Hey, future psychologist! Let's dig into some mind-blowing concepts today: the paradigm shift in science, the rise of behaviourism, and operant conditioning. Grab your favourite snacks, put on your thinking cap, and let's get started!

You've seen in your favourite superhero movies how sometimes the "new guy" challenges the "old guy", right? Like when Spiderman replaces Iron Man in the Avengers! This happens in science too, a new theory can challenge an old one, and that's called a paradigm shift. For example, Einstein's general theory of relativity replaced Newtonian mechanics and the idea that light only travels in a straight line.

Real-World Example: Imagine you used to believe that chocolate ice cream was the best (Old Theory). But then, you tasted mint-chocolate chip for the first time (New Theory). Now, you think mint-chocolate chip is the best! That's like a paradigm shift in your ice-cream world.

Now, here comes the plot twist in psychology. Behaviourists said psychology shouldn't study the mind because we can't really observe it. Instead, they wanted to focus on something we can observe and measure: behaviour. But hey, they didn't say the mind doesn't exist, they just said it's like a black box that we can't directly observe, so it's not useful for science.

Real-World Example: It's like watching a magic show. You don't know what's going on in the magician's box (the mind), but you can see the magician's actions (behaviour). That's what behaviourists were interested in studying.