https://cptsdfoundation.org/2022/04/05/trauma-and-behaviorism-the-story-is-worth-telling/ The Foundation for Post-Traumatic Healing and Complex Trauma Research Sat, 25 Nov 2023 02:44:35 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://cptsdfoundation.org/2022/04/05/trauma-and-behaviorism-the-story-is-worth-telling/#comment-21895 Sat, 25 Nov 2023 02:44:35 +0000 https://cptsdfoundation.org/?p=240379#comment-21895 Skinner actually did believe in mental events, what he called private events. He simply stated that they were not subject to scientific observation, were not causes of behavior but were coincidental to behavior, were caused by the same environmental-behavioral contingencies as behavior, and were not necessary to explain human behavior. Furthermore, he suggested that emotions were related to chemical changes in the body, the same thing Watson actually suggested in the so-called “behaviorist manifesto.” Private events are an important part of Radical Behaviorism in that they do guide the theoretical underpinnings of the school, but under the consideration that they are not observable. This is a common misconception of behaviorism, even more so Radical Behaviorism, and sadly hampers discussion and understanding of a very important school of thought.

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