one of the first american psychologists to advocate a behavioral approach was
John B. Watson John Broadus Watson (January 9, 1878 â€“ September 25, 1958) was an American psychologist who established the psychological school of behaviorism. Watson promoted a change in psychology through his address Psychology as the Behaviorist Views it, which was given at Columbia University in 1913.[3] Through his behaviorist approach, Watson conducted research on animal behavior, child rearing, and advertising. In addition, he conducted the controversial "Little Albert" experiment and the Kerplunk experiment. Watson popularized the use of the scientific theory with behaviorism.[4] He was also editor of Psychological Review from 1910 to 1915.[5] A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Watson as the 17th most cited psychologist of the 20th century.[6]
Radical behaviorism Radical behaviorism, or the conceptual analysis of behavior, was pioneered by B. F. Skinner and is his "philosophy of the science of behavior."[1] It refers to the philosophy behind behavior analysis, and is to be distinguished from methodological behaviorism—which has an intense emphasis on observable behaviors—by its inclusion of thinking, feeling, and other private events in the analysis of human and animal psychology.[2] The research in behavior analysis is called the experimental analysis of behavior and the application of this field is called applied behavior analysis (ABA).