Reference no: EM133634670

Question

Has the post accurately defined and differentiated methodological behaviorism and radical behaviorism? Has the post accurately identified mentalistic constructs being used to explain behavior in the case study? Are alternate environmental explanations based on observable and measurable events presented? Post: Methodological behaviorism is the philosophical idea that mental or inner events exist. Though their existence is acknowledged, methodological behaviorists do not consider them when analyzing behavior (Skinner, 1976). These inner or mental events are considered private and are, therefore, unobservable. Unobservable events should not be considered in the study of behavior as they cannot be validated. This philosophy of behaviorism requires the experimental manipulation of variables to demonstrate functional relations of public events (Cooper et al., 2020). On the other hand, radical behaviorism regards private events as behavior. B. F. Skinner described these events as private because they occur within the skin. Private events function with the same controlling variables as public events and should be regarded in the study of behavior. Radical behaviorism regards such things as thoughts or feelings because they can be observed by the individual (Cooper et al., 2020). Essentially, the main difference between methodological and radical behaviorism is that radical behaviorism seeks to determine functional relations of unobservable, private vents as well. In Maxi's case, her treatment represents a radical behavior approach. Maxi's therapist considers Maxi's inner thoughts and feelings of anger or stress. We do not know what this looks like; however, her therapist theorizes that Maxi's substance abuse behavior is a function of these feelings. Anger and stress are two terms for which we do not have operational definitions because they are mentalistic terms and conceptualizations. Anger and stress are something that an individual feels, and the individual themselves makes the observation. They are private events that others cannot observe. Further, Maxi's therapist recommends that she identify alternative activities to self-soothe to address her emotions instead of resorting to the use of substances. What are emotions? Again, this is an inner or mental state that cannot be outwardly observed. These terms must be operationally defined to be observable (Fisher et al., 2021). We could define Maxi's stress in more observable terms by stating that she is stressed when she presents with any of the following signs: biting her fingernails, pacing, biting her lip, or twirling her hair. Her anger could be defined as any instance in which Maxi hits her head with her hand, pounds her fist on the table, and raises her voice in response to others talking to her with a frown or scowl. Considering the radical behavior approach, Maxi's therapist suggests that her feelings are an antecedent to her substance abuse behavior. Antecedent manipulation is suggested by choosing alternative activities that will self-soothe and, therefore, reduce the use of substances in response to the feelings (Cooper et al., 2020). If this study used a methodological approach, it would seek to understand Maxi's behavior regarding what is observable and would disregard her feelings of anger and stress (Skinner, 1976). The goal would be to study Maxi's environment to determine what happens right before she engages in substance abuse and what consequences subsequently follow. References Cooper, J. O., Heron, T. E., and Heward, W. L. (2020). Applied behavior analysis (3rd ed.). Pearson. Fisher, W. W., Piazza, C. C., and Roane, H. S. (2021). Handbook of applied behavior analysis (2nd ed.). Guilford Press. Skinner, B.F. (1976). About behaviorism. Vintage.