Behaviorism and Psychoanalysis in the Mid-Twentieth Century
Edward Tolman and Purposive Behaviorism
Edward Tolman was a prominent figure in mid-twentieth-century psychology, recognized both as a scientist and a citizen.
In the early , Tolman gained notoriety for his refusal to sign a loyalty oath, which was a common symbolic practice for businesses and institutions at the time to demonstrate compliance with the massive anti-communist campaign in the United States.
Tolman refused the oath based on two primary objections: - He believe it violated his legal rights as a citizen. - He believed loyalty oaths infringed upon the academic freedom of scholars.
He challenged the pressure to sign by taking his case to the California Supreme Court, which he ultimately won.
The court's decision overturned the oath and mandated the reinstatement of all individuals who had been terminated or penalized for refusing to sign.
Tolman's academic background began with training in engineering before he shifted his focus to psychology.
He earned his PhD from Harvard in and traveled to Germany during his studies.
While initially an early follower of John Watson's behaviorism, Tolman became dissatisfied with Watson's classical approach and developed his own direction.
His approach is known as purposive behaviorism or operational behaviorism.
The core tenet of purposive behaviorism is that there is a purpose or a goal behind behaviors; organisms are not merely responding randomly to environmental stimuli.
Tolman moved further away from Watson's rejection of introspection by introducing the concept of the cognitive map.
A Cognitive Map is defined as the internal processing that occurs as individuals code, store, recall, and decode information about elements in their environment.
These maps represent a holistic pattern that guides current behavior based on numerous previously learned patterns.
Tolman and his followers applied the concept of cognitive maps to various psychological phenomena: - Education: Teachers could address learning problems by helping students form new cognitive maps to replace old, ineffective ones. - Social Issues: Tolman posited that individuals could overcome prejudice by approaching knowledge about social groups from a different perspective, effectively creating a new cognitive map that leads to new behavior.
Karl Lashley and the Mechanisms of Animal Behavior
Karl Lashley, a student and follower of John Watson, focused his life's work on the mechanisms of animal behavior.
His research interests included the brain regulation of sensory receptors and the neural basis of motor activities.
Lashley studied a variety of animals, including primates, but his major contributions came from research involving rats.
His methodology involved measuring animal behavior before and after very specific, carefully quantified, induced brain damage.
He trained rats for specific tasks and then created lesions (cuts) in specific areas of the brain either before or after the training.
These lesions had specific impacts on the rats' ability to acquire or retain knowledge.
Lashley's Principal Contribution: He demonstrated that the brain's cortex functions as a cohesive unit rather than a collection of separate independent centers.
His experiments revealed that if specific sections of the brain are damaged, other parts of the brain have the capacity to take over the roles of the damaged regions.
B. F. Skinner and Operant Conditioning
Burris Frederick (B. F.) Skinner was arguably the most productive supporter of behaviorism in the mid-twentieth century.
Born in Pennsylvania, he initially studied philosophy and literature with the intention of becoming a great novelist.
He abandoned his writing plans and turned to science, attending Harvard for graduate school in experimental psychology.
Skinner held professorships at the University of Minnesota and Indiana University before returning to Harvard in , where he remained until long after his retirement.
Theoretical Influences: - Ernst Mach: Skinner accepted the German philosopher's view of science as a tool evolved for helping people make adjustments for survival; therefore, science and technology are tools for adaptation. - Jacques Loeb: Skinner was influenced by Loeb's theory of tropism, which emphasized the importance of studying the entire organism rather than just isolated responses (a concept also found in Gestalt psychology).
Skinner's educational philosophy held that scientists have the right to observe, use, and control phenomena.
He believed psychologists should influence people to make them better.
Two major interests converged in Skinner's work: - Behaviorism: The belief that psychology must be based on observable scientific facts obtained through quantitative empirical research. - Craftsmanship: As a youth, Skinner enjoyed building toys, small-scale furniture, and appliances. These skills allowed him to design and build his own experimental equipment.
The Skinner Box and Reinforcement Schedules
Skinner designed what he called an "experimental space," though the public referred to them as Skinner boxes.
The box typically featured tunnels, holes, and levers for rats to press to study their responses under various conditions.
Unlike Pavlov's experiments where dogs were restricted by a harness, rats in a Skinner box were free to move around.
When a rat (often accidentally while exploring) pressed a lever, a food pellet was automatically released into a dispenser tray.
In behaviorist terms, the lever-pressing behavior was reinforced by the food delivered immediately after the action.
