Philosophical Foundations

What is behavior?

The activity of living organisms; scientifically, behavior is an organism's interaction with its environment that involves movement of some part of the organism.

What is the difference between behavior and a static state?

Behavior involves an interaction with the environment; states such as “being hungry” or “being anxious” do not specify an environmental interaction.

What is a response?

A specific instance of behavior.

What is a response class?

A group of responses that share the same function/effect on the environment.

What is response topography?

The physical form or shape of a behavior.

Why is function more important than topography in behavior analysis?

Because responses that look different can have the same function, while responses that look the same can have different functions.

What is an explanatory fiction?

An explanation that labels behavior without identifying the environmental variables responsible for it.

What is mentalism?

Explaining behavior by referring to hypothetical internal events or mental causes rather than identifying environmental variables.

What is radical behaviorism?

The philosophical position that includes both publicly observable behavior and private events such as thinking and feeling as behavior.

What is methodological behaviorism?

The position that restricts scientific analysis to publicly observable events.

What is selectionism?

The idea that behavior is selected by its consequences over time, paralleling natural selection in evolution.

What is phylogeny?

The evolutionary history of a species.

What is ontogeny?

The development and learning history of an individual organism.

What is the relationship between phylogeny and ontogeny?

Phylogeny involves selection through the evolutionary history of the species; ontogeny involves selection of behavior through an individual's lifetime.