Radical Behaviorism - Natural Science

Natural Science

Radical behaviorism inherits from behaviorism the position that the science of behavior is a natural science, a belief that animal behavior can be studied profitably and compared with human behavior, a strong emphasis on the environment as cause of behavior, and a penchant for operationalizing. Its principal differences are an emphasis on operant conditioning, use of idiosyncratic terminology (jargon), a tendency to apply notions of reinforcement to philosophy and daily life and, particularly, an emphasis on private experience.

Radical behaviorism embraces the genetic and biological endowment and ultimately evolved nature of the organism, while simply asserting that behavior is a distinct field of study with its own value. From this two neglected points emerge: radical behaviorism is thoroughly compatible with biological and evolutionary approaches to psychology—in fact, as a proper part of biology—and radical behaviorism does not involve the claim that organisms are tabula rasa, without genetic or physiological endowment.

Skinner's psychological work focused on operant conditioning, with emphasis on the schedule of reinforcement as an independent variable, and the rate of responding as a dependent variable. Operant techniques are a venerable part of the toolbox of the psychobiologist, and many neurobiological theories—particularly regarding drug addiction—have made extensive use of reinforcement. Operant methodology and terminology have been used in much research on animal perception and concept formation—with the same topics, such as stimulus generalization, bearing importantly on operant conditioning. Skinner's emphasis on outcomes and response rates naturally lends itself to topics typically left to economics, as in behavioral economics. The field of operant conditioning can also be seen to interact with work on decision-making, and had influence on AI and cognitive science.