplished, and forceful speaker and an engaging writer" who was willing to share this behavioral approach when other psychologists were less likely to speak up.

Behaviorism can be used to help elicit positive behaviors or responses in students, such as by using reinforcement. Teachers with a behavioral approach often use "skill and drill" exercises to reinforce correct responses through consistent repetition, for instance.

Other ways reinforcement-based behaviorism can be used in education include praising students for getting the right answer and providing prizes for those who do well. Using tests to measure performance enables teachers to measure observable behaviors and is, therefore, another behavioral approach.

Behaviorism says that behavior is a result of environment, the environment being an external stimulus. Psychoanalysis is the opposite of this, in that it is rooted in the belief that behavior is a result of an internal stimulus. Psychoanalytic theory is based on behaviors being motivated by one's unconscious mind, thus resulting in actions that are consistent with their unknown wishes and desires.

Whereas strict behaviorism has no room for cognitive influences, cognitive behaviorism operates on the assumption that behavior is impacted by thoughts and emotions. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), for instance, attempts to change negative behaviors by changing the destructive thought patterns behind them.

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By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Behavioral Theory

This essay about behavioral theory compares human behaviors to elements in a musical composition, emphasizing how actions are influenced by environmental interactions through the lenses of classical and operant conditioning. Classical conditioning is likened to associating two musical notes that influence behavior through repeated pairings, as illustrated by Pavlov’s experiments. Operant conditioning is portrayed as a method where behaviors are modified by rewards or punishments, much like adjusting music dynamics for desired harmony. The essay highlights practical applications in educational and therapeutic settings, using musical metaphors to describe how positive behaviors are encouraged and negative ones are minimized. Critics of this approach argue for the inclusion of internal states to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of behavior. The piece concludes by acknowledging the enduring influence of behavioral theory in forming treatments like cognitive-behavioral therapy, blending external and internal influences into a coherent strategy for behavioral change.

How it works

Imagine, if you will, a world where human actions weave together like notes in a grand musical composition, each behavior a note struck with intention, shaped by the world’s conducting baton. This is the realm of behavioral theory, a fascinating landscape where our external actions find their roots in the rich soil of environmental interactions, rather than the hidden caves of internal desires.

In this symphonic view, two main melodies emerge: classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Classical conditioning, unveiled by Ivan Pavlov’s iconic work with salivating dogs, dances to the rhythm of association.

Here, a simple, neutral melody (a bell, perhaps) transforms, acquiring the power to evoke responses when played alongside a more instinctual tune (the anticipation of food).

Operant conditioning, on the other hand, thrives on the dynamics of reinforcement and punishment. Pioneered by B.F. Skinner, this composition focuses on the crescendos and decrescendos of behavior, influenced by the echoes of consequences. It’s a piece where rewards and repercussions serve as the composer, guiding the music’s flow toward harmony or discord.

This conceptual symphony finds its stage in diverse settings, from the structured halls of education to the intimate chambers of therapy. Educators, like skilled conductors, employ behavioral theory to orchestrate a learning environment where positive actions are nurtured with praise and negative ones are gently silenced. Similarly, therapists use these principles to guide individuals through their personal mazes, replacing discordant habits with harmonious ones, especially in treating phobias and addictions.

The beauty of this behavioral symphony lies in its universal applicability and simplicity. Unlike the complex compositions that delve into the subconscious mind’s abstract depths, behavioral theory offers a clear, tangible score for reading and modifying human action. It resonates with professionals who value concrete, evidence-based strategies in their practice.

Yet, no symphony is without its critiques. Some argue that this musical genre focuses too intently on the notes themselves, neglecting the composers’ internal musings—our thoughts, feelings, and desires. They advocate for a more comprehensive orchestra that includes the internal dynamics at play, creating a richer, more intricate musical piece.

Despite these discussions, the melody of behavioral theory continues to play an influential role. It has inspired more sophisticated compositions, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), blending the external and internal into a harmonious whole. This approach has gained acclaim as one of the most effective in the psychological repertoire.

As we journey through the ever-evolving landscape of human psychology, behavioral theory serves as a reminder of our environment’s profound influence on our actions. It opens up possibilities for change and growth, showing us that, with the right conductor, the music of our behavior can always be refined.

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Behaviorism In Psychology

Saul Mcleod, PhD

Editor-in-Chief for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester

Saul Mcleod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

Learn about our Editorial Process

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Associate Editor for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MSc Psychology of Education

Olivia Guy-Evans is a writer and associate editor for Simply Psychology. She has previously worked in healthcare and educational sectors.

On This Page:

Behaviorism, also known as behavioral learning theory, is a theoretical perspective in psychology that emphasizes the role of learning and observable behaviors in understanding human and animal actions. Behaviorism is a theory of learning that states all behaviors are learned through conditioned interaction with the environment. Thus, behavior is simply a response to environmental stimuli. The behaviorist theory is only concerned with observable stimulus-response behaviors, as they can be studied in a systematic and observable manner. Some of the key figures of the behaviorist approach include B.F. Skinner, known for his work on operant conditioning, and John B. Watson, who established the psychological school of behaviorism.

Principles of Behaviorism

The behaviorist movement began in 1913 when John B. Watson wrote an article entitled Psychology as the behaviorist views it , which set out several underlying assumptions regarding methodology and behavioral analysis:

All behavior is learned from the environment:

One assumption of the learning approach is that all behaviors are learned from the environment. They can be learned through classical conditioning, learning by association, or through operant conditioning, learning by consequences.

Behaviorism emphasizes the role of environmental factors in influencing behavior to the near exclusion of innate or inherited factors. This amounts essentially to a focus on learning. Therefore, when born, our mind is “tabula rasa” (a blank slate).

Classical conditioning refers to learning by association, and involves the conditioning of innate bodily reflexes with new stimuli.

Pavlov’s Experiment

Ivan Pavlov showed that dogs could be classically conditioned to salivate at the sound of a bell if that sound was repeatedly presented while they were given food.

He first presented the dogs with the sound of a bell; they did not salivate so this was a neutral stimulus. Then he presented them with food, they salivated.

The food was an unconditioned stimulus and salivation was an unconditioned (innate) response.

Pavlov then repeatedly presented the dogs with the sound of the bell first and then the food (pairing) after a few repetitions, the dogs salivated when they heard the sound of the bell.

The bell had become the conditioned stimulus and salivation had become the conditioned response.

Examples of classical conditioning applied to real life include:

• taste aversion – using derivations of classical conditioning, it is possible to explain how people develop aversions to particular foods
• learned emotions – such as love for parents, were explained as paired associations with the stimulation they provide
• advertising – we readily associate attractive images with the products they are selling
• phobias – classical conditioning is seen as the mechanism by which – we acquire many of these irrational fears.

Skinner argued that learning is an active process and occurs through operant conditioning . When humans and animals act on and in their environmental consequences, follow these behaviors. 

If the consequences are pleasant, they repeat the behavior, but if the consequences are unpleasant, they do not.

Behavior is the result of stimulus-response:

Reductionism is the belief that human behavior can be explained by breaking it down into smaller component parts.

Reductionists say that the best way to understand why we behave as we do is to look closely at the very simplest parts that make up our systems, and use the simplest explanations to understand how they work.

Psychology should be seen as a science:

Theories need to be supported by empirical data obtained through careful and controlled observation and measurement of behavior. Watson (1913) stated:

“Psychology as a behaviorist views it is a purely objective experimental branch of natural science. Its theoretical goal is … prediction and control.” (p. 158).

The components of a theory should be as simple as possible. Behaviorists propose using operational definitions (defining variables in terms of observable, measurable events).

Behaviorism introduced scientific methods to psychology. Laboratory experiments were used with high control of extraneous variables.

These experiments were replicable, and the data obtained was objective (not influenced by an individual’s judgment or opinion) and measurable. This gave psychology more credibility.

Behaviorism is primarily concerned with observable behavior, as opposed to internal events like thinking and emotion:

The starting point for many behaviorists is a rejection of the introspection (the attempts to “get inside people’s heads”) of the majority of mainstream psychology.

While modern behaviorists often accept the existence of cognitions and emotions, they prefer not to study them as only observable (i.e., external) behavior can be objectively and scientifically measured.

Although theorists of this perspective accept that people have “minds”, they argue that it is never possible to objectively observe people’s thoughts, motives, and meanings – let alone their unconscious yearnings and desires.

Therefore, internal events, such as thinking, should be explained through behavioral terms (or eliminated altogether).

There is little difference between the learning that takes place in humans and that in other animals:

There’s no fundamental (qualitative) distinction between human and animal behavior. Therefore, research can be carried out on animals and humans.

The underlying assumption is that to some degree the laws of behavior are the same for all species and that therefore knowledge gained by studying rats, dogs, cats and other animals can be generalized to humans.

Consequently, rats and pigeons became the primary data source for behaviorists, as their environments could be easily controlled.

Types of Behaviorist Theory

Historically, the most significant distinction between versions of behaviorism is that between Watson’s original methodological behaviorism, and forms of behaviorism later inspired by his work, known collectively as neobehaviorism (e.g., radical behaviorism).

John B Watson: Methodological Behaviorism

As proposed by John B. Watson, methodological behaviorism is a school of thought in psychology that maintains that psychologists should study only observable, measurable behaviors and not internal mental processes.

According to Watson, since thoughts, feelings, and desires can’t be observed directly, they should not be part of psychological study.

Watson proposed that behaviors can be studied in a systematic and observable manner with no consideration of internal mental states.

He argued that all behaviors in animals or humans are learned, and the environment shapes behavior.

Watson’s article “Psychology as the behaviorist views it” is often referred to as the “behaviorist manifesto,” in which Watson (1913, p. 158) outlines the principles of all behaviorists:

“Psychology as the behaviorist views it is a purely objective experimental branch of natural science. Its theoretical goal is the prediction and control of behavior. Introspection forms no essential part of its methods, nor is the scientific value of its data dependent upon the readiness with which they lend themselves to interpretation in terms of consciousness.”

