Behavioralism

Behavioralism is an approach in the philosophy of science, describing the scope of the fields now
collectively called the behavioral sciences; this approach dominated the field until the late 20th
century.[1] Behavioralism attempts to explain human behavior from an unbiased, neutral point of
view, focusing only on what can be verified by direct observation, preferably using statistical and
quantitative methods.[2][3] In doing so, it rejects attempts to study internal human phenomena
such as thoughts, subjective experiences, or human well-being.[4] The rejection of this paradigm
as overly-restrictive would lead to the rise of cognitive approaches in the late 20th and early 21st
centuries.

Origins

From 1942 through the 1970s, behavioralism gained support. It was probably Dwight Waldo who
coined the term for the first time in a book called "Political Science in the United States" which
was released in 1956.[5] It was David Easton however who popularized the term. It was the site of
discussion between traditionalist and new emerging approaches to political science.[6] The
origins of behavioralism is often attributed to the work of University of Chicago professor Charles
Merriam, who in the 1920s and 1930s emphasized the importance of examining political
behavior of individuals and groups rather than only considering how they abide by legal or formal
rules.[7]

As a political approach

Prior to the "behavioralist revolution", political science being a science at all was disputed.[8]
Critics saw the study of politics as being primarily qualitative and normative, and claimed that it
lacked a scientific method necessary to be deemed a science.[9] Behavioralists used strict
methodology and empirical research to validate their study as a social science.[10] The
behavioralist approach was innovative because it changed the attitude of the purpose of inquiry.
It moved toward research that was supported by verifiable facts.[11] In the period of 1954–63,
Gabriel Almond spread behavioralism to comparative politics by creation of a committee in
SSRC.[12] During its rise in popularity in the 1960s and '70s, behavioralism challenged the realist
and liberal approaches, which the behavioralists called "traditionalism", and other studies of
political behavior that was not based on fact.

To understand political behavior, behavioralism uses the following methods: sampling,

interviewing, scoring and scaling, and statistical analysis.[13]

Behavioralism studies how individuals behave in group positions realistically rather than how they
should behave. For example, a study of the United States Congress might include a consideration
of how members of Congress behave in their positions. The subject of interest is how Congress
becomes an 'arena of actions' and the surrounding formal and informal spheres of power.[14]
Meaning of the term

David Easton was the first to differentiate behavioralism from behaviorism in the 1950s
(behaviorism is the term mostly associated with psychology).[15] In the early 1940s, behaviorism
itself was referred to as a behavioral science and later referred to as behaviorism. However,
Easton sought to differentiate between the two disciplines:[16]

Behavioralism was not a clearly defined movement for those who were thought
to be behavioralists. It was more clearly definable by those who were opposed to
it, because they were describing it in terms of the things within the newer trends
that they found objectionable. So some would define behavioralism as an attempt
to apply the methods of natural sciences to human behavior. Others would define
it as an excessive emphasis upon quantification. Others as individualistic
reductionism. From the inside, the practitioners were of different minds as what
it was that constituted behavioralism. ... And few of us were in agreement.[17]

With this in mind, behavioralism resisted a single definition. Dwight Waldo emphasized that
behavioralism itself is unclear, calling it "complicated" and "obscure."[18] Easton agreed, stating,
"every man puts his own emphasis and thereby becomes his own behavioralist" and attempts to
completely define behavioralism are fruitless.[19] From the beginning, behavioralism was a
political, not a scientific concept. Moreover, since behavioralism is not a research tradition, but a
political movement, definitions of behavioralism follow what behavioralists wanted.[16] Therefore,
most introductions to the subject emphasize value-free research. This is evidenced by Easton's
eight "intellectual foundation stones" of behavioralism:[20]

Regularities – The generalization and explanation of regularities.

Commitment to Verification – The ability to verify ones generalizations.

Techniques – An experimental attitude toward techniques.

Quantification – Express results as numbers where possible or meaningful.

Values – Keeping ethical assessment and empirical explanations distinct.

