M3. Lesson 3: Behavioral Analysis

Question 1

What is Skinner’s theory of personality largely based on?

Answer 1

Skinner’s theory of personality is based largely on his behavioral analysis of rats and pigeons.

Question 2

True or False. Internal states such as thinking and feeling can be used as explanations of behavior.

Answer 2

False. Although internal states such as thinking and feeling exist, they cannot be used as explanations of behavior; only overt behavior can be studied by the scientist.

Question 3

What are the three forces that human behavior is shaped by?

Answer 3

Human behavior is shaped by three forces: (1) the individual’s personal history of reinforcement, (2) natural selection, and (3) the evolution of cultural practices.

Question 4

What is operant conditioning?

Answer 4

Operant conditioning is a process of changing behavior in which reinforcement (or punishment) is contingent on the occurrence of a particular behavior.

Question 5

What is a positive reinforcer?

Answer 5

A positive reinforcer is any event that, when added to a situation, increases the probability that a given behavior will occur.

Question 6

What is a negative reinforcer?

Answer 6

A negative reinforcer is any aversive stimulus that, when removed from the environment, increases the probability of a given behavior.

Question 7

What are two types of punishment identified by Skinner?

Answer 7

Skinner also identified two types of punishment: The first is the presentation of an aversive stimulus, and the second involves the removal of a positive stimulus.

Question 8

Reinforcement can either be what?

Answer 8

Reinforcement can be either continuous or intermittent, but intermittent schedules are more efficient.

Question 9

What are the four principal intermittent schedules of reinforcement?

Answer 9

The four principal intermittent schedules of reinforcement are the fixed-ratio, variable-ratio, fixed-interval, and variable-interval.

Question 10

What is social control achieved through?

Answer 10

Social control is achieved through (1) operant conditioning, (2) describing the contingencies of reinforcement, (3) depriving or satiating a person, or (4) physically restraining an individual.

Question 11

What can people control their own behavior with? And where does all control ultimately rest with still?

Answer 11

People can also control their own behavior through self-control, but all control ultimately rests with the environment and not free will.

Question 12

What are unhealthy behaviors?

Answer 12

Unhealthy behaviors are learned in the same way as all other behaviors, that is, mostly through operant conditioning.

Question 13

What do behavior therapists do to change unhealthy behaviors?

Answer 13

To change unhealthy behaviors, behavior therapists use a variety of behavior modification techniques, all of which are based on the principles of operant conditioning.

Question 14

When did behaviorism emerge?

Answer 14

During the early years of the 20th century while Freud, Jung, and Adler were relying on clinical practice and before Eysenck and Costa and McCrae were using psychometrics to build theories of human personality, an approach called behaviorism emerged from laboratory studies of animals and humans.

Question 15

Who were the early pioneers of behaviorism?

Answer 15

Two of the early pioneers of behaviorism were E. L. Thorndike and John Watson

Question 16

Who were the early pioneers of behaviorism?

Answer 16

Two of the early pioneers of behaviorism were E. L. Thorndike and John Watson

Question 17

Who is most associated with behaviorism?

Answer 17

The person most often associated with the behaviorist position is B. F. Skinner, whose behavioral analysis is a clear departure from the highly speculative psychodynamic theories.

Question 18

Why was Skinner’s behavior analysis a departure from highly speculative psychodynamic theories?

Answer 18

Skinner minimized speculation and focused almost entirely on observable behavior. 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.

Question 19

What is radical behaviorism and what led to it?

Answer 19

Skinner’s strict adherence to observable behavior earned his approach the label radical behaviorism, a doctrine that avoids all hypothetical constructs, such as ego, traits, drives, needs, hunger, and so forth.

Question 20

Other than a radical behaviorist, what else can Skinner be regarded as?

Answer 20

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

Question 21

What did Skinner do as a determinist?

Answer 21

As a determinist, 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.

Question 22

What did Skinner do as an environmentalist?

Answer 22

As an environmentalist, 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. He recognized that genetic factors are important, but he insisted that, because they are fixed at conception, they are of no help in the control of behavior. The history of the individual, rather than anatomy, provides the most useful data for predicting and controlling behavior.

Question 23

What is the difference between Watson and Skinner?

Answer 23

Watson took radical behaviorism, determinism, and environmental forces beyond Skinner’s conception by ignoring genetic factors completely and promising to shape personality by controlling the environment.

Question 24

What was Watson’s famous promise?

Answer 24

In a famous lecture, Watson (1926) made this extraordinary promise:

Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I’ll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select—a doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant- chief, and, yes, even into beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors. (p. 10)

Although few radical behaviorists currently accept this extreme position, Watson’s promise has led to much discussion and debate.