In his efforts to get a unitary scheme of animal response, the behaviorist recognizes no dividing line between man and brute.

Man’s behavior, with all of its refinement and complexity, forms only a part of the behaviorist’s total scheme of investigation.

This behavioral perspective laid the groundwork for further behavioral studies like B.F’s. Skinner who introduced the concept of operant conditioning.

Radical Behaviorism

Radical behaviorism was founded by B.F Skinner , who agreed with the assumption of methodological behaviorism that the goal of psychology should be to predict and control behavior.

Radical Behaviorism expands upon earlier forms of behaviorism by incorporating internal events such as thoughts, emotions, and feelings as part of the behavioral process.

Unlike methodological behaviorism, which asserts that only observable behaviors should be studied, radical behaviorism accepts that these internal events occur and influence behavior.

However, it maintains that they should be considered part of the environmental context and are subject to the same laws of learning and adaptation as overt behaviors.

Another important distinction between methodological and radical behaviorism concerns the extent to which environmental factors influence behavior. Watson’s (1913) methodological behaviorism asserts the mind is a tabula rasa (a blank slate) at birth.

In contrast, radical behaviorism accepts the view that organisms are born with innate behaviors and thus recognizes the role of genes and biological components in behavior.

Social Learning

Behaviorism has undergone many transformations since John Watson developed it in the early part of the twentieth century.

One more recent extension of this approach has been the development of social learning theory, which emphasizes the role of plans and expectations in people’s behavior.

Under social learning theory , people were no longer seen as passive victims of the environment, but rather they were seen as self-reflecting and thoughtful.

The theory is often called a bridge between behaviorist and cognitive learning theories because it encompasses attention, memory, and motivation.

Historical Timeline

• Pavlov (1897) published the results of an experiment on conditioning after originally studying digestion in dogs.
• Watson (1913) launches the behavioral school of psychology, publishing an article, Psychology as the behaviorist views it .
• Watson and Rayner (1920) conditioned an orphan called Albert B (aka Little Albert) to fear a white rat.
• Thorndike (1905) formalized the Law of Effect .
• Skinner (1938) wrote The Behavior of Organisms and introduced the concepts of operant conditioning and shaping.
• Clark Hull’s (1943) Principles of Behavior was published.
• B.F. Skinner (1948) published Walden Two , describing a utopian society founded upon behaviorist principles.
• Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior began in 1958.
• Chomsky (1959) published his criticism of Skinner’s behaviorism, “ Review of Verbal Behavior .”
• Bandura (1963) published a book called the Social Leaning Theory and Personality development which combines both cognitive and behavioral frameworks.
• B.F. Skinner (1971) published his book, Beyond Freedom and Dignity , where he argues that free will is an illusion.

Applications

Mental health.

Behaviorism theorized that abnormal behavior and mental illness stem from faulty learning processes rather than internal conflicts or unconscious forces, as psychoanalysis claimed.

Based on behaviorism, behavior therapy aims to replace maladaptive behaviors with more constructive ones through techniques like systematic desensitization, aversion therapy, and token economies. Systematic desensitization helps phobia patients gradually confront feared objects.

The behaviorist approach has been used in treating phobias. The individual with the phobia is taught relaxation techniques and then makes a hierarchy of fear from the least frightening to the most frightening features of the phobic object.

He then is presented with the stimuli in that order and learns to associate (classical conditioning) the stimuli with a relaxation response. This is counter-conditioning.

Aversion therapy associates unpleasant stimuli with unwanted habits to discourage them. Token economies reinforce desired actions by providing tokens redeemable for rewards.

The implications of classical conditioning in the classroom are less important than those of  operant conditioning , but there is still a need for teachers to try to make sure that students associate positive emotional experiences with learning.

If a student associates negative emotional experiences with school, then this can obviously have bad results, such as creating a school phobia.

For example, if a student is bullied at school, they may learn to associate the school with fear. It could also explain why some students show a particular dislike of certain subjects that continue throughout their academic career. This could happen if a teacher humiliates or punishes a student in class.

Cue reactivity is the theory that people associate situations (e.g., meeting with friends)/ places (e.g., pub) with the rewarding effects of nicotine, and these cues can trigger a feeling of craving (Carter & Tiffany, 1999).

These factors become smoking-related cues. Prolonged use of nicotine creates an association between these factors and smoking based on classical conditioning.

Nicotine is the unconditioned stimulus (UCS), and the pleasure caused by the sudden increase in dopamine levels is the unconditioned response (UCR). Following this increase, the brain tries to lower the dopamine back to a normal level.

The stimuli that have become associated with nicotine were neutral stimuli (NS) before “learning” took place but they became conditioned stimuli (CS), with repeated pairings. They can produce the conditioned response (CR).

However, if the brain has not received nicotine, the levels of dopamine drop and the individual experiences withdrawal symptoms, therefore, is more likely to feel the need to smoke in the presence of the cues that have become associated with the use of nicotine.

Issues & Debates

Free will vs. determinism.

Strong determinism of the behavioral approach as all behavior is learned from our environment through classical and operant conditioning. We are the total sum of our previous conditioning.

Softer determinism of the social learning approach theory recognizes an element of choice as to whether we imitate a behavior or not.

Nature vs. Nurture

Behaviorism is very much on the nurture side of the debate as it argues that our behavior is learned from the environment.

The social learning theory is also on the nurture side because it argues that we learn behavior from role models in our environment.

The behaviorist approach proposes that apart from a few innate reflexes and the capacity for learning, all complex behavior is learned from the environment.

Holism vs. Reductionism

The behaviorist approach and social learning are reductionist ; they isolate parts of complex behaviors to study.

Behaviorists believe that all behavior, no matter how complex, can be broken down into the fundamental processes of conditioning.

Idiographic vs. Nomothetic

It is a nomothetic approach as it views all behavior governed by the same laws of conditioning.

However, it does account for individual differences and explains them in terms of differences in the history of conditioning.

Critical Evaluation

Behaviorism has experimental support: Pavlov showed that classical conditioning leads to learning by association. Watson and Rayner showed that phobias could be learned through classical conditioning in the “Little Albert” experiment.

An obvious advantage of behaviorism is its ability to define behavior clearly and measure behavior changes. According to the law of parsimony, the fewer assumptions a theory makes, the better and the more credible it is. Therefore, behaviorism looks for simple explanations of human behavior from a scientific standpoint.

Many of the experiments carried out were done on animals; we are different cognitively and physiologically. Humans have different social norms and moral values that mediate the effects of the environment.

Therefore people might behave differently from animals, so the laws and principles derived from these experiments, might apply more to animals than to humans.

Humanism rejects the nomothetic approach of behaviorism as they view humans as being unique and believe humans cannot be compared with animals (who aren’t susceptible to demand characteristics). This is known as an idiographic approach.

In addition, humanism (e.g., Carl Rogers) rejects the scientific method of using experiments to measure and control variables because it creates an artificial environment and has low ecological validity.

Humanistic psychology also assumes that humans have free will (personal agency) to make their own decisions in life and do not follow the deterministic laws of science . 

The behaviorist approach emphasis on single influences on behavior is a simplification of circumstances where behavior is influenced by many factors. When this is acknowledged, it becomes almost impossible to judge the action of any single one.

This over-simplified view of the world has led to the development of ‘pop behaviorism, the view that rewards and punishments can change almost anything. 

Therefore, behaviorism only provides a partial account of human behavior, that which can be objectively viewed. Essential factors like emotions, expectations, and higher-level motivation are not considered or explained. Accepting a behaviorist explanation could prevent further research from other perspectives that could uncover important factors.

For example, the psychodynamic approach (Freud) criticizes behaviorism as it does not consider the unconscious mind’s influence on behavior and instead focuses on externally observable behavior. Freud also rejects the idea that people are born a blank slate (tabula rasa) and states that people are born with instincts (e.g., eros and Thanatos).

Biological psychology states that all behavior has a physical/organic cause. They emphasize the role of nature over nurture. For example, chromosomes and hormones (testosterone) influence our behavior, too, in addition to the environment.

Behaviorism might be seen as underestimating the importance of inborn tendencies. It is clear from research on biological preparedness that the ease with which something is learned is partly due to its links with an organism’s potential survival.

Cognitive psychology states that mediational processes occur between stimulus and response, such as memory , thinking, problem-solving, etc.

Despite these criticisms, behaviorism has made significant contributions to psychology. These include insights into learning, language development, and moral and gender development, which have all been explained in terms of conditioning.

The contribution of behaviorism can be seen in some of its practical applications. Behavior therapy and behavior modification represent one of the major approaches to the treatment of abnormal behavior and are readily used in clinical psychology.

The behaviorist approach has been used in the treatment of phobias, and systematic desensitization .

Many textbooks depict behaviorism as dominating and defining psychology in the mid-20th century, before declining from the late 1950s with the “cognitive revolution.”

However, the empirical basis for claims about behaviorism’s prominence and decline has been limited. Wide-scope claims about behaviorism are often based on small, unrepresentative samples of historical data. This raises the question – to what extent was behaviorism actually dominant in American psychology?

To address this question, Braat et al. (2020) conducted a quantitative bibliometric analysis of 119,278 articles published in American psychology journals from 1920-1970.

They generated cocitation networks, mapping similarities between frequently cited authors, and co-occurrence networks of frequently used title terms, for each decade. This allowed them to examine the structure and development of psychology fields without relying on predefined behavioral/non-behavioral categories.

Key findings:

• In no decade did behaviorist authors belong to the most prominent citation clusters. Even a combined “behaviorist” cluster accounted for max. 28% of highly cited authors.
• The main focus was measuring personality/mental abilities – those clusters were consistently larger than behaviorist ones.
• Between 1920 and 1930, Watson was a prominent author, but behaviorism was a small (19%) slice of psychology. Larger clusters were mental testing and Gestalt psychology.
• From the 1930s, behaviorism split into two clusters, possibly reflecting “classical” vs. “neobehaviorist” approaches. However, the combined behaviorist cluster was still smaller than mental testing and Gestalt clusters.
• The influence of behaviorism did not dramatically decline after 1950. The behaviorist cluster was stable at 28% during the 1940s-60s, and its citation count quadrupled.
• Contrary to narratives, Skinner was not highly cited in the 1950s-60s – he did not dominate behaviorism after WWII.
• Analyses challenge assumptions that behaviorism was the single dominant force in mid-20th-century psychology. The story was more diverse.

