Behavior analysis - Quo Vadis - El análisis del comportamiento – Quo Vadis -

Abstract

There isn’t doubt about many contributions made by behaviorism in psychology: contributions conceptually, methodologically, in the field of clinical applications, educational, organizational and everyday life. Nevertheless, there are many criticisms it has received; related mainly to philosophical questions such as: which is the validity of its conception with respect to the nature of psychological events? Some critiques relating to its manner of explaining behavior: is it valid to assume that psychological phenomena are explained when are established the variables that control and predict conduct? And, is this form of explanation consistent with the conception of explanation by theories that reflect an underlying reality as is usually done in other disciplines? At the gateway marks a century of making the behaviorism program, it is important to evaluate its profits, to determine its limitations and in particular, to review how much progress has been made towards establishing a comprehensive system based on the analysis of the behavior, that allows to psychology being a natural science with disciplinary and professional unit.