Skinner successfully explains human behavior in terms of operant conditioning and reinforcing agents. He changes the focus from Freud's internalized (mental) processes to the importance of the external environment. Skinner emphasizes the importance of the directly observable behavior. However, he fails to completely account for behavior, excluding the original motivational drive.

In contrast, Freud succeeds in construing the origins of behavior and motivation, which makes the psychoanalytic theory of Freud more adequate as a theory of personality.

Throughout history humans have been puzzled by human behavior, the reasons behind it, and have been faced with the consequences of their own as well as others' behavior. Many studies have been done and theories developed in an attempt to explain this fascinating area of human existence.

Among many theories and theorists, Freud's psychoanalytic and Skinner's radical behaviorist theories have bee

Psychoanalysis does account for issues such as these and is, therefore, more adequate in explaining behavior than radical behaviorism is.

The reason it is important to study and interpret the behavior in light of operant conditioning is because it is the behavior which has been selected as a crucial element with survival value (Skinner, 1974).

Skinner was a radical behaviorist who felt that questions about memories, anxiety, intelligence and emotions should have never been asked in the field of psychology; that psychology should limit itself to studies of accessible subject matter (Skinner, 1987). He did not deny the possibility of the existence of the unconscious and the existence consciousness, but rather put them aside in favor of studying directly observable behavior (Skinner, 1974) saying that "human thought is human behavior" and that the mental processes are essentially "what people have said and done" (Skinner, 1974: p 117).

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Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)