Chapter 14: Behavioral Analysis (BF Skinner)

Question 1

Two of the early pioneers of behaviorism were _____.

Answer 1

E. L. Thorndike and John Watson

Question 2

But the person most often associated with the behaviorist position is _____, whose behavioral analysis is a clear departure from the highly speculative psychodynamic theories.

Answer 2

B. F. Skinner

Question 3

Skinner minimized speculation and focused almost entirely on _____ behavior.

Answer 3

observable

Question 4

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.

Answer 4

Skinner

Question 5

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.

Answer 5

radical behaviorism

Question 6

In addition to being a radical behaviorist, Skinner can rightfully be regarded as a _____ and an _____.

Answer 6

determinist, environmentalist

Question 7

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.

Answer 7

determinist

Question 8

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.

Answer 8

environmentalist

Question 9

The first psychologist to systematically study the consequences of behavior was _____, who worked originally with animals and then later with humans

Answer 9

Edward L. Thorndike

Question 10

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

Answer 10

law of effect

Question 11

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 _____.

Answer 11

“stamped in”, “stamped out”

Question 12

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”

Answer 12

rewards, punishments

Question 13

A second and more direct influence on Skinner was the work of _____.

Answer 13

John B. Watson

Question 14

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.

Answer 14

consciousness

Question 15

In Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It, Watson argued that human behavior, like the behavior of animals and machines, can be studied _____.

Answer 15

objectively

Question 16

Scientific behaviorism allows for an interpretation of behavior but not an explanation of its _____.

Answer 16

causes

Question 17

Skinner recognized two kinds of conditioning, _____.

Answer 17

Classical and Operant

Question 18

With classical conditioning (which Skinner called _____ conditioning), a response is drawn out of the organism by a specific, identifiable stimulus.

Answer 18

respondent

Question 19

With operant conditioning (also called _____ conditioning), a behavior is made more likely to recur when it is immediately reinforced.

Answer 19

Skinnerian

Question 20

Schedules of Reinforcement:

Answer 20

continuous schedule

intermittent schedules

Question 21

Fixed-Ratio
Variable-Ratio

Fixed-Interval
Variable-Interval

Answer 21

Four basic intermittent schedules

Question 22

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

Answer 22

fixed-ratio

Question 23

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

Answer 23

fixed-ratio

Question 24

With the _____ schedule, the organism is reinforced for the first response following a designated period of time.

Employees working for salary or wages

Answer 24

fixed-interval

Question 25

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

Answer 25

variable-interval

Question 26

Once learned, responses can be lost for at least four reasons:

Answer 26

1. Forgotten due time
2. Lost due to interference
3. Disppear due to punishment
4. Extinction - weakened upon nonreinforcement

Question 27

A fourth cause of lost learning is _____, defined as the tendency of a previously acquired response to become progressively weakened upon nonreinforcement.

Answer 27

extinction

Question 28

_____ extinction takes place when an experimenter systematically withholds reinforcement of a
previously learned response until the probability of that response diminishes to zero

Answer 28

Operant

Question 29

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.

Answer 29

Natural Selection

Question 30

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

Answer 30

Cultural Evolution

Question 31

1. Self-Awareness - humans have
2. Drives - effects of deprivation and satiation, pag uhaw iinom
3. Emotions
4. Purpose and Intention

Answer 31

Inner States

Question 32

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.

Answer 32

Complex Behavior

Question 33

1. Higher Mental Processes - covert problem solving
2. Creativity - accidental got rewarded
3. Unconscious Behavior - no longer thinks, suppressed thru punishment
4. Dreams - covert symbolic
5. Social Behavior - groups do not behave, only individual

Answer 33

Complex Behavior

Question 34

2 Controls of Human Behavior:

Answer 34

1. Social - written rules

2. Self - manipulating variables in others environment

Question 35

The Unhealthy Personality (2)

Answer 35

1. Counteracting Strategies

2. Inappropriate Behaviors

Question 36

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.

Answer 36

Counteracting Strategies

Question 37

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.

Answer 37

Inappropriate Behaviors

Question 38

Therapist is a controlling agent; warm and accepting, supportive and empathic.

Answer 38

Psychotherapy

Question 39

Skinner believed that _____ is one of the chief obstacles blocking psychology’s attempt to become scientific.

Answer 39

psychotherapy

Question 40

Related Research: (How Conditioning Affects Personality) _____ must increase the reinforcing value of nicotine specifically.

Answer 40

stimulant

Question 41

Reinforcement sensitivity theory predicts that _____, like highly anxious individuals, should be more sensitive to punishment due to their strong need to avoid aversive states

Answer 41

introverts

Question 42

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.

Answer 42

Reinforcement and the Brain