ABSTRACT
Psychology came out of philosophy, much of psychology consists of an aggregation of theories that are more metaphysical than scientific. A movement called “behaviorism” arose in America, also with a promising beginning, but rapidly succumbing to the metaphysical lure of a few simple principles related to I. P. Pavlov’s conditioned reflexes “explaining” all “behavior.” Experimental analysis of behavior is, in fact, no less theoretical than physiology, but, like physiology, it has few dealings with metaphysical speculations. People have looked at an abuse and have postulated inner consequences of the abuse that have just the properties required to “account” for the behavior. Heroin use is said to be due to the power of the drug to produce euphoria, an ecstasy of sufficient intensity to account for the drug-seeking behavior. Schedule-effects were discovered in the course of investigations of “conditioned reflexes” on behavior involving skeletal muscle as opposed to behavior such as salivation studied by Pavlov.
