. 2016 Feb 11;39(2):197–218. doi: 10.1007/s40614-016-0053-x

Table 2.

Skinner’s critiques of pseudo-physiology

Categories	Sub-categories
1. Definition of behavior	1.1 Relational definition of behavior. 1.2 Neuroscience may restrict the definition of behavior.
2. Theory and explanation	2.1 Theorizing: “any explanation of an observed fact which appeals to events taking place somewhere else, at some other level of observation, described in different terms, and measured, if at all, in different dimensions” (Skinner 1950, p. 193). 2.2 Conceptual nervous system. 2.3 “Thermodynamics” of brain function: disregard for how the brain actually works. 2.4 Mind-brain identity: avoiding dualism. 2.5 Refusal to recognize the possibility of an independent science of behavior.
3. Centrism	3.1 Leads to the search for the wrongs things inside the nervous system. 3.2 Use of metaphors: e.g., brain as a computer, memory and storage, information process, representation. 3.3 Introspection: methodological limitation (private events). 3.4 Introspection: structural limitation (we don’t have nerves going to the right places). 3.5 Mereological fallacy: behavior is a property of the whole organism and not something that brain does. 3.6 Agency: it’s not real explanation (homunculus); shifts the focus away from environmental variables; neurophysiological processes are not “agents” responsible for the control of behavior; behavior is not only an effect or symptom of what happens inside the organism; neurophysiological processes are not responsible for the origins of behavior.

Categories

Sub-categories

1. Definition of behavior

1.1 Relational definition of behavior.

1.2 Neuroscience may restrict the definition of behavior.

2. Theory and explanation

2.1 Theorizing: “any explanation of an observed fact which appeals to events taking place somewhere else, at some other level of observation, described in different terms, and measured, if at all, in different dimensions” (Skinner 1950, p. 193).

2.2 Conceptual nervous system.

2.3 “Thermodynamics” of brain function: disregard for how the brain actually works.

2.4 Mind-brain identity: avoiding dualism.

2.5 Refusal to recognize the possibility of an independent science of behavior.

3. Centrism

3.1 Leads to the search for the wrongs things inside the nervous system.

3.2 Use of metaphors: e.g., brain as a computer, memory and storage, information process, representation.

3.3 Introspection: methodological limitation (private events).

3.4 Introspection: structural limitation (we don’t have nerves going to the right places).

3.5 Mereological fallacy: behavior is a property of the whole organism and not something that brain does.

3.6 Agency: it’s not real explanation (homunculus); shifts the focus away from environmental variables; neurophysiological processes are not “agents” responsible for the control of behavior; behavior is not only an effect or symptom of what happens inside the organism; neurophysiological processes are not responsible for the origins of behavior.