Rediscover the science and philosophy of behavior
In Science and Philosophy of Behavior: Selected Papers, distinguished researcher W. M. Baum delivers an expansive collection of incisive papers setting out a new paradigm of thinking about behavior. The book offers only articles that put forward a philosophical and theoretical framework for an effective natural science of behavior. Quantitative analysis is largely avoided (except for a paper on, of all things, avoidance).
Organized into three parts, the author explains the flow-like nature of behavior and its link to evolution, as well as descriptions of a pure form of behaviorism that correct some flaws in B.F. Skinner's seminal works. The book also links behaviorism to anthropology in its final section.
Readers will also find:
- Fulsome descriptions of the molar nature of behavior and why the molecular view is misguided
- Re-imaginations of the concept of reinforcement, including considerations of allocation, induction, and contingency
- Explorations of the links between behavior analysis and Darwinian evolutionary processes
An essential critique - and reorganization - of behavior theory and philosophy, Science and Philosophy of Behavior: Selected Papers is a controversial, fascinating, and eye-opening journey through a half-century of transformational work in the field.
Table of Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xi
Part I Multiscale Behavior Analysis 1
1 The Correlation-Based Law of Effect 3
2 Quantitative Prediction and Molar Description of the Environment 24
3 The Trouble With Time 36
4 From Molecular to Molar: A Paradigm Shift in Behavior Analysis 48
5 The Molar View of Behavior and Its Usefulness in Behavior Analysis 73
6 Molar and Molecular Views of Choice 78
7 Rethinking Reinforcement: Allocation, Induction, and Contingency 91
8 Driven by Consequences: The Multiscale Molar View of Choice 120
9 Reinforcement 133
10 Avoidance, Induction, and the Illusion of Reinforcement 139
11 Multiscale Behavior Analysis and Molar Behaviorism: An Overview 171
12 Behavior, Process, and Scale 195
Part II Molar Behaviorism 203
13 Radical Behaviorism and the Concept of Agency 205
14 Commentary on Foxall, "Intentional Behaviorism" 223
15 Behaviorism, Private Events, and the Molar View of Behavior 229
16 Ontology for Behavior Analysis: Not Realism, Classes, or Objects, but Individuals and Processes 248
17 Berkeley, Realism, and Dualism 260
18 What is Suicide? 264
19 Relativity in Hearing and Stimulus Discrimination 266
Part III Culture and Evolution 273
20 Rules, Culture, and Fitness 275
21 Being Concrete about Culture and Cultural Evolution 295
22 Behavior Analysis, Darwinian Evolutionary Processes, and the Diversity of Human Behavior 318
References 345
Index 367
