Michael, J. (2003).
Science and Human Behavior: A tutorial in behavior analysis.
Journal of Experimental Analysis of Behavior,
80, 321-328.
B. F. Skinner’s Science and Human Behavior (1953) became the main
source of my understanding of behavior during my first semester
as a college professor in 1955 at Kansas University. It has
continued to exert a major influence throughout my career as the
basis for a completely deterministic science of behavior, as a
handbook to be consulted as a first step in dealing with any issue
in behavior analysis, and as a tutorial in behavioral interpretive
analysis-in the use of a small number of behavioral concepts and
principles to understand behavior of all degrees of complexity. I
describe four general interpretive orientations or maxims that are
of broad significance for behavior analysis, and also two
underappreciated major theoretical contributions.
Key words: Science and Human Behavior, B. F. Skinner,
behavioral explanation, genetic determination, motivation, radical behaviorism