Behavioral philosophy can be traced back to John Watson. He authored “Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It” in 1913. The impact of this article had a domino effect on how people discuss and subsequently study behavior. Watson’s perspective on behavior eventually promoted the creation and refinement of terminology we now employ in behavioral research and practice.
The use of behavior-analytic terminology provides unity and consistency as a standard for practitioners and researchers to consult, expand, and refine. Our published literature illustrates the combined success of utilizing various terms as they have been proposed, researched, adopted, and subsequently reported.
Psychology, as the behaviorist views it, is a purely objective, experimental branch of natural science which needs introspection as little as do the sciences of chemistry and physics…
~ John Watson, 1913