I don’t understand cognitive psychologists. Why don’t they all end up like
behaviorist B.F. Skinner, looking “Beyond Freedom and Dignity”? Are they such
pessimists that they believe their discipline will fail?
Behavioral psychologist B.F. Skinner’s book
Beyond Freedom and Dignity was published in 1971.
Skinner argued that human behavior is so strongly shaped
by the environment that freedom and dignity are not useful
concepts; instead we should go in for what amounts to mind control.
Behaviorism is in discredit nowadays, but
cognitive psychology is going strong
and could theoretically make the same argument.
copyright 1991, 2023 Jay J.P. Scott
<jay@satirist.org>