Next >

Understanding Behaviorism: Behavior, Culture, and Evolution

I What is Behaviorism?Behaviorism: Definition and History Historical Background From Philosophy to Science Objective Psychology Comparative Psychology Early Behaviorism Free Will Versus Determinism Definitions Arguments For and Against Free Will Social Arguments Aesthetic Arguments Folk Psychology Summary Further Reading Keyterms Behaviorism as Philosophy of Science Realism versus Pragmatism Realism The Objective Universe Discovery and Truth Sense Data and Subjectivity Explanation Pragmatism Science and Experience Conceptual Economy Explanation and Description Radical Behaviorism and Pragmatism Summary Further Reading Keyterms Public, Private, Natural, and Fictional Mentalism Public and Private Events Natural Events Natural, Mental, and Fictional Objections to Mentalism Autonomy: Mental Causes Obstruct Inquiry Superfluity: Explanatory Fictions are Uneconomical Category Mistakes Ryle and the Para-Mechanical Hypothesis Rachlin's Molar Behaviorism Private Events Private Behavior Self-Knowledge and Consciousness Summary Further Reading Keyterms II A Scientific Model of Behavior Evolutionary Theory and Reinforcement Evolutionary History Natural Selection Reflexes and Fixed Action Patterns Reflexes Fixed Action Patterns Respondent Conditioning Reinforcers and Punishers Operant Behavior Physiological Factors Overview of Phylogenetic Influences History of Reinforcement Selection by Consequences The Law of Effect Shaping and Natural Selection Historical Explanations Summary Further Reading Keyterms Purpose and Reinforcement History and Function Using Historical Explanations History Versus Immediate Cause Gaps of Time Functional Units Species as Functional Units Activities as Functional Units Three Meanings of Purpose Purpose as Function Purpose as Cause Purposive Behavior Purposive Machines Selection by Consequences Creativity Purpose as Feeling: Self-Reports Talking About the Future Talking About the Past Feelings as By-Products Summary Further Reading Keyterms Stimulus Control and Knowledge Stimulus Control Discriminative Stimuli Extended Sequences and Discriminative Stimuli Discrimination Knowledge Procedural Knowledge: Knowing How Declarative Knowledge: Knowing About Declarative Knowledge and Stimulus Control What is a Lie?Self-Knowledge Public Versus Private Stimuli Introspection The Behavior of Scientists Observation and Discrimination Scientific Knowledge Pragmatism and Contextualism Summary Further Reading Keyterms Verbal Behavior and Language What is Verbal Behavior?Communication Verbal Behavior as Operant Behavior Speaking Has Consequences The Verbal Community Speaker and Listener The Verbal Episode The Reinforcement of Verbal Behavior The Listener's Role Examples The Importance of History Sign Language and Gestures Nonhuman Animals Talking to Myself Verbal Behavior versus Language Functional Units and Stimulus Control Verbal Activities as Functional Units Stimulus Control of Verbal Behavior Common Misunderstandings The Generative Nature of Language Talking About Talking Talking About the Future Meaning Reference Theories Symbols and Lexicons The Importance of Context Meaning as Use Consequences and Context Varieties of Use Dictionary Definitions Technical Terms Grammar and Syntax Rules as Descriptions Competence and Performance Grammar and Grammarians Where are the Rules?Summary Further Reading Keyterms Rule-Governed Behavior and Thinking What is Rule-Governed Behavior?Rule-Governed versus Implicitly Shaped Behavior Rules: Orders, Instructions, and Advice Always Two Relations The Proximate Reinforcement Relation The Ultimate Reinforcement Relation Learning to Follow Rules Shaping Rule-Following Where are the Rules?Thinking and Problem-Solving Changing Stimuli Precurrent Behavior Summary Further Reading Keyterms III Social Issues Freedom Uses of the Word Free Being Free: Free Will Feeling Free: Political and Social Freedom Coercion and Aversive Control Freedom and Happiness Objections to the Behavioral View Reinforcement Traps, Bad Habits, and Self-Control Spiritual Freedom The Challenge of Traditional Thinking Summary Further Reading Keyterms Responsibility, Credit, and Blame Responsibility and the Causes of Behavior Free Will and the Visibility of Control Assigning Credit and Blame Compassion and Control Responsibility and the Consequences of Behavior What is Responsibility?Practical Considerations: The Need for Control Applying Consequences What Kind of Control?Summary Further Reading Keyterms Relationships, Management, and Government Relationships Mutual Reinforcement Individuals and Organizations Exploitation The “Happy Slave"Long-Term Consequences Comparative Well-Being Equity Theory Which Comparisons?Cooperation Control and Counter-Control Counter-Control Equity Power Democracy Summary Further Reading Keyterms Values: Religion and Science Questions about Value Moral Relativism Ethical Standards The Law of Human Nature The Question of Origins A Scientific Approach to Values Reinforcers and Punishers Feelings Evolutionary Theory and Values Altruism and Cooperation Morals The Good Life Summary Further Reading Keyterms The Evolution of Culture Biological Evolution and Culture Replicators and Fitness Societies Group Selection Definition of Culture Culture and Society Culture and Fitness Traits for Culture Behavioral Specializations Imitation Social Reinforcers and Punishers Variation, Transmission, and Selection Variation Cultural Replicators Meme, Culturgen, Practice Social Reinforcement and Punishment Mutation, Recombination, and Immigration Transmission Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics Transmission by Imitation Transmission by Rule-Governed Behavior Selection Natural Selection in Culture Selective Transmission Rule-Following and Rule-Making The Legend of Eslok Cultural Group Selection Self-Interest Summary Further Reading Keyterms Design of Culture. Experimenting for Survival Design from Evolution Selective Breeding Evaluation Survival as a Standard Guided Variation The Experimental Society Experimenting Democracy Happiness Walden Two: Skinner's Vision Interpreting Walden Two Is Walden Two Utopian?Objections Summary Further Reading Keyterms

Next >