Behaviourism is the belief held by some psychologists that the only valid method of studying the psychology of people or animals is to observe how they behave.
Animal behaviourists have been studying these monkeys for decades.
behaviourism in British English
or US behaviorism (bɪˈheɪvjəˌrɪzəm)
noun
1.
a school of psychology that regards the objective observation of the behaviour of organisms (usually by means of automatic recording devices) as the only proper subject for study and that often refuses to postulate any intervening mechanisms between the stimulus and the response
2.
the doctrine that the mind has no separate existence but that statements about the mind and mental states can be analysed into statements about actual and potential behaviour
Compare materialism (sense 2), See also mind-body problem
Derived forms
behaviourist (beˈhaviourist) or US behaviorist (beˈhaviorist)
adjective, noun
behaviouristic (beˌhaviourˈistic) or US behavioristic (beˌhaviorˈistic)