Content area
Full Text
ABSTRACT: With S.S. Stevens, operationism became an important influence in psychology. In this paper I discuss the differences between Bridgman's and Stevens' proposals on operationism and the role that operational definitions play in scientific theory. I discuss how Stevens' notions of the basic act of discrimination and of the relation procedure-outcome influenced B.F. Skinner's criteria under which the main conceptual distinctions in operant psychology were formulated. The operational origin of the dichotomies between respondent and operant behavior, contingency-shaped and rule-governed behavior, private and public events, and verbal and nonverbal behavior are examined.
Key words: operational analysis, operational definitions, private-public events, operant-respondent behavior, contingency-shaped and rule-governed behavior
Since S.S. Stevens' emphasis on operational definitions in 1935, psychologists have incorporated this type of definition as an attempt to increase the objectivity of their theoretical and experimental efforts. Although operationalism as such is not explicitly acknowledged in present theoretical practice in psychology, Stevens' version of it still has an implicit, pervading influence. The customary practice of identifying processes with procedures or with the analogy of machine and models workings is not unrelated to operationism. In this paper I will examine the role of operational definitions in theorizing in psychology and the influence that operationism had on B.F. Skinner and the development of what is called today operant psychology.
First I examine Bridgman's and Stevens' proposals regarding operationism. Second, I discuss the way in which operationism influenced the construction of operant theory and its limitations, especially in regard to the identification of the empirical domain to be studied.
Operationism as Proposed by Bridgman and Stevens
In 1927 Bridgman published The Logic of Modern Physics. In this book he proposed the operational analysis (not the definition) of concepts in order to adapt the concepts of physics to the innovations resulting from Einstein's theory of special relativity. In 1935 S.S. Stevens published The Operational Definition of Psychological Concepts, promoting the incorporation of Bridgman's operational analysis as a general methodology of science, in which psychology would have a prominent role. However, solid arguments distinguish between the proposals by Bridgman and Stevens and identify the actual influence exerted by S.S. Stevens upon B.F. Skinner and the way operant theory was developed.
Houts (1994) has summarized the relevance and context of Bridgman's...