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.
By:
William M. Baum (University of New Hampshire; University of California Davis)
Imprint: John Wiley & Sons Inc
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 252mm,
Width: 178mm,
Spine: 25mm
Weight: 612g
ISBN: 9781119880868
ISBN 10: 1119880866
Pages: 400
Publication Date: 04 November 2022
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
"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"
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.
