Chapter 16 Notes

Question 1

Skinner: Human behavior is shaped by three forces

Answer 1

(1) the individual’s personal
history of reinforcement 
(2) natural selection 
(3) the evolution of
cultural practices

Question 2

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

Answer 2

Thorndike the law of effect

“stamped in”

“stamped out”

Question 3

rewards or punishment more predictable?

Answer 3

effects of rewards are more predictable than the effects of punishments in shaping behavior

Question 4

second and more direct influence on Skinner was the work of

Answer 4

John B. Watson // consciousness and introspection must play no role in the scientific study of human behavior // the goal of psychology is the prediction and control of behavior

Question 5

Scientific Behaviorism (Skinner) can best be studied without reference to

Answer 5

needs, instincts, or motives

Question 6

Skinner’s Philosophy of Science

Answer 6

interpretation should not be confused with an explanation

Question 7

Characteristics of Science

Answer 7

cumulative

empirical observation

lawful relationships:
scientific method consists of prediction, control, and description

Question 8

classical conditioning, behavior is

Answer 8

elicited

Question 9

operant conditioning, behavior is

Answer 9

emitted

called operant because organism operates on the environment to produce a specific effect

Question 10

Skinner believed that most human behaviors are learned through

Answer 10

operant conditioning

Question 11

operant conditioning, three conditions are present:

Explain three essential components

Answer 11

the antecedent (A), environment
the behavior (B), telling a joke
the consequence (C) people laugh

Question 12

A response to a similar environment in the absence of previous reinforcement is called

Answer 12

stimulus generalization

Question 13

3 Effects of Punishment

Answer 13

better served by positive and negative reinforcement than by punishment

1) suppress behavior

• if a boy teases his younger sister, his parents
  can make him stop by spanking him, but unfortunately this punishment will not
  improve his disposition toward his sister. It merely suppresses teasing temporarily

2) conditioning of a negative feeling
- thought of being spanked may elicit a classical conditioned response, such as fear, anxiety, guilt, or shame. Lamentably, it offers no positive instruction to the child
3) the spread of its effects

• behavior toward his family becomes maladaptive. Yet this inappropriate behavior serves the purpose of preventing future punishment. Skinner recognized
  the classical Freudian defense mechanisms as effective means of avoiding pain

Question 14

there are two types of punishment:

Answer 14

The first requires the presentation of an aversive stimulus

The second involves the removal of a positive reinforcer

An example of the former is pain encountered from falling as the result
of walking too fast on an icy sidewalk. An example of the latter is a heavy fine levied
against a motorist for driving too fast.

Question 15

money is a

Answer 15

conditioned reinforcer, sometimes called secondary reinforcers

it is a generalized reinforcer because it is associated with more than one primary reinforcer

Question 16

primary reinforcers

Answer 16

food, water, sex, or physical

comfort

Question 17

five important generalized reinforcers that sustain

much of human behavior:

Answer 17

attention
approval
affection
submission of others
tokens (money)

Question 18

behavior trained on an intermittent schedule is much more ______ to extinction

Answer 18

resistant

Question 19

Operant extinction

Answer 19

takes place when an experimenter systematically withholds reinforcement

Question 20

significance of drives

Answer 20

simply refer to the effects of

deprivation and satiation and to the corresponding probability that the organism will respond

Question 21

Creativity

Answer 21

Accidental traits, arising from mutations, are selected by their contribution to survival, so accidental variations in behavior are selected by their reinforcing consequences

Question 22

Unconscious Behavior

Answer 22

could not accept the notion of a storehouse of unconscious ideas or emotions. He did, however, accept the idea of unconscious behavior.

• because people rarely observe the relationship between genetic and
  environmental variables and their own behavior, nearly all our behavior is unconsciously Motivated

Question 23

Dreams

Answer 23

• He agreed with Freud that dreams may serve a wish-fulfillment purpose.
• behavior that are subject to the same contingencies of reinforcement as other behaviors
• To act out sexual fantasies and to actually inflict damage on an enemy are two behaviors likely to be associated with punishment. Even to covertly think about these behaviors may have punitive effects, but in dreams these behaviors may be expressed symbolically and without any accompanying punishment.

Question 24

3 reasons for social control in groups

Answer 24

some group members are reinforcing them

some people, especially children, may not possess the means to leave the group; and

reinforcement may occur on an intermittent schedule so that the abuse suffered by an individual is intermingled with occasional reward

Question 25

societal control

Answer 25

1) Society exercises control over its members through the four principal methods
of operant conditioning: positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, and the two
techniques of punishment

2) describing contingencies,: subtle means of social control is advertising, designed to manipulate people to purchase certain products. In none of these examples will the attempt at control be perfectly successful, yet each of them increases the likelihood that the desired response will be emitted.

• 3) Third, behavior can be controlled either by depriving people or by satiating
  them with reinforcers: People deprived of food are more likely to eat; those satiated are less likely to eat even when delicious food is available

4) Finally, people can be controlled through physical restraints, such as holding children back from a deep ravine or putting lawbreakers in prison

Question 26

Self-Control

Answer 26

People can manipulate the variables within their own environment and thus exercise some measure of self-control

as opposed to free will

people can take drugs, especially alcohol, as a means of self-control

a woman can set an alarm clock so that the aversive sound can be stopped only by getting out of bed to shut off the alarm

Question 27

3 counteracting Strategies

Answer 27

escape: withdraw from the controlling agent
revolt: behave more actively
passive resistance: most likely to be used where escape and revolt have failed. stubbornness

Question 28

Inappropriate Behaviors

Answer 28

vigorous behavior
blocking out reality
self-deluding responses as boasting, rationalizing
self-punishment

Question 29

Psychotherapy

Answer 29

one of the chief obstacles blocking psychology’s attempt to become scientific

A therapist molds desirable behavior by reinforcing slightly improved changes
in behavior

behavior therapy merely skips it and deals directly with the history of the organism; and it is this history that, in the final analysis, is responsible for any hypothetical internal cause

pointing out the positive consequences of certain behaviors and the aversive effects of others and also suggesting behaviors that, over the long haul, will result in positive reinforcement

No therapeutic purpose is served by postulating explanatory fictions and internal
causes

Question 30

6 ways in which people manipulate variables within their own environment to exercise self-control

Answer 30

(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
(6) doing something else

Question 31

Distinguish between conditioned and generalized reinforcers.

Answer 31

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.

Question 32

The Unhealthy Personality

Answer 32

Social control and self-control sometimes produce counteracting strategies and inappropriate behavior