Description
Book SynopsisUnderstanding Behaviorismis a classic textbook that explains the basis of behavior analysis and its application to human problems in a scholarly but accessible manner.
- Now in its third edition, the text has been substantially updated to include the latest developments over the last decade in behaviour analysis, evolutionary theory, and cultural evolution theory
- The only book available that explains behavior analysis and applies it to philosophical and practical problems, written by one of today's best-known and most highly respected behaviorists
- Explores ancient concepts such as purpose, language, knowledge, and thought, as well as applying behavioural thinking to contemporary social issues like freedom, democracy, and culture
- Part of the new evolutionary perspective for understanding individual behavior in general and culture in particular culminates with practical approaches to improving the lives of all humanity
Table of ContentsPreface to the Third Edition xv
Acknowledgements xvii
Part I What is Behaviorism? 1
1 Behaviorism: Definition and History 3
Historical Background 3
From Philosophy to Science 3
Objective Psychology 6
Comparative Psychology 7
Early Behaviorism 8
Free Will Versus Determinism 10
Definitions 10
Arguments For and Against Free Will 11
Social Arguments 12
Aesthetic Arguments 13
Folk Psychology 15
Summary 15
Further Reading 17
Keyterms 17
2 Behaviorism as Philosophy of Science 19
Realism versus Pragmatism 19
Realism 19
The Objective Universe 20
Discovery and Truth 20
Sense Data and Subjectivity 20
Explanation 22
Pragmatism 22
Science and Experience 24
Conceptual Economy 25
Explanation and Description 27
Radical Behaviorism and Pragmatism 28
Summary 31
Further Reading 32
Keyterms 32
3 Public, Private, Natural, and Fictional 33
Mentalism 33
Public and Private Events 33
Natural Events 34
Natural, Mental, and Fictional 35
Objections to Mentalism 37
Autonomy: Mental Causes Obstruct Inquiry 37
Superfluity: Explanatory Fictions are Uneconomical 38
Category Mistakes 40
Ryle and the Para‐Mechanical Hypothesis 41
Rachlin’s Molar Behaviorism 42
Private Events 46
Private Behavior 46
Self‐Knowledge and Consciousness 49
Summary 52
Further Reading 54
Keyterms 55
Part II A Scientific Model of Behavior 57
4 Evolutionary Theory and Reinforcement 59
Evolutionary History 59
Natural Selection 60
Reflexes and Fixed Action Patterns 62
Reflexes 62
Fixed Action Patterns 62
Respondent Conditioning 64
Reinforcers and Punishers 66
Operant Behavior 66
Physiological Factors 68
Overview of Phylogenetic Influences 70
History of Reinforcement 70
Selection by Consequences 71
The Law of Effect 71
Shaping and Natural Selection 71
Historical Explanations 75
Summary 77
Further Reading 78
Keyterms 78
5 Purpose and Reinforcement 81
History and Function 81
Using Historical Explanations 82
History Versus Immediate Cause 82
Gaps of Time 82
Functional Units 83
Species as Functional Units 84
Activities as Functional Units 84
Three Meanings of Purpose 86
Purpose as Function 86
Purpose as Cause 87
Purposive Behavior 88
Purposive Machines 89
Selection by Consequences 90
Creativity 90
Purpose as Feeling: Self‐Reports 92
Talking About the Future 92
Talking About the Past 92
Feelings as By‐Products 93
Summary 94
Further Reading 95
Keyterms 96
6 Stimulus Control and Knowledge 97
Stimulus Control 97
Discriminative Stimuli 98
Extended Sequences and Discriminative Stimuli 100
Discrimination 101
Knowledge 102
Procedural Knowledge: Knowing How 103
Declarative Knowledge: Knowing About 105
Declarative Knowledge and Stimulus Control 105
What is a Lie? 106
Self‐Knowledge 107
Public Versus Private Stimuli 107
Introspection 110
The Behavior of Scientists 111
Observation and Discrimination 111
Scientific Knowledge 112
Pragmatism and Contextualism 112
Summary 113
Further Reading 114
Keyterms 115
7 Verbal Behavior and Language 117
What is Verbal Behavior? 117
Communication 117
Verbal Behavior as Operant Behavior 118
Speaking Has Consequences 118
The Verbal Community 118
Speaker and Listener 119
The Verbal Episode 119
The Reinforcement of Verbal Behavior 120
The Listener’s Role 121
Examples 122
