RELATIONS BETWEEN RADICAL BEHAVIORISM AND DETERMINISM: A PUBLICATION ANALYSIS OF DIFFERENT AUTHORS

Abstract

This study analyzed articles that discuss the relationship between Radical Behaviorism and determinism published in national and international journals between 1972 and 2008. The definitions of determinism and the types of relations established between Radical Behaviorism and determinism were also analyzed. The results show that there was a high rate of publication from the end of the 80’s to the beginning of this decade. The most common definitions of determinism found were those that defined determinism in terms of the causal modes of mechanism and of selection by consequences. Seven different types of relations between radical behaviorism and determinism were found: 1) denial of determinism; 2) assertion of determinism; 3) approximation to mechanistic modes; 4) dissociation from mechanistic modes; 5) dissociation from teleological causal modes; 6) approximation to causal modes that search for the causes of behavior in external environmental variables; 7) approximation to causal modes that consider different levels of determination. Dissociation from mechanistic models was the most common relation identified in the articles. Keywords: Radical Behaviorism, determinism, Skinner