This site is about behaviorism, a philosophical movement critical of the idea that the contents of consciousness are the causes of behavior. The vast, inaccessible ‘dark matter’ of the unconscious is responsible for recollection, creativity and that ‘secret planner’ whose hidden motives sometimes overshadow conscious will. But early behaviorism went too far in its attempts to simplify. ‘Thought’ is not just covert speech. B. F. Skinner’s claim that “Theories of learning are [not] necessary” is absurd. The new behaviorism proposes simple, testable processes that can summarize the learned and instinctive adaptive behavior of animals and human beings.
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