behaviorism

Bob had that natural inclination, along with a strong curiosity and that thing Ray Bradbury called ‘optimistic behaviorism,’ the ability to be realistic and practical.”

Skinner and his pigeons, into behaviorism — a school of thought that considered behavior a Rube Goldberg machine of stimulus and response governed by reflex, disregarding interior mental states and emotional response.

From there, “he segues into an introductory psychology course tackling behaviorism, stereotyping and projection. All the material is enthralling.”

Skinner’s long-prevailing theory of behaviorism, human behavior was regarded as the result of conditioning through positive and negative reinforcement.

Dr. Staats found behaviorism, on its own, inadequate to explain human behavior in all its complexity.