This view emerges in the work of nineteenth-century experimental psychologists such as Pavlov, whose behaviourist argument is presented in Chapter 2, ‘Behaviourism’. The emphasis on the careful structuring of stimuli and the observation of learners’ responses led to the behaviourist concept of a ‘technology of education’. Behaviourism was highly influential in education in the first part of the twentieth century, especially in the area of training and competencies. Its curricular approach was ‘technical–rational’ or ‘means–end’ because it prioritized technical questions about the correct approach to methods over a consideration of the ends of education. Behaviourist learning theory was most strongly endorsed in the former USSR and the US– countries with strong traditions of experimental psychology.