Skinner developed specific Schedules of Reinforcement, which are conditions of different rates and times for reinforcement delivery: - Continuous Reinforcement: The target behavior (e.g., a lever press or a dog sitting) is rewarded every single time it is performed. - Partial Reinforcement: Scenarios where the behavior is not rewarded every time it occurs.
Types of Partial Reinforcement: - Interval Schedules: Based on the amount of time that passes before reinforcement is available. - Example: A rat gets one pellet after at least one press within a precision interval, regardless of whether it pressed once or times. - Can be fixed interval (exactly ) or variable interval (varying times such as , then , then ). - Ratio Schedules: Based on the number of responses performed before reinforcement is provided. - Example: A pellet is released only after the rat presses the lever exactly times. - Can be fixed ratio (every presses) or variable ratio (first presses, then , then ).
These schedules allowed Skinner to precisely measure behavioral responses (the presence or absence of a lever press) and determine how different delivery conditions affected behavior.
Walden Two and Skinner's Social Vision
Skinner authored two books that brought him worldwide fame: Walden Two () and Beyond Freedom and Dignity.
Walden Two was inspired by Henry Thoreau’s novel Walden, which depicted the moral benefits of a simple life in nature.
In Walden Two, Skinner outlined a blueprint for an idyllic fictional community of approximately people.
Characteristics of the Walden Two community: - Collectively owned property and a primarily agricultural economy. - Collective education of children. - Members work only per day. - High emphasis on recycling and consuming only what is necessary. - Minimal government and very little religion.
The community maintains harmony through the application of the principles of conditioning and positive reinforcement.
The Controversy of Walden Two: Skinner argued that historically, the power of conditioning (punishment and reinforcement) had been held by "the wrong people," such as kings, presidents, and other authorities.
He viewed these leaders as incompetent people who abused power for self-interest rather than social advancement.
Skinner proposed that if educated behaviorists were in charge, they could implement conditioning principles to create a better society for everyone.
Further Developments in Psychoanalysis: Ego Psychology
Mid-twentieth-century psychoanalysts continued to revise Freudian theory but generally accepted that infantile conflicts shaped adult experiences and that identifying these conflicts in therapy was essential.
A significant shift occurred with the focus on the ego; while acknowledging unconscious drives, researchers began focusing on the conscious aspects of the mental world.
This field, Ego Psychology, focuses on facts relating to the ego's interaction with the social environment.
Anna Freud: The youngest of Sigmund Freud's six children, she published her most influential book, The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense, in . - She focused on the ego's struggle with the demands of the id and reality-based restrictions. - The ego's function is to regulate and defend itself from these demands to protect against anxiety, shame, or discomfort. - These defenses are primarily unconscious, meaning the individual is unaware they are being activated. - To an external observer, there may seem to be little relation between external circumstances and the person's response because the response is driven by the need to protect the ego. - Example: A person in a serious relationship involving responsibility might act in an immature or childish way. Anna Freud described this behavioral immaturity as "responsibility avoidance" to protect the ego. - Defense Mechanisms are defined as specific unconscious structures that allow an individual to avoid conscious awareness of anxiety-inducing things. - Detection: Anna Freud believed trained analysts could identify these mechanisms through clinical interviews and observing everyday behavior and decisions, without the need for experimental labs.
Erik Erikson and Henry Murray
Erik Erikson: A follower of Anna Freud who trained at the Vienna Psychoanalytic Institute. - He worked in the U.S. as a clinician and professor at Yale, University of California, Berkeley, and Harvard. - He expanded psychoanalysis by exploring sociocultural influences on development. - He posited that all people pass through developmental stages from birth to death.
Henry Murray (-): Educated in history, biology, and medicine, he turned to psychoanalysis after meeting Carl Jung. - He taught psychoanalytic theory at Harvard for the length of his career. - He is famous for developing the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) with Christina Morgan. - The TAT involves showing a subject a series of ambiguous images (originally pictures) and asking them to tell a story about each. - Subjects describe the characters, the events leading up to the moment, the characters' feelings, and what will happen in the future. - Similar to Rorschach inkblots, the ambiguity requires the subject to project their internal world onto the stimulus. - Example interpretation: Looking at a picture of a woman by a door near a man on a bed, one person might see a murder, another an alcoholic husband, and another a sick brother. - Themas: Murray used this term to describe stories or interpretations where subjects project fantasy imagery onto an objective stimulus. - Through the study of these themas, a trained psychoanalyst can gain insight into a person's hopes, wishes, and psychological problems. - The TAT achieved global recognition and was translated into many languages.