Dictionary

behaviourist en · NOUN

Etymology

Etymology tree English behaviour Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íd͏̌d͏̌ō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Hellenic *-tās Ancient Greek -τής (-tḗs) Ancient Greek -ῐστής (-ĭstḗs)bor. Latin -istader. Old French -istebor. Middle English -ist English -ist English behaviourist From behaviour + -ist.

Meanings

1. British standard spelling of behaviorist ▸ behaviorist (one who studies behavior of humans or animals)
2. British standard spelling of behaviorist ▸ behaviorist (a supporter of behaviorism)
   • There are in fact two different objections here. The weaker of these is the one contained in the joke about two behaviourists meeting on the street. One says to the other, ‘You feel fine, how do I feel?’ The joke assumes that behaviourists think that we have better access to the mental states of others than we do to our own. 1997, David Braddon-Mitchell, Frank Jackson, Philosophy of Mind and Cognition, Blackwell Publishers, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 33:
   • “Cogito, ergo sum” would be regarded by most people as having a true premiss. This, however, the behaviourist denies. He maintains that our knowledge of ourselves is no different in kind from our knowledge of other people. 1922, Bertrand Russell, The Analysis of Mind, London; New York: George Allen & Unwin Ltd.; The Macmillan Company, page 29:
   • Thought must be present without speech. […] But not even a behaviourist would say that whenever we recognize a road or building, or identify our own hat in a collection, the process consists of sotto voce speech. 1971, Julis R. Weinberg, Keith E. Yandell, Metaphysics (Problems in Philosophical Inquiry; 2), →LCCN, 03085668X, page 130:

Forms

Deriveds

neobehaviourist