Return to Behaviorism

Behaviorism's substitute for the mind is certain entities in the environment called "reinforcers." A "reinforcer," say the Behaviorists, is an event which follows a response and makes subsequent responses of the same type more likely. "What type of events change the probability of responding?" we ask. "Reinforcing events," we are told. "What is a reinforcing event?" we inquire. "One which modifies response probability," they reply. "Why does a reinforcer reinforce?" we ask. "That's not a relevant question," they answer. . . . To understand why a "reinforcer" reinforces, Behaviorists would have to make reference to the individual's mental contents and processes—i.e., they would have to abandon Behaviorism.

  <div class="social_block">
  <div class="gplus_wrapper"><div class="g-plusone" data-href="https://aynrandlexicon.com/ # site base urllexicon/behaviorism/4.html" data-size="medium"></div></div>
  <div class="fb-like" data-href="https://aynrandlexicon.com/ # site base urllexicon/behaviorism/4.html" data-send="false" data-layout="button_count" data-height="20" data-width="90" data-show-faces="false"></div>
  </div>