Behaviorism Vs. Mentalism

Behaviorism Vs. Mentalism January 16, 2022 1 Mentalism and Radical Behaviorism Phrases Mentalistic or behavioristic Kayla was very sad at school today. Her teacher stated that she cried while playing with other children at school. Mentalistic Michael fell to the Behavioristic floor every time his teacher placed a worksheet on his desk. Martin calls to make an appointment at his dentist’s office, because he knows needs a root canal. Mentalistic Explanation (use source here; your texts are fine) If mentalistic, provide an alternative behavioral statement Kayla cried at school while playing with other children. This is behavioristic N/A because there can be frequency data taken on the amount of times Michael falls to the ground when a worksheet is placed on his desk. Martin’s tooth hurts so he calls the dentist to make an appointment. 2 Phrases Mentalistic or behavioristic Explanation (use source here; your texts are fine) If mentalistic, provide an alternative behavioral statement Shawnia ate cake after having a long day to uplift her emotions after her boyfriend broke up with her. Mentalistic This statement is mentalistic because we can not say Shawnia ate cake to “uplift her emotions” because emotions are a hypothetical construct that cannot be measured. Shawnia’s boyfriend broke up with her. She ate cake and went to bed. The facts are: 1.Her boyfriend broke up with her. 2.She ate cake. Every time the Behavioristic instructor asks Johnny to clean his plate, he walks to the sink, turns the water on, and washes his plate. N/A Meredith does what Mentalistic her mother tells her to do, because she knows she will be rewarded for appropriate behavior when she does. Meredith does what her mother tells her to do. Her mother rewards her appropriate behavior. 3 Phrases Mentalistic or behavioristic Explanation (use source here; your texts are fine) If mentalistic, provide an alternative behavioral statement Marcus threw his math Mentalistic book, because he was frustrated with the questions on his math homework. This is a mentalistic statement because the word “frustrated” describes an emotion. Emotions cannot be observed or measured because they are hypothetical constructs which is defined in Cooper et al., 2020 as “a presumed but unobserved process or entity.” Marcus threw his math book when working on his homework. Each time the buzzer sounds, the rat approaches the lever and presses it. When this occurs, a food pellet is produced. This is a behavioristic statement because it gives clear ABC data: N/A Behavioristic Antecedent-Buzzer sounds. Behavior-The rat approaches the lever and presses it. Consequence- Food comes out. It is observed that each time the light is on, the rat presses the lever and a food pellet is delivered. Behavioristic N/A 4 Phrases Mentalistic or behavioristic Explanation (use source here; your texts are fine) If mentalistic, provide an alternative behavioral statement Janice is so smart that she got a 100 percent on her exam. Mentalistic You cannot measure a person’s intelligence level by the grades they receive, which is why I chose to label this statement mentalistic. Janice studied and received 100 percent on her exam. How is the behavioristic approach different from most other psychology fields? The behavioristic psychology approach differs from most other fields of psychology because other fields of psychology stud the states of mind or consciousness and other mental processes. They observe one’s thoughts and feelings (Cooper et al. 2020). Cooper defines behaviorism as “the philosophy of the science of behavior, basic research is the province of the experimental analysis of behavior and developing technology to improve behaviors (Cooper et al. 2020). How would a mentalistic approach inform one’s practice? Going into behavior analysis, it seems as though many would not use a mentalistic approach since it is considered a cognitive science and does not often get applied to behavior analysis because it is “a way of pursuing a casual explanation of behavior,” rather than trying to improve behavior (Moore 2016). Moore also states that, “observable behavior provides evidence to support explanatory inferences about casual properties of behavior.” Mentalism, in some ways, uses a behavior analytic approach when trying to give explanations to individual’s behavior, but it seems difficult to apply mentalism to a behavior analytic practice. 5 How would a behavior analytic approach inform one’s practice? Becoming a BCBA is a goal of mine, so I will be using a behavior analytic approach to inform my practice of applied behavior analysis. The behavior analytic approach is rich in scientific practices where, in order to change the behaviors, we must also be able to observe them (Cooper 2020). It would be a consistent game of “guess and check” if we followed a mentalistic approach because mentalism uses hypothetical constructs such as mental phenomena and feelings in order to treat their clients or patients. 6