WE ARE ALL BEHAVIORISTS NOW…

A few years ago in book (The New Behaviorism) that is in large part a critique of B. F. Skinner's fallacious extension of his brilliant experiments with animals to the problems of society, I pointed out that many who do not consider themselves behaviorists nevertheless accept his core beliefs about science and society. Little did I think that more than 30 years after the publication of Skinner's bestseller Beyond Freedom and Dignity, his deceptively simple prose would retain its power to mesmerize. On rereading BF&D David Barash, an ethologist and anti-Skinnerian, found himself (Chronicle of Higher Education, April 1, 2005, issue) persuaded that our reluctance to accept that human behavior is causally determined underlies many of society's ills. "[A] scientific conception of behavior abolish[es] the unsupportable conceit that people are responsible for their actions" (p. B10) he writes.

What absolute rubbish! My dictionary defines responsibility thus: liable to be called to account or render satisfaction: answerable: capable of discharging duty: able to pay. In short, responsibility simply means accepting the consequences (a good Skinnerian term!) for one's actions. These consequences are punishment, for bad acts, and reward, for good. Most humans are so constructed that they will behave in predictable, generally deterministic ways if they are rewarded or punished. Moreover, other deterministic humans, seeing the aversive consequences of bad acts, will in turn be deterred from engaging in such acts. None of this works perfectly — we can't yet predict human behavior with precision. But far from calling determinism into question, the concept of responsibility demands determinism! If human behavior were undetermined and capricious (this is Skinner's straw 'autonomous man') there would indeed be no point to the idea of personal responsibility.

It is depressing to see Skinner's cleverly expressed but deeply erroneous views on responsibility rising again like some psychological Terminator from what should have been a fiery grave.