However, behaviorist vocabulary became more prominent over time in title term analyses. This suggests behaviorists were influential in shaping psychological research agendas, if not fully dominating the field.

Overall, quantitative analyses provide a richer perspective on the development of behaviorism and 20th-century psychology. Claims that behaviorism “rose and fell” as psychology’s single dominant school appear too simplistic.

Psychology was more multifaceted, with behaviorism as one of several influential but not controlling approaches. The narrative requires reappraisal.

Bandura, A., & Walters, R. H. (1963). Social learning and personality development . New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston.

Braat, M., Engelen, J., van Gemert, T., & Verhaegh, S. (2020). The rise and fall of behaviorism: The narrative and the numbers. History of Psychology, 23 (3), 252-280.

Carter, B. L., & Tiffany, S. T. (1999). Meta‐analysis of cue‐reactivity in addiction research.  Addiction ,  94 (3), 327-340.

Chomsky, N. (1959). A review of BF Skinner’s Verbal Behavior . Language, 35(1) , 26-58.

Holland, J. G. (1978). BEHAVIORISM: PART OF THE PROBLEM OR PART OF THE SOLUTION?  Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis ,  11 (1), 163-174.

Hull, C. L. (1943). Principles of behavior: An introduction to behavior theory . New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.

Pavlov, I. P. (1897). The work of the digestive glands . London: Griffin.

Skinner, B. F. (1938). The behavior of organisms: An experimental analysis . New York: Appleton-Century.

Skinner, B. F. (1948). Walden two. New York: Macmillan.

Skinner, B. F. (1971). Beyond freedom and dignity . New York: Knopf.

Thorndike, E. L. (1905). The elements of psychology . New York: A. G. Seiler.

Watson, J. B. (1913). Psychology as the behaviorist views it . Psychological Review, 20 , 158-178.

Watson, J. B. (1930). Behaviorism (revised edition). University of Chicago Press.

Watson, J. B., & Rayner, R. (1920). Conditioned emotional reactions . Journal of Experimental Psychology, 3 , 1, pp. 1–14.

What is the theory of behaviorism?

What is behaviorism with an example.

An example of behaviorism is using systematic desensitization in the treatment of phobias. The individual with the phobia is taught relaxation techniques and then makes a hierarchy of fear from the least frightening to the most frightening features of the phobic object.

How behaviorism is used in the classroom?

In the conventional learning situation, behaviorist pedagogy applies largely to issues of class and student management, rather than to learning content.

It is very relevant to shaping skill performance. For example, unwanted behaviors, such as tardiness and dominating class discussions, can be extinguished by being ignored by the teacher (rather than being reinforced by having attention drawn to them).

Who founded behaviorism?

John B. Watson founded behaviorism. Watson proposed that psychology should abandon its focus on mental processes, which he believed were impossible to observe and measure objectively, and focus solely on observable behaviors.

His ideas, published in a famous article “ Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It ” in 1913, marked the formal start of behaviorism as a major school of psychological thought.

Is behavior analysis the same as behaviorism?

No, behavior analysis and behaviorism are not the same. Behaviorism is a broader philosophical approach to psychology emphasizing observable behaviors over internal events like thoughts and emotions.

Behavior analysis , specifically applied behavior analysis (ABA), is a scientific discipline and set of methods derived from behaviorist principles, used to understand and change specific behaviors, often employed in therapeutic contexts, such as with autism treatment.

What Is Behaviorism in Psychology?

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Behaviorism is the theory that human or animal psychology can be objectively studied through observable actions (behaviors.) This field of study came about as a reaction to 19th-century psychology, which used self-examination of one’s thoughts and feelings to examine human and animal psychology.

Key Takeaways: Behaviorism

• Behaviorism is the theory that human or animal psychology can be objectively studied through observable actions (behaviors), rather than thoughts and feelings that cannot be observed.
• Behaviorism’s influential figures include the psychologists John B. Watson and B.F. Skinner, who are associated with classical conditioning and operant conditioning, respectively.
• In classical conditioning , an animal or human learns to associate two stimuli with each other. This type of conditioning involves involuntary responses, such as biological responses or emotional ones.
• In operant conditioning, an animal or human learns a behavior by associating it with consequences. This can be done through positive or negative reinforcement, or punishment.
• Operant conditioning is still seen in classrooms today, though behaviorism is no longer the dominant way of thinking in psychology.

History and Origins

Behaviorism emerged as a reaction to mentalism, a subjective approach to research used by psychologists in the latter half of the 19th century. In mentalism, the mind is studied by analogy and by examining one’s own thoughts and feelings—a process called introspection. Mentalist observations were considered too subjective by the behaviorists, as they differed significantly among individual researchers, often leading to contradictory and irreproducible findings.

There are two main types of behaviorism: methodological behaviorism, which was heavily influenced by John B. Watson’s work, and radical behaviorism, which was pioneered by psychologist B.F. Skinner.

Methodological Behaviorism

In 1913, psychologist John B. Watson published the paper that would be considered the manifesto of early behaviorism: “Psychology as the behaviorist views it.” In this paper, Watson rejected mentalist methods and detailed his philosophy on what psychology should be: the science of behavior, which he called “behaviorism.”

It should be noted that although Watson is often labeled the “founder” of behaviorism, he was by no means the first person to criticize introspection, nor was he the first to champion objective methods for studying psychology. After Watson's paper, however, behaviorism gradually took hold. By the 1920s, a number of intellectuals, including well-regarded figures such as the philosopher and later Nobel Laureate Bertrand Russell, recognized the significance of Watson’s philosophy.

Radical Behaviorism

Of the behaviorists after Watson, perhaps the most well-known is B.F. Skinner. Contrasting many other behaviorists of the time, Skinner’s ideas focused on scientific explanations rather than methods.

Skinner believed that observable behaviors were outward manifestations of unseen mental processes, but that it was more convenient to study those observable behaviors. His approach to behaviorism was to understand the relationship between an animal’s behaviors and its environment.

Classical Conditioning vs. Operant Conditioning

Behaviorists believe humans learn behaviors through conditioning, which associates a stimulus in the environment, such as a sound, to a response, such as what a human does when they hear that sound. Key studies in behaviorism demonstrate the difference between two types of conditioning: classical conditioning, which is associated with psychologists like Ivan Pavlov and John B. Watson, and operant conditioning, associated with B.F. Skinner.

Classical Conditioning: Pavlov’s Dogs

The Pavlov’s dogs experiment is a widely known experiment involving dogs, meat, and the sound of a bell. At the start of the experiment, dogs would be presented meat, which would cause them to salivate. When they heard a bell, however, they did not.

For the next step in the experiment, the dogs heard a bell before they were brought food. Over time, the dogs learned that a ringing bell meant food, so they would begin to salivate when they heard the bell—even though they didn’t react to the bells before. Through this experiment, the dogs gradually learned to associate the sounds of a bell with food, even though they didn’t react to the bells before.

The  Pavlov’s dogs experiment  demonstrates classical conditioning: the process by which an animal or human learns to associate two previously unrelated stimuli with each other. Pavlov's dogs learned to associate the response to one stimulus (salivating at the smell of food) with a “neutral” stimulus that previously did not evoke a response (the ringing of a bell.) This type of conditioning involves involuntary responses.

Classical Conditioning: Little Albert

In  another experiment  that showed the classical conditioning of emotions in humans, the psychologist J.B. Watson and his graduate student Rosalie Rayner exposed a 9-month-old child, whom they called “Little Albert,” to a white rat and other furry animals, like a rabbit and a dog, as well as to cotton, wool, burning newspapers, and other stimuli—all of which did not frighten Albert.

Later, however, Albert was allowed to play with a white lab rat. Watson and Rayner then made a loud sound with a hammer, which frightened Albert and made him cry. After repeating this several times, Albert became very distressed when he was presented with only the white rat. This showed that he had learned to associate his response (becoming afraid and crying) to another stimulus that had not frightened him before.

Operant Conditioning: Skinner Boxes

Psychologist B.F. Skinner placed a hungry rat in a box containing a lever. As the rat moved around the box, it would occasionally press the lever, consequently discovering that food would drop when the lever was pressed. After some time, the rat began running straight toward the lever when it was placed inside the box, suggesting that the rat had figured out that the lever meant it would get food.

In a similar experiment, a rat was placed inside a Skinner box with an electrified floor, causing the rat discomfort. The rat found out that pressing the lever stopped the electric current. After some time, the rat figured out that the lever would mean that it would no longer be subject to an electric current, and the rat began running straight toward the lever when it was placed inside the box.

The Skinner box experiment demonstrates operant conditioning , in which an animal or human learns a behavior (e.g. pressing a lever) by associating it with consequences (e.g. dropping a food pellet or stopping an electric current.) The three types of reinforcement are as follows:

• Positive reinforcement : When something good is added (e.g. a food pellet drops into the box) to teach a new behavior.
• Negative reinforcement : When something bad is removed (e.g. an electric current stops) to teach a new behavior.
• Punishment : When something bad is added to teach the subject to stop​ a behavior.

Influence on Contemporary Culture

Behaviorism can still be seen in the modern-day classroom , where operant conditioning is used to reinforce behaviors . For example, a teacher may give a prize to students who perform well on a test or punish a student who misbehaves by giving them time in detention.

Though behaviorism was once the dominant trend in psychology in the mid-20th century, it has since lost traction to cognitive psychology, which compares the mind to an information processing system, like a computer.

