nner (1953) held that it is necessary to look outside of an organism for an explanation of its behavior. Following through with this premise, Skinner (1974) concluded that it was possible, through the manipulation of variables external to an organism, to both predict and modify its behavior. The principal means by which such manipulation is accomplished is, according to Skinner (1974), reinforcement. Reinforcement may be either positive or negative.
Skinner (1953) viewed the causal chain of behavior as a three link process. The first link was an operation performed on an organism from without, while the second link was an inner psychological condition. The third link was a specific behavior. While complete, accurate, and independent information concerning the second link an inner psychological condition would permit prediction of the third link behavior without recourse to the first link an external event affecting an organism, such information simply is no
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