Chapter 16 Blue.

The Skinners had two daughters—Julie, born

in 1938, and Deborah (Debbie), born in 1944.
Skinner: Behavioral Analysis
 One week before his death, he delivered an
Feist, J., Feist, G., & Roberts, T. (2013). Theories emotional address to the American Psychological
of personality. McGraw-Hill. Association (APA) convention in which he
continued his advocacy of radical behaviorism. At
this convention, he received an unprecedented
Overview of Behavioral Analysis Citation for Outstanding Lifetime Contribution to
Psychology, the only person to receive such an
 An approach called behaviorism emerged from award in the history of APA.
laboratory studies of animals and humans.
 Two of the early pioneers of behaviorism were E. L.
Thorndike and John Watson, but the person most Precursors to Skinner’s Scientific Behaviorism
often associated with the behaviorist position is B.  Edward L. Thorndike observed that learning takes
F. Skinner, whose behavioral analysis is a clear place mostly because of the effects that follow a
departure from the highly speculative response, and he called this observation the law
psychodynamic theories discussed in Chapters 2 of effect.
through 8.  The law of effect had two parts:
 Skinner minimized speculation and focused almost 1. The first stated that responses to stimuli that
entirely on observable behavior. are followed immediately by a satisfier tend
 Skinner’s strict adherence to observable behavior to be “stamped in”.
earned his approach the label radical behaviorism, 2. The second held that responses to stimuli that
a doctrine that avoids all hypothetical constructs, are followed immediately by an annoyer tend
such as ego, traits, drives, needs, hunger, and so to be “stamped out.”
forth.  Thorndike later amended the law of effect by
 As a determinist, he rejected the notion of volition minimizing the importance of annoyers.
or free will.  Whereas rewards (satisfiers) strengthen the
 As an environmentalist, Skinner held that connection between a stimulus and a response,
psychology must not explain behavior on the basis punishments (annoyers) do not usually weaken
of the physiological or constitutional components this connection.
of the organism but rather on the basis of
environmental stimuli.
 The history of the individual, rather than anatomy,  A second and more direct influence on Skinner
provides the most useful data for predicting and was the work of John B. Watson.
controlling behavior.  Watson had studied both animals and humans
and became convinced that the concepts of
consciousness and introspection must play no
Biography of B. F. Skinner role in the scientific study of human behavior.
 Burrhus Frederic Skinner was born on March 20,  Watson (1913) argued that human behavior, like
1904, in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, the first child the behavior of animals and machines, can be
of William Skinner and Grace Mange Burrhus studied objectively.
Skinner.  He attacked not only consciousness and
 Skinner grew up in a comfortable, happy, upper- introspection but also the notions of instinct,
middle-class home where his parents practiced the sensation, perception, motivation, mental states,
values of temperance, service, honesty, and hard mind, and imagery.
work.  Watson further argued that the goal of
 Soon after moving to Minneapolis and following a psychology is the prediction and control of
short and erratic courtship, he married Yvonne behavior and that goal could best be reached by
 limiting psychology to an objective study of habits III. Science suspends judgment until clear trends
formed through stimulus-response connections. emerge.
 A third characteristic of science is a search for
order and lawful relationships. All science begins
with observation of single events and then
attempts to infer general principles and laws from
SCIENTIFIC BEHAVIORISM those events.
 Skinner insisted that human behavior should be  The scientific method consists of prediction,
studied scientifically. control, and description.
 His scientific behaviorism holds that behavior can
best be studied without reference to needs,
instincts, or motives. CONDITIONING
 Cosmology, or the concern with causation.
 Skinner (1953) recognized two kinds of
 To be scientific, Skinner insisted, psychology must
conditioning, classical and operant.
avoid internal mental factors and confine itself to
 Classical conditioning (which Skinner called
observable physical events.
respondent conditioning), a response is drawn out
Philosophy of Science of the organism by a specific, identifiable stimulus.
 Operant conditioning (also called Skinnerian
 Scientific behaviorism allows for an interpretation conditioning), a behavior is made more likely to
of behavior but not an explanation of its causes. recur when it is immediately reinforced.
 Interpretation permits a scientist to generalize  Classical conditioning, behavior is elicited from the
from a simple learning condition to a more organism.
complex one.  Operant conditioning, behavior is emitted.
