Behaviorism

The chapter on behaviorism, "Radical Behaviorism," by Driscoll, is rather dense, so take some time to read and absorb the information. As you read this chapter, keep the following questions in mind:

• What are the main epistemological and ontological assumptions of behaviorism (revisit these terms from the last chapter)?
• What are the main goals of behaviorist theory?
• Under what conditions might behaviorist theory be best applied?

Behaviorism was based on the assumption that observable behaviors of people were the best indicators of what they were able to do, and by extension, what they might have learned. As noted by Graham (2015), a behaviorist is someone who "demands behavioral evidence for any psychological hypothesis" and, in general, behaviorism can be conceived of as the science of behavior, where behavior can be explained and described without any reference to internal mental states or processes. The self-proclaimed radical behaviorist B. F. Skinner extended his notion of behaviorism to exclude inner physiological processes as well. As we will read, his main argument was that, while inner physiological or mental processes might exist, they were irrelevant for experimental analysis and control of behavior. This approach is well represented by the Figure 2.1 on p. 34, which uses the black box metaphor to represent the individual.

Learning, in the behaviorist perspective, could be conceived of as a set of learned connections between behavioral units. For example, learning to read could be conceived of as a process of learning individual alphabets, and then words, and then sentences to understand language. While not currently popular, behaviorism or behavioral therapy has been used (and continues to be used) for treatment of certain addictions and phobias as well as for animal training. Some forms of instructional design also continue to use behavioral principles such as focus on observable behaviors and use of reinforcements. As you read the chapter, think about contexts in which behaviorism might be suitably applied.

Video Resources

For those of you who prefer visuals, Videos 3.1 and 3.2 offer a quick and lightweight insight into behaviorism. Video 3.1 has a second part that also talks about Skinner's work—remember to click Continue to see that part.

 

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Reference

Graham, G. (2015). Behaviorism. In E. N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy (Spring 2015 ed.). Retrieved from https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2015/entries/behaviorism