A Behaviourist Perspective on Purchase and Consumption Available to Purchase

Critically examines the status and plausibility of an interpretative account of consumer behaviour derived from operant psychology (behaviour analysis). It is argued that a model of purchase and consumption cannot be founded on an unreconstructed operant behaviourism. However, if modifications are incorporated based on both a logical critique of radical behaviourism as a philosophy of psychology and the empirical investigation of human operant performance, a tenable Behavioural Perspective Model can be built which elucidates the nature of the influence of the environment on consumer choice.