C- PSYM213 THEORIES OF PERSONALITY
Module 10A: Behavioral Analysis by Skinner
I. Who was B. F. Skinner?
B. F. Skinner was born in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania in 1904, the older of two
brothers. While in college, Skinner wanted to be a writer, but after having little
success in this endeavor, he turned to psychology. After earning a Ph.D. from
Harvard, he taught at the Universities of Minnesota and Indiana before returning to
Harvard, where he remained until his death in 1990.
II. Overview of Skinner's Behavioral Analysis
Unlike any theory discussed to this point, the radical behaviorism of B. F. Skinner
avoids speculations about hypothetical constructs and concentrates almost
exclusively on observable behavior. Besides being a radical behaviorist, Skinner
was also a determinist and an environmentalist; that is, he rejected the notion of
free will, and he emphasized the primacy of environmental influences on
behavior.
III. Precursors to Skinner's Scientific Behaviorism
Modern learning theory has roots in the work of Edward L. Thorndike and his
experiments with animals during the last part of the 19th century. Thorndike's law
of effect stated that responses followed by a satisfier tend to be learned, a
concept that anticipated Skinner's use of positive reinforcement to shape
behavior.
Skinner was even more influenced by John Watson, who argued that psychology
must deal with the control and prediction of behavior and that behavior-not
introspection, consciousness, or the mind-is the basic data of scientific psychology.
C- PSYM213 THEORIES OF PERSONALITY
Module 10A: Behavioral Analysis by Skinner
IV. Scientific Behaviorism
Skinner believed that human behavior, like any other natural phenomena, is
subject to the laws of science, and that psychologists should not attribute inner
motivations to it. Although he rejected internal states (thoughts, emotions,
desires, etc.) as being outside the realm of science, Skinner did not deny their
existence. He simply insisted that they should not be used to explain behavior.
A. Philosophy of Science
Skinner believed that, because the purpose of science is to predict and control,
psychologists should be concerned with determining the conditions under which
human behavior occurs so that they can predict and control it.
B. Characteristics of Science
Skinner held that science has three principle characteristics: (1) its findings are
cumulative, (2) it rests on an attitude that values empirical observation, and
(3) it searchers for order and lawful relationships.
V. Conditioning
Skinner recognized two kinds of conditioning: classical and operant.
A. Classical Conditioning
In classical conditioning, a neutral (conditioned) stimulus is paired with an
unconditioned stimulus until it is capable of bringing about a previously
unconditioned response, now called the conditioned response.
For example, Watson and Rayner conditioned a young boy to fear a white rat (the
conditioned stimulus) by associating it with a loud, sudden noise (an
unconditioned stimulus). Eventually, through the process of generalization, the
boy learned to fear stimuli that resembled the white rat.
B. Operant Conditioning
With operant conditioning, reinforcement is used to increase the probability that
a given behavior will recur. Three factors are essential in operant conditioning: (1)
the antecedent, or environment in which behavior takes place; (2) the behavior,
or response; and (3) the consequence that follows the behavior.
C- PSYM213 THEORIES OF PERSONALITY
Module 10A: Behavioral Analysis by Skinner
Psychologists and others use shaping to mold complex human behavior. Different
histories of reinforcement result in operant discrimination, meaning that different
organisms will respond differently to the same environmental contingencies.
People may also respond similarly to different environmental stimuli, a process
Skinner called stimulus generalization.
Anything within the environment that strengthens a behavior is a reinforcer.
Positive reinforcement is any stimulus that when added to a situation increases
the probability that a given behavior will occur.
Negative reinforcement is the strengthening of behavior through the removal of
an aversive stimulus.
Both positive and negative reinforcement strengthen behavior.
Any event that decreases a behavior either by presenting an aversive stimulus or
by removing a positive one is called punishment.
The effects of punishment are much less predictable than those of reward. Both
punishment and reinforcement can result from either natural consequences or
from human imposition.
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
reinforcer, such as food.
Generalized reinforcers are conditioned reinforcers that have become associated
with several primary reinforcers.
