Download GUIDE10

Chapter 16 Skinner: Behavioral Analysis
Chapter 16
Skinner: Behavioral Analysis
Learning Objectives
After reading Chapter 16, you should be able to:
1.
Discuss the contributions of E. L. Thorndike and J. B. Watson to
Skinner's learning theory.
2.
Explain Skinner's philosophy of science.
3.
Discuss the effects on behavior of positive reinforcement, negative
reinforcement, and punishment.
4.
Explain the differences between operant and classical conditioning.
5.
Describe the process of shaping and give examples of how complex
behaviors can be shaped.
6.
Identify and give examples of four different schedules of
reinforcement.
7.
Distinguish between conditioned and generalized reinforcers.
8.
Discuss ways in which natural selection influences personality.
Feist, Theories of Personality, 8e
Student Study Guide-16 | 1
Chapter 16 Skinner: Behavioral Analysis
9.
Discuss Skinner's views on inner states and complex behavior.
10. List the methods of social control and self-control, according to
Skinner.
11. Explain Skinner's approach to understanding the unhealthy
personality.
Summary Outline
I.
Overview of Skinner's Behavioral Analysis
During the 1920s and 1930s, while Freud, Adler, and Jung were
relying on clinical practice and before Eysenck and McCrae and
Costa were using psychometric procedures to build personality
theories, a number of behaviorists were constructing models based
on laboratory studies of human and nonhuman animals. Early
behaviorists included E. L. Thorndike and J. B. Watson, but the
most influential of the later theorists was B. F. Skinner.
Behavioral models of personality avoided speculations about
hypothetical constructs and concentrated almost exclusively on
observable behavior. Skinner rejected the notion of free will and
emphasized the primacy of environmental influences on behavior.
II.
Biography of B. F. Skinner
B. F. Skinner was born in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania in 1904, the
older of two brothers. While in college, Skinner wanted to be a
Feist, Theories of Personality, 8e
Student Study Guide-16 | 2
Chapter 16 Skinner: Behavioral Analysis
writer, but after having little success in this endeavor, he turned to
psychology. After earning a PhD from Harvard, he taught at the
Universities of Minnesota and Indiana before returning to
Harvard, where he remained until his death in 1990.
III.
Precursors to Skinner's Scientific Behaviorism
Modern learning theory has roots in the work of Edward L.
Thorndike and his experiments with animals during the last part of
the 19th century. Thorndike's law of effect stated that responses
followed by a satisfier tend to be learned, a concept that
anticipated Skinner's use of positive reinforcement to shape
behavior. Skinner was even more influenced by John Watson who
argued that psychology must deal with the control and prediction
of behavior and that behavior—not introspection, consciousness,
or the mind—is the basic data of scientific psychology.
IV.
Scientific Behaviorism
Skinner believed that human behavior, like any other natural
phenomena, is subject to the laws of science, and that
psychologists should not attribute inner motivations to it.
Although he rejected internal states (thoughts, emotions, desires,
etc.) as being outside the realm of science, Skinner did not deny
their existence. He simply insisted that they should not be used to
explain behavior.
A. Philosophy of Science
Because the purpose of science is to predict and control, Skinner
argued that psychologists should be concerned with determining
the conditions under which human behavior occurs. By
Feist, Theories of Personality, 8e
Student Study Guide-16 | 3
Chapter 16 Skinner: Behavioral Analysis
discovering these conditions, psychologists can predict and
control human behavior.
B. Characteristics of Science
Skinner held that science has three principal characteristics: (1) its
findings are cumulative, (2) it rests on an attitude that values
empirical observation, and (3) it searches for order and reliable
relationships.
V.
Conditioning
Skinner recognized two kinds of conditioning: classical and
operant.
A. Classical Conditioning
In classical conditioning, a conditioned stimulus is paired with an
unconditioned stimulus until it is capable of bringing about a
previously unconditioned response. For example, Watson and
Rainier conditioned a young boy to fear a white rat (the
conditioned stimulus) by associating it to a loud sudden noise (an
unconditioned stimulus). Eventually, through the process of
generalization, the boy learned to fear stimuli that resembled the
white rat.
