7.2. Skinner

Skinner: Behavioral Analysis

Overview of Behavioral Analysis

  • Emerged from laboratory studies of animals and humans.

  • Minimized speculation to enhance scientific rigor.

  • Focused exclusively on observable behavior.

  • Avoided utilizing hypothetical constructs.

  • Proposed that behavior is lawfully determined.

  • Suggested that behavior is a product of environmental stimuli.

Biography of Skinner

  • Born in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania in 1904.

  • Childhood interests included constructing gadgets, playing music, and writing novels.

  • Attended Hamilton College, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts (BA).

  • Obtained his PhD in psychology at Harvard in 1931.

  • Accepted his first teaching job at age 32 at the University of Minnesota.

Biography (cont’d)

  • Published The Behavior of Organisms in 1938, a significant work in behavioral science.

  • Invented the controversial baby tender, a device for child care.

  • Trained pigeons for a military application to guide bombs into enemy ships during WWII, demonstrated in 1944.

  • Authored Walden Two, reflecting on his ambitions as a writer.

  • Held teaching positions at Indiana University and Harvard.

  • Died in 1990 from leukemia.

Precursors of Skinner’s Scientific Behaviorism

  • E.L. Thorndike: Established the Law of Effect, emphasizing the outcomes of behavior.

  • John B. Watson: Advocated for objective study of behavior, dismissing consciousness and introspection.

    • Suggested that the goal of psychology is the prediction and control of behavior.

    • Promoted the study of stimulus-response connections.

Scientific Behaviorism

  • Philosophy of Science: Emphasizes behavioral interpretation over causal explanation.

  • Characteristics of Science:

    • Cumulative: Builds on existing knowledge.

    • Valued empirical observation, rejection of authority, and demands intellectual honesty.

    • Science seeks order and lawful relationships through prediction, control, and description.

Conditioning

Classical Conditioning

  • A process where a specific, identifiable stimulus elicits a response from an organism.

  • Involves pairing a neutral (conditioned) stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus multiple times to generate a conditioned response.

Operant Conditioning

  • Shaping: A method where behavior is refined through successive approximations with rewards.

    • Three essential conditions:

      • The antecedent: The environment/set in which behavior occurs.

      • The behavior itself.

      • The consequence of the behavior.

  • Operant discrimination: Recognizing environmental differences that affect behavior based on past consequences.

  • Stimulus generalization: Occurs when a response is elicited by similar stimuli.

Operant Conditioning Effects

Reinforcement

  • Strengthens behavior and provides rewards.

  • Two types of reinforcement:

    • Positive Reinforcement: Introducing a favorable stimulus.

    • Negative Reinforcement: Removing an adverse stimulus.

Punishment

  • Involves the presentation of an aversive stimulus to decrease behavior.

  • Comparison between punishment and reinforcement involves conditioned and generalized reinforcers:

    • Primary reinforcers: Naturally satisfying stimuli.

    • Conditioned reinforcers: Environmental stimuli that become satisfying through association.

    • Generalized reinforcers: Associated with multiple primary reinforcers.

Schedules of Reinforcement

  • Types include:

    • Fixed-ratio

    • Variable-ratio

    • Fixed-interval

    • Variable-interval

  • Extinction: Refers to the weakening of a previously reinforced behavior when reinforcement is withheld.

The Human Organism

The Role of Various Influences

  • Natural Selection: The process influencing evolution.

  • Cultural Evolution: How cultures shape behavior.

  • Inner States: Include aspects like self-awareness, drives, emotions, purpose, and intention.

  • Complex Behaviors: Encompass higher mental processes, creativity, unconscious behaviors, dreams, and social behaviors.

  • Control of Human Behavior: Examines elements of social control and self-control.

The Unhealthy Personality

Counteracting Strategies

  • Methods include:

    • Escape

    • Revolt

    • Passive Resistance

Inappropriate Behaviors

  • Behaviors that manifest as either excessively vigorous or restrained, along with blocks to reality, self-delusions, and self-punishment.

Psychotherapy

  • Viewed as a barrier to the scientific study of behavior.

  • Therapists encourage behavior change through reinforcement of positive behavior modifications.

  • Behavior therapists utilize techniques highlighting the positive consequences of behaviors and the negative effects of others.

Related Research

  • How Conditioning Affects Personality (Tidey, O’Neil & Higgins, 2000): Reinforcers' value can shift over time.

  • How Personality Affects Conditioning (Philip Corr, 2002): Individual personality traits affect responses to reinforcers.

  • Reinforcement and the Brain (Beaver et al., 2009): High behavioral activation correlates with increased brain activation in response to rewards.

Critique of Skinner

  • Skinner’s Theory Characteristics:

    • High generation of research, guiding action, and internal consistency.

    • High on falsifiability.

    • Moderate in organizing knowledge.

    • Difficulties in rating parsimony.

Concept of Humanity

  • Aspects include:

    • Determinism vs. Free Will (determined behavior).

    • Optimism vs. Pessimism.

    • Causality vs. Teleology.

    • Unconscious vs. Conscious influences.

    • Social Influences vs. Biological factors.

    • Uniqueness vs. Similarity among individuals.

Refleksi

  • Contemplate a behavior or habit that requires modification.

  • Evaluate potential forms of reinforcement and punishment that may effectively alter said behavior or habit.