Reinforcement can follow behavior on either a continuous schedule or on an
intermittent schedule. There are four basic intermittent schedules: (1) fixed-ratio,
on which the organism is reinforced intermittently according to the number of
responses it makes; (2) variable-ratio, on which the organism is reinforced after
an average of a predetermined number of responses; (3) fixed-interval, on which
the organism is reinforced for the first response following a designated period of
time; and (4) variable interval, on which the organism is reinforced after the lapse
of varied periods of time.
C- PSYM213 THEORIES OF PERSONALITY
Module 10A: Behavioral Analysis by Skinner
The tendency of a previously acquired response to become progressively
weakened upon nonreinforcement is called extinction.
Such elimination or weakening of a response is called classical extinction in a
classical conditioning model and operant extinction when the response was
acquired through operant conditioning.
VI. The Human Organism
Skinner believed that human behavior is shaped by three forces: (1) natural
selection, (2) cultural practices, and (3) the individual's history of reinforcement
(discussed above).
1. Natural Selection
As a species, our behavior is shaped by the contingencies of survival; that is, those
behaviors (e.g., sex and aggression) that were beneficial to the human species
tended to survive, whereas those that did not tended to drop out.
2. Cultural Evolution
Those societies that evolved certain cultural practices (e.g. tool making and
language) tended to survive. Currently, the lives of nearly all people are shaped, in
part, by modern tools (computers, media, various modes of transportation, etc.)
and by their use of language. However, 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.
Inner States
Skinner recognized the existence of such inner states as drives and self-
awareness, but he rejected the notion that they can explain behavior. To Skinner,
drives refer to the effects of deprivation and satiation and thus are related to the
probability of certain behaviors, but they are not the causes of behavior.
Skinner believed that emotions can be accounted for by the contingencies of
survival and the contingencies of reinforcement; but like drives, they do not cause
behavior. Similarly, purpose and intention are not causes of behavior, although
they are sensations that exist within the skin.
C- PSYM213 THEORIES OF PERSONALITY
Module 10A: Behavioral Analysis by Skinner
Complex Behavior
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 creativity as the result of random or accidental behaviors that
happen to be rewarded. Skinner believed that most of our behavior is
unconscious or automatic and that not thinking about certain experiences is
reinforcing.
Skinner viewed dreams as covert and symbolic forms of behavior that are subject
to the same contingencies of reinforcement as any other behavior.
Control of Human Behavior
Ultimately, all of a person's behavior is controlled by the environment. Societies
exercise control over their members through laws, rules, and customs that
transcend any one person's means of counter control.
There are four basic methods of social control: (1) operant conditioning, including
positive and negative reinforcement and punishment; (2) describing
contingencies, or using language to inform people of the consequence of their
behaviors; (3) deprivation and satiation, techniques that increase the likelihood
that people will behave in a certain way; and (4) physical restraint, including the
jailing of criminals.
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, which has several techniques: (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; and (6) doing
something else.
C- PSYM213 THEORIES OF PERSONALITY
Module 10A: Behavioral Analysis by Skinner
VII. The Unhealthy Personality
Social control and self-control sometimes produce counteracting strategies and
inappropriate behaviors.
A. Counteracting Strategies
People can counteract excessive social control by (1) escaping from
it, (2)revolting against it, or (3) passively resisting it.
B. Inappropriate Behaviors
Inappropriate behaviors follow from self-defeating techniques of counteracting
social control or from unsuccessful attempts at self-control.
VIII. Concept of Humanity
Skinner's concept of humanity was a completely deterministic and causal one that
emphasized unconscious behavior and the uniqueness of each person's history of
reinforcement within a mostly social environment. Unlike many determinists,
Skinner is quite optimistic in his view of humanity.
C- PSYM213 THEORIES OF PERSONALITY
Module 10A: Behavioral Analysis by Skinner
Module References:
Engler, B. (2014). Personality theories. An introduction. (9th ed.). Belmont,
CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Feist, J., Feist, G. & Roberts, T. (2018). Theories of personality. (9th ed.). New
York: Mc Graw-Hill Higher Education.
The Vids. The Little Albert Experiment https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZO1nFvNlhGc
Peggy Andover. The difference between classical and operant
conditioning.https://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-difference-between-classical-and-
operantconditioning-peggy-andover#review
