New Behaviorism: Mind, Mechanism and Society

by John Staddon

First published in 2001. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

230 pages, Paperback

First published March 5, 2014

Reviews

[Adam Calhoun · Rating 4 out of 5]

The New Behaviorism starts off by giving a history of Behaviorism and Skinner. It then gives examples of some contrasting scientific methods, a philosophical interrogation of Behaviorism (and Cognitivism), and finally a proposed future direction. It is written for the a sophisticated lay reader interested in understanding Behaviorism and I think it probably does that quite well. The philosophical explanations are clear even if some of Staddon's interpretations are not well-founded. Worth a read if you don't know much about the subject already, and worth a skim even if you do.

[Scott]

William Baum wrote a better review than I could if he didn't write the review I would have liked to have written. Check out his review in The Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. I had to wade through the first 7 chapters and enjoyed the last five chapters.