 Skinner (1978) used principles derived from  An elicited response is drawn from the organism,
laboratory studies to interpret the behavior of whereas an emitted response is one that simply
human beings but insisted that interpretation appears.
should not be confused with an explanation of why
people behave the way they do. Classical Conditioning

Characteristics of Science  A neutral (conditioned) stimulus is paired with—

that is, immediately precedes—an unconditioned
 According to Skinner (1953), science has three stimulus a number of times until it is capable of
main characteristics: bringing about a previously unconditioned
1. First, science is cumulative; response, now called the conditioned response.
2. Second, it is an attitude that values empirical
 The simplest examples include reflexive behavior.
observation;
 However, is not limited to simple reflexes. It can
3. And third, science is a search for order and
also be responsible for more complex human
lawful relationships.
learning like phobias, fears, and anxieties.
 Science, in contrast to art, philosophy, and
 An early example of classical conditioning with
literature, advances in a cumulative manner.
humans was described by John Watson and Rosalie
 The second and most critical characteristic of
Rayner in 1920 and involved a young boy—Albert
science is an attitude that places value on empirical
B., usually referred to as Little Albert.
observation above all else.
 The key to this classical conditioning experiment
 There are three components to the scientific
was the pairing of a conditioned stimulus (the
attitude:
white rat) with an unconditioned stimulus (fear of
I. Rejects authority—even its own authority
a loud sudden sound) until the presence of the
II. Science demands intellectual honesty, and it
conditioned stimulus (the white rat) was sufficient
requires scientists to accept facts even when
to elicit the unconditioned stimulus (fear).
these facts are opposed to their wishes and
desires.
Operant Conditioning  Reinforcement and reward, therefore, are not
synonymous.
 Skinner believed that most human behaviors are
 Any behavior that increases the probability that the
learned through operant conditioning.
species or the individual will survive tends to be
 The key to operant conditioning is the immediate
strengthened.
reinforcement of a response.
 Any behavior that tends to reduce or avoid these
 Reinforcement, in turn, increases the probability
conditions is likewise reinforced.
that the same behavior will occur again.
 Reinforcement can be divided into that which
 Operant conditioning changes the frequency of a
produces a beneficial environmental condition and
response or the probability that a response will
that which reduces or avoids a detrimental one.
occur.
 The first is called positive reinforcement; the
 The reinforcement does not cause the behavior,
second is negative reinforcement.
but it increases the likelihood that it will be
1. Positive Reinforcement - Any stimulus that,
repeated.
when added to a situation, increases the
Shaping probability that a given behavior will occur is
termed a positive reinforce.
 Shaping is a procedure in which the experimenter 2. Negative Reinforcement - The removal of an
or the environment first rewards gross aversive stimulus from a situation also increases
approximations of the behavior, then closer the probability that the preceding behavior will
approximations, and finally the desired behavior occur.
itself.
 Through this process of reinforcing successive Punishment
approximations, the experimenter or the
 Punishment is the presentation of an aversive
environment gradually shapes the final complex
stimulus, such as an electric shock, or the removal
set of behaviors.
of a positive one, such as disconnecting an
 Behavior is not discrete but continuous; that is, the
adolescent’s telephone.
organism usually moves slightly beyond the
 Although punishment does not strengthen a
previously reinforced response.
response, neither does it inevitably weaken it.
 Because behavior is continuous, the organism
Effects of Punishment
moves slightly beyond the previously reinforced
o Punishment ordinarily is imposed to prevent
response, and this slightly exceptional value can
people from acting in a particular way. When it
then be used as the new minimum standard for
is successful, people will stop behaving in that
reinforcement.
manner, but they still must do something.
 Each of us has a history of being reinforced by
o One effect of punishment is to suppress
reacting to some elements in our environment but
behavior.
not to others. This history of differential
o Another effect of punishment is the
reinforcement results in operant discrimination.
conditioning of a negative feeling by
 A response to a similar environment in the absence
associating a strong aversive stimulus with the
of previous reinforcement is called stimulus
behavior being punished.
generalization.
o A third outcome of punishment is the spread of
 People do not generalize from one situation to
its effects. Any stimulus associated with the
another, but rather they react to a new situation in
punishment may be suppressed or avoided.
the same manner that they reacted to an earlier
one because the two situations possess some Punishment and Reinforcement Compared
identical elements.
 Punishment has several characteristics in common
Reinforcement with reinforcement.
 There are two types of punishment:
 Reinforcement has two effects: It strengthens the
behavior and it rewards the person.
 The first requires the presentation of an aversive either can be set at a fixed rate or can vary
stimulus; the second involves the removal of a according to a randomized program.
positive reinforcer.  The four basic intermittent schedules are fixed-
 These two types of punishment reveal a second ratio, variable-ratio, fixed-interval, and variable-
characteristic common to punishment and interval.
reinforcement: Both can derive either from natural 1. Fixed-Ratio - the organism is reinforced
consequences or from human imposition. intermittently according to the number of
 Both punishment and reinforcement are means of responses it makes. . Ratio refers to the ratio of
controlling behavior, whether the control is by responses to reinforcers.
design or by accident. 2. Variable-Ratio - it is reinforced after the nth
response on the average.