The Importance of History 122
Sign Language and Gestures 123
Nonhuman Animals 123
Talking to Myself 124
Verbal Behavior versus Language 125
Functional Units and Stimulus Control 126
Verbal Activities as Functional Units 126
Stimulus Control of Verbal Behavior 128
Common Misunderstandings 129
The Generative Nature of Language 129
Talking About Talking 129
Talking About the Future 130
Meaning 131
Reference Theories 131
Symbols and Lexicons 131
The Importance of Context 132
Meaning as Use 133
Consequences and Context 133
Varieties of Use 134
Dictionary Definitions 135
Technical Terms 135
Grammar and Syntax 135
Rules as Descriptions 136
Competence and Performance 136
Grammar and Grammarians 137
Where are the Rules? 137
Summary 138
Further Reading 139
Keyterms 140
8 Rule‐Governed Behavior and Thinking 141
What is Rule‐Governed Behavior? 141
Rule‐Governed versus Implicitly Shaped Behavior 141
Rules: Orders, Instructions, and Advice 143
Always Two Relations 147
The Proximate Reinforcement Relation 147
The Ultimate Reinforcement Relation 149
Learning to Follow Rules 151
Shaping Rule‐Following 151
Where are the Rules? 152
Thinking and Problem‐Solving 152
Changing Stimuli 153
Precurrent Behavior 155
Summary 157
Further Reading 158
Keyterms 158
Part III Social Issues 159
9 Freedom 161
Uses of the Word Free 161
Being Free: Free Will 161
Feeling Free: Political and Social Freedom 162
Coercion and Aversive Control 163
Freedom and Happiness 165
Objections to the Behavioral View 165
Reinforcement Traps, Bad Habits, and Self‐Control 167
Spiritual Freedom 171
The Challenge of Traditional Thinking 173
Summary 174
Further Reading 175
Keyterms 175
10 Responsibility, Credit, and Blame 177
Responsibility and the Causes of Behavior 177
Free Will and the Visibility of Control 177
Assigning Credit and Blame 178
Compassion and Control 179
Responsibility and the Consequences of Behavior 181
What is Responsibility? 182
Practical Considerations: The Need for Control 183
Applying Consequences 184
What Kind of Control? 184
Summary 185
Further Reading 186
Keyterms 186
11 Relationships, Management, and Government 187
Relationships 187
Mutual Reinforcement 188
Individuals and Organizations 189
Exploitation 191
The “Happy Slave” 192
Long‐Term Consequences 192
Comparative Well‐Being 193
Equity Theory 194
Which Comparisons? 196
Cooperation 197
Control and Counter‐Control 197
Counter‐Control 197
Equity 200
Power 201
Democracy 203
Summary 204
Further Reading 205
Keyterms 206
12 Values: Religion and Science 207
Questions about Value 207
Moral Relativism 209
Ethical Standards 209
The Law of Human Nature 210
The Question of Origins 212
A Scientific Approach to Values 213
Reinforcers and Punishers 214
Feelings 215
Evolutionary Theory and Values 217
Altruism and Cooperation 219
Morals 223
The Good Life 224
Summary 224
Further Reading 226
Keyterms 226
13 The Evolution of Culture 227
Biological Evolution and Culture 228
Replicators and Fitness 228
Societies 229
Group Selection 231
Definition of Culture 232
Culture and Society 232
Culture and Fitness 233
Traits for Culture 233
Behavioral Specializations 234
Imitation 236
Social Reinforcers and Punishers 237
Variation, Transmission, and Selection 238
Variation 238
Cultural Replicators 239
Meme, Culturgen, Practice 239
Social Reinforcement and Punishment 241
Mutation, Recombination, and Immigration 242
Transmission 243
Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics 243
Transmission by Imitation 244
Transmission by Rule‐Governed Behavior 245
Selection 246
Natural Selection in Culture 246
Selective Transmission 246
Rule‐Following and Rule‐Making 248
The Legend of Eslok 249
Cultural Group Selection 249
Self‐Interest 250
Summary 252
Further Reading 254
Keyterms 255
14 Design of Culture: Experimenting for Survival 257
Design from Evolution 257
Selective Breeding 258
Evaluation 258
Survival as a Standard 259
Guided Variation 261
The Experimental Society 262
Experimenting 262
Democracy 263
Happiness 264
Walden Two: Skinner’s Vision 265
Interpreting Walden Two 265
Is Walden Two Utopian? 266
Objections 267
Summary 272
Further Reading 273
Keyterms 274
Glossary 275
Index 295
