Behaviorist translation of the jamesian concept of self

Abstract

This paper is a comparative study of the concepts of self as formulated by the psychologists William James (1842-1910) and B. F. Skinner (1904-1990). The source for James’ concept was the chapter “The consciousness of self” of his book The principles of psychology, from which the constituents of the empirical self, the author’s reflection on the pure ego, and the feelings, emotions and actions of the self were described. In Skinner’s case, the sources were the section “The individual as a whole” of the book Science and human behavior, the chapter “Thinking” of the book Verbal behavior, and a few other articles. James’ concept of self was translated into references to contingencies of reinforcement: the material self in terms of phylogeny and ontogeny, the social self in terms of stimulus control, the spiritual self in terms of a repertoire shaped by the verbal community, and the pure ego in terms of the three levels of selection of human behavior.Keywords: self, William James, B. F. Skinner, radical behaviorism, stream of thought.