Howard Rachlin’s Teleological Behaviorism

A theory that qualifies important aspects of B. F. Skinner's postulates.

Given the popularity of behaviorism, especially half a century ago, it is not surprising that there are a large number of variants of this paradigm. Thus, we find classical models, such as B. F. Skinner's radical behaviorism and Kantor's interconductism, together with more recent contributions, among which Hayes' functional contextualism stands out.

In this article we will describe the main aspects of the teleological behaviorism of Howard Rachlinwhich emphasizes the importance of human will and our capacity for self-control of behavior. We will also present the most significant criticisms that have been made of this theoretical perspective.

Biography of Howard Rachlin

Howard Rachlin is an American psychologist born in 1935.. When he was 30 years old, in 1965, he received his doctorate in psychology from Harvard University. Since then he has dedicated his life to research, teaching and writing articles and books, including "Behavior and Mind" and "The Science of Self-Control".

Rachlin is considered one of the determining authors in the emergence of behavioral economics; some of his research has examined phenomena such as pathological gambling or the prisoner's dilemma. He is also known for teleological behaviorism, which is the focus of this article.

During his professional career, this author has mainly studied decision making and choice behavior.. According to him, his main objective as a researcher is to understand the psychological and economic factors that explain phenomena such as self-control, social cooperation, altruism and addictions.

Rachlin is currently Professor Emeritus of Cognitive Science at the State University of New York, Stony Brook. His ongoing research focuses on analyzing patterns of choice over time and their effects on interpersonal cooperation and individual self-control.

Principles of teleological behaviorism

Teleological behaviorism follows the fundamental principles of the classical behavioral orientation. Rachlin argues that the object of study of psychology should be observable behavior and adheres to the thesis that conceives mental contents (thoughts, emotions, etc.) as forms of behavior rather than as causal factors.

The central aspect that characterizes this discipline is its focus on voluntary or purposive behavior.. This principle leads Rachlin to emphasize the relevance of issues such as the free will of human beings, our capacity for self-control or collaboration between different individuals.

In this sense, Rachlin's theory can be related to the contributions of authors such as Edward Tolman, whose proposals are known as "propositional behaviorism", or Albert Bandura, who affirmed that people can control their own behavior through self-regulation processes (including self-observation or self-reinforcement).

Voluntary behavior, self-control and free will

With the popularization of Skinner's radical behaviorism, which attempts to predict behavior exclusively through the manipulation of environmental stimuli, the old question of free will became central to scientific psychology. According to Rachlin, determining whether a behavior is voluntary or not is fundamental from a social point of view..

This author states that actions that most people consider voluntary are also motivated by environmental factors, but this is less obvious than with other types of behavior. At this point the concept of self-control is introduced, which Rachlin defined as the individual's ability to resist temptations by thinking in the long term.

For Rachlin, for people with good self-control the goal of the behavior is not always to satisfy a present need, but may also be to seek reinforcement or the avoidance of long-term punishment. This interest in delayed consequences and in the vision of the future is another of the most characteristic aspects of teleological behaviorism.

The capacity for self-control is understood as a skill that can be trained; Rachlin states that whether or not a person develops it adequately depends on the consistency of his or her efforts to guide his or her behavior in terms of long-term, rather than immediate, gratification. This can be applied to problems such as addictions.

Criticisms of Rachlin's theory

Rachlin's teleological behaviorism argues that free will is a social construct whose definition depends exclusively on context. This approach has been criticized as relativistic.

Many behaviorists believe that Rachlin's contributions are a departure from the path that the discipline should follow.. A particularly criticized aspect has been his focus on self-control, which some equate with the phenomenon of self-help psychology, reviled as an obvious pursuit of economic gain.

Referencias bibliográficas:

• Rachlin, H. (2000). The science of self-control. Cambridge, Massachussets: Harvard University Press.
• Rachlin, H. (2007). Free Will From the Viewpoint of Teleological Behaviorism. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 25(2): 235–250.
• Rachlin, H. (2013). About Teleological Behaviorism. The Behavior Analyst, 36(2): 209-222.