Post One-Radical Behaviorism

The early founders of behaviorism include, William James who believed that ideas and theories become true through proving their utility in an applied situation. John Watson who rejected introspective methods and wanted to restrict psychology to experimental methods in order to understand a persons "true" behavior and B.F. Skinner who conducted research on operant conditioning

Radical behaviorism is the science of behavior, it is a belief that animal behavior can be studied efficiently when compared to human behavior. It also involves that the environment can be a cause of behavior. It is different from other forms of behavior in the sense that it focuses on operant conditioning, and the use of idiosyncratic terminology.

B.F. Skinner, a psychologist was the developer of “Radical Behaviorism.” He believed that in order to better understand psychology one must study the experimental analysis of behavior. His work was focused on operant conditioning, with an emphasis on the schedule of reinforcement as an independent variable, and the rate of responding as a dependent variable.

The components of operant conditioning involve, reinforcement which is any event that strengthens or increases the behavior it follows. There is also punishment, which is the presentation of an opposite event or outcome that causes a decrease in the behavior it follows. There are both positives and negatives to reinforcement and punishment.

Today Skinner’s work is used in schools of animal training, management, clinical practice, and education.

B.F. Skinner- Modelagem Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm5FGrQEyBY