The doctrine which limits psychology to the study of human behavior. It discards consciousness and mental processes accessible only to personal experience; rejects introspection, and admits the method of observation and experimentation only. Its aim is to forecast what will be the response of any human being to a given stimulus of action, and to improve human conduct and conditions. Its chief concern is the study of inherited instincts and acquired habits. Behaviorism inconsistently rejects consciousness, yet employs conscious observation, whereas consciousness is an essential part of true psychology; declaring that mental and organic processes are identical, it becomes the philosophy of materialism.