A modern synthesis for psychology is possible and desirable

Historically, behavior analysis developed as a scientific field within psychology. It is arguably where behavior analysis belongs, although a case could be made that behavior analysis belongs to biology, with a counterpart in ethology; or even that it is properly a science of its own. Semantics of some importance aside, I outline how psychology may be redefined from a science of eclectic patch-working, to a science of complementary interdisciplinary synthesis. The focus is mainly on three scientific fields within psychology, 1) behavior analysis, 2a) behavioral and cognitive neuroscience, and 2b) cognitive psychology as a perspective empirically based in methodological behaviorism. Fields 2a and 2b are mutually distinguished by realism and instrumentalism with respect to mentalism, respectively for illustrative purposes, although no commitment to mentalism is required, or even advised.