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=== The behavioristic half-century ===
Il lavoro di Thorndike, Pavlov e poco più tardi dello schietto comportamentista [[John B. Watson]]<ref>Watson, J. B. (1913). Psychology as the Behaviorist Views it. ''Psychological Review, 20'', 158-177</ref> impostò la direzione di molte ricerche sul comportamento degli animali per più di mezzo secolo. Durante questo periodo ci fu un notevole progresso nella comprensione delle associazioni semplici; in particolare, intorno al 1930 furono chiarite le differenze tra di Thorndikeil [[condizionamento operante]] |di strumentaliThorndike (oe operante) condizionata]]il [[condizionamento classico | classico (o pavloviano) condizionata]] e di Pavlov sono state chiarite, prima da Miller e Kanorski, e poi dida [[B. F. Skinner]].<ref>Miller, S. & Konorski, J. (1928) Sur une forme particulière des reflexes conditionels. ''Comptes Rendus des Seances de la Societe de Biologie et de ses Filiales'', 99, 1155-1157</ref><ref>Skinner, B. F. (1932) ''The Behavior of Organisms''</ref> Seguirono molti esperimenti sul condizionamento, che generarono alcune teorie complesse,<ref>Hull, C. L. (1943) ''The Principles of Behavior''</ref> ma che fecero poco o nessun riferimento all'intervento di processi mentali. Probabilmente il licenziamento più esplicito dell'idea che il comportamento di controllo dei processi mentali è stato il [[comportamentismo radicale]] di Skinner. Questo punto di vista cerca di spiegare il comportamento, tra cui "eventi privati" come immagini mentali, esclusivamente con riferimento alle contingenze ambientali che influiscono sulla umano o animale.
but they made little or no reference to intervening mental processes. Probably the most explicit dismissal of the idea that mental processes control behavior was the [[radical behaviorism]] of Skinner. This view seeks to explain behavior, including "private events" like mental images, solely by reference to the environmental contingencies impinging on the human or animal.<ref>Skinner, B. F. ''About Behaviorism'' 1976</ref>
set the direction of much research on animal behavior for more than half a century. During this time there was considerable progress in understanding simple associations; notably, around 1930 the differences between Thorndike's [[Operant conditioning|instrumental (or operant) conditioning]] and Pavlov's [[Classical conditioning|classical (or Pavlovian) conditioning]] were clarified, first by Miller and Kanorski, and then by [[B. F. Skinner]].<ref>Miller, S. & Konorski, J. (1928) Sur une forme particulière des reflexes conditionels. ''Comptes Rendus des Seances de la Societe de Biologie et de ses Filiales'', 99, 1155-1157</ref><ref>Skinner, B. F. (1932) ''The Behavior of Organisms''</ref> Many experiments on conditioning followed; they generated some complex theories,<ref>Hull, C. L. (1943) ''The Principles of Behavior''</ref> but they made little or no reference to intervening mental processes. Probably the most explicit dismissal of the idea that mental processes control behavior was the [[radical behaviorism]] of Skinner. This view seeks to explain behavior, including "private events" like mental images, solely by reference to the environmental contingencies impinging on the human or animal.<ref>Skinner, B. F. ''About Behaviorism'' 1976</ref>
Despite the predominantly behaviorist orientation of research before 1960, the rejection of mental processes in animals was not universal during those years. Influential exceptions included, for example, [[Wolfgang Köhler]] and his insightful chimpanzees<ref>Köhler, W. (1917) ''The Mentality of Apes''</ref> and [[Edward Tolman]] whose proposed [[cognitive map]] was a significant contribution to subsequent cognitive research in both humans and animals.<ref>Tolman, E. C. (1948) ''Cognitive maps in rats and men'' Psychological Review, 55, 189-208</ref>
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