Assumptions of the behaviourist approach

• We are born as 'blank slates' (tabula rasa)
• All behaviour is learned
• Behaviourists are only concerned with behaviour that can be observed and measured
• The mind and mental processes are seen as irrelevant
• Behaviourists believe that learning is the same in all species and relied on animal experiments
• Behaviourists believed that learned behaviours can be unlearned
• The Behaviourist approach made a deliberate effort to be scientific, and therefore refused to discuss mental processes that might be involved in learning because they are not observable and could not be studied objectively.