<P> Behaviorism (or behaviourism) is a systematic approach to understanding the behavior of humans and other animals . It assumes that all behaviors are either reflexes produced by a response to certain stimuli in the environment, or a consequence of that individual's history, including especially reinforcement and punishment, together with the individual's current motivational state and controlling stimuli . Although behaviorists generally accept the important role of inheritance in determining behavior, they focus primarily on environmental factors . </P> <P> Behaviorism combines elements of philosophy, methodology, and psychological theory . It emerged in the late nineteenth century as a reaction to depth psychology and other traditional forms of psychology, which often had difficulty making predictions that could be tested experimentally . The earliest derivatives of Behaviorism can be traced back to the late 19th century where Edward Thorndike pioneered the law of effect, a process that involved strengthening behavior through the use of reinforcement . </P>

The goal of behaviorism is to explain behavior in terms of
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