B. Operant Conditioning
With operant conditioning, reinforcement is used to increase the
probability that a given behavior will recur. Three factors are
essential in operant conditioning: (1) the antecedent, or
environment in which behavior takes place; (2) the behavior, or
response; and (3) the consequence that follows the behavior.
Psychologists and others use shaping to mold complex human
behavior. Different histories of reinforcement result in operant
Feist, Theories of Personality, 8e
Student Study Guide-16 | 4
Chapter 16 Skinner: Behavioral Analysis
discrimination, meaning that different organisms will respond
differently to the same environmental contingencies. People may
also respond similarly to different environmental stimuli, a process
Skinner called stimulus generalization. Anything within the
environment that strengthens a behavior is a reinforcer. Positive
reinforcement is any stimulus that when added to a situation
increases the probability that a given behavior will occur.
Negative reinforcement is the strengthening of behavior through
the removal of an aversive stimulus. Both positive and negative
reinforcement strengthen behavior. Any event that decreases a
behavior either by presenting an aversive stimulus or by removing
a positive one is called punishment. The effects of punishment are
much less predictable than those of reward. Both punishment and
reinforcement can result from either natural consequences or from
human imposition. Conditioned reinforcers are those stimuli that
are not by nature satisfying (e.g., money), but that can become so
when they are associated with a primary reinforcers, such as food.
Generalized reinforcers are conditioned reinforcers that have
become associated with several primary reinforcers.
Reinforcement can follow behavior on either a continuous
schedule or on an intermittent schedule. There are four basic
intermittent schedules: (1) fixed-ratio, on which the organism is
reinforced intermittently according to the number of responses it
makes; (2) variable-ratio, on which the organism is reinforced
after an average of a predetermined number of responses; (3)
fixed-interval, on which the organism is reinforced for the first
response following a designated period of time; and (4) variable
Feist, Theories of Personality, 8e
Student Study Guide-16 | 5
Chapter 16 Skinner: Behavioral Analysis
interval, on which the organism is reinforced after the lapse of
various periods of time. The tendency of a previously acquired
response to become progressively weakened upon
nonreinforcement is called extinction. Such elimination or
weakening of a response is called classical extinction in a classical
conditioning model and operant extinction when the response is
acquired through operant conditioning.
VI.
The Human Organism
Skinner believed that human behavior is shaped by three forces:
(1) natural selection, (2) the evolution of cultures, and (3) the
individual's personal history of reinforcement, which we discussed
above.
A. Natural Selection
As a species, our behavior is shaped by the contingencies of
survival; that is, those behaviors (e.g., sex and aggression) that
were beneficial to the human species tended to survive, whereas
those that did not tended to drop out.
B. Cultural Evolution
Those societies that evolved certain cultural practices (e.g. tool
making and language) tended to survive. Currently, the lives of
nearly all people are shaped, in part, by modern tools (computers,
media, various modes of transportation, etc.) and by their use of
language. However, humans do not make cooperative decisions to
do what is best for their society, but those societies whose
members behave in a cooperative manner tended to survive.
C. Inner States
Feist, Theories of Personality, 8e
Student Study Guide-16 | 6
Chapter 16 Skinner: Behavioral Analysis
Skinner recognized the existence of such inner states as drives and
self-awareness, but he rejected the notion that they can explain
behavior. To Skinner, drives refer to the effects of deprivation and
satiation and thus are related to the probability of certain
behaviors, but they are not the causes of behavior. Skinner
believed that emotions can be accounted for by the contingencies
of survival and the contingencies of reinforcement; but like drives,
they do not cause behavior. Similarly, purpose and intention are
not causes of behavior, although they are felt sensations and exist
within the skin.
