Behaviorism has a bad reputation among Objectivists, and most of it is undeserved. This set of psychological theories has been extremely well-documented in the scientific literature, and to dismiss it is to dismiss a really helpful set of tools for changing our behavior. The bad reputation should be given to people who apply these theories in disrespectful ways that destroy personal autonomy and who discount cognitive theories about what takes place in behaviorism's black box.

This talk will explain the basics of behaviorism, including its compatibility with cognitive psychological theories. Participants will generate ways to use these concepts to work on the changes we'd like to make to our own behavior. We will also discuss more and less human-appropriate and respectful ways to apply the concepts to our relationships with others.