Chapter 11 – Pigeons Play Ping Pong: Behaviourism and the Crisis of the Paradigm

A therapeutic approach derived from behaviourist principles, especially operant conditioning, used to modify behaviour in clinical and educational settings.

A metaphor used by behaviourists to describe the mind as unknowable or irrelevant to scientific psychology; only observable inputs (stimuli) and outputs (responses) are considered legitimate data.

A learning process where a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a reflexive response through repeated pairings with an unconditioned stimulus.

The shift in psychology during the mid-20th century away from behaviourism toward approaches that emphasised internal mental processes, such as memory, perception, and language.

The behaviourist principle that learning occurs when a stimulus and a response are closely paired in time.

The belief that behaviour is entirely shaped by environmental causes, with no role for free will or internal agency.

The behaviourist assumption that any stimulus can be equally associated with any response, regardless of biological or cognitive constraints.

Also known as conditioned taste aversion; Garcia’s discovery that animals can form strong associations between taste and illness, even with a long time delay—contradicting core behaviourist principles.

According to Thomas Kuhn, the routine, puzzle-solving work done within the boundaries of an accepted scientific paradigm. Behaviourist psychology in the mid-20th century is an example of normal science.

A type of learning where voluntary behaviours are shaped by reinforcement or punishment, introduced by B.F. Skinner.

The view that scientific concepts must be defined in terms of the operations or procedures used to measure them. Central to behaviourist methodology.

In Kuhn’s theory, a shared framework of theories, methods, and assumptions that shapes what is considered legitimate science at a given time.

A fundamental transformation in the assumptions and practices of a scientific field, occurring when existing paradigms can no longer accommodate accumulating anomalies.

In psychology, the ways in which knowledge production and behavioural techniques can be used to discipline, control, and normalise individuals and populations.

B.F. Skinner’s version of behaviourism, which claimed that all behaviour—including language and thought—could be explained through operant conditioning without reference to internal mental states.

A consequence that increases the likelihood of a behaviour being repeated. Can be positive (adding something desirable) or negative (removing something undesirable).

The foundational behaviourist model in which a specific stimulus elicits a specific behavioural response through conditioning.