Similarities and Differences Among Alternatives to Skinner’s Analysis of Private Events

Abstract

While the consideration of private events is central to Skinner's Radical Behaviorism, Skinner's perspective on the topic of private events is not universally accepted within the behavioral community. At least 3 alternatives to Skinner's position have been purported, among them Baum's molar perspective, Rachlin's teleological perspective, and Hayes and Fryling's interbehavioral position. This paper considers the similarities and differences among these alternatives to Skinner's analysis of private events from the perspective of interbehaviorism and interbehavioral psychology. The implications of this analysis for philosophical and conceptual progress in behavior analysis are considered.

Culture and Contingencies: Molar Insights for the Metacontingency Enterprise

“…Although there are several molar orientations to operant and respondent events (e.g., Baum, 1973Baum, , 2012Fryling & Hayes, 2015;Herrnstein, 1970;Rachlin, 1992;Timberlake, 1980) and several definitions by which the term 'molar' is used (Morris et al, 1982;Shimp, 2013), molar orientations to behavior share defining features that set them apart from molecular orientations. Molar behavioral theories typically stipulate that behavior, which can be parsed into patterns of events or activities of certain durations, is controlled by or functionally related to patterns of environmental regularity, both of which can be quantified and summarized as averages or other aggregate indices.…”

“…However, some molarists are wary of this term (Fryling & Hayes, 2015), and others use it to ascribe causal properties to temporally-extended events (Rachlin, 1992).…”