Howard Rachlin

Howard Rachlin (1935–2021)^[1] was an American psychologist and the founder of teleological behaviorism.^[2] He was Emeritus Research Professor of Psychology, Department of Psychology at Stony Brook University in New York.^[1] His initial work was in the quantitative analysis of operant behavior in pigeons, on which he worked with William M. Baum, developing ideas from Richard Herrnstein's matching law.^[3] He subsequently became one of the founders of Behavioral Economics.^[1]

Rachlin in 2007

His most recent research focused on patterns of choice over time and how those patterns affect self-control (on which he worked with George Ainslie), including cooperation over time. His interests in Behavioral Economics included: decision making, the prisoner's dilemma, addiction, and gambling. He was one of the first board members of the Society for Quantitative Analysis of Behavior.

He was married to the novelist Nahid Rachlin. They had a daughter, Leila.^[4]

Books

• Introduction to modern behaviorism (1970)
• Behavior and learning (1976)
• Behaviorism in everyday life (1980)
• Judgment, decision, and choice: a cognitive/behavioral synthesis (1989)
• Behavior and mind: the roots to modern psychology (1994)
• Science of self-control (2000)
• The escape of the mind (2014)