Existentialism & Skinners Neo-Behaviorism Existentialism Term Paper

The concepts of behaviorism have been very important and infinitely significant for the psychological treatment and cure of human beings, and have therefore been accepted as the foundation for 'pharmacological therapy'. According to neo-behaviorism, free will, or the idea of a person being completely responsible for his own actions or behaviors, does not exist at all, and this is in complete contrast to the existentialist theory which holds man responsible for all his actions. Neo-behaviorism states that all man's behavior is determined by his environment, wherein the main influences may be through association, or through the so-called 'operant conditioning', a theory propounded by Skinner, and animals upon which Skinner experimented showed that they demonstrated classic consequences as related to a typical behavior. (Behaviorism)

Skinner was responsible for much of the Behaviorist's theories, and his school of research was named 'Experimental Analysis of Behavior', or EAB. Skinner in fact takes a 'divide and conquer' form of approach, according to which at times he identified with human behavior and conditions, and at other times he identified with a more extended form of analysis on human behavior. An important fact is that neo-behaviorism stops short of stating that feelings can be causes of human behavior, and in the same way, the reflex also cannot be taken as a model of human behavior. The 'operant response' conceived of by Skinner, has been popular ever since it was formed, and one excellent example of this concept is the 'rat's lever press', wherein a rat may press a lever either with its right or with its left paw, or with its tail, these are responses which operate in the same way, and have the same consequence every time. (B F. Skinner and Radical Behaviorism)

Operants therefore can be referred to as being a series of responses, according to which individuals may be different, but the class coheres with its basic functions. A free operant was where an animal could respond at its own pace and rate, and not according to the experimenter's expectations. Skinner was able to train his experimental animals to perform certain unexpected responses, and this attracted a lot of attention to his neo-behavioral theories, which came in direct contrast to the theories of existentialism which were predominant at that time. Skinner's work is most often referred to as being a 'molecular view of behavior', and his theories have remained popular everywhere, and remain popular even today with behavioral analysts, and they are extensively used in psychoanalysis even today. (B F. Skinner and Radical Behaviorism)

References

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