On the Merits and Challenges of Treating Conscious and Unconscious Thoughts and Feelings as Behavior

In the present chapter, I explore how the work of Skinner and other functional researchers could enrich cognitive research on conscious and unconscious thoughts and feelings. I first briefly discuss Skinner’s ideas about conscious thoughts and feelings (i.e., that they can be treated as instances of covert behavior) and then provide a few examples of how this perspective could provide inspiration for research on cognitive phenomena such as sense of agency and sense of confidence. Afterwards, I discuss possible limitations of this perspective. The final section examines whether there is merit in the idea that also unconscious mental processes, thoughts, and feelings are instances of behavior. This chapter provides only a brief exploration of these complex issues but will hopefully stimulate further discussion. notReviewed other