what is behaviorism first of all it is important to note that behaviorism is also known as behavioral psychology broadly construed behaviorism is a theory of learning which states that all behaviors are learned through interaction with the environment through a process called conditioning hence for the adherence of behaviorism behavior is simply a response to a particular stimulus for this reason behaviorism is only concerned with observable stimulus response behaviors as they can be studied in a systematic and observable manner the behaviorist movement began in 1913 when john watson wrote an article titled psychology as the behaviorist views it which set out a number of underlying assumptions regarding methodology and behavioral analysis the basic assumption in behaviorism is that all behavior is learned from the environment this explains why 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 hence for the behaviorists we learn new behavior through classical or operant conditioning collectively known as learning theory with this the behaviorists came up with the conclusion that when born our mind is tabular rosa that is the mind is like a blank slate the moment we are born another basic assumption in behaviorism is that psychology should be viewed as a science the implication here is that theories must be supported by empirical data obtained through careful and controlled observation and measurement of behavior as watson writes psychology as a behaviorist views it is a purely objective experimental branch of natural science its theoretical goal is prediction and control for the behaviorists therefore the components of a theory should be as simple as possible hence the behaviorists propose the use of operational definitions which defines variables in terms of observable and measurable events