Publications [#350253] of John E. Staddon

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Papers Published

  1. Staddon, JER, The Role of Theory in Behavior Analysis: A Response to Unfinished Business, Travis Thompson's Review of Staddon's New Behaviorism (2nd edition)., The Psychological record, vol. 71 no. 3 (January, 2021), pp. 473-479 [doi] .
    (last updated on 2025/03/09)

    Abstract:
    Travis Thompson's lengthy review of Staddon's The New Behaviorism requires several corrections and extensions. This response discusses Staddon's analysis of Herrnstein's matching law and concludes that Thompson misinterprets a gentle critique as a paean. The response goes on to defend the utility of models and "internal states" (i.e., postulated processes that are not directly measurable) as "formal representation[s] of the data reduced to a minimal number of terms," a position similar to one of B. F. Skinner's statements. The response ends with a defense of Skinner's empirical brilliance, but a critique of his sweeping societal prescriptions.