Behaviorology

Description of the Strategy

Behaviorology is the science of contingent relations between actions and other events. It does not focus on the action, which by itself is mere movement. Neither does it emphasize the stimulus event, for that would make the analysis physicalistic. Behaviorology's unit of analysis is the relation between action and event. The functionality of the controls over this relation—including the placement of terms in time—gives it its meaning. For example, with respect to two-term relations, an action and a postcedent event that changes the future probability of the class of behavior to which the action belongs defines this relation as operant, whereas an action and an antecedent event that changes the future probability of the class of behavior to which ...