Conditioned and Generalized Reinforcers
3. Fixed-Interval - the organism is reinforced for
 Conditioned reinforcers (sometimes called the first response following a designated period
secondary reinforcers) are those environmental of time.
stimuli that are not by nature satisfying but 4. Variable-Interval - is one in which the organism
become so because they are associated with such is reinforced after the lapse of random or varied
unlearned or primary reinforcers as food, water, periods of time. Such schedules result in more
sex, or physical comfort. responses per interval than do fixed-interval
 Money is a conditioned reinforcer because it can schedules.
be exchanged for a great variety of primary Extinction
reinforcers. In addition, it is a generalized
reinforcer because it is associated with more than  Once learned, responses can be lost for at least
one primary reinforcer. four reasons.
 Skinner (1953) recognized five important I. First, they can simply be forgotten during the
generalized reinforcers that sustain much of passage of time.
human behavior: attention, approval, affection, II. Second, and more likely, they can be lost due
submission of others, and tokens (money) to the interference of preceding or subsequent
learning.
Schedules of Reinforcement III. Third, they can disappear due to punishment.
 Any behavior followed immediately by the IV. A fourth cause of lost learning is extinction,
presentation of a positive reinforcer or the defined as the tendency of a previously
removal of an aversive stimulus tends thereafter to acquired response to become progressively
occur more frequently. weakened upon nonreinforcement.
 The frequency of that behavior, however, is  Operant extinction takes place when an
subject to the conditions under which training experimenter systematically withholds
occurred, more specifically, to the various reinforcement of a previously learned response
schedules of reinforcement. until the probability of that response diminishes to
 Reinforcement can follow behavior on either a zero.
continuous schedule or an intermittent one.  Rate of operant extinction depends largely on the
 Continuous schedule, the organism is reinforced schedule of reinforcement under which learning
for every response. This type of schedule increases occurred.
the frequency of a response but is an inefficient  Behavior trained on an intermittent schedule is
use of the reinforce. much more resistant to extinction.
 Skinner preferred intermittent schedules not only  In general, the higher the rate of responses per
because they make more efficient use of the reinforcement, the slower the rate of extinction;
reinforcer but because they produce responses the fewer responses an organism must make or
that are more resistant to extinction. the shorter the time between reinforcers, the
 Intermittent schedules are based either on the more quickly extinction will occur.
behavior of the organism or on elapsed time; they
 Extinction is seldom systematically applied to  In other words, humans do not make a cooperative
human behavior outside therapy or behavior decision to do what is best for the society, but
modification. those societies whose members behaved
cooperatively tended to survive.
 Eventually, a cultural practice evolved that was
THE HUMAN ORGANISM reinforcing to the group, although not necessarily
to the individual.
 Skinner’s view was that an understanding of the  The remnants of culture, like those of natural
behavior of laboratory animals can generalize to selection, are not all adaptive.
human behavior.
 Skinner agreed with John Watson that psychology Inner States
must be confined to a scientific study of
 Skinner (1989b) did not deny the existence of
observable phenomena, namely behavior.
internal states, such as feelings of love, anxiety, or
 According to Skinner (1987a), human behavior
fear.
(and human personality) is shaped by three forces:
 Internal states can be studied just as any other
(1) natural selection,
behavior, but their observation is, of course,
(2) cultural practices, and
limited.
(3) the individual’s history of reinforcement
 What, then, is the role of such inner states as self-
Natural Selection awareness, drives, emotions, and purpose?

 As a species, however, we are shaped by the Self-Awareness

contingencies of survival. Natural selection plays
 Skinner (1974) believed that humans not only have
an important part in human personality.
consciousness but are also aware of their
 Those behaviors that, throughout history, were
consciousness;
beneficial to the species tended to survive,
 They are not only aware of their environment but
whereas those that were only idiosyncratically
are also aware of themselves as part of their
reinforcing tended to drop out.
environment;
 The contingencies of reinforcement and the
 They not only observe external stimuli but are also
contingencies of survival interact, and some
aware of themselves observing that stimuli.
behaviors that are individually reinforcing also
 Each person is subjectively aware of his or her own
contribute to the survival of the species.
thoughts, feelings, recollections, and intentions.
