LECTURE

The First School in the Materialist Family：
BEHAVIORISM
 行为主义
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TWO
WHAT IS BEHAVIORISM?
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“Methodological” behaviorism: Psychology is the science of
behavior. Psychology is not the science of mind.
“Psychological” behaviorism: Behavior can be described and
explained without making ultimate reference to mental
events or to internal psychological processes. The sources of
behavior are external (in the environment), not internal (in
the mind, in the head).
“Analytical” behaviorism: In the course of theory
development in psychology, if, somehow, mental terms or
concepts are deployed in describing or explaining behavior,
then either (a) these terms or concepts should be eliminated
and replaced by behavioral terms or (b) they can and should
be translated or paraphrased into behavioral concepts.
METHODOLOGICAL BEHAVIORISM
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Methodological behaviorism is a normative theory about the
scientific conduct of psychology.
What psychology should like to be?
It claims that psychology should concern itself with the behavior of
organisms (human and nonhuman animals). Psychology should not
concern itself with mental states or events or with constructing
internal information processing accounts of behavior. According to
methodological behaviorism, reference to mental states, such as an
animal's beliefs or desires, adds nothing to what psychology can and
should understand about the sources of behavior. Mental states are
private entities which, given the necessary publicity of science, do
not form proper objects of empirical study. Methodological
behaviorism is a dominant theme in the writings of John Watson
(1878–1958).
THE HERO FOR
METHODOLOGICAL BEHAVIORISM
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John Broadus Watson (约翰•
华生，January 9, 1878 –
September 25, 1958) was an
American psychologist who
established the psychological
school of behaviorism. Watson
promoted a change in
psychology through his
address, Psychology as the
Behaviorist Views it, which
was given at Columbia
University in 1913. Through
his behaviorist approach,
Watson conducted research on
animal behavior, child rearing,
and advertising..
PSYCHOLOGICAL BEHAVIORISM
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Psychological behaviorism is a research program within
psychology.
How can psychology be done?
It purports to explain human and animal behavior in terms
of external physical stimuli, responses, learning histories,
and (for certain types of behavior) reinforcements.
Key Words:物理刺激， 反应， 学习历史， 特定的行为强化
Psychological behaviorism is present in the work of Ivan
Pavlov (1849–1936), Edward Thorndike (1874–1949), as
well as Watson. Its fullest and most influential expression is
B. F. Skinner's work on schedules of reinforcement.
THE HEROES FOR
PSYCHOLOGICAL BEHAVIORISM
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伊万·彼得罗维奇·巴甫洛夫

Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (Russian: Ива́н
Петро́вич Па́влов; September 26 [O.S.
September 14] 1849 – February 27,
1936)
was
a
famous
Russian
psychologist and physiologist. Inspired
when the progressive ideas which D. I.
Pisarev, the most eminent of the Russian
literary critics of the 1860s and I. M.
Sechenov, the father of Russian
physiology, were spreading, Pavlov
abandoned his religious career and
decided to devote his life to science. In
1870 he enrolled in the physics and
mathematics faculty at the University of
Saint Petersburg to take the course in
natural science.[1] Ivan Pavlov devoted his
life to the study of physiology and
sciences; making several remarkable
discoveries and ideas that were passed
on from generation to generation
THE HEROES FOR
PSYCHOLOGICAL BEHAVIORISM
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爱德华·李·桑代克
Edward Lee "Ted" Thorndike (August
31, 1874 – August 9, 1949) was an
American psychologist who spent
nearly his entire career at Teachers
College, Columbia University. His
work on animal behavior and the
learning process led to the theory of
connectionism and helped lay the
scientific foundation for modern
educational psychology. He also
worked
on
solving
industrial
problems, such as employee exams
and testing. He was a member of the
board
of
the
Psychological
Corporation, and served as president
of the American Psychological
Association in 1912.[
THE HEROES FOR
PSYCHOLOGICAL BEHAVIORISM

Burrhus Frederic Skinner
( 斯 金 纳 ， March 20,
1904 – August 18, 1990)
was
an
American
behaviorist,
author,
inventor,
social
philosopher and poet. He
was the Edgar Pierce
Professor of Psychology
at Harvard University
from 1958 until his
retirement in 1974.
ANALYTICAL OR LOGICAL BEHAVIORISM
WHAT DOES MENTALITY MEAN?
Analytical
or logical behaviorism is a theory within philosophy about
the meaning or semantics (语义学) of mental terms or concepts. It says
that the very idea of a mental state or condition is the idea of a
behavioral disposition or family of behavioral tendencies, evident in how
a person behaves in one situation rather than another. When we
attribute a belief, for example, to someone, we are not saying that he or
she is in a particular internal state or condition. Instead, we are
characterizing the person in terms of what he or she might do in
particular situations or environmental interactions. Analytical
behaviorism may be found in the work of Gilbert Ryle (1900–76) and
the later work of Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–51) (if perhaps not without
controversy in interpretation, in Wittgenstein's case).
GILBERT RYLE
吉尔伯特-赖尔

