behaviourism

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

English behaviour

Proto-Indo-European *-id-

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti

Proto-Hellenic *-íd͏̌d͏̌ō

Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō)

Proto-Indo-European *-mos

Proto-Indo-European *-mós

Ancient Greek -μός (-mós)

Ancient Greek -ῐσμός (-ĭsmós)der.

English -ism

English behaviourism

From behaviour + -ism.

Pronunciation

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Noun

behaviourism (countable and uncountable, plural behaviourisms)

1. British standard spelling of behaviorism, particularly:
   1. (psychology) behaviorism (an approach focusing on observable behavior which, generally assuming that behavior is determined by the environment and denying any independent significance for mind, largely ignores any pathophysiological processes which may, or may not, underlie subjective, behavioral phenomena)
   2. (uncountable, philosophy) behaviorism (the theory that a mental state is identical to the disposition or tendency to behave in accordance with the physical causes; statements about the mind are reducible to statements of physical behavior)

      Synonyms: logical behaviourism, philosophical behaviourism, analytical behaviourism; see also Thesaurus:logical behaviorism

      • 1986, Bertrand Russell, edited by John G. Slater, The Philosophy of Logical Atomism and Other Essays 1914-19 (The Collected papers of Bertrand Russell; 8), London: George Allen & Unwin, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 194:

        I come back now to the theory of behaviourism which I spoke of a moment ago. Suppose, e.g., that you are said to believe that there is a train at 10.25. This means, we are told, that you start for the station at a certain time. When you reach the station you see it is 10.24 and you run. That behaviour constitutes your belief that there is a train at that time. If you catch your train by running, your belief was true. If the train went at 10.23, you miss it, and your belief was false. That is the sort of thing that they would say constitutes belief. There is not a single state of mind which consists in contemplating this eternal verity, that the train starts at 10.25.

      • 1995, Nigel Warburton, Philosophy: The Basics, 2nd edition, London; New York: Routledge, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 137:

        One criticism sometimes made of behaviourism is that it fails to make a distinction between someone actually being in pain and someone pretending to be in pain.

      • 1997, David Braddon-Mitchell, Frank Jackson, Philosophy of Mind and Cognition, Blackwell Publishers, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 31:

        On both ways of describing behaviourism, it is agreed that (a) mental states are not inner, categorical states of persons, and (b) what makes psychological claims true are subjects’ behavioural dispositions.

      • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:behaviourism.

Derived terms

• eliminative behaviourism
• neobehaviourism

Translations

behaviorism — see behaviorism

References

• “behaviourism”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Etymology

• NED (1888), volume supp., page 70a: “behaviourism”
• OED, “behaviourism”; 1st edition, volume supp., page 70a; 2nd edition, volume 2, page 74b

Sense 1.2

• CED, 2nd edition, page 138a: “behaviourism” ^†; 3rd edition, page 141a ^†; 4th edition, page 140a ^†; 5th edition, page 140a ^†; 6th edition, page 149a ^†; 7th edition, page 148c ^†; 9th edition, page 148c ^†; 10th edition, page 151a ^†; 11th edition, page 151a ^†
• EWD, 1st edition, page 164b: “behaviourism” ^†
• ODP, 1st edition, page 39b-40a: “behaviourism”; 2nd edition, page 38b-39a; 3rd edition, page 50b-51a

Anagrams

• misbehaviour