Chapter 14: Behavioral Analysis (BF Skinner) Flashcards
Two of the early pioneers of behaviorism were _____.
E. L. Thorndike and John Watson
But the person most often associated with the behaviorist position is _____, whose behavioral analysis is a clear departure from the highly speculative psychodynamic theories.
B. F. Skinner
Skinner minimized speculation and focused almost entirely on _____ behavior.
observable
However, he did not claim that observable behavior is limited to external events. Such private behaviors as thinking, remembering, and anticipating are all observable—by the person experiencing them.
Skinner
Skinner’s strict adherence to observable behavior earned his approach the label _____, a doctrine that avoids all hypothetical constructs, such as ego, traits, drives, needs, hunger, and so forth.
radical behaviorism
In addition to being a radical behaviorist, Skinner can rightfully be regarded as a _____ and an _____.
determinist, environmentalist
As a _____, he rejected the notion of volition or free will. Human behavior does not stem from an act of the will, but like any observable phenomenon, it is lawfully determined and can be studied scientifically.
determinist
As an _____, Skinner held that psychology must not explain behavior on the basis of the physiological or constitutional components of the organism but rather on the basis of environmental stimuli.
environmentalist
The first psychologist to systematically study the consequences of behavior was _____, who worked originally with animals and then later with humans
Edward L. Thorndike
Thorndike observed that learning takes place mostly because of the effects that follow a response, and he called this observation the _____.
law of effect
As originally conceived by Thorndike, the law of effect had two parts. The first stated that responses to stimuli that are followed immediately by a satisfier tend to be _____; the second held that responses to stimuli that are followed immediately by an annoyer tend to be _____.
“stamped in”, “stamped out”
Whereas _____ (satisfiers) strengthen the connection between a stimulus and a response, _____ (annoyers) do not usually weaken this connection. That is, punishing a behavior merely inhibits that behavior; it does not “stamp it out”
rewards, punishments
A second and more direct influence on Skinner was the work of _____.
John B. Watson
Watson had studied both animals and humans and became convinced that the concepts of _____ and introspection must play no role in the scientific study of human behavior.
consciousness
In Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It, Watson argued that human behavior, like the behavior of animals and machines, can be studied _____.
objectively
Scientific behaviorism allows for an interpretation of behavior but not an explanation of its _____.
causes
Skinner recognized two kinds of conditioning, _____.
Classical and Operant
With classical conditioning (which Skinner called _____ conditioning), a response is drawn out of the organism by a specific, identifiable stimulus.
respondent
With operant conditioning (also called _____ conditioning), a behavior is made more likely to recur when it is immediately reinforced.
Skinnerian
Schedules of Reinforcement:
continuous schedule
intermittent schedules
Fixed-Ratio
Variable-Ratio
Fixed-Interval
Variable-Interval
Four basic intermittent schedules
With a _____ schedule, the organism is reinforced intermittently according to the number of responses it makes. Ratio refers to the ratio of responses to reinforcers.
Extremely high fixed-ratio schedules, like 200 to 1, must begin at a low rate of responses and gradually build to a higher one
fixed-ratio
With a _____ schedule, the organism is reinforced after every nth response. With the _____ schedule, it is reinforced after the nth response on the average.
Slot machines
fixed-ratio
With the _____ schedule, the organism is reinforced for the first response following a designated period of time.
Employees working for salary or wages
fixed-interval
A _____ schedule is one in which the organism is reinforced after the lapse of random or varied periods of time.
For example, VI 5 means that the organism is reinforced following random-length intervals that average 5 minutes. Such schedules result in more responses per interval than do fixed-interval schedules
variable-interval
Once learned, responses can be lost for at least four reasons:
- Forgotten due time
- Lost due to interference
- Disppear due to punishment
- Extinction - weakened upon nonreinforcement
A fourth cause of lost learning is _____, defined as the tendency of a previously acquired response to become progressively weakened upon nonreinforcement.
extinction
_____ extinction takes place when an experimenter systematically withholds reinforcement of a
previously learned response until the probability of that response diminishes to zero
Operant
Human personality is the product of a long evolutionary history. As individuals, our behavior is determined by genetic composition and especially by our personal histories of reinforcement. As a species, however, we are shaped by the contingencies of survival.
Natural Selection
Humans do not make a cooperative decision to do what is best for the society, but those societies whose members behaved cooperatively tended to survive
Cultural Evolution
- Self-Awareness - humans have
- Drives - effects of deprivation and satiation, pag uhaw iinom
- Emotions
- Purpose and Intention
Inner States
Once again, Skinner did not deny the existence of higher mental processes such as cognition, reason, and recall; nor did he ignore complex human endeavors like creativity, unconscious behavior, dreams, and social behavior.
Complex Behavior
- Higher Mental Processes - covert problem solving
- Creativity - accidental got rewarded
- Unconscious Behavior - no longer thinks, suppressed thru punishment
- Dreams - covert symbolic
- Social Behavior - groups do not behave, only individual
Complex Behavior
2 Controls of Human Behavior:
- Social - written rules
2. Self - manipulating variables in others environment
The Unhealthy Personality (2)
- Counteracting Strategies
2. Inappropriate Behaviors
With the defensive strategy of escape, people withdraw from the controlling agent either physically or psychologically.
People who revolt against society’s controls behave more actively, counterattacking the controlling agent.
Skinner believed that passive resistance is most likely to be used where escape and revolt have failed.
Counteracting Strategies
Inappropriate behaviors follow from self-defeating techniques of counteracting social control or from unsuccessful attempts at self-control.
Defective self-knowledge is manifested in such
self-deluding responses as boasting, rationalizing, or claiming to be the Messiah.
Self-punishment, exemplified either by people directly
punishing themselves.
Inappropriate Behaviors
Therapist is a controlling agent; warm and accepting, supportive and empathic.
Psychotherapy
Skinner believed that _____ is one of the chief obstacles blocking psychology’s attempt to become scientific.
psychotherapy
Related Research: (How Conditioning Affects Personality) _____ must increase the reinforcing value of nicotine specifically.
stimulant
Reinforcement sensitivity theory predicts that _____, like highly anxious individuals, should be more sensitive to punishment due to their strong need to avoid aversive states
introverts
The researchers found that people who scored higher on the personality variable of behavioral activation experienced increased activation to the pictures of cake and ice cream in five specific areas of the brain (right and left ventral striatum, left amygdala, substantia nigra, and left orbitofrontal cortex) than their low behavioral activation counterparts.
Reinforcement and the Brain