 Not every remnant of natural selection continues
to have survival value. Drives
 Although natural selection helped shape some
 To Skinner (1953), drives simply refer to the effects
human behavior, it is probably responsible for only
of deprivation and satiation and to the
a small number of people’s actions.
corresponding probability that the organism will
 Skinner (1989a) claimed that the contingencies of
respond.
reinforcement, especially those that have shaped
 If psychologists knew enough about the three
human culture, account for most of human
essentials of behavior (antecedent, behavior, and
behavior.
consequences), then they would know why a
Cultural Evolution person behaves, that is, what drives are related to
specific behaviors.
 Skinner elaborated more fully on the importance
 Only then would drives have a legitimate role in
of culture in shaping human personality.
the scientific study of human behavior.
 Selection is responsible for those cultural practices
that have survived, just as selection plays a key
role in humans’ evolutionary history and also with
the contingencies of reinforcement.
Emotions  As behaviors, they are amenable to the same
contingencies of reinforcement as overt behaviors.
 Skinner (1974) recognized the subjective existence
 Problem solving also involves covert behavior and
of emotions, of course, but he insisted that
often requires the person to covertly manipulate
behavior must not be attributed to them.
the relevant variables until the correct solution is
 He accounted for emotions by the contingencies of
found.
survival and the contingencies of reinforcement.
 Throughout the millennia, individuals who were Creativity
most strongly disposed toward fear or anger were
 If behavior were nothing other than a predictable
those who escaped from or triumphed over danger
response to a stimulus, creative behavior could not
and thus were able to pass on those characteristics
exist because only previously reinforced behavior
to their offspring.
would be emitted.
 On an individual level, behaviors followed by
 To Skinner, then, creativity is simply the result of
delight, joy, pleasure, and other pleasant emotions
random or accidental behaviors (overt or covert)
tend to be reinforced, thereby increasing the
that happen to be rewarded.
probability that these behaviors would recur in the
 The fact that some people are more creative than
life of that individual
others is due both to differences in genetic
Purpose and Intention endowment and to experiences that have shaped
their creative behavior.
 Purpose and intention exist within the skin, but
they are not subject to direct outside scrutiny. Unconscious Behavior
 A felt, ongoing purpose may itself be reinforcing.
 He did accept the idea of unconscious behavior.
 What are called intentions or purposes, therefore,
 In fact, because people rarely observe the
are physically felt stimuli within the organism and
relationship between genetic and environmental
not mentalistic events responsible for behavior.
variables and their own behavior, nearly all our
behavior is unconsciously motivated.
 Behavior is labeled unconscious when people no
Complex Behavior
longer think about it because it has been
 Human behavior can be exceedingly complex, yet suppressed through punishment.
Skinner believed that even the most abstract and
Dreams
complex behavior is shaped by natural selection,
cultural evolution, or the individual’s history of  Skinner (1953) saw dreams as covert and symbolic
reinforcement. forms of behavior that are subject to the same
 Skinner did not deny the existence of higher contingencies of reinforcement as other behaviors
mental processes such as cognition, reason, and are.
recall; nor did he ignore complex human  Dream behavior is reinforcing when repressed
endeavors like creativity, unconscious behavior, sexual or aggressive stimuli are allowed
dreams, and social behavior. expression.
 He agreed with Freud that dreams may serve a
Higher Mental Processes
wish-fulfillment purpose.
 Skinner (1974) admitted that human thought is the
Social Behavior
most difficult of all behaviors to analyze; but
potentially, at least, it can be understood as long  Groups do not behave; only individuals do.
as one does not resort to a hypothetical fiction  Individuals establish groups because they have
such as “mind.” been rewarded for doing so.
 Thinking, problem solving, and reminiscing are  Membership in a social group is not always
covert behaviors that take place within the skin reinforcing; yet, for at least three reasons, some
but not inside the mind. people remain a member of a group.
 1. People may remain in a group that abuses are internal states, the control originates with the
them because some group members are environment.
reinforcing them.  Physical restraint acts to counter the effects of
2. Some people, especially children, may not conditioning, and it results in behavior contrary to
possess the means to leave the group. that which would have been emitted had the
3. Reinforcement may occur on an intermittent person not been restrained.
schedule so that the abuse suffered by an
Self-Control
individual is intermingled with occasional
reward.  Just as people can alter the variables in another
 If the positive reinforcement is strong enough, its person’s environment, so they can manipulate the
effects will be more powerful than those of variables within their own environment and thus
punishment. exercise some measure of self-control.
 The contingencies of self-control, however, do not
reside within the individual and cannot be freely
Control of Human Behavior
chosen.
