Behavioural Approach
Background: Why did Behaviouralism emerge?
Let’s go back to the period after the Quantitative Revolution in geography.
Geographers were building complex mathematical models — like Central Place Theory — assuming that humans are perfectly rational economic beings who always make decisions logically, like emotionless robots.
But on ground reality, humans were behaving very differently!
Simple Example:
A person living on a floodplain doesn’t leave his house even after repeated floods.
👉 If he was truly “economically rational,” he would have migrated long ago to safer areas.
Thus, dissatisfaction grew with these mathematical models, and Behaviouralism emerged — a movement that said:
“Humans are not perfectly rational.
Human decision-making is subjective, emotional, and influenced by limited information.”
In simple words, Behaviouralism shouted:
🌟 “Real humans are not robots!” 🌟
Key Thinkers: Richard Thaler and Bounded Rationality
Support for this idea came from outside geography too.
Richard Thaler, Nobel Laureate in Economics, showed that:
- Humans often make decisions that are irrational,
- Emotions, biases, and limited knowledge influence their choices.
Real-world example:
👉 A person buys a product just because it’s on discount, without checking its quality.
👉 Farmers in North India, despite knowing that too much water harms crops, still over-irrigate — leading to salinity and land degradation.
Both decisions harm the decision-maker himself — which perfectly rational behavior would not allow.
Thus, Behaviouralism insists:
Models must recognize subjectivity and imperfect decision-making.
Main Argument of Behavioural Geography
Behavioural geography argues that:
- Human behavior is subjective, emotional, and imperfect.
- Quantitative models that assume universal rationality are incomplete.
- We must study how individuals perceive, understand, and interact with their environment — not just where they live.
Simple Analogy:
Two farmers, in the same village, with equally fertile land, may still grow different crops using different techniques.
Their choices are influenced by personal preferences, past experiences, and social factors — not by pure economic rationality.
Contribution of Julian Wolpert: Migration Behaviour
A major application of Behaviouralism was by Julian Wolpert in the study of migration.
Wolpert criticized existing migration models like the Gravity Model (which said:
“Movement between two cities is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them”).
He argued that personal factors matter more than just distance.
Simple Example:
A man and a woman, even if starting from the same city, might make different migration decisions due to different societal constraints — such as safety concerns for women.
Wolpert’s Model of Migration Behaviour
Wolpert introduced three important concepts:
i) Place Utility:
- The utility (usefulness or attractiveness) of a place is based on an individual’s satisfaction with it.
- What satisfies one person may not satisfy another.
ii) Field Theory Approach (Action Space):
- Though theoretically a person has access to the whole environment (local, regional, national),
- In reality, he considers only a small portion — his action space — the set of places he seriously thinks about while making a decision.
Think of it like an online shopping cart — millions of products are available, but you shortlist only a few based on your needs and desires.
iii) Life Cycle Approach:
- Age, family status, education level, income, and race influence migration behaviour.
- A young, unmarried person will think differently about migrating compared to an elderly person.
Thus, migration decisions are personal, not just mathematical.
Criticism of Quantitative Models
Behavioural geographers like Wolpert criticized the quantitative models:
- These models ignored subjective perceptions,
- They assumed homogeneity among humans — as if everyone behaves similarly under similar conditions,
- Behaviouralism exposed that different people react differently even under the same environmental or economic conditions.
Thus, it demanded a human-centric, emotionally aware geography.
Objectives of the Behavioural Approach
Behavioural geography had clear goals:
- Develop alternative models to the cold, spatial theories from the Quantitative Revolution.
- Define the cognitive environment — how humans perceive and interpret their surroundings.
- Find new research methods beyond mathematics — methods like interviews, observations, and surveys.
- Collect fresh primary data about real human behavior — not just use old secondary data.
Methodology and Nature of Behaviouralism
- Behaviouralism borrowed heavily from psychology and philosophy.
- It was inductive — meaning it built theories based on real observations, not starting with assumptions.
- It emphasized that:
- People’s behavior is shaped by their environment,
- And equally, people’s perception of the environment shapes their behavior.
Thus, it was a two-way interaction between humans and environment — not a one-way mechanical reaction.
Conclusion
Thus, Behaviouralism in Human Geography marked a significant shift:
- From seeing humans as machines ➔ to seeing them as emotional, subjective beings,
- From cold models ➔ to warm realities,
- From only external space ➔ to internal perceptions.
In essence, Behaviouralism told geographers:
🌟 “If you want to understand human geography, first understand the human mind.” 🌟