• Baum, W. “What is behaviorism?” In Understanding Behaviorism: Behavior, Culture, and Evolution, Third Edition , John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2017.
• Cascio, C. “How will I apply behaviorist philosophy in the classroom?” Seattle Pi .
• Kim, E. “Differences between classical and operant conditioning.” 2015.
• Goldman, J. G. “What is classical conditioning? (And why does it matter?)” Scientific American , 2012.
• Malone, J. C. “Did John B. Watson really ‘found’ behaviorism?” The Behavior Analyst , vol. 37, no. 1, 2014, pp. 1-12.
• McLeod, S. “Skinner – operant conditioning.” Simply Psychology , 2018.
• Pavlov, I. “Conditioned reflexes: An investigation of the physiological activity of the cerebral cortex.” Classics in the History of Psychology , 1927.
• Pizzurro, E. “Can behaviorism still apply in the face of overwhelming opposition?” Personality Research , 1998.
• Watson, J. B. “Psychology as the behaviorist views it.” Psychological Review , vol. 20, no. 2, 1913, pp. 158-177.
• Watson, J. B., and Rayner, R. “Conditioned emotional reactions.” Classics in the History of Psychology .
• Wozniak, R. “Behaviourism: The early years.” Bryn Mawr College, 1997.
• What Is Operant Conditioning? Definition and Examples
• What Is the Law of Effect in Psychology?
• What Is Classical Conditioning?
• Biography of Ivan Pavlov, Father of Classical Conditioning
• What Is an Unconditioned Response?
• What Is a Conditioned Response?
• ABC: Antecedent, Behavior, Consequence
• Social Cognitive Theory: How We Learn From the Behavior of Others
• The 6 Most Important Theories of Teaching
• Can Insects Learn?
• Nature vs. Nurture: How Are Personalities Formed?
• Mirror Neurons and How Do They Affect Behavior
• What Is the Premack Principle? Definition and Examples
• What Is a Schema in Psychology? Definition and Examples
• Behavior and Classroom Management in Special Education
• What Is Social Learning Theory?

17 Behaviorism Examples

Behaviorism is a psychological theory of learning based on the idea that learning occurs through a process of conditioning of behaviors.

This approach focuses on the role of environmental factors in learning, rather than the role of internal cognition (thinking and contemplating – see: constructivist theory ).

There are two main types of conditioning associated with behaviorism

• Classical Conditioning: This is where an association is made between two stimuli, such as associating a bell with lunch time.
• Operant Conditioning: Developed by B.F. Skinner, this theory argues that we can change students’ behaviors through consequences, such as rewards, or punishments. For example, if a student gives a correct response, they get a reward, which will increase their likelihood of giving that response next time.

Behaviorism Examples

1. Classical Conditioning

Classical conditioning involves teaching a student to associate two stimuli with one another. It does not require rewards and punishments, but rather repetition of an association.

This was famously demonstrated by Ivan Pavlov in his Pavlov’s dog experiment, where he taught dogs to salivate in response to the sound of a bell. In the classroom, we might see it when the teacher walks into the classroom and the students instinctively go silent.

Through this experiment, Pavlov demonstrated that the dog had learned to associate the bell with food, causing a physical reaction in the dog.

There are several terms here to help explain what happened:

• Unconditioned stimulus : Food naturally causes salivation
• Conditioned stimulus : The bell, being associated with food, now also causes salivation
• Unconditioned response : Salivation in response to food
• Conditioned response : Salivation in response to a bell

Classical Conditioning Example

You may notice that a particularly scary teacher – say, the principal – will cause the whole class to go dead silent when they walk into the classroom. There’s no reward or punishment involved in this process, but rather, an association is developed between the principal and the need to be silent, because we learn over time that whenever we see the school principal, it’s usually time to be quiet and listen for an important announcement.

2. Operant Conditioning

Operant conditioning, developed by B.F. Skinner, is about learning through rewards ( positive reinforcement ) and punishments ( negative reinforcement ).

For instance, if a student is rewarded with praise or a good grade for studying hard (behavior), they are likely to repeat that behavior in the future.

Conversely, if a child touches a hot stove (behavior) and gets burned (negative consequence), they learn not to touch the stove again.

Operant conditioning is very useful for teachers because it demonstrates that reward and punishments lead to rapid acquisition of the desired behaviors, such as the correct answer to a question.

Example of Operant Conditioning

Operant can be very useful in teaching times tables through rote learning – 5 x 5 = 25 leads to a reward! However, the weakness is that the student may not actually mean that 5 x 5 means “five groups of five objects”, meaning learning has been rather shallow and the child hasn’t obtained true comprehension.

Shaping involves slowly changing behavior over time by reinforcing behaviors that are closer and closer to the target behavior. This is also known as successive approximation.

We might, for example, celebrate a language learner’s success in using simple past tense before moving onto more complex, but often more natural, past continuous tense.

Successive approximations are also often used in the process of treating phobias. If a person has fear of heights, we wouldn’t take them to the roof of the nearest skyscraper. Rather, we might start them on a 2nd story building, then a 3rd, and so on, until they finally reach those higher heights.

Example of Shaping

If you’re training a dog to roll over, you might start by rewarding the dog for lying down, then for rolling onto its side, and finally for completing a full roll. Each step is an approximation towards the final desired behavior.

4. Extinction

Extinction refers to the gradual weakening and eventual disappearance of a learned behavior. In other words, the response has ‘gone extinct’.

This tends to happen when a reward or punishment that was previously associated with a behavior is no longer provided. Over time, the association between the behavior and the reward or punishment breaks.

Example of Extinction

A child used to throw a tantrum in a store because they knew it would get them a toy. But the parent finally grew a spine and stopped buying the toy, despite the tantrums. After a while, the tantrum behavior eventually stopped, because the child stopped associating tantrums with getting their own way.

5. Observational Learning (Social Learning)

Observational learning is a progression of behaviorism that introduces the idea we learn not only through direct reward and punishment, but also by observing others.

For example, if a child watches a sibling receive praise for doing chores, the child may also start doing chores in the hope of receiving similar praise.

Developed by Albert Bandura, this type of learning is considered to be partly behaviorism, but also partly its own theory. It does involve a form of conditioning – the behavior is learned (conditioned) through observation of consequences. However, it also introduces the idea that learning can occur vicariously .

Observational Learning Example

In the famous Bobo doll experiment, Bandura split children into two groups. One group observed an adult acting lovingly toward a doll. The other group observed an adult acting aggressively toward a doll. Then, when the children were allowed to play with the doll, Bandura observed that the children mimicked the adults they observed. This demonstrated that the children had learned behaviors through observation alone, with no direct instruction.

6. Token Economies

A token economy is a behavior modification technique that uses rewards (tokens) as reinforcers to shape behavior. The tokens can be exchanged later for other reinforcers that are highly appealing to the recipients.

By reinforcing desired behaviors with tokens, the student is more likely to exhibit that behavior again. This is based on the principles of operant conditioning and has many uses in an educational setting.

Token Economy Example

An example might be a classroom management system where students earn tokens for positive behavior (like completing homework or helping classmates) and can trade them for privileges or treats.

7. Aversion Therapy

This therapeutic method involves pairing an unwanted behavior with discomfort in order to reduce the occurrence of the behavior.

The unpleasant stimulus serves as a deterrent, essentially associating a stimulus with a learned negative consequence, which deters us from going down that path again.

Aversion Therapy Example

A person trying to overcome procrastination might wear a rubber band around their wrist and snap it causing a mild pain each time they catch themselves being unproductive.

8. Habituation

Habituation occurs when a stimulus ceases to provide the same strong response as it once did, due to decreasing sensitivity to the stimulus.

It differs from extinction because the stimulus doesn’t disappear. The stimulus remains, but we become so used to it that our response weakens.

Habituation may happen in the classroom, for example, when a teacher’s teaching style becomes boring to students – the teach will need to mix things up to revive students’ enthusiasm for learning

Habituation Example

People who live under flight paths often don’t even hear planes flying overhead, but their visitors sure do. The sound planes in their environment initially may have distracted the homeowners, but over time they have become so used to the sound that it ceases to distract them anymore.

9. Systematic Desensitization

This is a therapy method used to overcome phobias and other anxiety disorders.

Systematic desensitization involves gradually exposing a person to the feared object or situation in a controlled and safe way, until the fear response is extinguished.

For example, a person with a fear of spiders might first think about spiders, then look at pictures of spiders, then look at a spider in a jar, and finally hold a spider.

Systematic Desensitization Example

Mary Cover Jones famously helped a child named Peter overcome his fear of white rabbits with systematic desensitization. She did this by exposing Peter to the animal while he ate meals. She then slowly brought it closer in each session until it sat in his lap while he ate.

10. Conditioned Emotional Response

This is an emotional response that has been linked to a previously neutral stimulus by association.

It often occurs during traumatic events and is a symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder.

For example, if you have had a traumatic experience with a dog in the past, you may become anxious or fearful (emotional response) whenever you see a dog (now a conditioned stimulus).

Conditioned Emotional Response Example

A soldier goes to war and, in the heat of battle, at the scariest moment of his life, he hears loud bangs all around him from bombs. After returning to civilian life, every time he hears fireworks, he has a heightened panic response.

11. Positive Punishment

Positive punishment is an important term in behaviorism but is a bit of a misnomer. The punishment isn’t actually “positive” per se. The word positive in this case means “to add”. We might call this an “added punishment”.

So, positive punishment involves adding an unpleasant consequence after an undesired behavior is exhibited to decrease future responses.

Positive Punishment Example

An example of positive punishment may be giving a class of students an extra 2 minutes of lunchtime detention each time they misbehave, which can decrease the likelihood of misbehavior.

12. Negative Punishment

Negative punishment is the opposite of the above. It’s about removing something pleasurable or desirable as a form of punishment.

So, while positive punishment is about adding something undesirable, negative punishment is about removing something desirable, in order to shape behavior.

Negative Punishment Example

If a teenager comes home after curfew, removing their privilege to use the family car can reduce the likelihood of them breaking curfew again.