D. Complex Behavior
Human behavior is subject to the same principles of operant
conditioning as simple animal behavior, but it is much more
complex and difficult to predict or control. Skinner explained
creativity as the result of random or accidental behaviors that
happen to be rewarded. Skinner believed that most of our
behavior is unconscious or automatic and that not thinking about
certain experiences is reinforcing. Skinner viewed dreams as
covert and symbolic forms of behavior that are subject to the same
contingencies of reinforcement as any other behavior.
E. Control of Human Behavior
Ultimately, all of a person's behavior is controlled by the
environment. Societies exercise control over their members
through laws, rules, and customs that transcend any one person's
means of countercontrol. There are four basic methods of social
control: (1) operant conditioning, including positive and negative
reinforcement and punishment; (2) describing contingencies, or
Feist, Theories of Personality, 8e
Student Study Guide-16 | 7
Chapter 16 Skinner: Behavioral Analysis
using language to inform people of the consequence of their
behaviors; (3) deprivation and satiation, techniques that increase
the likelihood that people will behave in a certain way; and (4)
physical restraint, including the jailing of criminals. Although
Skinner denied the existence of free will, he did recognize that
people manipulate variables within their own environment and
thus exercise some measure of self-control, which has several
techniques: (1) physical restraint, (2) physical aids, such as tools;
(3) changing environmental stimuli; (4) arranging the environment
to allow escape from aversive stimuli; (5) drugs; and (6) doing
something else.
VII. The Unhealthy Personality
Social control and self-control sometimes produce counteracting
strategies and inappropriate behaviors.
A. Counteracting Strategies
People can counteract excessive social control by (1) escaping
from it, (2) revolting against it, or (3) passively resisting it.
B. Inappropriate Behaviors
Inappropriate behaviors follow from self-defeating techniques of
counteracting social control or from unsuccessful attempts at selfcontrol.
VIII. Psychotherapy
Skinner was not a psychotherapist, and he even criticized
psychotherapy as being one of the major obstacles to a scientific
study of human behavior. Nevertheless, others have used operant
conditioning principles to shape behavior in a therapeutic setting.
Behavior therapists play an active role in the treatment process,
Feist, Theories of Personality, 8e
Student Study Guide-16 | 8
Chapter 16 Skinner: Behavioral Analysis
using behavior modification techniques and pointing out the
positive consequences of some behaviors and the aversive effects
of others.
IX.
Related Research
Skinner's theory has generated more research than any other
personality theory. Much of this research can be divided into two
questions: (1) How does operant conditioning affect personality?
and (2) How does personality affect conditioning? In addition to
these two questions, a recent development in research, due to
technological advances, has been the study of reinforcement as
related to brain activation.
A. How Conditioning Affects Personality
A plethora of studies have demonstrated that operant conditioning
can change personality, that is, behavior. For example, a study by
Tidey et al. found that, when given a choice, smokers would
choose a cigarette rather than money.
B. How Personality Affects Conditioning
Research has also found that different personalities may react
differently to the same environmental stimuli. This means that the
same reinforcement strategies will not have the same effect on all
people. For example, Alan Pickering and Jeffrey Gray have
developed and tested reinforcement sensitivity theory, which
suggests that impulsivity, anxiety, and introversion/extraversion
relate to ways people respond to environmental reinforcers. More
recently, researchers have begun to explore the association
between reinforcement sensitivities and other personality
dimensions. Philip Corr (2002) conducted one of the first studies
Feist, Theories of Personality, 8e
Student Study Guide-16 | 9
Chapter 16 Skinner: Behavioral Analysis
to examine differences in anxiety and impulsivity and their
association to response sensitivities. Corr also reformulated the
reinforcement sensitivity theory (RST) of Pickering and Gray:
originally the personality dimensions should operate
independently, while in Corr’s reformulation they can operate
somewhat jointly and interdependently. His results supported his
joint subsystem hypothesis and contradicted the separable
subsystem hypothesis. For highly anxious people, impulsivity acts
as a buffer to responsiveness to negative stimuli. Again, the main
point was also reinforced by this study: People vary in their
responses to reinforcers depending on their personalities.
