Behavior Analysis and the Cultural Geographic Study of Place

Abstract

During the period of evolution of social science disciplines, positivism was seen not as one philosophy of science but rather as the one philosophy; accordingly, questions of meaning and interpretation were of little importance in both physical and social sciences. This situation changed dramatically in the mid-twentieth century following the waning of positivism as a social science philosophy. Today, there are numerous philosophies to which the social scientist can turn, one of which is positivism as most clearly articulated in psychological behaviorism and as applied in sociology and anthropology. A consideration of recent ideas about place creation suggests that it is possible that cultural geography might benefit from a judicious use of behaviorist concepts in such analyses. Applications to the Mormon settlement of the American West and to Dutch settlement in South Africa are provided as preliminary examples.