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This article explores the relationship between neoliberalism & behaviorist psychology. Working our way back to the wellsprings of liberal thought in Jeremy Bentham & John Stuart Mill, we find it was the Utilitarians who laid the foundations for the liberal economy & a new psychology that presents the individual as the product of interaction with his environment. By progressively incorporating the contributions of Darwinian evolutionism, this behaviorist school eventually became the reigning paradigm of American psychology. J. Watson and, above all, B. F. Skinner gave this school, by turns, an educational & reeducational orientation. By demonstrating through experiments the superiority of positive reinforcement to punitive systems, they developed a technology of behavioral control. What this conception of psychology has in common with contemporary neoliberalism is an ideology of social control based on the necessary rationality of human behavior & on consumption as the main positive reinforcement system. Adapted from the source document.

Résumé Cette étude explore les relations entre le néolibéralisme et la psychologie behavioriste. C'est en remontant aux sources de la pensée libérale, chez Jeremy Bentham et John Stuart Mill, que l'on constate que les philosophes utilitaristes ont posé les fondements de l'économie libérale et d'une psychologie nouvelle qui présente l'individu comme produit de son interaction avec l'environnement. En intégrant progressivement les apports de l'évolutionnisme darwinien, cette psychologie du comportement ou behaviorisme est devenue le modèle dominant de la psychologie américaine. John B. Watson et surtout Burrhus Frederic Skinner ont donné, tour à tour, à cette psychologie une orientation éducative et rééducative. En montrant expérimentalement la supériorité des systèmes de renforcements positifs sur les systèmes punitifs, ils ont développé une technologie de contrôle du comportement. Cette conception de la psychologie partage avec le néolibéralisme contemporain une même idéologie du contrôle social fondée sur la nécessaire rationalité des comportements et sur l'activité de consommation comme principal système de renforcement positif.

[Response] The conventional wisdom among compensation specialists is to throw money and other rewards at employees in order to motivate them and make them work harder. But numerous studies have shown that, in the workplace, money ranks far behind such factors as challenging work or interesting people to work with. Furthermore, there are no controlled scientific studies that have found a long-term enhancement of the quality of work as a result of any monetary or other reward system. In fact, the more rewards are used to "motivate" people, the more people lose interest in whatever they had to do to get the rewards. Money itself is not the problem, but using money to get people to jump through hoops, is. And a preoccupation with money can distract the compensation specialist from attending to what's really important in moving an organization forward-meeting employees' needs for relatedness, competence, and autonomy.

Any theory of therapy or image of human nature must proceed from the assumption that man, whatever else he is, importantly is the creator of meaning

Cass Sunstein's book Simpler recounts the author's efforts during his tenure in the first Obama administration to apply the policy tools he helped derive from behavioral economics. In this review, I suggest that, while Sunstein reports some notable achievements, he exaggerates the utility of the behaviorist toolkit. Behaviorist-inspired interventions are marginal to most of the largest policy problems, and they played little role in the Obama administration's most important initiatives. The book also reflects a misguided political strategy.

Marino & Merskin's review sheds light on the complexity of the mind, learning, and cognition of sheep. Readily observable behavior has value in its own right for promoting the well-being of animals. A behavior-analytic approach can add substantially to the understanding of sheep as individuals as well as their learning capacities. The findings can also be applied to arranging their environments to promote their well-being as well as behavioral change in those responsible for their care and management.

Walden Two : a behaviorist utopia -- Behavioral psychology and the design of society -- Skinner's utopian vision and the issue of control -- The road not taken : Skinner, experimental communalism, and token economies -- Sunflower House -- Lake Village -- Walden Three -- The early days of Twin Oaks Community -- The planner manager system -- The communal child care program -- The labor credit system -- The appeal of the labor credit system for the communities -- Movement, or, What communards meant when they said Walden Two -- Why people leave -- Mexican contexts -- Education -- The economic structure -- Leadership and decision-making -- Behaviorism as religion