ABSTRACT
This introduction is proof that psychology has come full circle, since in it I will try to justify the usefulness of an integrative theory of learning and motivation. A generation ago, Skinner (1950) was advancing the then radical idea that empirical research was sufficient for a science of psychology, independently of formal theories. In particular, the large scale theories of learning and motivation by such psychologists as Hull and Tolman, which were dominant at the time, were criticized by Skinner as leading to increasingly sterile research. Their reliance on un-observable variables led to forced explanations of data and theoretical hairsplitting according to this view. An explanation of an observed behavior in terms of processes occurring at a different level of description was deemed inadmissible.
