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Psychology vocabulary · Learning and Behaviour

Behaviour

Meaning in psychology, with examples

/bɪˈheɪvjə/nounCore term

In psychology, behaviour means: Everything a person or animal does that can be observed, such as actions, reactions and habits, often studied as a response to the environment.

In Turkish: davranış

How it is used

Used in every area of psychology. Usually uncountable (her behaviour in class), but clinicians and researchers use the plural for specific acts (risky behaviours, safety behaviours). The adjective is behavioural.

Example sentences

  1. We recorded each child's behaviour during a ten-minute play session.

  2. Avoidance is a typical safety behaviour in social anxiety.

Common collocations

  • observe behaviour
  • change behaviour
  • problem behaviour
  • safety behaviour
  • behavioural change
  • reinforcementIn learning theory, any consequence that makes a behaviour more likely to happen again, either by adding something pleasant or by removing something unpleasant.
  • classical conditioningA type of learning in which a neutral stimulus, after being paired many times with a stimulus that naturally causes a response, comes to cause a similar response on its own.
  • operant conditioningLearning in which behaviour changes because of its consequences: actions followed by reinforcement become more frequent, and actions followed by punishment become less frequent.
  • cognitionThe mental processes we use to gain and use knowledge, such as thinking, remembering, paying attention, understanding language and solving problems.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Learning and Behaviour

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This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not medical advice.