Contributions to the History of Psychology: LXXXVI. Hull and His Critics: The Reception of Clark L. Hull's Behavior Theory, 1943–1960

Abstract

In the twelve-year period following the publication of Principles of Behavior in 1943, Clark L. Hull was regarded as a leading proponent of systematic behavior theory. By the end of the 1950s, his visibility in the psychological literature had greatly diminished and his contributions to psychological theory were judged by many to have been misguided. Drawing from reviews and assessments of Hull's theorizing which appeared in the period 1943–1960, this paper treats Hull's impact and subsequent decline as inevitable outcomes of the programmatic nature of Hull's behavior theory.