Skinner and Freud on Behaviorism

Paper Summary:

This paper compares and contrasts Burrhus F. Skinner's and Sigmund Freud's theories on behaviorism. The paper begins with an assessment of Skinner, who maintained that behavior is strengthened by its consequences. Through close reliance on Skinner's texts, the author details the behaviorist's theories, which pointed consistently to stimuli and responses as the primary agents of change and development in human behavior. Next, the paper studies Freuds' ideas on behaviorism, which differed greatly from Skinner. As the author points out, Freud believed that the fundamental determinants of human behavior were internal and external environmental conditions, which occur during the first years of a person's life.

From the Paper:

"Skinner believed that the environment alone conditions individual behavior and influences personality and development. He conducted research on the various types of human conditioning - fixed ratio, fixed interval and variable interval - and delved into more complex behaviors with his ideas of shaping and chaining. Finally, Skinner gave no credence to mental or physiological explanations of human behavior, but preferred to use the stimulus-response patterns between organism and environment as his primary explanation for human behavior."

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