Catania, A. C. (2003).
B. F. Skinner's Science and Human Behavior: Its antecedents and its consequences.
Journal of Experimental Analysis of Behavior,
80, 313-320.
Skinner's Science and Human Behavior marked a transition from
a treatment of behavior that took physics as its reference science
to one that emphasized behavior as a fundamental part of the subject
matter of biology. The book includes what may be Skinner's earliest
statement about the similarity of operant selection to Darwinian natural
selection in phylogeny. Other major topics discussed in the book
included multiple causation, private events, the self, and social
contingencies. Among the important antecedents were Skinner's own
Behavior of Organisms and Keller & Schoenfeld's Principles of
Psychology. Current developments in education, behavioral economics,
and some behavior therapies can be attributed at least in part to
Skinner's seminal work. The effective behavioral analysis of
governmental and religious systems will probably depend on
elaborations of our understanding of verbal behavior.
Key words: Skinner, Science and Human Behavior, Behavior
of Organisms, Darwin, natural selection, selection (of behavior),
human behavior