Behaviorism

Behaviorism was a dominant school of American psychological thought from the 1930s through the 1960s. Its principal founder, John B. Watson, clearly defined behaviorism as follows: “Psychology, as the behaviorist views it, is a purely objective branch of natural science. Its theoretical goal is the prediction and control of behavior. The behaviorist recognizes no dividing line between man and brute” (Watson 1914: 158). Other behaviorists following in Watson's footsteps included Clark Hull (drive reduction theory), Edward Chace Tolman (purposive behaviorism), and B. F. Skinner (radical behaviorism). The most successful of these was Skinner, who developed the dominant theory of behaviorism for 30 years, working on a more or less non‐theoretical basis, using only objective measures of behavior. He was squarely on the nurture side of the nature‐nurture controversy and on the deterministic side of the free will‐determinism issue. He disavowed favorite psychological constructs such as consciousness, freedom, indwelling agents, dignity, and creativity. In each case Skinner argued that these examples either represent constructs from one's own biological/environmental histories or are behaviors in which the antecedents (controlling agents) are not clearly understood (Skinner 1971

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• Verbal behavior.

  B F Skinner, Brittany Skinner•1957

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• Beyond Freedom and Dignity

  B F Skinner•Beyond Freedom and Dignity•1979

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