Chapter 16- Skinner: Behavioral Analysis

Skinner held that science has three principal characteristics:

1) it's findings are cumulative; 2) it rests on an attitude that values empirical observation; 3) it searches for order and reliable relationships

According to Skinner, this type of reinforcer is associated with more than one primary reinforcer

A generalized reinforcer. Examples are attention, approval, affection, submission of others, and tokens or money

According to Skinner, this technique of using self-control involves escaping from aversive stimulus only by producing the proper response. For example, a woman can set an alarm clock so that the aversive sound can be stopped only by getting out of bed to shut it off

Arranging the environment

According to Skinner, this technique of self control increases the probability of the desired behavior. For example, a student wanting to concentrate on his studies can turn off of distracting television set

Changing the environment

Skinner recognize two kinds of conditioning:

Classical and operant

According to Skinner, in this type of conditioning, a neutral stimulus is paired with, or immediately preceeds, and unconditioned stimulus a number of times until it is capable of bringing about a previously unconditioned response, now called the conditioned response. The simplest examples include reflexive behavior

Classical conditioning

According to Skinner, these reinforcers are those environmental stimuli that are not by nature satisfying but become so because they are associated with such unlearned or primary reinforcers such as food, water, sex, or physical comfort

Conditioned reinforcers. Money is an example because it can be exchanged for a great variety of primary reinforcers

Skinner believed that as a species, our behavior is shaped by the ________ of _______. Those behaviors, for example sex and aggression, that were beneficial to the human species tended to survive, whereas those that did not tended to drop out

Contingencies of survival

In this schedule of reinforcement, the organism is reinforced for every response. This type of schedule increases the frequency of a response but it is an inefficient use of the reinforcer. Skinner

Continuous schedule

Skinner believed that 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 ______ as a result of random or accidental behaviors that happened to be rewarded. He believe that most of our behavior is ________ or automatic and that not thinking about certain experiences is reinforcing. He viewed ______ as covert and symbolic forms of behavior that are subject to the same contingencies every enforcement as any other behavior

Creativity, unconscious, dreams

According to Skinner, those societies that evolved certain ________ practices tended to survive. 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.

Cultural

According to Skinner, this technique of social control involves depriving people or satiating them with reinforcers

Deprivation and satiation

According to Skinner, this technique of social control is to describe to a person and inform them of the consequences of their not-yet-emitted behavior

Describing contingencies. Threats, and advertising are examples

As a _______ and _________, skinner rejected the notion of free will and emphasized the primacy of environmental influences on behavior

Determinist and environmentalist

According to Skinner, to avoid behaving in an undesirable fashion, this technique of self control could be an obsessive woman counting repetitious patterns and wallpaper to avoid thinking about previous experiences that would create guilt

Doing something else

According to Skinner, _____ referred to the effects of deprivation and satiation and to the corresponding probability that the organism will respond, but they are not the causes of behavior

Drives

According to Skinner, people can take ____, especially alcohol, as a means of self control to control their behavior.

Drugs

Skinner believed that _______ such as fear or anger, can be accounted for by the contingencies of survival and the contingencies of reinforcement

Emotions. Intentions or purposes are physically felt stimuli within the organism and not mentalistic events responsible for behavior

According to Skinner, with this defensive strategy, people withdraw from the controlling agent either physically or psychologically.

Escape

Skinner recognized the existence of such interstates as drives and self-awareness, but he rejected the notion that they can _____ _______

Explain behavior

According to Skinner, this is the tendency of a previously acquired response to become progressively weekend upon non-reinforcement

Extinction

With this type of intermittent schedule, the organism is reinforced for the first response following a designated period of time

Fixed-interval schedule

According to Skinner, these types of behaviors follow from self-defeating techniques of counteracting social control or from unsuccessful attempts at self-control. They may include excessively vigorous behavior, excessively restrained behavior, blocking out reality by simply pay no attention to aversive stimuli, and self-diluting responses such as boasting, rationalizing, or claiming to be the Messiah. Another behavior is self punishment

Inappropriate behaviors

Skinner preferred this schedule of reinforcement which is based either on the behavior of the organism or on elapsed time. It is more efficient and produces responses that are more resistant to extinction

Intermittent schedules

According to Skinner, reinforcement has two effects:

It strengthens the behavior and it rewards the person

What are some effects of punishment?