Gilbert Ryle (19 August 1900,
Brighton – 6 October 1976, Oxford),
was a British philosopher, a
representative of the generation of
British
ordinary
language
philosophers
that
shared
Wittgenstein's
approach
to
philosophical problems,[1] and is
principally known for his critique of
Cartesian dualism, for which he
coined the phrase "the ghost in the
machine". Some of his ideas in the
philosophy of mind have been
referred to as "behaviourist." Ryle's
best known book is The Concept of
Mind (1949), in which he writes
that the "general trend of this book
will undoubtedly, and harmlessly,
be stigmatised as 'behaviourist'."
LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN 路德维希·维特根斯坦

Born: 26-Apr-1889
Birthplace: Vienna, Austria
Died: 29-Apr-1951
Location of death: Cambridge, England
Cause of death: Cancer - Prostate
Remains: Buried, St. Giles's Churchyard,
Huntingdon Road, Cambridge, England

Gender: Male
Religion: Roman Catholic
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Gay
Occupation: Philosopher
Nationality: Austria
Executive summary: Destroyed
metaphysics
Military service: Austrian Army (WWI,
captured in Italy)
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AN ILLUSTRATION OF ANALYTICAL BEHAVIORISM
TAKEN FROM THE MOVIE MEMORIES OF
TOMORROW
MR. MASAYUKI SAEKI HAS A MENTAL PROBLEM
NOW!!!!
Masayuki Saeki(佐伯雅行, played by 渡边谦) is
a brilliant and successful advertising company
executive. However he is soon shocked to
realize that he is failing to meet up to his
perfect standards. He starts inexplicably
forgetting things - appointments, details of his
work, and his knowledge of the layout of Tokyo.
 The poor guy is disabled by Alzheimer's Disease
finally!
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BUT HOW TO PHILOSOPHICALLY DEFINE MENTAL
ILLNESS? OR TO DEFINE THE PSYCHOLOGICAL
COMPETENCE OF SOMEBODY??!
The definition job should be done in terms of the
agent’s behaviors!
 Masayuki Saeki is mentally ill if and only if it is
observed that he cannot do this or that---or in
other words, a list of behavior-conditions cannot
be satisfied;
 Masayuki Saeki is psychologically competent if
and only if it is observed that he can do this or
that! that---or in other words, a list of behaviorconditions not be satisfied!
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BUT WHAT SHOULD BE LISTED IN THE WANTED
BEHAVIOR-LIST?
Well, there should be a scientific way to make
the list complete.
 In this sense, a suspected patient needs to
appeal to an expert.
 LET’S WATCH THE MOVIE NOW !!
 When the handkerchief is covered by a piece of
paper, the patient will forget its existence!
 We can infer his psychological incompetence by
observing his behaviors!
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WHY PHILOSOPHICAL BEHAVIORISM IS OUT OF
TIDE TODAY?
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The philosophical behaviorism cannot meet this
challenge:
Its definition of a certain type of mental activity in terms
of behaviors will presuppose a further type of mental
activity, and hence violating the behaviorist criteria.
For instance, to define a patient's incompetence in a
given task in terms of his behaviors would presuppose
that he is not pretending to be disabled! And his will to
recall something is part of his mental activities!
THE INDETERMINACY OF
TRANSLATION/INTERPRETATION 美国哲学家
蒯因指出的“译不准”现象
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The indeterminacy of translation is a thesis
propounded by 20th century American analytic
philosopher W. V. Quine. The classic statement
of this thesis can be found in his 1960 book
Word and Object, which gathered together and
refined much of Quine's previous work on
subjects other than formal logic and set theory.
The indeterminacy of translation is also
discussed at length in his Ontological Relativity
(1968).
In these books, Quine considers the methods
available to a field linguist attempting to
translate a hitherto unknown language. He
notes that there are always different ways one
might break a sentence into words, and
different ways to distribute functions among
words. Any hypothesis of translation could be
defended only by appeal to context, by
determining what other sentences a native
would utter. But the same indeterminacy will
appear there: any hypothesis can be defended
if one adopts enough compensatory
hypotheses about other parts of the language.
WHY PHYCHOLOGICAL BEHAVIORISM IS OUT OF
TIDE TODAY?
Psychological behaviorism has its enemies now:
 Neuroscience!
 AI-Oriented Cognitive Science!
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AND DON’T FORGET CHOMSKY’S CRITICISM!
乔姆斯基也对行为主义发出了致命一击！
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Chomsky (1959) charged
that behaviorist models
of language learning
cannot explain various
facts about language
acquisition.
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By the age of four or five (normal)
children have an almost limitless
capacity to understand and produce
sentences which they have never
heard before. Chomsky also argued
that it seems just not to be true that
language learning depends on the
application of reinforcement. A child
does not, as an English speaker in the
presence of a house, utter “house”
repeatedly in the presence of
reinforcing elders. Language as such
seems to be learned without, in a
sense, being explicitly taught or
taught in detail, and behaviorism
doesn't offer an account of how this
could be so.
A CHILD OF THE AGE OF FOUR IS ALREADY A COMEPETENT LANGUAGE-USER!!
FURTHER READING:

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/behaviorism/
WE WILL DISCUSS THE IDENTITY THEORY IN THE
NEXT WEEK!
THE END
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