LEGACY

LEGACY

1. conceptual, behavioral, analytical and applied systems. I start with brief histories of behaviorism, behavior analysis, and applied behavior analysis.

2. for the applied analysis of behavior, in particular, for four of its dimensions:

3. the system was a metaphysical behaviorism and a descriptive positivism, not a methodological behaviorism and a logical positivism.

4. This article addresses the legacy of John B. Watson (1913b), "psychology as the behaviorist sees it"

5. I situate Watson's article in the psychology of his time. and I locate the defining characteristics of his behaviorism in his opening sentence:

6. The legacy of the "objective" is the behavioral dimension of applied behavior analysis. objectivity was not objectivism. The legacy of the “experimental” is its analytical dimension.

7. "psychology, as seen by the behaviorist, is a purely objective experimental branch of the natural sciences" (p. 158). The legacy of the “natural sciences” is the conceptual systems dimension of applied behavior analysis.

8. prediction and control were means of understanding behavior, not goals in themselves. The application was not a defining feature of Watson's behaviorism, but he did address experimental research on socially important behavior and mentioned its application in vocational offices. therefore, his legacy was, in part, the applied dimension of applied behavior analysis.