Behavioral sociology is in fact an attempt to apply psychological behaviorism on sociological issues. Behavioral sociology deals with the relationship between an actor’s behavior on the environment and the resulting effect on the actor’s next behavior (Ritzer, 1386: 408).
The theory’s intellectual roots:
The roots of behavioral sociology must be specifically addressed in behavioral psychology, especially works of B.F Skinner. This view, above all, criticizes the notion of social reality and social definition, saying that both are involved in cryptic activities in a way that they neglect the only objective and examinable phenomena such as behavior as well as the factors making behavior more or less possible. (Ritzer, 1386:405) Skinner attacks the pattern of social definition to the extent that he demands elimination of social definition related theories from the social sciences.
Despite Skiners claims of proposing new concepts,but finally he repeats the previous ideas although using simpler interpretations or another analytical unit. According to Skinner, the behavior and conditions required for the formation of behavior are essentially nothing but different behaviors. Mollem quotes Skinner as saying that social behaviorists are generally interested in examining the relationship between individuals and their environment (Ibid: 407).
However, if we accept that the central concepts of sociology, are human-environment or human agency- structure (with synonym), then we can better understand thoughts of behaviorists. The question that remains is, what is the difference between social behaviorists and the notion of reality or social definition?
The difference between the behaviorists and the definitionists is that in the discussion of mutual interaction, definitionists view the actor as being “dynamic and creative forces in the process of mutual interaction”. Whereas social behaviorist “give less freedom to individuals”. That is, they (social behaviorist ) reacts to stimuli unconsciously.
The similarity between social behaviorism and the pattern of social reality is that the image of the actor is the same in both. It means that both consider individuals as being influenced by the determinants of external norms, values, and structures. However, the difference lies in the source of supervision over the individual. According to social reality pattern theorists, wide-ranging structures and institutions affect an individual. But a social behaviorist deals with the relationship between individuals and the conditions that make the behavior more or less possible (Ritz,1386: 408). So to sum up the discussion, we can say that the central concept of social behaviorism is “the unconscious man – the conditions”