A psychologist or scientist who studies behavior, especially one who believes behavior is shaped by environment and conditioning rather than innate traits.
From behavior + -ist (one who practices or believes in a doctrine). Behaviorism emerged as a psychological school in the early 1900s, rejecting introspection in favor of observable behavior.
B.F. Skinner and Ivan Pavlov were famous behaviorists—their experiments with conditioning became so influential that 'behaviorism' shaped how we think about learning for a century, even though modern psychology has moved beyond pure behaviorism.
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