C. Reinforcement and the Brain
Recent advances in imaging have allowed researchers to analyze
individual differences in brain activation as responses to stimuli
such as food (Beaver et al, 2006). Using functional magnetic
resonance imaging, or fMRI, John Beaver and his colleagues gave
the behavioral activation scale (BAS) self-report to participants to
measure how actively they tend to pursue rewards. They then
measured the subjects’ brain activation upon exposure to pictures
of rewarding foods versus bland foods. They found that people
who scored higher on the personality variable of behavioral
activation also had greater activation to pictures of rewarding
foods in five specific areas of the brain. These results supported
the general conclusion that personality is related to differences in
how we biologically respond to rewards. This research holds
future promise, for possibly helping to alter health outcomes such
Feist, Theories of Personality, 8e
Student Study Guide-16 | 10
Chapter 16 Skinner: Behavioral Analysis
as obesity, and for understanding what people find rewarding and
why.
X.
Critique of Skinner
On the six criteria of a useful theory, Skinner's approach rates very
high on its ability to generate research and to guide action, high on
its ability to be falsified, and about average on its ability to
organize knowledge. In addition, it rates very high on internal
consistency and high on simplicity.
XI.
Concept of Humanity
Skinner's concept of humanity was a completely deterministic and
causal one that emphasized unconscious behavior and the
uniqueness of each person's history of reinforcement within a
mostly social environment. Unlike many determinists, Skinner is
quite optimistic in his view of humanity.
Test Items
Fill-in-the-Blanks
1.
Thorndike's ________________________ states that responses to
stimuli that are followed by a satisfier tend to be learned.
2,
_______________________, not B. F. Skinner, was the first
behaviorist to insist that psychology should be limited to a study of
observable behavior.
Feist, Theories of Personality, 8e
Student Study Guide-16 | 11
Chapter 16 Skinner: Behavioral Analysis
3.
Psychology must be restricted to the study of _________________
behavior, according to Skinner.
4.
While still in college. Skinner desired to become a ___________.
5.
Human behavior is subject to the laws of _________________,
according to Skinner.
6.
Pavlovian conditioning is also called ___________ conditioning.
7.
In operant conditioning, the experimenter first rewards gross
approximations of the target behavior and gradually rewards
responses closer to the final target. Such a procedure is called
_____________________, or successive approximations.
8.
An event that strengthens behavior is called a _______________.
9.
A _____________________ reinforcer is any stimulus that, when
added to a situation, increases the probability that a given behavior
will recur.
10. Like positive reinforcers, negative reinforcers _________________
behavior.
11. The effects of punishment are less ________ than those of reward.
Feist, Theories of Personality, 8e
Student Study Guide-16 | 12
Chapter 16 Skinner: Behavioral Analysis
12. Many conditioned reinforcers are not by nature satisfying, but they
become so because they are associated with ________________
reinforcers.
13. The least efficient schedule is the _________________ schedule.
14. Nonreinforcement of a response leads to ___________________.
15. Skinner rejected the notion of unconscious ___________________
but accepted the idea of unconscious behavior.
16
Skinner believed that the _________________________, not free
will, is responsible for behavior.
17. Two opposite factors in controlling behavior are satiation and
_________________.
18. To Skinner, behavior is shaped by natural selection, ___________,
and cultural evolution.
19. The ________________ is ultimately responsible for self-control.
20. Skinner believed that ___________is one of the chief obstacles
blocking psychology's attempt to become scientific.
True-False
Feist, Theories of Personality, 8e
Student Study Guide-16 | 13
Chapter 16 Skinner: Behavioral Analysis
_____1. Thorndike's amended law of effect minimized the effects of
satisfiers and emphasized the importance of annoyers.
_____2. John Watson believed that the goal of psychology is prediction
and control of behavior.
_____3. Skinner had no use for hypothetical constructs such as id,
archetypes, or motives.
_____4. Skinner decided to be a behaviorist even before he entered
graduate school.