It suppresses behavior, it can condition a negative feeling by associating a strong aversive stimulus with the behavior being punished, the spread of its effects-any stimulus associated with the punishment may be suppressed or avoided

This law of Thorndike stated that responses followed by a satisfier tend to be learned, a concept that anticipated Skinners use of positive reinforcement to shape behavior

Law of effect

Thorndike, and early behaviorist, observed that learning takes place mostly because of the effects that follow a response, and he called this observation:

Law of effect

Skinner believed that human behavior is shaped by three forces:

Natural selection, the evolution of cultures, and the individuals personal history of reinforcement

According to Skinner, this is the strengthening of behavior through the removal of an aversive stimulus

Negative reinforcement. The reduction or avoidance of loud noises, shocks, and hunger pangs are examples

To be scientific, Skinner insisted psychology must avoid internal mental factors and confine itself to ________ physical events

Observable. Although he rejected internal states as being outside the realm of science, he did not deny their existence but simply insisted that they should not be used to explain behavior

According to Skinner, with this type of social control, positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, and the two techniques of punishment are used

Operant conditioning

Skinner believe that most human behaviors are learned through this type of conditioning where reinforcement is used to increase the probability that a given behavior will recur

Operant conditioning

According to Skinner, societies exercise control over their members to laws, rules, and customs that transcend any one person's means of counter control. There are four basic methods of social control:

Operant conditioning, describing contingencies, deprivation and satiation, physical restraint

According to Skinner, each of us has a history of being reinforced by reacting to some elements in our environment but not to others. This history of differential reinforcement results in:

Operant discrimination

According to Skinner, this type of extinction takes place when an experimenter systematically withholds reinforcement of a previously learned response until the probability of that response diminishes to zero

Operant extinction

According to Skinner, people who counteract through this strategy are more subtle than those who rebel and more irritating to the controllers and those who rely on escape. It's conspicuous feature is stubbornness

Passive resistance

According to Skinner, this self control technique includes the use of things such as tools, machines, and financial resources to alter their environment

Physical aids

According to Skinner, this method of social control involves restraints such as holding children back from a deep ravine or putting lawbreakers in prison. It acts to counter the effects of conditioning, and it results in behavior contrary to that which would've been emitted had a person not being restrained

Physical restraint

According to Skinner, any stimulus that increases the probability that a given behavior will occur is called:

Positive reinforcement. Food, water, sex, money, social approval, and physical comfort usually are examples

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 discovering these conditions, psychologist can _______ and ______ human behavior

Predict and control

Skinner believed that ________ is one of the chief obstacles blocking psychology's attempt to become scientific. However, his ideas on shaping behavior not only have had a significant impact on behavior therapy but also extend to a description of how all therapy works

Psychotherapy. Others have used operant conditioning principles to shape behavior in a therapeutic setting. Behavior therapist's playing active role in the treatment process, using behavior modification techniques and pointing out the positive consequences of some behaviors and the aversive effects of others

According to Skinner, any event that decreases a behavior either by presenting an aversive stimulus or by removing a positive one is called:

Punishment. Although punishment does not strengthen a response, neither does it inevitably we can it. The effects of punishment are much less predictable than those of reward

A strict adherence to observable behavior that avoids all hypothetical constructs such as ego, treats, drives, needs, hunger, and so forth is called:

Radical behaviorism

According to skinner, this counteracting strategy involves behaving more actively, counter acting the controlling agent. Rebelling

Revolt

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

In behavioral analysis, this is a procedure in which the experimenter or the environment first rewards gross approximations of the behavior, then closer approximations, and finally the desired behavior itself to mold complex human behavior

Shaping. This process of reinforcing is called successive approximations

This person's theory emerged from laboratory studies of animals and humans and avoid speculations about hypothetical constructs and concentrates almost exclusively on observable behavior

Skinners behavioral analysis

According to Skinner, a response to a similar environment in the absence of previous reinforcement is called:

Stimulus generalization

In operant conditioning, this is the environment in which behavior takes place

The antecedent

With this type of intermittent schedule, the organism is reinforced after the lapse of random or varied periods of time

Variable-interval schedule

With this type of intermittent schedule, the organism is reinforced after the n'th response on the average

Variable-ratio schedule. Playing slot machines is an example

In operant conditioning, this is the response

behavior

In operant conditioning, this is what follows the behavior

consequence

According to Skinner, one social control is excessive, people can use three basic strategies for counteracting it:

escape, revolt, or use passive resistance

With this type of intermittent schedule, the organism is reinforced intermittently according to the number of responses it makes

fixed-ratio schedule