ABA Exam CoachLessons · A. Behaviorism and Philosophical Foundations
A.3 · Radical behaviorism and private events
Here's a myth worth busting: "Behaviorists don't care about thoughts and feelings." Skinner's radical behaviorism says the opposite. Thinking and feeling count as behavior too, so let's see how that changes the way we explain what people do.
Key takeaway
Radical behaviorism treats everything a person does as behavior, including private events like thinking and feeling. Private events follow the same principles as public behavior. They are not initiating causes, though. They are more behavior to explain, and the explanation is in the environment: selection by consequences at the levels of phylogeny, ontogeny, and culture. Labels like "willpower" or "aggressive kid" are explanatory fictions that just rename the behavior.
Radical behaviorism treats everything a person does as behavior, including private events like thinking and feeling. Private events follow the same principles as public behavior. They are not initiating causes, though. They are more behavior to explain, and the explanation is in the environment: selection by consequences at the levels of phylogeny, ontogeny, and culture. Labels like "willpower" or "aggressive kid" are explanatory fictions that just rename the behavior.
Members get the full lesson video, notes and a 5-question test
The video walks through the idea, worked examples, the trap people fall into and an exam-style question. The notes and the checkpoint come with it, and your results feed your Where to focus plan.