Resumen

CRUZ, Robson Nascimento da. Mishaps in the history of science: B. F. Skinner and the initial reaction to the Experimental Analysis of Behavior between the 1930's and the 1940's. Psic.: Teor. e Pesq. [online]. 2011, vol.27, n.4, pp. 545-554. ISSN 0102-3772.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0102-37722011000400020.

The initial draft of the concept of operant conditioning and of the single-subject experimental design defines the bases of Skinner's explanatory system. However, these formulations were not immediately welcomed. To enable a closer look on the history of formation of Behavior Analysis, three historical facts were highlighted: (a) the difficulties faced by Skinner at the end of his post-graduate studies; (b) the reaction to his first book, The Behavior of Organisms, and (c) the dispute with other explanatory behaviorial models. The conclusion of the present study is that the history of formation of Behavior Analysis is constituted by determinants of motivational, institutional, emotional and economic nature and by difficulties of going against the dominant methodological trends of North-American Experimental Psychology.

Palabras llave : B. F. Skinner; Radical Behaviorism; Behavior Analysis; Experimental Analysis of Behavior; History of Psychology.