Schools and Movements
Neobehaviorism
Also Known As Neo-Behaviorism
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Neobehaviorism is the school of psychology that dominated American psychology from roughly 1930 through 1960, extending Watson's early behaviorism by allowing formally defined intervening variables between stimulus and response while still insisting that psychology's laws be grounded in observable behavior. Clark Hull built a mathematically formalized theory of learning driven by drive and reinforcement, Edward Tolman argued animals form flexible internal cognitive maps of their environment rather than simple automatic responses, and B.F. Skinner's operant conditioning research became the school's most influential and lasting legacy.
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Founded YearNeobehaviorism has no single founding event; it is generally dated to a stretch running from about 1930, when Clark Hull's formal learning theory took shape at Yale, through 1960, rather than to one year. Central QuestionCan behavior be explained scientifically using formally defined intervening variables between stimulus and response, while still tying every explanation back to observable behavior? 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
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Rejected Here
The cognitive revolution rejected radical behaviorism's refusal to posit internal mental states; Chomsky's 1959 review of B.F. Skinner's Verbal Behavior argued stimulus-response conditioning could not explain generative language use, a founding argument for treating internal mental processes as a legitimate object of study.
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Sources
1. Wikipedia: Edward C. Tolman
Wikimedia FoundationPurposive behaviorism sectionQuote, Purposive behaviorism section
independent variables (e.g., stimuli provided) in turn influence the intervening variables (e.g., motor skill, appetite)
1. Wikipedia: Edward C. Tolman
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Edward Tolman, Career overview sectionQuote, Associated With: Edward Tolman, Career overview section
Through Tolman's theories and works, he founded what is now a branch of psychology known as purposive behaviorism.
2. Wikipedia: Clark L. Hull
Wikimedia FoundationBehavior sectionQuote, Behavior section
His goal was to determine the laws of behavior and how they can be used to determine future behaviors.
2. Wikipedia: Clark L. Hull
Wikimedia FoundationTitleQuote, Title
Hull's Principles of Behavior (1943) was one of the most widely cited books in psychology.
2. Wikipedia: Clark L. Hull
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Clark Hull, Career overview section, biographical noteQuote, Associated With: Clark Hull, Career overview section, biographical note
Hull is known for his debates with Edward C. Tolman. He is also known for his work in drive theory.
Wikipedia: Verbal Behavior
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Cognitivism, Chomsky's review and replies sectionQuote, Associated With: Cognitivism, Chomsky's review and replies section
Skinner's theories of 'operants' and behavioral reinforcements are not able to account for the fact that people can speak and understand sentences that they have never heard before.
Wikipedia: B. F. Skinner
Wikimedia FoundationFounded By: B.F. Skinner, Contributions to psychology, Behaviorism sectionQuote, Founded By: B.F. Skinner, Contributions to psychology, Behaviorism section
Skinner referred to his approach to the study of behavior as radical behaviorism, which originated in the early 1900s as a reaction to depth psychology
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