The “objective-behavioral” environment of Isidor Chein: In Memory of a Humanistic Scientist

Joseph de Rivera, New York University

Abstract

Isidor Chein was committed to the development of a unified science of human behavior. His observations of behavior led him to stress the importance of two somewhat paradoxical facts: (1) that persons were active agents whose behavior was directed at the perceived environment and (2) that all behavior had to be understood in the context of the objective environment. This article discusses why Chein chose to stress the objective environment and how he managed to describe objective environmental forces in a way that still allowed for the personal freedom and responsibility of active agents. It shows how his conception of an “objective-behavioral” environment accounts for the tremendous impact of the environment on contranormative behavior yet does not excuse delinquents, or us, from responsibility for that behavior. © 1986, SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC. All rights reserved.