On Radicalizing Behaviorism: A Call for Cultural Analysis

Abstract

Our culture at large continues many practices that work against the well-being of its members and its chances for survival. Our discipline has failed to realize its potential for contributing to the understanding of these practices and to the generation of solutions. This failure of realization is in part a consequence of the general failure of behavior analysts to view social and cultural analysis as a fundamental component of radical behaviorism. This omission is related to three prevailing practices of our discipline. First, radical behaviorism is characteristically defined as a "philosophy of science," and its concerns are ordinarily restricted to certain epistemological issues. Second, theoretical extensions to social and cultural phenomena too often depend solely upon principles derived from the analysis of behavior. Third, little attention has been directed at examining the relationships that do, or that should, exist between our discipline and related sciences. These practices themselves are attributed to certain features of the history of our field. Two general remedies for this situation are suggested: first, that radical behaviorism be treated as a comprehensive world view in which epistemological, psychological, and cultural analyses constitute interdependent components; second, that principles derived from compatible social-science disciplines be incorporated into radical behaviorism.

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

“…69-101). goes beyond descriptions of norms and patterns to derive nomothetic laws from them, and then cites the laws as explanations of individual behavior (e.g., the relation of age to creative achievement). From a behavior-analytic perspective, such explanations are likely to be circular (Baer, 1970;Skinner, 1963a) or mentalistic (Skinner, 1972e, 1977j), awaiting their own explanations in terms of the contingencies and metacontingencies of science and culture (Hull, 1988;Malagodi, 1986;see Moore, 2000).…”

Comportamento social, produção agregada e prática cultural: uma Análise Comportamental de fenômenos sociais

“…Algumas se aproximam mais dos pressupostos da Análise do Comportamento do que outras. Para discutir a questão da complexidade e da evolução das culturas, uma abordagem antropológica em particular tem sido apontada como profícua: o Materialismo Cultural do antropólogo Marvin Harris (Catania, 1984;Glenn, 1988;Guerin, 1992;Harris, 2007;Lloyd, 1985;Malagodi, 1986;Malott, 1988;Vargas, 1985). Dois aspectos da obra de Harris são especialmente relevantes para as presentes questões: sua ênfase na análise de conjuntos integrados de práticas culturais e seu princípio do determinismo infraestrutural.…”

Developing Coalitions for Effective Action: The Five Horsemen of the Modern World: Climate, Food, Water, Disease, and Obesity

“…These and other research agendas proposed by Biglan (2016) highlight the critical need for an empirical science of cultural change. Although a selectionist analysis of cultural practices is not a new idea (e.g., Gilbert, 1978;Harris, 1977;Malagodi, 1986), a corresponding experimental analysis has yet to be fully realized.…”