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The behavioral and the mystical: Reflections on behaviorism and eastern thought.

APA Citation

Williams, J. L. (1986). The behavioral and the mystical: Reflections on behaviorism and eastern thought. The Behavior Analyst, 9, 167-173.

Publication Topic
Behavior Analysis: Conceptual
Publication Type
Article
Language
English
Abstract

As in the case of other scientific conceptual schemas, features of radical behaviorism can be compared to descriptions of the world that have evolved within Eastern philosophic traditions. Applications of the analysis of verbal behavior can further the move within contemporary scientific writing towards calling attention to the structuring and limiting effects of language, effects long recognized in the East as sources of dualism and mentalism. Use of the three-term contingency automatically integrates organism and environment. Radical behavioral analyses can help demystify the mystical.