Empirical evidence is needed to understand & change
human behaviour. Psychology should be seen as a science.
Behaviorism is primarily concerned with observable
behavior as opposed to internal events like thinking and
emotion because it can be scientifically measured!
People have no free will – a person’s environment
determines their behavior. Minds are born “blank slates”
Behavior is the result of stimulus – response (i.e. all
behavior, no matter how complex, can be reduced to a
simple stimulus – response association)
Pavlov was investigating salivation in dogs
in response to being fed. He noticed that
his dogs would begin to salivate whenever
he entered the room … even when he was
not bringing them food!
Pavlov discovered that any object or event which the dogs
associated with food (such as the lab assistant) would
trigger the same response! He called this type of learning
classical conditioning
http://bcs.worthpublishers.com/gray/content/psychsim5/C
lassical%20Conditioning/ClassicalConditioning.htm
Classical condition has many applications in the real world.
For example, children demonstrate anxiety and fear when
entering into a doctor’s office, after previously receiving an
immunization.
By observing conditioned behaviours, scientists can learn
how to change that behaviour by associating it with a NEW
stimuli!
For example, if children received candy every time they
went to the doctor’s office, they learn to associate doctor
visits with receiving a reward – therefore, they might not
show as much anxiety upon visiting the doctor’s office!
Skinner believed that all behavior is
created through environmental stimuli,
through a process of rewards and
punishments.
He coined the term
operant conditioning a method of
learning where an association is made
between a behaviour and a “consequence for that
behaviour” via rewards and punishments.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_ctJqjlrHA#t=41
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXDD3JN4FGQ Cat 
Reinforcement is any event that strengthens or increases
the behavior it follows.
Ex: a teacher gives good grades to a hard working
student. This encourages the behaviour to continue.
Punishment is the opposite of reinforcement. It is
designed to weaken or eliminate a behaviour rather
than increase it.
Ex: a teacher sends a student to the office for misbehaving
in class. This discourages the behaviour from continuing.
Behaviourism techniques are used
today in a variety of situations from treating phobias to
managing inappropriate behaviours in the classroom