Manipulation as Marketing: Watson's Behaviorism in David Mamet's American Buffalo

This study analyzes David Mamet's American Buffalo in light of John B. Watson's behaviorism, indicating the way in which his views regarding conditioning and external stimuli affect marketing approaches and consumer behavior. Watson's proclamation that human behavior can be formed through deliberate manipulation of environmental matters echoes the relationship between the characters in the story, who are stuck in an ethically crooked environment discernible by sham and self-centeredness. By examining the characters' relations and their premeditated practice of language and persuasion, this paper reveals how their movements represent larger behavioral doctrines that regulate human communication inside a capitalist society. The tinges of trust, deceitfulness, and manipulation act as a miniscule image for grasping the mental procedures included in consumer behavior, signifying that the characters' unsuccessful efforts to proclaim power and authority echo the maneuvers used in marketing. Ultimately, this research implies that American Buffalo not only censures the virtuous qualms of its characters but also functions as a token of the unescapable inspiration of behaviorism in forming societal models and connections in a commodified domain.