Paradigmatic Behaviorism: Unified Theory for Social-Personality Psychology

Abstract

Publisher Summary To understand the character and role of stimulus–response (S–R) approaches in social psychology, it is necessary to have an understanding of the characteristics of behaviorism. The first generation of behaviorism focuses on the discovery and experimental stipulation of the basic conditioning principles. The second generation of behaviorism focuses on systematizing the multiple principles and findings of the study of animal learning into general animal learning theories. This chapter considers the general nature of social psychology with respect to its disunity–unity and the S–R conceptions that have penetrated. The multilevel theory methodology of paradigmatic behaviorism, the effect of these theories on the field's unification, and a general methodology for producing unified theory are also reviewed in the chapter. A particular approach that aims to provide the unifying articulation of the field is also considered in the chapter. It also indicates the progress of S–R approaches in the areas of social-personality psychology and its contribution to the progress of that general framework..