Topic > History of Behavioral Therapy - 1774

Note that each pioneer discovery was made through observation of something. It is safe to say that behaviorists believe that behavior is the result of stimuli and their responses. Because behavior therapy is based on behaviorism, a working definition of behavior therapy, rooted in the principles of behaviorism, a school of thought focused on the idea that we learn from our environment (psychology.about.com). Unlike other therapies, behavioral therapy is based on four theories: classical conditioning, operant conditioning, social learning approach and cognitive behavioral therapy. Made famous by Pavlov, classical conditioning pairs a neutral simulis with a response-producing one to elicit a conditioned response (Ormrod, 2012, pp. 34-35). Pavlov's experiments with dogs are one of the perfect examples of classical conditioning, the other perfect example is Watson's demonstration with little Albert and the white furry mouse. In both demonstrations the neutral stimuli became a conditioned response. It is important to note that in classical conditioning the learner is passive, absorptive, and automatically reacts to a stimulus (Papalia & Feldman, 2010, p..