AW Staats and psychological behaviorism

Psychological behaviorism maintains that personality can be explained through observable behavior.. It was in 1912 that Watson first developed behaviorism, the general theory that includes psychological behaviorism. Skinner later expanded the theory further with his formulation of radical behaviorism. AWStaats’ most recent approaches speak of psychological behaviorism; the same one that emphasizes the personality and inner world of a person.

Arthur W. Staats’s psychological behaviorism extends behaviorism to the realm of psychology. It postulates that psychology can be explained through observable behaviors. The components of psychology include personality, learning, and emotion.

In this sense, Staats was the first to propose that Personality consists of a repertoire of learned behaviors that arise from the interaction of the environment, biology, cognition, and emotions. This theory of personality is the main component of psychological behaviorism. Therefore, it separates it from the theories of behaviorism that preceded it.

Psychological behaviorism and personality

According to Staats’ theory of personality, there are three behavioral repertoires that contribute to a theory of personality.

The first is the sensory-motor repertoire, which includes sensory-motor skills and attentional and social skills. The second is the cognitive-linguistic repertoire. The third is the emotional-motivational repertoire.

At birth, a baby lacks all of these repertoires. He later acquires them through complex learning and becomes capable of handling various situations. An individual experiences life, to a large extent, based on his or her background, and as he or she grows, he or she develops a basic behavioral repertoire.

An individual’s basic behavioral repertoire and life situation will shape their behavior, which in turn will shape their personality.. According to this model, biology interacts with the environment and contributes to the formation of personality.

Besides, Psychological behaviorism considers that the study of personality is very important. Personality tests are considered essential to the extent that they allow us to predict what behaviors people will show and whether these will be risky.

Testing also helps identify behaviors and the contexts that facilitate them. Which helps design environments that produce desired behaviors, while preventing the development of unwanted behaviors.

Psychological behaviorism and education

Psychological behaviorism argues that, as children develop, they learn basic repertoires on which other more complex repertoires are built. This is called cumulative learning. According to psychological behaviorism, this is a type of learning exclusive to humans.

According to this cumulative learning model, When children learn a repertoire such as language, they can build on that repertoire with other repertoires, such as reading and grammar. From there, learning those reading and grammar repertoires lead to the acquisition of additional complex repertoires.

Staats’ research with her own children and in her studies emphasized the importance of parenting. She showed that Children’s early training in language development and cognitive development led to more advanced language development. The demonstration of greater intelligence on intelligence tests made this clear. Many studies conducted on this topic in the field of behavior analysis support his findings.

Psychological behaviorism and language

Staats indicates that we have a large number of words that provoke a positive or negative emotional response depending on previous classical conditioning.. As such, they can transfer their emotional response to any item they are paired with.

The basic learning theory of psychological behaviorism also states that emotional words have two additional functions. They will serve as rewards and punishments to learn other behaviors; also to provoke approach or avoidance behavior.

Psychological behaviorism deals with various aspects of language. From its original development in children to its role in intelligence and abnormal behavior. In fact, it backs this up with basic and applied studies. For example, the Staats article was published in the journal Behavior Therapy in 1972 he helped introduce cognitive behavioral (language) therapy to the field of behavior.

Psychological behaviorism and behavioral disorders

Instead of accepting the concept of mental illness, the psychological behaviorism argues that behavioral disorders They are simply poorly learned behavioral repertoires; or, in any case, a lack of behavioral repertoires. This would prevent the individual from managing life events.

In fact, The theory of psychological behaviorism rejects the concept of mental illness. In contrast, behavioral disorders are composed of learned repertoires of abnormal behavior. Behavioral disorders are associated with a lack of assimilation of the basic repertoires that are needed to adjust to life demands.

So, Psychological behaviorism suggests an approach associated with behavioral associations and consequences to treat behavioral disorders. It also suggests prevention by identifying and intervening on the conditions that create them.

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