Baum, W: Science and Philosophy of Behavior

1. Auflage 2022
ISBN: 978-1-119-88086-8
Verlag: John Wiley & Sons Inc

Buch, Englisch, 400 Seiten, Format (B × H): 178 mm x 253 mm, Gewicht: 734 g

Rediscover the science and philosophy of behavior

In Science and Philosophy of Behavior: Selected Papers, distinguished researcher W. M. Baum delivers an expansive collection of incisive papers setting out a new paradigm of thinking about behavior. The book offers only articles that put forward a philosophical and theoretical framework for an effective natural science of behavior. Quantitative analysis is largely avoided (except for a paper on, of all things, avoidance).

Organized into three parts, the author explains the flow-like nature of behavior and its link to evolution, as well as descriptions of a pure form of behaviorism that correct some flaws in B.F. Skinner's seminal works. The book also links behaviorism to anthropology in its final section.

Readers will also find:

* Fulsome descriptions of the molar nature of behavior and why the molecular view is misguided
* Re-imaginations of the concept of reinforcement, including considerations of allocation, induction, and contingency
* Explorations of the links between behavior analysis and Darwinian evolutionary processes

An essential critique--and reorganization--of behavior theory and philosophy, Science and Philosophy of Behavior: Selected Papers is a controversial, fascinating, and eye-opening journey through a half-century of transformational work in the field.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Baum, William M.

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Psychologie Psychologische Disziplinen Angewandte Psychologie
• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Tierkunde / Zoologie Tierethologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface ix

Acknowledgments xi

Part I Multiscale Behavior Analysis 1

1 The Correlation-Based Law of Effect 3

2 Quantitative Prediction and Molar Description of the Environment 24

3 The Trouble With Time 36

4 From Molecular to Molar: A Paradigm Shift in Behavior Analysis 48

5 The Molar View of Behavior and Its Usefulness in Behavior Analysis 73

6 Molar and Molecular Views of Choice 78

7 Rethinking Reinforcement: Allocation, Induction, and Contingency 91

8 Driven by Consequences: The Multiscale Molar View of Choice 120

9 Reinforcement 133

10 Avoidance, Induction, and the Illusion of Reinforcement 139

11 Multiscale Behavior Analysis and Molar Behaviorism: An Overview 171

12 Behavior, Process, and Scale 195

Part II Molar Behaviorism 203

13 Radical Behaviorism and the Concept of Agency 205

14 Commentary on Foxall, "Intentional Behaviorism" 223

15 Behaviorism, Private Events, and the Molar View of Behavior 229

16 Ontology for Behavior Analysis: Not Realism, Classes, or Objects, but Individuals and Processes 248

17 Berkeley, Realism, and Dualism 260

18 What is Suicide? 264

19 Relativity in Hearing and Stimulus Discrimination 266

Part III Culture and Evolution 273

20 Rules, Culture, and Fitness 275

21 Being Concrete about Culture and Cultural Evolution 295

22 Behavior Analysis, Darwinian Evolutionary Processes, and the Diversity of Human Behavior 318

References 345

Index 367

Über Autor(innen)

William M. Baum is Professor Emeritus at the University of New Hampshire and a Research Associate at the University of California, Davis. He has published over one hundred journal articles and has over twenty years' teaching experience at universities including Harvard and the University of New Hampshire. His research interests include choice, cultural evolution, behavioral processes, and the philosophy of behavior.