ABSTRACT
Many social scientists who regard themselves as scientists reject a priori the idea that consequences can cause human behavior. They presumably do so because they find "restraint" incompatible with or, in fact, contrary to the scientific notion of determinism. In psychology, this position surfaces in the conclusion that the principles of operant conditioning (according to which behavior is determined by its consequences) contradict the position of positivistic science that causes must precede their effects. In biology, it is encountered in the conclusion that the principles of evolution (according to which selection of traits is affected by their survival value) contradict the position of positivistic science according to which causes must precede their effects. In sociology, antirestraint sentiment favors the argument that to be fully social a theory must account for behavior without resort to decisionmaking properties of individuals or to a theory of action (Coleman 1986).