 Ultimately, an individual’s behavior is controlled by  When people control their own behavior, they do
environmental contingencies. so by manipulating the same variables that they
 Those contingencies may have been erected by would use in controlling someone else’s behavior,
society, by another individual, or by oneself; but and ultimately these variables lie outside
the environment, not free will, is responsible for themselves.
behavior.  Skinner and Margaret Vaughan (Skinner &
Vaughan, 1983) have discussed several techniques
Social Control
that people can use to exercise self-control
 Individuals act to form social groups because such without resorting to free choice.
behavior tends to be reinforcing.  They can use physical aids such as tools,
 Groups, in turn, exercise control over their machines, and financial resources to alter their
members by formulating written or unwritten laws, environment.
rules, and customs that have physical existence  People can change their environment, thereby
beyond the lives of individuals. increasing the probability of the desired
 Each of us is controlled by a variety of social forces behavior.
and techniques, but all these can be grouped  People can arrange their environment so that
under the following headings: they can escape from an aversive stimulus only
(1) operant conditioning, by producing the proper response.
(2) describing contingencies,  People can take drugs, especially alcohol, as a
(3) deprivation and satiation, and means of self-control.
(4) physical restraint  People can simply do something else in order
 Society exercises control over its members through to avoid behaving in an undesirable fashion.
the four principal methods of operant
conditioning: positive reinforcement, negative
reinforcement, and the two techniques of THE UNHEALTHY PERSONALITY
punishment (adding an aversive stimulus and
 Unfortunately, the techniques of social control and
removing a positive one).
self-control sometimes produce detrimental
 Describing contingencies involves language, usually
effects, which result in inappropriate behavior and
verbal, to inform people of the consequences of
unhealthy personality development.
their not-yet-emitted behavior.
 Third, behavior can be controlled either by Counteracting Strategies
depriving people or by satiating them with
reinforcers. Even though deprivation and satiation
 When social control is excessive, people can use  Another type of inappropriate behavior is blocking
three basic strategies for counteracting it—they out reality by simply paying no attention to
can escape, revolt, or use passive resistance. aversive stimuli.
 Undesirable behavior results from defective self-
Escape
knowledge and is manifested in such self-deluding
 With the defensive strategy of escape, people responses as boasting, rationalizing, or claiming to
withdraw from the controlling agent either be the Messiah.
physically or psychologically.  Another inappropriate behavior pattern is self-
 People who counteract by escape find it difficult to punishment, exemplified either by people directly
become involved in intimate personal punishing themselves or by arranging
relationships, tend to be mistrustful of people, and environmental variables so that they are punished
prefer to live lonely lives of noninvolvement. by others.

Revolt PSYCHOTHERAPY

 People who revolt against society’s controls  Skinner (1987b) believed that psychotherapy is
behave more actively, counterattacking the one of the chief obstacles blocking psychology’s
controlling agent. attempt to become scientific.
 People can rebel through vandalizing public  Nevertheless, his ideas on shaping behavior not
property, tormenting teachers, verbally abusing only have had a significant impact on behavior
other people, pilfering equipment from employers, therapy but also extend to a description of how all
provoking the police, or overthrowing established therapy works.
organizations such as religions or governments.  Regardless of theoretical orientation, a therapist is
a controlling agent.
Passive Resistance
 Whereas a patient’s parents may have been cold
 People who counteract control through passive and rejecting, the therapist is warm and accepting;
resistance are more subtle than those who rebel whereas the patient’s parents were critical and
and more irritating to the controllers than those judgmental, the therapist is supportive and
who rely on escape. empathic.
 Skinner (1953) believed that passive resistance is  A therapist molds desirable behavior by reinforcing
most likely to be used where escape and revolt slightly improved changes in behavior.
have failed.  Behavior therapists have developed a variety of
 The conspicuous feature of passive resistance is techniques over the years, most based on operant
stubbornness. conditioning (Skinner, 1988), although some are
built around the principles of classical (respondent)
Inappropriate Behaviors conditioning.
 Inappropriate behaviors follow from self-defeating  In general, these therapists play an active role in
techniques of counteracting social control or from the treatment process, pointing out the positive
unsuccessful attempts at self-control, especially consequences of certain behaviors and the
when either of these failures is accompanied by aversive effects of others and also suggesting
strong emotion. behaviors that, over the long haul, will result in
 Inappropriate or unhealthy responses are learned. positive reinforcement.
 They are shaped by positive and negative
reinforcement and especially by the effects of
punishment.
 Inappropriate behaviors include excessively
vigorous behavior, and excessively restrained
behavior.