13. Discrimination Learning

This concept refers to learning to differentiate between stimuli, such as a dog being able to learn the difference between different commands.

In behaviorism, this will involve reinforcing a behavior in the presence of a certain stimulus, but not others.

This concept also exists in constructivist classrooms , where it’s believed that discrimination occurs through experience and development of conceptualizations – or cognitive schema – in order to establish cognitive equilibrium.

Stimulus Discrimination Example

A dog may learn to sit on command (in response to the word “sit”) but not in response to any other spoken words.

14. Stimulus Generalization

Stimulus generalization occurs when a person or animal starts responding to one stimulus, then multiple stimuli, in a similar manner. They have ‘generalized‘ their response to stimuli.

Scholars have shown that stimuli that are similar to the initial stimulus will evoke a response similar to the original stimulus.

Here, we’re experiencing the opposite of stimulus discrimination, and in fact, it represents the absence of the ability to discriminate between different stimuli.

Stimulus Generalization Example

If a child has been conditioned to fear white dogs, the child might also exhibit fear in the presence of all white animals.

15. Escape Learning

Escape learning is when a person or animal learns to terminate an aversive stimulus by engaging in a specific behavior.

Escape learning was originally demonstrated by B. F. Skinner, using an apparatus known as the Skinner Box, which is essentially a metal cage.

Skinner placed a rat in the Skinner Box. When the floor was electrified, the rat experienced the aversive stimulus. But the rat eventually learned that pressing a lever on the side of the cage would end the electric shock.

Once the rat learned this association, the rat quickly pulled the lever as soon as the shock occurred. In other words, it learned engage in behaviors that help it to escape an aversive sitautions.

Escape Learning Example

A person with social anxiety feels a negative sensation in social situations – generally, heightened stress. They have learned that by feigning sickness, they can get out of the situation. So, whenever they are caught in a social event, they pretend to be sick to quickly escape the aversive stimulus.

16. Premack Principle

Also known as “Grandma’s rule,” this principle states that a more desirable activity can be used effectively as a reinforcer for a less desirable one.

Essentially, the principle involves offering an incentive that will be received once an unpleasurable task is completed.

Students often use this themselves when studying, such as in the pomodoro technique. They promise themselves a break or a treat if they study for a certain amount of time.

Premack Principle Example

Telling a child “If you finish your homework, you can play video games” uses the desirable activity (playing video games) to reinforce the less desirable one (completing homework).

17. Avoidance Learning

This occurs when actions are taken to prevent an aversive stimulus from occurring.

For example, someone might study hard to avoid getting a poor grade, or consistently pay their bills to avoid late fees.

Note that avoidance learning differs from escape learning because avoidance learning pre-emptively avoids a situation before it even comes about, whereas escape learning is about ending an unpleasant experience that is currently occurring.

We can split it into active avoidance learning, where we do something to avoid a situation; and passive avoidance learning, where we actively fail to do something to prevent an eventuality.

Avoidance Learning Example

When a person has learned that they are allergic to soy (aversive stimulus), they will not eat (avoidant behavior) tofu or drink soy milk. This is passive avoidance learning. 

Behaviorism is a central theory in educational psychology. It demonstrates some key drivers in shaping thoughts and behaviors. It can be very powerful and lead to fast behavioral acquisition, but it is often critiqued for its lack of acknowledgement of the role of internal cognitive processes in learning, and often leads to shallow learning where people only learn behaviors rather than the reasoning behind certain concepts, such as knowing that 5 x 5 = 25, but having no idea what it actually means.

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 5 Top Tips for Succeeding at University
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Theories of behaviour and behaviour change across the social and behavioural sciences: a scoping review

Rachel davis.

a Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology , University College London , London, UK

Rona Campbell

b School of Social and Community Medicine , University of Bristol , Bristol, UK

Lorna Hobbs

Susan michie.

Interventions to change health-related behaviours typically have modest effects and may be more effective if grounded in appropriate theory. Most theories applied to public health interventions tend to emphasise individual capabilities and motivation, with limited reference to context and social factors. Intervention effectiveness may be increased by drawing on a wider range of theories incorporating social, cultural and economic factors that influence behaviour. The primary aim of this paper is to identify theories of behaviour and behaviour change of potential relevance to public health interventions across four scientific disciplines: psychology, sociology, anthropology and economics. We report in detail the methodology of our scoping review used to identify these theories including which involved a systematic search of electronic databases, consultation with a multidisciplinary advisory group, web searching, searching of reference lists and hand searching of key behavioural science journals. Of secondary interest we developed a list of agreed criteria for judging the quality of the theories. We identified 82 theories and 9 criteria for assessing theory quality. The potential relevance of this wide-ranging number of theories to public health interventions and the ease and usefulness of evaluating the theories in terms of the quality criteria are however yet to be determined.

Introduction

Human behaviours, including tobacco and alcohol consumption, dietary behaviours, physical activity and sexual practices, play a key role in many of the leading causes of death in developing and developed countries (Aveyard & West, 2007 ; Danaei et al., 2009 ; Ezzati et al., 2002 ; Mokdad, Marks, Stroup, & Gerberding, 2004 ; Parkin, Boyd, & Walker, 2011 ; Solomon & Kington, 2002 ). Even small changes in such behaviours can have substantial effects on population health outcomes (Ezzati et al., 2002 ; Mokdad et al., 2004 ; National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), 2010 ; Solomon & Kington, 2002 ). Understanding these behaviours and the contexts in which they occur is essential for developing effective evidence-based health behaviour change interventions and policies and for reducing avoidable mobility and mortality (House of Lords, 2011 ; Office of Behavioural and Social Sciences Research, 2006 ).

Despite the relatively small investment in preventive health and behavioural science (Marteau, Dieppe, Foy, Kinmonth, & Schneiderman, 2006 ), there is evidence for the effectiveness of behaviour change interventions at individual, community and population levels (Abraham, Kelly, West, & Michie, 2009 ; Albarracin et al., 2005 ; Michie & West, 2013 ; National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, 2007 ; Nigg, Allegrante, & Ory, 2002 ). Interventions have been targeted at behavioural risk factors (e.g., smoking; Carr & Ebbert, 2012 ; Rice & Stead, 2008 ), encouraging protective behaviours (e.g., health screening; Brouwers et al., 2011 ; Everett et al., 2011 ), improving adaptation to chronic and acute illness (e.g., adherence to medical advice; Cutrona et al., 2010 ) and changing health professional behaviours to improve the quality and efficiency of services (e.g., hand hygiene compliance; Fuller et al., 2012 ). While there are many examples of successful interventions, there are also examples of ineffective interventions (e.g., Coleman, 2010 ; Summerbell et al., 2005 ); for those that are effective, the effects tend to be modest, with significant heterogeneity of short-term and long-term effects (Michie, Johnston, Francis, Hardeman, & Eccles, 2008 ).

To maximise the potential efficacy of interventions, it is necessary to understand behaviour and behaviour change: in other words, it is necessary to have a theoretical understanding of behaviour change. In this context, theory represents the accumulated knowledge of the mechanisms of action (mediators) and moderators of change as well as the a priori assumptions about what human behaviour is, and what the influences on it are. The application of theory is advocated as an integral step in intervention design and evaluation and in evidence synthesis, for example, by the UK Medical Research Council's guidance for developing and evaluating complex interventions (Campbell et al., 2000 , 2007 ; Craig et al., 2008 ; Glanz & Bishop, 2010 ). This is for several reasons. First, the antecedents of behaviour and the causal determinants of change can be appropriately identified and targeted by the intervention (Hardeman et al., 2005 ; Michie & Abraham, 2004 ; Michie et al., 2008 ) and component behaviour change techniques can be selected and/or refined and tailored (Michie & Prestwich, 2010 ; Michie et al., 2008 ; Rothman, 2004 ). Second, theoretically identified mechanisms of action (i.e., mediators) can be investigated to gain further understanding as to how the intervention brings about its effects (Michie & Abraham, 2004 ; Rothman, 2004 , 2009 ). This allows researchers to determine whether unsuccessful interventions have failed either because the intervention has had no effect upon the hypothesised mediator or because the hypothesised (and successfully influenced) mediator has had no effect upon behaviour (Michie & Abraham, 2004 ; Rothman, 2004 , 2009 ), thus facilitating more efficient refinement of the intervention. Third, theory summarises the cumulative knowledge of how to change behaviour across different populations, behaviours and contexts. Finally, theory-based interventions provide an opportunity in which theory can be tested. This aids development of more useful theories which, in turn, supports intervention optimisation (Michie et al., 2008 ; Rothman, 2004 ).

The question as to whether interventions that are explicitly based on theory are more effective that those that are not is a complex one. Some reviews have found a positive association (Albada, Ausems, Bensing, & van Dulmen, 2009 ; Albarracin et al., 2005 ; Glanz & Bishop, 2010 ; Noar, Benac, & Harris, 2007 ; Swann, Bowe, Kosmin, & McCormick, 2003 ; Taylor, Conner, & Lawton, 2011 ), but others have found no association, or, even a negative association (Gardner, Wardle, Poston, & Croker, 2011 ; Roe, Hunt, Bradshaw, & Rayner, 1997 ; Stephenson, Imrie, & Sutton, 2000 ). Some reviews have reported a mixture depending on the measure of effectiveness (Ammerman, Lindquist, Lohr, & Hersey, 2002 ; Bhattarai et al., 2013 ; Kim, Stanton, Li, Dickersin, & Galbraith, 1997 ).

There are several factors that may explain this mixed picture. Theory is often poorly applied. A review investigating application of theory using the 19-item ‘Theory Coding Scheme’ (Michie & Prestwich, 2010 ), found that only 10% of studies of theory-based interventions reported links between behaviour change techniques and theoretical constructs and only 9% reported that all the constructs had been targeted by behaviour change techniques. Another explanation may be that the choice of theory may not have been appropriate. For example, if a behaviour is heavily influenced by habit or emotional states then a theory that focuses on beliefs and reflective thought processes may not be appropriate when informing intervention design.