Systemization – Considering the importance of theory in research.

Pure Science – Deferring to pure science rather than applied science.

Integration – Integrating social sciences and value.

Objectivity and value-neutrality

According to David Easton, behavioralism sought to be "analytic, not substantive, general rather
than particular, and explanatory rather than ethical."[21] In this, the theory seeks to evaluate
political behavior without "introducing any ethical evaluations." Rodger Beehler cites this as "their
insistence on distinguishing between facts and values."[22]

Criticism

The approach has come under fire from both conservatives and radicals for the purported value-
neutrality. Conservatives see the distinction between values and facts as a way of undermining
the possibility of political philosophy.[22] Neal Riemer believes behavioralism dismisses "the task
of ethical recommendation"[21] because behavioralists believe "truth or falsity of values
(democracy, equality, and freedom, etc.) cannot be established scientifically and are beyond the
scope of legitimate inquiry."[23]

Christian Bay believed behavioralism was a pseudopolitical science and that it did not represent
"genuine" political research.[24] Bay objected to empirical consideration taking precedence over
normative and moral examination of politics.[24]

Behavioralism initially represented a movement away from "naive empiricism", but as an

approach has been criticized for "naive scientism".[25] Additionally, radical critics believe that the
separation of fact from value makes the empirical study of politics impossible.[22]

Crick's critique

British scholar Bernard Crick in The American Science of Politics (1959), attacked the behavioral
approach to politics, which was dominant in the United States, but little known in Britain. He
identified and rejected six basic premises and in each case argued the traditional approach was
superior to behavioralism:

1. research can discover uniformities in human behavior,

2. these uniformities could be confirmed by empirical tests and measurements,

3. quantitative data was of the highest quality, and should be analyzed statistically,

4. political science should be empirical and predictive, downplaying the philosophical and historical
dimensions,

5. value-free research was the ideal, and

6. social scientists should search for a macro theory covering all the social sciences, as opposed to
applied issues of practical reform.[26]

See also

Behaviorism

Postpositivism

Post-behavioralism
Notes

1. Guy p. 58 says, "The term behaviouralism was recognized as part of a larger scientific movement
occurring simultaneously in all of the social sciences, now referred to as the behavioural
sciences."

2. Guy, p. 58 says, "Behaviouralism emphasized the systematic understanding of all identifiable

manifestations of political behaviour. But it also meant the application of rigorous scientific and
statistical methods to standardize testing and to attempt value free inquiry of the world of
politics... For the behaviouralist, the role of political science is primarily to gather and analyze
facts as rigorously and objectively as possible."

3. Petro, p. 6 says, "Behavioralists generally felt that politics should be studied much in the same
way hard sciences are studied."

4. Walton, pp. 1–2.

5. Devos, Carl (2020). Een plattegrond van de macht: inleiding tot politiek en politieke wetenschappen.
Ghent: Academia Press. p. 61. ISBN 9789401469296.

6. Eulau, pp 1-3

7. Grigsby, p. 15

8. Dahl, p. 763

9. Guy, p. 57 says, "On the basis of the philosophical approach, traditionalists prescribe normative
solutions to political problems. In their view, no political inquiry into social problems can remain
neutral or completely free of normative judgements or prescriptions."

10. Guy p 58

11. Kegley, p 48

12. Institute, Kellogg (October 2006). "The Past and present of Comparative Politics" ([Link]
[Link]/sites/default/files/old_files/documents/330_0.pdf) (PDF). [Link]. Retrieved
8 September 2019.

13. Petro, p 7

14. Grigsby, p 15

15. Easton (1953) p 151

16. Berndtson. "Behavioralism: Origins of the Concept" ([Link]

56/[Link] . Archived from the
original ([Link] on 14 May
2009. Retrieved 2009-04-20.

