Regardless of the intermediate links, Watson calls it "black-box operation or pathological behavior, which is obtained through learning and can also be changed, increased or eliminated through learning." He believes that if we find out the regular relationship between environmental stimulus and behavioral response, we can predict the response according to the stimulus, or infer the stimulus according to the response, so as to predict and control the behavior of animals and people.
In his view, behavior is a combination of various physical reactions used by organisms to adapt to environmental stimuli, some of which are manifested externally and some are hidden internally. In his eyes, there is no difference between humans and animals, and they all follow the same rules.
Behaviorism has four objective methods:
First, natural observation without instruments and experimental observation with instruments;
Second, the oral report method;
Third, the conditioned reflex method;
Fourth, test methods.
Skinner belongs to the new school of behavioral psychology. He only studied observable behavior and tried to establish a functional relationship between stimulus and response. He believes that the event between stimulus and reaction is not an objective thing and should be ruled out. Skinner believes that the problem of consciousness can be explained without giving up the behaviorist position.
Behaviorism deserves to be regarded as a school with great contribution in modern psychology. It existed and developed for more than half a century, and occupied the leading position of American psychology from 1920s to 1950s. It makes psychology really get rid of philosophy and become an objective experimental psychology, which promotes psychology to take an important step towards a mature scientific direction. Behaviorism has made unprecedented creative achievements and contributions in the field of applied psychology.