Control : a history of behavioral psychology

259 Pages·1998·8.851 MB·English

by  John A Mills

Control

Control
A History of
Behavioral Psychology
John A. Mills
a

NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York and London
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS

New York and London

© 1998 by J. A. Mills

All rights reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Mills, John A., 1931–

Control : a history of behavioral psychology / John A. Mills.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-8147-5611-5 (hardcover : alk. paper)

1. Behaviorism (Psychology)—History. I. Title.

BF199.M485 1998

150.19'43'09—ddc21 98-19699

CIP
New York University Press books are printed on acid-free paper,
and their binding materials are chosen for strength and durability.
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Josie, Leila, Julian, and Julie

What is lacking is the bold and exciting behavioristic hypothesis that
what one observes and talks about is always the “real” or “physical”
world (or at least the “one” world) and that “experience” is a derived
construct to be understood only through an analysis of verbal (not, of
course, merely vocal) processes. —B. F. Skinner
Passions shape the future spontaneously,
unpredictably, necessarily
—Paul-Émile Borduas
The longing for order, a desire to turn the human world into an inor­
ganic one, where everything would function perfectly and work on
schedule, [is] superordinated to a supra personal system. The longing
for order is at the same time a longing for death, because life is an inces­
sant disruption of order. Or to put it another way around: the desire for
order is a virtuous pretext, an excuse for virulent misanthropy.
—Milan Kundera

Contents
Acknowledgments xi

Introduction: Shaping a Profession: Behaviorism in

American Psychology 1

1 The Birth of Psychological Behaviorism 23

2 From Apogee to Perigee: Radical Behaviorism

Appears but Fails to Take Root 55

3 The Conceptual Basis of Neobehaviorism and

Behavioral Science 83

4 The Behaviorist as Research Manager: Clark L. Hull

and the Writing of Principles of Behavior 103

5 The Behaviorist as Philosopher: B. F. Skinner 123

6 Behaviorists as Social Engineers: Behavior Modification

Applied to Abnormal Psychology 152

7 Faithful unto This Last: The Neobehaviorist Hegemony 179

Notes 195

Index 239

About the Author 246

ix