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The Great Debate

pothesis.- Time consuming – therefore less viable economically (web address:-courses.washington.edu) Skinner’s Behavioural Model:- Unlike the many psychological theories that doom us to the personality and behaviour patterns we were born with or inherited, behavioural therapy says that we can change (Sachs, 1997). The scientifically oriented behavioural view sources data and observations from laboratory experiments primarily with animals. Key motivational forces are the pursuit of primary (unlearned) and secondary (learned) reinforcers; priorities depend on personal history. Behaviourists devote little attention to personality structure as it is unobservable, however Skinner did not deny the existence of internal mental events, and he repeatedly acknowledged that an organism’s behaviour is influenced by it’s biological endowment. Skinner simply argued that psychology could understand and predict behaviour (through stimulus-response analyses) adequately without resorting to physiological explanations (Delprato & Midgely, 1992). In his book Beyond Freedom and Dignity (1971) Skinner asserted that behaviour is governed by external stimuli and that we are all controlled by our environment, not ourselves, concluding that “free will is an illusion”. Behaviourists view personality as an individual’s collection of response tendencies. Personality development evolves gradually over the life span (not in stages); responses followed by reinforcement become more frequent. Maladaptive behaviour is due to faulty learning; what is observable is the problem, not a sign of underlying disease (Weiten, 1995). Therapy Behavioural analysis attempts to identify environmental and person variables that are thought to be maintaining maladaptive thoughts, feelings or behaviour - “What is causing the person to behave this way right now and what can we do right now to change that behavio...

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