Radical behaviorism: what is it?

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Radical behaviorism is both a philosophy and a school of psychology that employs the so-called experimental analysis of behavior, an approach developed by psychologist BF Skinner. During Skinner’s early career, psychologists struggled to offer scientific explanations for human behavior based on the scant physiological evidence then available. Skinner, in formulating his theory of radical behaviorism, took the radical position that explanations of psychological phenomena based on human behavior were as valid as those supported by physiological evidence. As part of his rethinking of what constituted behavior, Skinner concluded that everything organisms do is, in fact, behavior.

Skinner’s theories on politics and human behavior were a radical departure from the ideas of John B. Watson, the first behaviorist. In developing his theories, Watson disregarded mental states such as thinking and feeling on the grounds that it was behavior that could not be publicly observed. Radical behaviorism theorizes that all animal action is determined and not free, and shares many basic tenets with Watson’s brand of behaviorism. These include valuing observation of animal behavior and making comparisons with human behavior.

Radical behaviorism also holds that the environment is the primary cause of behavior. Unlike previous forms of behaviorism, radical behaviorism employs operant conditioning, has its own unique terminology, and places special value on personal experience. It also emphasizes programmed reinforcement as a means of altering behavior.

Operant conditioning, one of the cornerstones of radical behaviorism, is the alteration of behavior resulting from the effects that behavior draws from the environment. An example of operant conditioning can be found in laboratory animals which, when presented with a maze, will learn over time to avoid taking wrong turns. The annoying consequences of a wrong turn are erased while the satisfying consequences of a correct turn are imprinted on the animals’ behavior, thus reinforcing the correct answers.

Although much of Skinner’s work is underappreciated by modern psychology, operant conditioning techniques have been used extensively in animal training and drug addiction treatment. The language and methods of operant psychology have also been used to better understand animal perceptions and their concept formation. One criticism of Skinner’s work in general is that he portrays both humans and animals as passive recipients of conditioning, when in fact operant behavior is just that: it operates on the environment. It is further argued that operant behavior is not elicited in the same way; for example, Pavlov’s dogs salivate in response to stimuli. Rather, operant behavior is emitted and acts on the environment and, in turn, the environment acts on humans or animals.

In 1957, Skinner wrote the book Verbal Behavior, in which he approached human behavior through the prisms of speech, linguistics and language. He argued that verbal behavior is subject to the same control variables as all other operant behaviors. However, he recognized that verbal behavior is mediated by other people and that other behaviors are mediated by the subject’s natural environment. In 1959 Noam Chomsky’s Critique of Verbal Behavior was published, which pointed out the limitations of Skinner’s functionalist approach to language and speech and which ultimately led to the decline of Skinner’s influence on modern psychology.

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