The importance of understanding the theoretical underpinnings of behavioural interventions has been highlighted in previous research suggesting theoretical bases for combining behaviour change techniques within interventions to allow synergistic effects and enhance their effectiveness (Dombrowski et al., 2012 ; Michie, Abraham, Whittington, McAteer, & Gupta, 2009 ; Taylor et al., 2011 ; Webb, Joseph, Yardley, & Michie, 2010 ). Despite the advantages of theory, behaviour change interventions are often designed without reference to theory (Davies, Walker, & Grimshaw, 2010 ; Prestwich et al., 2013 ). For instance, a recent meta-analysis found that only 22.5% of 235 implementation studies explicitly used theories of behaviour change (Davies et al., 2010 ). Where theory is used, it is often only loosely referred to rather than rigorously applied to intervention design and evaluation (Painter, Borba, Hynes, Mays, & Glanz, 2008 ; Prestwich et al., 2013 ). In those situations where interventions are based on ‘explicit theory’, theory is often used sub-optimally to develop or evaluate the intervention (e.g., only a few of the theoretical constructs may be targeted and/or theory is not used to appropriately tailor the intervention).

Choosing a relevant theory can be a challenging task for intervention designers, especially given the large number of theories, many of which have the same or overlapping constructs, to choose from (Michie et al., 2005 ). There is a lack of guidance on how to select an appropriate theory for a particular purpose (Michie, 2008 ), with a predominance in published intervention evaluations of a small number of theories that have already gained recognition in the field (Painter et al., 2008 ). By using a ‘common’ or ‘favourite’ theory, rather than one that may be more suited to the particular characteristics of the target population, behaviour and context, the potential benefit of using theory is limited.

One approach to addressing the plethora of different, overlapping theories and lack of guidance as to how to choose between them was the development of the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF; Cane, O'Connor, & Michie, 2012 ; Michie et al., 2005 ). Developed by psychologists and implementation researchers, the TDF provides a framework of theoretical domains to explain barriers and facilitators of behaviour in any particular situation. Informed by 128 explanatory constructs from 33 theories of behaviour, the TDF has been used in many contexts to understand behaviour and design theoretically informed interventions (Francis, O'Connor, & Curran, 2012 ; French et al., 2012 ). Another resource for theory-informed research is the US National Institute of Health's ‘Grid Enabled Measures’ (GEM) web-based database. GEM provides the descriptions of theoretical constructs and behavioural and social measures to assess these constructs ( https://www.gem-beta.org/Public/Home.aspx ). While both these approaches are of value, neither specifies relationships between theoretical domains and constructs in terms of the effect that one domain or construct may have on another. They deal with theoretical domains and constructs, not theories per se. One previous consensus exercise did generate a list of eight constructs thought to influence HIV-related behaviours, with the resulting framework specifying links between the constructs and behaviour (Fishbein et al., 2001 ). However, it is not clear how this consensus was reached and how relevant the included constructs are to other behaviours, given the focus on HIV-related behaviours. Researchers or interventions designers may want to select specific theories either at the beginning of the intervention design process or after conducting some preliminary research to indicate which theories are likely to be relevant and useful. In these situations there is a need for an accessible source of potentially useful theories, as well as a method for selecting amongst them.

At present, theories used in public health and behaviour change interventions more generally tend to emphasise individual and sometimes interpersonal rather than broader social and environmental variables (Glanz & Bishop, 2010 ). Capabilities and motivation (individual factors) are often targeted, but context (social and environmental variables) is far less likely to be considered. NICE's ( 2007 ) behaviour change guidance concluded that interventions were more effective if they simultaneously targeted variables at different levels (e.g., individual, community and population; National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, 2007 ). Therefore, to maximise effectiveness, intervention designers are likely to benefit from drawing from a wider range of theories than currently used. Current resources on theories of behaviour change tend to reflect specific contexts and disciplines, and are thus inevitably limited in the range of theories considered (Agar, 2008 ; Conner & Norman, 2005 ; Glanz & Bishop, 2010 ; Glanz, Rimer, & Lewis, 2002 ).

To improve the selection and application of theory we need to consider, across relevant disciplines, those theories which may be of potential use in informing public health questions. By identifying a range of theories we can assess which theories may be of value given the behaviour, population and context in question. To this end, we conducted a scoping review and consensus exercise, informed by the disciplines of psychology, sociology, anthropology and economics. The scoping review and consensus exercise primarily aimed to address the question, ‘What theories exist across the disciplines of psychology, sociology, anthropology and economics that could be of value to guiding behaviour change interventions?’

To be as comprehensive as possible we focused on both theories of behaviour and behaviour change. Theories of behaviour tend to be linear, and explain the reasons why behaviour may occur by considering a number of predictors and their associations with one another and how these could influence the likelihood of a particular behaviour (Agar, 2008 ; Conner & Norman, 2005 ; Glanz & Rimer, 1997 ; Head & Noar, 2013 ). Theories of change tend to be more cyclical and identify interactional and dynamic behaviour change processes (Agar, 2008 ; Head & Noar, 2013 ). In practice, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between the two and some theories could be viewed as both.

Of secondary interest we also addressed ‘What criteria should we consider when evaluating the quality and potential appropriateness of behaviour change theory?’ Finally, we assessed the extent to which the theories we identified had been applied within the behaviour change field.

The scope of the present paper is twofold: (i) to report in detail the methodology employed to identify relevant theories and to produce a compendium of these theories and (ii) to provide the list of agreed criteria for judging the quality of the theories. Ways in which some of the theories have been used to study behaviour change are also briefly summarised, though it is beyond the scope of this paper to discuss this in detail. Research examining how the theories have been operationalised and the quality of their empirical application (as measured by the quality criteria reported here) forms part of the future research programme.

Theories of behaviour and behaviour change were identified through five sources: expert consultation with a multidisciplinary project advisory group, electronic databases, web searching, forward and backward searching of reference lists and hand searching of key behavioural science journals. Empirical application of the theories was identified from electronic databases and searching the reference lists of retrieved articles. These, together with expert consultations with the advisory group, informed the development of the quality assessment criteria.

Expert advisory group

Twenty-four UK experts from the social and behavioural sciences and/or population health research formed the advisory group, which determined the scope, methods and conduct of the review. The group comprised four sociologists, five economists, five psychologists, four health service researchers, three anthropologists, two epidemiologists and one policy researcher.

Definition of key terms

One of the first tasks of the advisory group was to agree definitions of the terms ‘theory’ and ‘behaviour’. A shortlist of potentially relevant definitions of each term was compiled from peer-reviewed journals, reports and books, for example, the American Psychological Association Dictionary . In the first of two rounds of a Delphi process, advisory group members were asked to rate each definition and parts of the definition for potential use. When a definition (or a part of it) was rated as important by at least 50% of the group it was retained as relevant. In the second round, core concepts were extracted and synthesised by the authors and used to create working definitions which were then considered for refinement by the advisory group in order to create the final definitions:

The term theory was defined as: ‘a set of concepts and/or statements with specification of how phenomena relate to each other. Theory provides an organising description of a system that accounts for what is known, and explains and predicts phenomena’.

Behaviour was defined as: ‘anything a person does in response to internal or external events. Actions may be overt (motor or verbal) and directly measurable or, covert (activities not viewable but involving voluntary muscles) and indirectly measurable; behaviours are physical events that occur in the body and are controlled by the brain’.

Identification of relevant theories

To inform the literature search strategy, theories of behaviour and behaviour change were identified through expert consultation with the advisory group and an initial scoping of the literature using generic and discipline-specific terms related to behaviour and behaviour change theories. For example, the term ‘cultural change’ tended to be used by anthropologists, ‘action’ by sociologists and ‘behaviour’ by psychologists.

Literature search strategy

The literature search was conducted primarily to uncover theories of behaviour and behaviour change that were not identified through expert consultation with our advisory group. Secondary to this we identified the ways in which the theories we identified had been empirically applied. While we briefly report this, it was beyond the scope of the study to analyse this comprehensively and in detail. In order to retrieve relevant literature across different disciplines six databases were searched between 1 January 1960 and 11 September 2012: PsycINFO, Econlit, Cochrane Database of Systematic reviews, International Bibliography of Social Sciences, EMBASE and MEDLINE. Databases were chosen based on their coverage of discipline- and content-specific literature and on the volume of public health literature. Databases that did not allow the use of wildcards (to account for variations in spellings) or sets of search terms to be entered and combined through the use of Boolean operators, and/or databases that only retrieved titles of articles but not abstracts were not used (e.g., Anthropology Index Online). The final search was conducted on the 11 September 2012.

The search strategy included four sets of search terms: those that (i) apply theory to behaviour change (e.g., ‘behaviour change theory’); (ii) are relevant to behaviour change and also of relevance in understanding behaviour more generally [e.g., ‘Health Belief Model’ (HBM)]; (iii) are relevant to behaviour change but that do not mention theory (e.g., ‘behaviour modification’); and (iv) discipline-specific terms combined with the term behaviour change (e.g., ‘economics and behaviour change’). A list of the search terms together with how these terms were combined can be found in the online supplemental material ( Supplemental Figure 1 ).

The search strategy was customised to each database. Standard filters were used to capture systematic reviews where applicable. A sensitivity analysis was performed to ensure that the search results included key articles on theories relevant to behaviour change (identified through the initial scoping of the literature). Given the complex body of evidence, in terms of cross-cutting disciplines and sheer breadth and volume of literature, the search was restricted to titles and abstracts to tighten the search specificity.

Additional potentially relevant theories were identified through expert consultation and web searching for key documents from organisations known for their interest in behaviour change. This included, from the USA, the National Institute of Health's Behaviour Change Consortium and, from the UK, the NICE, Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Co-ordinating Centre (EPPI Centre), Government Social Research Unit, House of Lords Science and Technology Select Committee Report on Behaviour Change and National Institute of Health Research's Health Technology Assessment.