17. David Easton in Baer et al. eds, 1991 p 207

18. Waldo, p 58
19. Easton (1962) p 9

20. Riemer, p. 50

21. Riemer, p. 101

22. Beehler p 91

23. Somit, pp 176–180

24. Riemer, p. 51

25. Gilman, p 116

26. "Crick, Bernard," in John Ramsden, The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-century British Politics
(2002) p 174

References

Baer, Michael A. (1991). Jewell, Malcolm E.; Lee Sigelman (eds.). Political Science in America: Oral
Histories of a Discipline. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0-8131-0805-5.

Beehler, Rodger; Drengson, Alan R. (1978). The Philosophy of Society. Routledge. ISBN 0-416-
83490-6.

Berndtson, Erkki. "Behavioralism: Origins of the Concept" ([Link]

010256/[Link] . Archived from
the original ([Link] on 2009-
05-14.

Dahl, Robert A. (December 1961). "The Behavioral Approach in Political Science: Epitaph for a
Monument to a Successful Protest". American Political Science Review. 55 (4): 763–772.
doi:10.2307/1952525 ([Link] . JSTOR 1952525 ([Link]
[Link]/stable/1952525) . S2CID 144257723 ([Link]
23) .

Easton, David (1953). The Political System. An Inquiry into the State of Political Science ([Link]
[Link]/details/politicalsystemi0000east) . New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

Easton, David (1962). "Introduction: The Current Meaning of "Behavioralism". In Charlesworth,

James (ed.). Political Science. Philadelphia: American Academy of Political and Social Science.

Engeman, Thomas S. (1995). "Behavioralism, Postbehavioralism, and the Reemergence of

Political Philosophy" ([Link]
[Link]?a=o&d=76959176) . Perspectives on Political Science. 24 (4): 214–217.
doi:10.1080/10457097.1995.9941880 ([Link] .
Archived from the original ([Link] on 2007-10-
22. Retrieved 2017-08-24.

Eulau, Heinz (1969). Behavioralism in Political Science. Transaction.

 Gilman, Nils (2007). Mandarins of the Future: Modernization Theory in Cold War America. JHU
Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-8633-1.

Grigsby, Ellen (2011). Analyzing Politics: An Introduction to Political Science. Cengage Learning.

Guy, James John (2000-08-01). People, Politics and Government: A Canadian Perspective (https://
[Link]/details/peoplepoliticsgo0005guyj) . Pearson Education Canada. ISBN 0-13-027246-
9.

Hanson, Jon D.; Douglas A. Kysar (June 1999). "Taking Behavioralism Seriously: The Problem of
Market Manipulation" ([Link]
edu/faculty/kysar/[Link]) (PDF). New York University Law Review. 74 (630): 75–83. ISBN 0-
8131-0805-5. Archived from the original ([Link]
f) (PDF) on 2003-03-24.

Kegley, Charles W. (2008). World Politics: Trend and Transformation (12 ed.). Cengage Learning.
ISBN 978-0-495-50019-3.

Petro, Nicolai (1995). The Rebirth of Russian Democracy: An Interpretation of Political Culture (http
s://[Link]/details/rebirthofrussian00petr) . Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-75001-2.

Riemer, Neal (1997). The New World of Politics: An Introduction to Political Science ([Link]
[Link]/details/newworldofpoliti0000riem_h0h9/page/50/mode/2up) . Rowman & Littlefield.
ISBN 0-939693-41-0.

Somit, Albert; Joseph Tanenhaus (1967). The Development of American Political Science: From
Burgess to Behavioralism. Irvington Publishers.

Waldo, Dwight (1975). "Political Science: Tradition, Discipline, Profession, Science, Enterprise". In
Greenstein, Fred; Polsby, Nelson (eds.). Handbook of Political Science ([Link]
cumulativeindexh0000gree) . Reading, Mass: Addison-Wesley. ISBN 9780201026092.

Walton, Hanes (1985). Invisible Politics ([Link] .

SUNY Press. ISBN 0-87395-966-3.

External links

Brooks, David (2008-10-27). "The Behavioral Revolution" ([Link]

opinion/[Link]?_r=2&ei=5070&emc=eta1&oref=slogin) . The New York Times.