_____5. Skinner contended that human behavior follows principles that
are basically the same as those that apply to animal behavior.
_____6. Skinner's theory tries to interpret and explain human behavior.
_____7. With operant conditioning, behavior is elicited; that is, it is
drawn out of the organism.
_____8. Operant discrimination seems to be an innate ability.
_____9. Watson and Rayner's experiment with Little Albert was an
example of classical conditioning.
____10. Both negative and positive reinforcers strengthen behavior.
Feist, Theories of Personality, 8e
Student Study Guide-16 | 14
Chapter 16 Skinner: Behavioral Analysis
____11. Punishment strengthens a response, just as negative
reinforcement does.
____12. Skinner believed that more behavior is shaped by natural
selection than by reinforcement.
____13. Although emotions are real, Skinner argued that scientists
should not attribute behavior to them.
____14. Skinner held that self-control is achieved by developing strong
willpower.
____15. Skinner agreed with Freud that dreams can be wishfulfillments.
____16. Skinner believed that psychotherapy offers the best hope for an
improvement of the human species.
____17. Recent research has found that punishment tends to improve
learning for people low in anxiety.
____18. Skinner's concept of humanity is both deterministic and
pessimistic.
____19. Skinner's theory rates very high on causality.
Feist, Theories of Personality, 8e
Student Study Guide-16 | 15
Chapter 16 Skinner: Behavioral Analysis
____20. Skinner recognized the existence of internal states such as
thinking and feeling.
Multiple Choice
______1. Which term best describes B. F. Skinner?
a. determinist
b. psychotherapist
c. cognitive psychologist
d. sociologist
______2. While in college, Skinner aspired to become a
a. professional baseball player.
b. writer.
c. psychologist.
d. lawyer.
_____3. Thorndike's law of effect states that responses to stimuli that
are followed by a satisfier tend to be
a. ignored.
b. stamped in.
c. stamped out.
d. extinguished.
_____4. John Watson argued that the goal of psychology is
a. to determine the drives that motivate behavior.
Feist, Theories of Personality, 8e
Student Study Guide-16 | 16
Chapter 16 Skinner: Behavioral Analysis
b. to study sensation, perception, and imagery.
c. to study behavior subjectively; that is, through introspection.
d. to study behavior objectively.
______5. According to Skinner, internal mental states such as thinking,
foresight, and reasoning
a. do not exist.
b. exist, but should not be used to explain behavior.
c. exist and should be used to explain behavior.
d. do not exist, but nevertheless can be used to explain human
behavior.
e. are solely responsible for human behavior.
______6. After Skinner's younger brother died, his parents
a. blamed Skinner for the child's death.
b. separated and later divorced.
c. did not want to let Skinner go.
d. insisted that Skinner return to Harvard and work toward a
PhD.
______7. Skinner believed the most crucial aspect of science is
a. measurement.
b. hypothesis testing.
c. explanations of natural phenomena.
d. valuing empirical observation.
Feist, Theories of Personality, 8e
Student Study Guide-16 | 17
Chapter 16 Skinner: Behavioral Analysis
______8. Shaping complex behavior through operant conditioning
usually includes this procedure.
a. classical conditioning
b. punishment
c. cognitive mediation
d. successive approximation
______9. Any aversive condition that when removed from a situation
increases the probability that a given behavior will occur is a
a. negative reinforcer.
b. positive reinforcer.
c. reward.
d. negative punishment.
e. positive punishment.
_____10. Skinner favored reward over punishment largely because
a. reward is more humane than punishment.
b. punishment is more expensive.
c. the effects of punishment are less predictable.
d. the effects of reward are less predictable.
_____11. Allyson rubs her knee to reduce pain. This behavior is most
likely an example of
a. classical conditioning.
b. social control of behavior.
c. punishment.
d. positive reinforcement.
Feist, Theories of Personality, 8e
Student Study Guide-16 | 18
Chapter 16 Skinner: Behavioral Analysis
e. negative reinforcement.
