Materialistic conceptions of cognition, the principle of reinforcement, and Skinnerian behavior therapy

Abstract.— It is argued that the materialistic position of radical behaviorism has overlooked the incapacity of idealism to solve the problem of veridicality. This defect is displayed within behavior therapy as an idealistic agnostic attitude towards the question of the veridicality of the patient's cognition. Furthermore, it is argued that the principle of reinforcement by its nature of being a general presupposition for empirical research is too general and abstract to serve as an answer to the limited but truly psychological questions concerning the origins of pathological behavior.