Subjectivity and Behaviorism: Skinner, Kantor, and Stephenson

Abstract

Since the founding of behaviorism, most behaviorists have stressed the
importance of objectivity for a natural science of behavior. This does
not imply, however, that they ignored or denied subjectivity. Skinner's
radical behaviorism, for example, equated subjectivity with mainly
events inside the skin; Kantor's interbehavioral psychology equated it
with uniqueness; and Stephenson's Q methodology equated subjectivity
with perspective or point of view. This paper clarifies these approaches
to subjectivity and emphasizes their importance in a natural science of
behavior, and places Stephenson's behaviorism within the context of the
others, examining some of the similarities and differences among them.