Abstract
It is argued that one type of activity that can help move psychology along the path toward unification is a comparative analysis of grand theories that have unification as a goal, an analysis focused on the theories’ relative ability to provide unity within the science. This chapter is intended to serve as a model for such an analysis, comparing the two general behavioral theories of radical behaviorism and paradigmatic behaviorism on the substantive dimensions of fact, theory, and methodology. Several benefits of such a comparative analysis are noted, including, in the present case, further specification of how a science can progress toward unification through generational growth.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Bandura, A. (1977a). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84, 191–215.
Bandura, A. (1977b). Social learning theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Barber, T. X. (1976). Pitfalls in human research: Ten pivotal points. New York: Pergamon Press.
Bower, G. H., & Hilgard, E. R. (1981). Theories of learning. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Buss, A. R. (1978). The structure of psychological revolutions. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 14, 57–64.
Committee reports. ( 1984, Fall). Division 25 Recorder, American Psychological Association, 19, 49–51.
Ellis, H. C. (1978). Fundamentals of human learning, memory, and cognition ( 2nd ed. ). Dubuque, IA: Wm. C. Brown.
Epstein, R. (1984). The case for praxics. Behavior Analyst, 7, 101–119.
Hayes, S. C. ( 1984, Spring). The long term plan: Focus on our special role. Division 25 Recorder, American Psychological Association, 19, 16–18.
Homme, L. E. (1965). Perspectives in psychology: XXIV. Control of coverants, the operants of the mind. Psychological Record, 15, 501–511.
Killeen, P. R. (1984). Emergent behaviorism. Behaviorism, 12, 25–39.
Koch, S. (1978). Comment. In Wertheimer et al,Psychology and the future. American Psychologist, 33,637–639.
Kuhn, T. S. (1962). The structure of scientific revolutions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Kuhn, T. S. (1970). The structure of scientific revolutions ( 2nd ed. ). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Leeper, R. W. (1970). The main concepts of cognitive learning theory. In M. Marx (Ed.), Learning: Theories (pp. 237–331 ). New York: Macmillan.
Mackenzie, B. D. (1977). Behaviourism and the limits of scientific method. Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press.
Mayer, R. E. (1981). The promise of cognitive psychology. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman.
McPherson, A., Bonem, M., Green, G., & Osborne, J. G. (1984). A citation analysis of the influence on research of Skinner’s Verbal Behavior. Behavior Analyst, 7, 157–167.
Michael, J. L. (1985). Radical behaviorism and social behaviorism. Paper presented at the convention for the Association for Behavior Analysis, Columbus, Ohio.
Minke, K. A. (in press). Research foundations of a developing paradigm: Implications for behavioral engineering. In I. Evans & G. Eifert (Ed.), Unifying behavior therapy: Contributions of Paradigmatic Behaviorism New York: Springer.
Naitoh, S., & Staats, A. W. (1980). Positive and negative transfer of control: Instrumental mediation and response competition. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 15, 317–320.
Palermo, D. S. (1971). Is there a scientific revolution taking place in psychology? Science Studies. 1, 135–155.
Sidman, M. (1960). Tactics of scientific research. New York: Basic Books.
Skinner, B. F. (1950). Are theories of learning necessary? Psychological Review, 57, 193–196.
Skinner, B. F. (1953). Science and human behavior. New York: Macmillan.
Skinner, B. F. (1957). Verbal behavior. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
Skinner, B. F. (1966). What is the experimental analysis of behavior? Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 9, 213–218.
Skinner, B. F. (1969). Contingencies of reinforcement. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
Skinner, B. F. (1971). Beyond freedom and dignity. New York: Knopf.
Skinner, B. F. (1975). The steep and thorny way to a science of behavior. American Psychologist, 30, 42–49.
Staats, A. W. (1961). Verbal habit families, concepts, and the operant conditioning of word classes. Psychological Review, 68, 190–204.
Staats, A. W. (with contributions by C. K. Staats). (1963). Complex human behavior. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Staats, A. W. (1968). Learning, language, and cognition. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Staats, A. W. (1971). Child learning, intelligence and personality. New York: Harper & Row.
Staats, A. W. (1975). Social behaviorism. Homewood, IL: Dorsey Press.
Staats, A. W. (1976). Skinnerian behaviorism: Social behaviorism or radical behaviorism? American Sociologist, 11, 59–60.
Staats, A. W. (1983a). Paradigmatic behaviorism: Unified theory for social-personality psychology. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 16, pp. 126–179 ). New York: Academic Press.
Staats, A. W. (1983b). Psychology’s crisis of disunity: Philosophy and method for a unified science. New York: Praeger.
Staats, A. W. (1984). Operant behaviorism and the new behaviorisms: Mutually exclusive, or interacting allies Paper presented at the convention for the Association for Behavior Analysis, Nashville, Tennessee.
Staats, A. W. (1985). Projection for paradigmatic psychology. International Newsletter of Paradigmatic Psychology, 1, 1–5.
Trapold, M. A., & Winokur, S. (1967). Transfer from classical conditioning and extinction to acquisition, extinction, and stimulus generalization of a positively reinforced instrumental response. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 73, 517–525.
Watson, J. B. (1930). Behaviorism. New York: W. W. Norton.
Yates, A. J. (1975). Behavior therapy. New York: Wiley.
Zimbardo, P. G. (1979). Psychology and life ( 10th ed. ). Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1987 Plenum Press, New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Minke, K.A. (1987). A Comparative Analysis of the General Theories of Modern Behaviorism. In: Staats, A.W., Mos, L.P. (eds) Annals of Theoretical Psychology. Annals of Theoretical Psychology, vol 5. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-6456-0_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-6456-0_13
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4615-6458-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-6456-0
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive