Pavlov+-+Issues+Raised

Issues Raised

Though there is only one learning theory, there are several flavors of behaviorism, which is the school of psychology that developed around learning theory. Strict behaviorism ignores the importance of mental events in shaping behavior. According to this view, the same principles that are used to train dogs are also useful for training or educating human beings. As backwards as this sounds, there is much merit in this position. Strict behaviorist approaches to human education have flourished as a guiding philosophy for educating autistic and mentally retarded individuals.

Cognitive behaviorism is a newer approach that applies learning theory to mental events like thoughts and feelings. Cognitive behavioral therapists teach people new ways of thinking, and in so doing, help them to overcome various problems that stem from dysfunctional thinking, including depression and anxiety problems (Depression and anxiety can be seen and successfully treated as just another variety of learned behavior, according to this approach.) We'll talk more about cognitive therapy later on in the Methods section.

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