B. F. Skinner's Radical Behaviorism: Historical Misconstructions and Grounds for Feminist Reconstructions

Abstract

Feminist critiques of traditional psychological approaches have generated thorough feminist revisions most notably in psychoanalytic and developmental theory. Although behaviorism has attracted strong objections from feminist critics, claims of its antithetical positioning visa -vis feminist theory construction have practically remained unchallenged. A preliminary step in formulating 'grounds for a synthesis is to clarify the multiple meanings of behaviorism. Specifically, the fusion of Watson's methodological behaviorism and Skinner's radical behaviorism in the literature must be disentangled in order to address the latter's potential as a conceptual framework for constructing feminist theory. Key conceptual features of radical behaviorism that suggest its potential as a vehicle for building a feminist epistemology include: radical behaviorism's contextualistic world view, its interpretation of agency, its treatment of private experience and self knowledge, and its understanding of the pivotal functions of the verbal community.

Autism and ABA: The Gulf Between North America and Europe

“…ABA has suffered from the influence of folk psychology's misrepresentation of Skinner's work (Chiesa 1992;Day 1992;Ruiz 1995;Todd and Morris 1983), and classic propaganda techniques (Gambrill 2012) have been used to chastise those who dare to correct misrepresentation: …the whole ABA movement appears increasingly more like a cult than a science: there is a charismatic leader, a doctrine, a failure to engage with criticisms, inquisition and denunciation of any who criticise (however mildly), misrepresentation of critics, and proselytising exercises to gain more converts and spread the word. (Jordan 2001, p. 421) ABA has been mocked (Kaufman 2013), branded controversial (Lambert 2014;Scott 2014), related to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD; Research Autism 2014) and attacked for promoting a 'normalisation agenda' (Lambert 2014;Milton 2012).…”

Bibliographic processes and products, and a bibliography of the published primary-source works of B. F. Skinner

“…Such a bibliography permits broader contact with his publications, and thus more refined and textured scholarship, some of which might even reveal sympathies and symmetries between Skinner's work and like-minded programs of science in, for instance, perception (e.g., Gibson, 1979;see Costall, 1984), cognition and memory (e.g., Rumelhart, McClelland, & the PDP Research Group, 1986;Watkins, 1990;see Donahoe & Palmer, 1989), developmental systems (e.g., Oyama, 1985;see Midgley & Morris, 1992), as well as convergences among such conceptual systems as psychoanalysis (e.g., Schafer, 1976; see Lee, 1988), hermeneutics (Day, 1980a;H. L. Miller, 1994), existentialism (Fallon, 1992;McDowell, 1975), phenomenology (Giorgi, 1975;Kvale & Grenness, 1967), social constructionism (Guerin, 1992;Ruiz, 1995), and postmodernism and poststructuralism (Andresen, 1990;Freeman & Locurto, 1994;see Morris, in press;Czuberoff, 1991).…”

Personal agency in feminist theory: Evicting the illusive dweller

“…Besides these conceptual junctures, there are other common grounds shared by these two scholarly communities that I have discussed in detail (Ruiz, 1992(Ruiz, , 1995(Ruiz, , 1996Ruiz & Tallen, 1993) and are worth mentioning here. Originating from common intellectual roots, both communities share the assumption that experience plays a central role in human development.…”

“…CONVERGENCE OF FEMINIST THEORY AND RADICAL BEHAVIORISM I begin by highlighting what I understand to be the most important points of convergence between radical behaviorism and feminist theory (Ruiz, 1995). This will give us a context from which to address specific details on the ways, means, and benefits of working towards a mutually informing alliance.…”