Forward and backward citation searching, and hand searching of key behavioural science journals were performed to minimise the likelihood of relevant theories being missed. The journals hand searched were: Annals of Behavioural Medicine , BMC Health Services Research , British Journal of Health Psychology , Health Psychology , Health Psychology Review , Implementation Science , International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology , Journal of Applied Behavioural Science and Social Science & Medicine .

Inclusion criteria for theories

Theories were included if they: (i) met our definition of theory and behaviour and (ii) considered individual behaviour as an outcome or part of the process leading to the outcome. Theories that considered group behaviour (e.g., ‘organisational behaviour’), without reference to individual behaviour were excluded. While we acknowledge that such theories are of interest to intervention designers who want to change group behaviour we decided to limit the scope of the review to theories concerned with individual behaviour change to keep it manageable. The inclusion of each theory was considered independently by at least two of the four authors and by members of the advisory group. Inter-rater reliability was assessed.

Theories that focused purely on cognition were not included. Examples of such theories include Social Comparison Theory (Festinger, 1954 ), which aims to explain how people's opinions are influenced within social groups and Cognitive Adaptation Theory (Taylor, 1983 ), which aims to explain how people cognitively adapt to threatening events. While these theories contribute to our understanding of knowledge, beliefs and intentions about behaviour there are often significant gaps between these and behaviour (Sheeran, 2002 ) and this project was about theories of behaviour and behaviour change.

We distinguished frameworks, which provide an organising structure, from theories which, in addition, offer explanations of how phenomena relate to each other and permit outcomes to be predicted. Thus, conceptual frameworks such as the TDF (Cane et al., 2012 ; Michie et al., 2005 ), or the Ecological Model (McLeroy, Bibeau, Steckler, & Glanz, 1988 ) that are commonly used to guide the design, implementation or evaluation of interventions were not included. While these frameworks have value in implementation and in public health research, policy and practice, this review was of specific theories.

Inclusion criteria for articles

Screening of articles was in two stages. The first stage (title and abstract) was intentionally inclusive, retaining articles if they mentioned: (i) theory in relation to behaviour or behaviour change or (ii) changing behaviour but made no reference to theory (the full text of the article was then checked to see if theory was used to inform the research). We considered all behaviour to be of relevance, not just health-related behaviours. At the second stage of screening (full-text) tighter restrictions applied and articles were included if: (i) theory and behaviour was defined as per our study definitions and (ii) they fell into one of four categories of article: descriptive, intervention, evaluative or review:

• Descriptive articles were defined as those that contained the original description of a theory by the author/s who originally conceived of the theory (i.e., primary theory sources) or by an author/s who proposed advances in the theory by re-specification. Secondary theory sources (i.e., those that only provided an overview/description of the theory) were not included.
• Intervention articles were defined as those that stated in their methods that they used theory to inform the development and/or evaluation of an intervention aimed at changing behaviour and that included a measure of behaviour as an outcome. We focused on behaviour as the end-point rather than the consequence of the behaviour (e.g., weight loss) because there are a number of factors further along the causal chain that could affect the link between behaviour and outcome (Hardeman et al., 2005 ).
• Evaluative articles were defined as those reporting studies that empirically tested a theory longitudinally.
• Review articles were defined as those that systematically reviewed a theory in relation to a change in behavioural outcomes. Narrative reviews or selective overviews of the literature (i.e., those without a description of a search strategy and no clear methodology that could be reproduced independently) were not included.

Articles were excluded if they: focused on cognition (e.g., intention to change behaviour) rather than actual behaviour; were restricted to research participation behaviours, animal studies, scale development, measurement or programme development, cost-effectiveness or single case studies; focused on mental health including therapeutic interventions where cognitive or emotional variables were the primary outcome. Dissertations and doctoral theses, books and book reviews, conference posters and presentations, editorials and commentaries were excluded for practical reasons to limit the volume of material to be retrieved and reviewed to manageable proportions. Articles that used multiple theories to inform their methodology were excluded because our review was of the empirical application of individual theories to changing behaviour.

We did not exclude articles based on their quality, since the methodology of applying these criteria has yet to be developed.

Inter-rater reliability

Articles were screened for relevance at abstract and full-text stage by the lead author (Rachel Davis). At both screening stages, 30% of the abstracts were independently screened by two other researchers (each of which screened 15%) and inter-rater reliability (calculated using percentage agreement) was assessed. Since the data constitute unbalanced cells, we have used percentage agreement as it provides a more transparent and more readily interpretable parameter than Cohen's kappa. As kappa corrects for chance agreement among multiple coders, use of kappa is likely to underestimate reliability (Steinijans, Diletti, Bomches, Greis, & Solleder, 1997 ). Differences of views about inclusion were resolved through discussion and consensus with the other authors.

Data extraction

Data were extracted on: (i) country where the research took place, (ii) theory used, (iii) type of article (descriptive, intervention, evaluative or review), (iv) design (quantitative, qualitative or mixed methods), (v) target behaviour (e.g., smoking, physical activity), (vi) target direction of behaviour [i.e., increase (which also included maintaining behaviour) or decrease in uptake] and (vii) measurement of behaviour (self-report, objective or both). Dual data extraction was conducted independently on 60% of the included papers by two researchers and inconsistencies resolved through joint discussion.

Quality assessment criteria

We reviewed key literature which synthesised scientific and philosophical perspectives on what makes a theory scientific and useful for the purpose of effecting healthy behaviour change in a target population (e.g., Glanz & Rimer, 1997 ; West, 2006 ) and used this to draft an initial list of quality criteria. These were considered by the advisory group in both a face-to-face discussion and a subsequent electronic Delphi-like consultation aimed at achieving consensus.

We report the theories of behaviour and behaviour change identified in our review and the agreed criteria for assessing theory quality. A high-level summary of the key characteristics of the review articles is also provided.

A high level of agreement was observed for decisions on inclusion in relation to both the theories and the articles included in the review (>90%).

Theories identified

Eighty-two theories of behaviour and behaviour change were identified. These are listed in Table 1 along with the lead author, date of the paper that originally described the theory and the number of articles that reported using the theory. Fifty-nine (out of the 82 theories) were applied in the articles included in our review. The remaining theories ( N = 23) were identified by the advisory group and/or through abstracts of the articles retrieved in our literature search. In other words, these were theories that met our inclusion criteria but did not have relevant articles retrieved from our search strategy that met our article inclusion criteria, i.e., articles did not fall within one of our four categories (descriptive, intervention, evaluative, review). Theories identified through our search that were excluded, with reasons for exclusion, can be found in the online supplemental material ( Supplemental Table 1 ).

Note: Theories 30–32 were all reported in one paper.

It is important to note here that while our intention was to provide a list of potentially relevant theories across different disciplines, it was not possible to categorise the theories according to disciplines. Many of the theories had influences from more than one discipline and/or authors were from several disciplines or could not be categorised into any one discipline.

Nine defining features were identified as conceptually important for a good theory: (i) clarity of constructs – ‘Has the case been made for the independence of constructs from each other?’ (ii) clarity of relationships between constructs – ‘Are the relationships between constructs clearly specified?’ (iii) measurability – ‘Is an explicit methodology for measuring the constructs given?’ (iv) testability – ‘Has the theory been specified in such a way that it can be tested?’ (v) being explanatory – ‘Has the theory been used to explain/account for a set of observations? (statistically or logically)’; (vi) describing causality – ‘Has the theory been used to describe mechanisms of change?’ (vii) achieving parsimony – ‘Has the case for parsimony been made?’ (viii) generalisablity – ‘Have generalisations been investigated across’: (a) behaviours? (b) populations? (c) contexts?’ and (ix) having an evidence base.

Articles retrieved

In the results sections that follow we briefly summarise the main findings of the articles included in our review. Further examination of the empirical application of these theories using our quality assessment criteria is part of the future research programme.

Of 8680 articles retrieved through the database search, 6620 were excluded at the first stage of screening (title and abstract) and 1804 articles (out of the remaining 2060) were excluded after full-text screening, leaving 256 articles. To these a further 20 articles were added through searching the reference lists of the included articles, resulting in 276 articles. Figure 1 displays a flow chart of the search results.

Article characteristics

Articles were published between 1977 and 2012, with most of the research conducted in Europe and North America. Eighteen categories of behaviours were identified, with three accounting for 50% of the articles: increasing physical activity ( N = 72; 26%), safe sex practices ( N = 36; 13%) and smoking cessation ( N = 30; 11%). Fifty-two (19%) articles addressed multiple health-related behaviours, with 17 (6%) of these targeting healthy eating and physical activity together. The remaining categories comprised behaviours relating to: healthy eating ( N = 13), addictive behaviours including alcohol and drugs ( N = 12), health examinations and tests ( N = 11), environmental conservation ( N = 10), violence and delinquency ( N = 9), sun protection ( N = 9), drug adherence ( N = 5), job- or education-related activities ( N = 4), Internet- or other technology-related behaviours ( N = 4), health care professional adherence to health care guidelines ( N = 3), financial-related activities ( N = 2), speeding ( N = 2) and 2 ‘others’ which were behaviours that did not fall into any of the above categories including pet removal from domestic residence ( N = 1) and repairing mosquito nets ( N = 1).

The majority of articles used quantitative methods ( N = 243; 88%) and most reported interventions ( N = 168; 61%) or were evaluative ( N = 62; 35%). Thirty-one descriptive articles (either primary theory sources or extensions of a theory) were identified. Behaviour was most commonly measured by self-report methods ( N = 194; 70%). For a high-level summary of these key characteristics, please refer to Table 2 ; a more detailed account of each individual article can be found online in Supplemental Table 2 .

Papers published by the same first author and focused on the same theory were assessed to identify cases in which multiple articles based on the same intervention (i.e., intervention protocol and outcomes) or data-set had been published. This was found to be the case for 19 articles in total (covering 9 interventions/data-sets; see Tables 1 and ​ and2 2 ).

