THE ACCIDENTAL BEHAVIORIST: A REVIEW OF THE NEW BEHAVIORISM BY JOHN STADDON
Staddon contends that behavior analysis may profit from theory, by which he means theory that includes assumed elemental processes allowing derivation of observed patterns of results. Behavior analysts who consider that our field has matured to the point where we are secure in our descriptive grasp of a range of phenomena will tend to agree. Unfortunately, the book's positive message is almost lost in a morass of distracting criticisms of Skinner and behavior analysis in general. Instead of recognizing the growth and maturation of the field, Staddon writes as if the field has stagnated and blames that stagnation on what he takes to be Skinner's antipathy toward theory. Neither has behavior analysis become stagnated, nor should Skinner be blamed for any shortcomings. Instead of acknowledging Skinner's foundational contributions to the field, however, Staddon devotes most of this book to bashing Skinner and fails to distinguish his own view of theory based on internal states from theory in cognitive psychology, treating theoretical models and unseen processes as the “true” subject of inquiry and behavior as only an indicator.