http://www.psychology.gatech.edu/psyc3031

WEB SITE FOR LECTURE MATERIALS AND READINGS

ASKING QUESTIONS ABOUT BEHAVIOR• 1. What kinds of events does (or should) a psychologist study?

a. What do we mean by “behavior”?b. behavior as a feature of the whole organism

• 2. How should be behavior be studied?a. Bernardian vs. Fisherianb. Legacy of physics and physiology/pharmacology

• 3. What constitutes an account?a. functional vs. mediational

• 4. What are the goals of a behavior science?a. prediction, control, and understanding.

• 5. What are the relations between behavior science and other sciences?

a. behavior analysis as a natural science.

The goal of any science is to reduce the apparent complexity of nature to relatively simple accounts, principles, or mechanisms all of which manifest a causal structure.

NAGEL’S CATEGORIES

1. HOMOGENEOUS REDUCTION

2. HETEROGENOUS REDUCTION

“…any explanation of an observed fact which appeals to events taking place somewhere else, at some other level of observation, described in different terms, and measured, if at all, in different dimensions.”

SKINNER’S “HETEROGENEOUS” REDUCTION

GENERAL FUND OF BIOLOGICAL EXPLANATION

1. Molecular (biochemical/biophysical)

2. Cellular function

3. Tissue/ organ function

4. Morphogenic/developmental

5. Behavior/environmental

6. Species adaptation/evolution

Issues of Homogeneous Reduction in Behavior Analysis

1. Definition of behavior and functional classifications2. Role of behavior in the natural sciences3. Patterns of explanation4. Contingency—the fundamental explanatory concept in behavior analysis

SKINNER’S RADICAL BEHAVIORISM1. A natural science of behavior is possible.2. The science will be thoroughgoing—a “complete”

science of human behavior.3. No functional distinction between “public” and “private events”—there is no separate “mental” world.4. Causes of behavior found in: a) current context, b) individual/cultural history, and c) evolutionary

history.5. Non-mediational—nothing theoretical comes

between # 4 and behavior, but physiology can and will provide a more complete account.

6. The fundamental explanatory concept is contingency.