Frequency of use

Of the 82 theories identified, just 4 theories accounted for 174 (63%) of articles: the Transtheoretical Model of Change (TTM; N = 91; 33%), the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB; N = 36; 13%), Social Cognitive Theory (SCT; N = 29; 11%) and the Information-Motivation-Behavioural-Skills Model (IMB; N = 18; 7%). A further four theories accounted for an additional 32 (12%) of the included articles: the HBM ( N = 9; 3%), Self-determination Theory (SDT; N = 9; 3%), Health Action Process Approach (HAPA; N = 8; 3%) and Social Learning Theory (SLT; N = 6; 2%; SLT is a precursor of SCT). The remaining theories ( N = 70) were applied fewer than 6 times each in the literature that met our inclusion criteria, with most only being applied once or twice (see Table 1 ).

This scoping review of theories of behaviour/behaviour change of potential relevance to designing and evaluating public health interventions was informed by the disciplines of psychology, sociology, anthropology and economics. Eighty-two theories were identified that spanned a myriad of behaviours and could be applied to designing and evaluating interventions to improve public health, as well as tackle other social issues such as environmental sustainability and public safety.

It is important to note that the literature identified in the scoping review reflects the search strategy that aimed to identify theories rather than exhaustively review theoretically informed empirical studies. Therefore, whilst the review identified articles that use the theories in relation to our inclusion criteria, it does not reflect the wider application of these theories to public health-related research.

Scoping reviews are used to map or configure a body of evidence. They therefore tend to focus on breadth, including studies that are representative of the variation within the evidence base, rather than focusing on depth and assembling all the eligible material. It can also mean that establishing what the boundaries of the review are, and therefore what should be included or excluded, may be refined during the course of the review (Shemilt et al., 2013 ). Consensus methods can help with this process. While we intended to conduct this review in a systematic and reproducible way, as it was the first attempt that we were aware of to review a bodies of theory in this way, its purpose seemed more akin to that of a scoping than a systematic review. As Gough, Thomas, and Oliver ( 2012 ) have suggested, there is a clear distinction between aggregative systematic reviews that are ‘about seeking evidence to inform decisions’ and configurative scoping reviews which are about ‘seeking concepts to provide enlightenment through new ways of understanding’. Arguably what we wanted to attempt was a combination of these two things but we have nevertheless labelled what we did a scoping review.

From the theories we identified, only a few were frequently applied in literature. While the purpose of our scoping review was not to uncover all the relevant literature on how these theories have been applied, the finding is of interest because it is consistent with other reviews and publications (e.g., Glanz & Bishop, 2010 ; Painter et al., 2008 ; Prestwich et al., 2013 ). Sixty-three per cent of the articles identified in the review related to just four theories: the TTM, TPB, SCT and the IMB Skills Model. While the literature we uncovered was limited by our inclusion criteria, and includes a small number cases in which authors have published more than one article applying the same theory to the same data-set or intervention, it indicates the very uneven distribution of frequency of theory use. This raises the question as to why many theories are so little used. One explanation may be that how often a theory is used, could in part, be confounded by the year in which the theory was introduced. Knowledge of a theory in terms of how much it is discussed in the public domain is also likely to play a role. Another explanation might be that those that are used more frequently are ‘better’ theories and selected for use because they have a stronger evidence base or meet other quality criteria. However, a couple of examples suggest that frequency does not necessarily follow quality. For example, the theory appearing most frequently in our review, the TTM, has been criticised on several grounds (West, 2005 ) and its empirical support has been questioned by systematic review findings (e.g., Cahill, Lancaster, & Green, 2010 ; Etter & Perneger, 1999 ; Littell & Girvin, 2002 ; Whitelaw, Baldwin, Bunton, & Flynn, 2000 ). On the other hand, recent meta-regression evidence has shown good support for Control Theory (Dombrowski et al., 2012 ; Ivers et al., 2012 ; Michie et al., 2009 ); however, this was identified in only one article in our review. Another explanation is that people are not aware of the full range of theories from which to choose and so instead opt for those most commonly applied in the literature. Frequency of use may not reflect perceived quality of the theory but instead, fashion, familiarity, prior training, exposure or incentivisation. We hope that this review will help to increase awareness among intervention designers and researchers about the range of theories available. We report nine criteria agreed as markers of theory quality that could aid selection of the most appropriate theory or theories.

Our decision to focus on theories of behaviour change at the level of the individual and exclude theories concerned with group behaviour is likely to be part of the explanation for the preponderance of psychological theories identified in the review, although even interventions at the community level tend to be informed by psychological or social–psychological theories (e.g., Bonell, Fletcher, et al., 2013 ; Bonell, Jamal, et al., 2013 ; Glanz & Bishop, 2010 ; National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, 2007 ). This, and the decision not to include books where sociological and anthropological theories are more likely to be found, may go some way to explaining why these types of theory are under-represented. In addition, Kelly et al. ( 2010 ) found that sociological theories were missed in electronic searches, particularly if they were more than 25 years old. Given that interventions may be improved by drawing on theories specifically targeting group behaviours, this would be a useful focus for a future literature review as we are not aware of there being such a review.

This review raised the issues as to what constitutes ‘a theory’ and ‘a behaviour’. Theories, as conceptualised here, ranged from quite specific (e.g., to a particular behavioural domain or type of intervention) to very general, including multiple levels of influence. The cut-offs at either end of this spectrum were agreed by consensus but were inevitably arbitrary. A general observation was that more general theories may have greater face validity but be less useable in guiding research than more specific theories; choice of theory will therefore be partly guided by the purpose it is to be put to. Another observation was that there appeared to be no generally accepted use of terms such as theory, model, framework and orientation, with different uses by different authors. Increasing the precision of, and consensus on, use of terminology would be helpful for the field.

‘Behaviour’ also varies in level of specificity: for example, physical activity includes sports which includes volleyball which includes running. Behaviours are also part of sequences, often dependent on previous behaviours (e.g., carrying gym kit) and sometimes on other people's behaviours (e.g., others turning up for a team game). Just as the relevance of a particular theory may vary across type of behaviour, so it may vary according to the level of specificity.

The review also suggests that there are a large number of theories that are of potential use in designing public health interventions. The cataloguing of 83 theories of behaviour change is an important resource for researchers wishing to draw on theories beyond the few that currently dominate the literature. However, few of these theories have been subjected to wide-scale rigorous empirical evaluation. There have been calls for more operationalization, application, testing and refining of theories over many years (e.g., Michie & Johnston, 2012 ; Noar & Zimmerman, 2005 ; Rothman, 2004 ; Weinstein, 2007 ; Weinstein & Rothman, 2005 ), but advances are slow. We need more investment into methodological and substantive research in this area, for example, the use of fractionated factorial (Collins et al., 2011 ) and n -of-1 (Johnston, Jones, Charles, McCann, & McKee, 2013 ) designs to tease apart complex interventions and the extent to which theories can be generalised across populations, behaviours and contexts.

Identifying the theories in this review is just the first step in a much larger and ongoing programme of work aimed at improving the use of appropriate theory and the scientific rigour with which it is applied. Future work will investigate the ways in which theories have been operationalised and the extent to which different theories share constructs and can be seen as ‘families’ of theory. Transforming the nine quality criteria into forms, such as reliable scales or response options that can be used in evaluating theories is a complex task, and a study in its own right. The evolution of theories over time, including the issue of when a theory is considered a new theory, will also be examined. Many theories contained similar constructs or the same constructs but with slightly different names. Understanding these similarities and working towards a common set of terminology would facilitate the building of a cumulative understanding of mechanisms of action from both primary research and evidence syntheses. It would also further our understanding of the evolution of theories and how theories have been revised and/or integrated with other theories over time. Having said this, it is also important to recognise that not only language varies across and within disciplines but so do epistemological and ontological assumptions and preoccupations.

The next phase of the current research is to (i) investigate the connectedness of theories with each other and (ii) operationalize and demonstrate the application of the agreed quality criteria. These will both inform the understanding of theory and its development, and help guide researchers, policy-makers and interventions on the appropriate selection and application behaviour change theories to developing public health and other behaviour change interventions.

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the study's advisory group for developing the literature search strategy, key definitions and the quality criteria for evaluating theory: Robert Aunger, Mary Barker, Mick Bloor, Heather Brown, Richard Cookson, Cyrus Cooper, Peter Craig, Paul Dieppe, Anna Dixon, Rachel Gooberman-Hill, Simon Griffin, Graham Hart, Kate Hunt, Susan Jebb, Marie Johnston, Mike Kelly, Steve Morris, Mark Petticrew, Paschal Sheeran, Mark Suhreke, Ivo Vlaev, Robert West, Daniel Wight, Daniel Zizzo. We are also grateful to Kate Sheals for invaluable help in the latter stages of manuscript preparation.

Funding Statement

Funding : This project was funded by the Medical Research Council's Population Health Sciences Research Network [grant number PHSRN10 ]. The work was undertaken with the support of The Centre for the Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions for Public Health Improvement (DECIPHer), a UKCRC Public Health Research: Centre of Excellence. Funding from the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Economic and Social Research Council [ RES-590-28-0005 ], Medical Research Council, the Welsh Government and the Wellcome Trust [ WT087640MA ], under the auspices of the UK Clinical Research Collaboration, is gratefully acknowledged.

This project was funded by the Medical Research Council's Population Health Sciences Research Network [grant number PHSRN10]. The work was undertaken with the support of The Centre for the Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions for Public Health Improvement (DECIPHer), a UKCRC Public Health Research: Centre of Excellence. Funding from the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Economic and Social Research Council [RES-590-28-0005], Medical Research Council, the Welsh Government and the Wellcome Trust [WT087640MA], under the auspices of the UK Clinical Research Collaboration, is gratefully acknowledged.

Supplemental material

Supplemental material for this article can be accessed here: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17437199.2014.941722 .

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IvyPanda . 2023. "103 Behaviorism Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." September 26, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/behaviorism-essay-topics/.

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IvyPanda . "103 Behaviorism Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." September 26, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/behaviorism-essay-topics/.

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