_____12. A bricklayer is paid a given amount of money for every brick
laid. This procedure most closely approximates which
schedule of reinforcement?
a. fixed-ratio
b. variable-ratio
c. fixed-interval
d. variable-interval
_____13. Extinction of a response will occur earliest when learning
occurs under this schedule of reinforcement.
a. continuous
b. variable-ratio
c. fixed-interval
d. variable-interval
_____14. Which of these would be the best example of a conditioned
reinforcer?
a. sleep
b. relief from a headache
c. praise
d. oxygen
_____15. A slot machine pays off on this schedule.
a. continuous
b. fixed-ratio
Feist, Theories of Personality, 8e
Student Study Guide-16 | 19
Chapter 16 Skinner: Behavioral Analysis
c. fixed-interval
d. variable-interval
e. none of these
_____16. According to Skinner, human personality is partially shaped
by
a. natural selection.
b. unconscious motivation.
c. our expectation of future goals.
d. basic needs such as hunger, safety, and sex.
_____17. A unified repertoire of responses is Skinner's definition of
a. operant conditioning.
b. classical conditioning.
c. human personality.
d. the perceived self.
_____18. Which of these concepts would Skinner see as an explanatory
fiction?
a. drive
b. ego
c. self-realization
d. all of the above
_____19. Skinner saw creative behavior as resulting from
a. mutations.
b. genetic intelligence.
Feist, Theories of Personality, 8e
Student Study Guide-16 | 20
Chapter 16 Skinner: Behavioral Analysis
c. sublimations.
d. uniquely human qualities of perseverance.
_____20. According to Skinner, the act of blocking out unpleasant
thoughts is an example of
a. repression.
b. suppression.
c. negative reinforcement.
d. extinction.
_____21. According to Skinner, unhealthy behavior
a. can be traced to congenital deficiencies.
b. does not exist.
c. is a means of coping with excessive social control.
d. is the result of permissive training during childhood.
_____22. In his philosophy of science, Skinner
a. opposed hypothetical-deductive methods.
b. favored a Taoistic approach.
c. opposed scientific research.
d. favored the use of large groups of subjects.
e. advocated longitudinal studies.
Short Answer
1. Explain the difference between classical and operant conditioning.
Feist, Theories of Personality, 8e
Student Study Guide-16 | 21
Chapter 16 Skinner: Behavioral Analysis
2. Explain three essential components of operant conditioning.
3. Explain how behavior can be shaped from undifferentiated into
highly complex behavior.
Feist, Theories of Personality, 8e
Student Study Guide-16 | 22
Chapter 16 Skinner: Behavioral Analysis
4. Name two effects of reinforcement.
5. Explain three undesirable effects of punishment.
Feist, Theories of Personality, 8e
Student Study Guide-16 | 23
Chapter 16 Skinner: Behavioral Analysis
6. List three forces that shape human behavior, according to Skinner.
7. Name three reasons why people might remain in a group that abuses
them.
Feist, Theories of Personality, 8e
Student Study Guide-16 | 24
Chapter 16 Skinner: Behavioral Analysis
Answers
Fill-in-the-Blanks
True-False
Multiple Choice
1.
Law of Effect
1.
F
1.
a
2.
John Watson
2.
T
2.
b
3.
observable
3.
T
3.
b
4.
writer
4.
T
4.
d
5.
science
5.
T
5.
b
6.
classical
6.
F
6.
c
7.
shaping
7.
F
7.
d
8.
reinforcer
8.
F
8.
d
9.
positive
9.
T
9.
a
10. strengthen
10. T
10.
c
11. predictable
11. F
11.
e
12. primary
12. F
12.
a
13. continuous
13. T
13.
a
14. extinction
14. F
14.
c
15. motivation
15. T
15.
e
16. environment
16. F
16.
a
17. deprivation
17. F
17.
c
18. reinforcement
18. F
18.
d
19. environment
19. T
19.
a
20. psychotherapy
20. T
20.
c
21.
b
22.
c
Feist, Theories of Personality, 8e
Student Study Guide-16 | 25