Outsight: Radical Behaviorism and Psychotherapy

Clinical experience suggests that a variety of neurotic and personality disorders are effectively treated by an approach to therapy that is relatively passive in appearance and is directed towards the development of self-knowledge. Behavior theory provides an economical, naturalistic analysis of the therapeutic effects of this approach. Punishment, a common method of controlling forbidden behavior, can result in pathologic avoidance and deficient awareness of one's own behavior and its relation to the environment. Traditional methods of psychoanalysis and behavior therapy provide circumstances that help the patient to observe acts and feelings and their relation to elements of the environment that are otherwise avoided. These procedures may work best when self-observation is (1) not selectively reinforced by the therapist, and (2) supplemented by explicit training in behavior analysis. These elements are combined in a treatment approach for generating observations of one's own behavior and its functional significance in the natural environment.     

斯金纳激进行为主义的一个理论特色及其反思

斯金纳激进行为主义的一个理论特色是包容对私人事件(语言、意识、思维)的研究,体现了斯金纳激进行为主义的特有认识论立场及独特的行为分析理论和行为解释原则。     

A Review of Baum's Review of Conceptual Foundations of Radical Behaviorism

Baum expressed numerous concerns about my Conceptual Foundations of Radical Behaviorism in his review. If his review were an independent submission and I were an independent referee, I would recommend that his review be rejected and that he be encouraged to revise and resubmit, once he has studied the field a bit more and clarified for himself and journal readers several important matters. I outline two sets of concerns that he might usefully clarify in his revision: (a) the important contributions of B. F. Skinner to a book about radical behaviorism, and (b) the nature of private behavioral events. In particular, the methodological behaviorism inherent in Baum's position needs to be resolved.     

Radical Behaviorism,Stimulus Equivalence,and Human Cognition

The current paper represents an attempt to clarify the nature of the radical behaviorist’s perspective on human cognition. This attempt will involve an examination of recent behavioral research into the relationship between stimulus equivalence phenomena and symbolic behavior, and language more generally. This form of behavior analysis is offered as an alternative to, but not a replacement for, other methodological and conceptual approaches to psychology.

     

A Review of Radical Behaviorism for ABA Practitioners by James M. Johnston

The Psychological Record -     

Evasion, private events, and pragmatism: A Reply to Moore's response to my review of Conceptual Foundations of Radical Behaviorism

Moore's screed in response to my review of his book uses several rhetorical tricks to counter criticism without actually addressing it: he tries to preempt the transparency of his own orthodoxy by groundlessly accusing me of orthodoxy; he caricatures my criticisms to make them appear obviously wrong; he professes lack of understanding so as to dodge having to attempt a genuine response; and he engages in pejorative labeling to dismiss the criticisms without analysis. From a scientific and pragmatic point of view, private events are a mistake, precisely because they are private. They cannot serve as independent variables, as Moore suggests, because they cannot be measured; “private independent variable” is a contradiction in terms. When we carefully examine locutions like “observe” and “report on,” we discover that they entail only public verbal and nonverbal behavior, not objects and not private events as objects. A person in pain is not reporting on anything, is engaging in public verbal and nonverbal pain‐behavior, and an infant or a dog may be considered to be in pain. The public behavior is all that matters, because determining whether a person is really in pain privately is impossible. The same is true of any private event, and the control of the public behavior on which the verbal community comments lies in the public environment. We cannot have two sets of principles, one for verbal behavior and one for nonverbal behavior or one for humans and one for other animals.     

Radical Behaviorism and the Clarification of Causality,Constructs, and Confusions: A Reply to Hayes,Adams, and Dixon

The Psychological Record - In a recent paper by Hayes, Adams, and Dixon (1997), Skinner’s radical behaviorism was criticized on conceptual and philosophical grounds. The criticisms centered...     

刍议儒释道之"和"

本文探讨传统文化中儒释道对"和"的论述,认为"和"是中国历史文化的特征,古代先哲的生命信仰和思维基础.     

Behaviorism and the unconscious

It is argued that the behaviorist's rejection of mind as irrelevant to a functional account of behavior does not necessitate his rejection of unconscious phenomena, and that the behaviorist can account for behavior normally attributed to the workings of an unconscious mind by reference to historical rather than to contemporary factors controlling behavior, and to the independent acquisition of verbal and motor behavior.     

梁武帝天监三年"舍道归佛"辨

梁武帝天监三年"舍道归佛"的诏书,实应受到很大的质疑:一、这么大的事,<梁书·武帝纪>(含<南史>)没有记载;二、梁室初建,在急需收拾人心之际,是不可能以此再添新的乱子;史书中所载的崇佛举措最早在天监十六年,也说明了这一点;三、天监初年,梁武特别崇信祥瑞以安定人心,自不会一下抛开道教;况且,诏书中以周、孔为邪,极尽侮辱、谩骂之辞,也不合梁武帝一贯尊崇儒教的性格.因此,其可信度就要打上很大的折扣,这或许是佛教徒在佛道论争中自张其教而编撰.     

Behaviorism and Unity in Psychology

The defining feature of behaviorism is that it works with publicly observable stimuli and responses. One version, stimulus-response behaviorism, predicts responses from stimuli or situations. Another version, response-response behaviorism, predicts targeted responses from other responses. Unobservable mental states are intervening variables—hypothetical constructs if they have postulated material existence—that mediate these relationships. Cognition, affect, and reaction tendency are the major conceptual categories in this psychology. Its basic axioms state that behavior is (a) a function of enduring potentials for and temporary instigation to action, (b) controlled by excitation and inhibition, and (c) a blend of coping in situations in which organisms have control and adaptation in situations in which control is lacking. This view offers the hope of bringing unity to psychology.