“The famous book on the psychology of behavior, written 45 years ago, has finally come out in Russian,” says psychologist Vladimir Romek. – There are various reasons for the fact that the recognized classic of world psychology was not represented in the Russian-speaking space. Among them, perhaps, is a hidden protest against experimentally confirmed ideas that belittle the one who believes in his own uniqueness.
What caused heated discussions, and not only among specialists? Particularly offensive to the reader were the assertions that a person hardly has freedom to the extent that is commonly believed. Rather, his behavior (and himself) is a reflection of external circumstances and a consequence of his actions, which only seem to be autonomous. Psychologists are, of course, offended by the speculation about «spurious explanations» with which they try to interpret what they cannot fix. Freedom, dignity, autonomy, creativity, personality are just such far-fetched and superfluous terms for a behaviorist. The chapters devoted to the study of punishment, more precisely, its meaninglessness and even harmfulness, turned out to be unexpected. The debate was fierce, but the clarity of Skinner’s arguments invariably commanded the respect of his opponents. With an extraordinary view of human nature, of course, I would like to argue: not everything here can be reconciled with ideas about free will, about the internal causes of our actions. It is hardly possible to immediately abandon the usual «mentalistic explanations» of our and other people’s actions. But surely you, like me, will find it difficult to consider the author’s position as superficial. In terms of empirical validity, Skinner could give odds to many other supposedly scientifically proven approaches to describing the springs that actually move a person.
Translation from English by Alexander Fedorov, Operant, 192 p.