Radical

Radical behaviorism, as opposed to methodological behaviorism, was pioneered by B.F. Skinner in the 1930’s in order to explore mental and intellectual components of behaviorism along with the passive cause and effect of simple Pavlovian behavior studies (i.e when food is presented to a dog if you ring a bell the dog eventually salivates because it associates the ringing bell with food which causes the instinctive response of salivation). In radical behaviorism, this means studying the natural urge that living creatures have to explore their environment and learn the possibilities that behavior might have on the environment.

For example, a rat exploring a cage until it finds a lever that dispenses food and experiments with it in the name of receiving food.


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