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Behaviorism and the "Scientific" View

4th Class: Behaviorism and the "Scientific" View

Behaviorism is getting too much attention. B.F. Skinner, the Werner Ehrhard of an earlier generation, still receives some sort of obeisance. If, as the chapter indicates "behaviorism has roots in several philosophical traditions" Ozman 1999 211), then it is just as correct to assume that Freud's Oedipus complex had its origin in the time of the Greeks. In a sense, the core idea of Behaviorism is that if you can't see it, feel it, taste it, or smell it, it does not exist. Watson, for example "thought that the chief function of the nervous system is simply to coordinate senses with motor responses" (Ozman 1999 214).

Skinner tended to attack "what he called traditional views of humanity" (Ozman 1999 217). He denied, for the most part, that there are "internal" forces which cause human actions. Skinner did not believe in autonomous persons, but rather on the fact that "knowing is really a case of the environment acting on us" (Ozman 1999 217). Along with bathtub gin, Aimee Semple McPherson and hula hoops, Skinner was popular, had many believers, and now has pretty well retreated into semi-myth, following his death.

Rogers, as a humanist, was, of course, Skinner's opposite. He maintained that "there is a reality to the 'inner realm' of individuals, a reality characterized by freedom" (Ozman 1999 218). More meaningful than Skinner's "behavioral experiments" there is still the problem of defining "freedom". Are we in control of ourselves, as Rogers seems to imply, or are we the result of behaviorist interference. And, does either one of these positions really mean anything useful and important.

Behaviorism has a link to the modern corporate "climate". As Henning points out that "in some ways, we are a nation profoundly conflicted about what we believe" (Henning 1993 1). This conflict becomes far more clear within a corporation where, as Henning himse...

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Behaviorism and the "Scientific" View. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 04:58, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1706968.html