Vanessa frequently complains of getting terrible headaches and so ends up at the nurse’s office several times a week. Yet two different physicians have been unable to find a cause for Vanessa’s headaches, and Vanessa’s parents report that their daughter rarely has headaches at home. Vanessa is falling further and further behind in her schoolwork, so Vanessa’s teacher and parents meet with the nurse and school psychologist to brainstorm possible solutions to Vanessa’s problem. The school psychologist suggests that the teacher keep track of the occasions when Vanessa complains about a headache. Two weeks later, the teacher reports that all of Vanessa’s complaints occur just before a test or difficult assignment. Suddenly the teacher and parents begin to suspect that perhaps Vanessa complains of headaches as a way of getting out of having to do difficult assignments. Here we see the initial steps in a process known as:

Behaviorism is a subfield of psychology that is still widely practiced and supported today. Some applications of behaviorist principles include: Operant conditioning: A basic of behaviorism, this states that behavior is controlled by rewards and punishments. Applied behavior analysis (ABA): A treatment based on behaviorist theories that states that desired behaviors can be taught through a system of rewards and consequences. Classical conditioning: A practice used in behaviorist psychology to transfer a desired behavior from one stimulus to another. Psychotherapy: Behaviorism is a common... Show more

Behaviorism is a subfield of psychology that is still widely practiced and supported today.

Some applications of behaviorist principles include:

Operant conditioning: A basic of behaviorism, this states that behavior is controlled by rewards and punishments.
Applied behavior analysis (ABA): A treatment based on behaviorist theories that states that desired behaviors can be taught through a system of rewards and consequences.
Classical conditioning: A practice used in behaviorist psychology to transfer a desired behavior from one stimulus to another.
Psychotherapy: Behaviorism is a common method used for psychotherapy. Psychotherapists use the concepts of Pavlov and Watson to teach people to manage anxieties, fears, and phobias. 

Here are some other applications of behaviorist principles:
Learning: Behaviorist theory says that learning is just the acquisition of new behavior based on environmental cues.
Classroom: Teachers can apply behaviorism by ensuring learners clearly understand the expected behaviors. They can also break the action into smaller steps, start with simple action, and gradually increase the complexity. 
 

Related Test: Human Learning Basics Practice Test: Behaviorist Principles And Theories

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