PSY 453 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Operant Conditioning, Behaviorism, Logical Consequence
30 Jul 2020
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
One of the consequences of professing radical behaviorism is having to deny the existence of free will . At least, if by freedom we mean indeterminacy, that is, the ability to act independently of what happens around us. Freedom is, therefore, nothing more than an illusion far removed from reality, in which each act is originated by triggers outside the will of a deciding agent. Of course, skinner believed that human beings have the ability to modify their environment to make it determine it in the desired way. This persecution is only the other side of the coin of determination: the environment is always affecting us in our behavior, but at the same time everything we do also transforms the environment. Therefore, we can make this loop of causes and effects take on dynamics that benefit us, giving us more possibilities for action and, at the same time, greater well-being. His denial of free will brought him harsh criticism.
