Upon receipt of this bracing wakeup call,
review the following fuller exposition of the principles of behaviorist
psychology, with attention to the way these work in several cogent examples:
A. The
Essentials of Operant Conditioning
1.
Positive Reinforcement
Positive reinforcement is the reward that a person receives after
exhibiting a given behavior.
A father may cook a special dinner for a
daughter who successfully fixes a leaky water faucet. The daughter is much more likely, for having
been the recipient of the special dinner, to take on the leaky faucet task the
next time the problem occurs.
A mother may pay her son $20 after he does the
family laundry. The son, who had long
lobbied for such a reward, is now much more likely to do the laundry cheerfully
and with the desired results of very clean clothes than he would in the absence
of the reward.
A teacher smiles and gives a hug to a child
who has just successfully completed a double digit multiplication problem for
the first time. The child, having been
hesitant on the multiplication task, will now move on to a division task with
much more enthusiasm in the expectation of similar approbation.
The child in turn may smile and tell the
teacher that he is the best ever at explaining math. The teacher moves on to the next child or to
the next task with the same child in a mood of exhilaration.
An employer may give “Employee of the Month”
honors to an employee who never missed a day and performed all tasks at an
exceptional level of accomplishment. If
this is a reward that the employee sought, she or he will revel in the award
and maintain the behavior in expectation of a possible “Employee of the Year”
award.
All of these situations feature some behavior
that was rewarded in a timely fashion with behaviorist psychologists call positive
reinforcement: the special dinner, the
$20, the smile and hug combination, the returned smile and words of praise, the
two kinds of employee awards. The most
distinguished behaviorist, B. F. Skinner, and other experimental psychologists
maintain that the presentation of a positive reinforcer for a desired behavior
is the single most effective means of encouraging and maintaining that
behavior.
2.
Punishment
Punishment
is the aversive consequence that one receives for exhibiting an undesirable
behavior.
If a daughter had given indication that she
could fix the faucet but fails to do so, dad frowns and says, “You are always
promising things that you cannot do.”
A son who says that he will do a super job if
mom pays her son $20 for doing the family laundry does only half of what he
said he’d do and leaves most of the clothes damp, leaving mom to finish
up. Mom tells her son that he cannot
participate in the family card game that evening but instead will have to write
a three-page essay explaining how he will do the laundry better the next time.
A teacher frowns and says, “You never try hard
enough on assignments I give to you,” when a child makes insufficient effort to
solve a double-digit multiplication problem for the first time. The child tears up in the receipt of this reprobation
from a beloved teacher.
The child, now emotionally hurting as a result
of the teacher’s stinging words, slams her fist on the table and shouts, “You
are the most useless teacher I’ve ever had.”
An employer may reduce the hours of an
employee who failed to perform all tasks requested at an acceptable level of
accomplishment. The employee, not a
slacker by habit, feels terrible that she has disappointed her employer and
lost needed income.
All of these situations feature some behavior
that was punished in close proximity to the undesirable performance of an
activity. Skinner would have labeled as
punishment each of the negative consequences:
the frown and harsh words from dad;
missing the family card game and having to write the essay about
becoming a better launderer; the frown
and words of condemnation from the teacher; the slammed fist and insulting
words leveled at the teacher; the reduced
hours and lost pay.
3.
Negative reinforcement
Like positive reinforcement, negative
reinforcement rewards rather than punishes a given behavior. With negative reinforcement, though, the
reward comes via the removal of an aversive experience.
Dad stands frowning and saying, “You are
always promising to do things that you cannot do,” as the daughter is trying to
fix the faucet, but his frown fades and his negative comments disappear when
the daughter in fact fixes the faucet.
Mom maintains a steady monologue about how her
son has never done the family laundry properly in his life and how she knows
that the current effort will result in similar failure but stills her tongue
when he surprisingly gets it right this time.
A teacher frowns and says, “You never try hard
enough on assignments I give to you,” but stops the words of condemnation
amidst a fading frown when the child solves a double-digit multiplication
problem for the first time.
The child fights through lingering emotional
pain but, relieved at the absence of insulting words, does not slam her fist on
the table and shout “You are the most
useless teacher I’ve ever had,” as she has done so many times before.
An employer shows an employee a schedule of
reduced hours to an employee who seems to be failing on a given night to
perform all tasks requested at an acceptable level of accomplishment--- but tears up the schedule with the atypically
reduced number of hours when the employee gets busy and completes all tasks in
good form.
All of these situations feature some behavior
that was rewarded with the removal of an aversive situation in close proximity
to the adroit performance of an activity.
Skinner would have labeled each instance of removal of an aversive
consequence as negative reinforcement :
the fading of dad’s frown and the termination of harsh words from dad
when the faucet is in fact fixed; the
ceasing of mom’s litany of invective when the son does a good job with the
family laundry ; the teacher no longer
speaking words of condemnation and no longer wearing a frown; the absence of a slammed fist and insulting
words leveled at the teacher; the
employer tearing up the schedule of reduced hours.
B.
Schedules of Reinforcement
There are four fundamental schedules of
reinforcement, each built on pairing important concepts related to the
variability of the routine and whether the reinforcement is timed or delivered
according quantity of reinforced behaviors.
In terms of variability, schedules may be
either fixed or varied. A fixed schedule of reinforcement delivers the
reinforcement on a dependably regular schedule;
a variable schedule of
reinforcement delivers the reinforcement on an irregular schedule, one that is
not predictable by observers other than the designer of the experiment--- or, rather than occurring by conscious
design, happening in the context of organically materializing circumstances of
life.
In terms of the factors of timing or
quantification, schedules may be either based on interval or ratio. Interval schedules deliver the
reinforcement after the passage of so much time; ratio schedules deliver the reinforcement
according to the number of behaviors exhibited.
Examples of these schedules of reinforcement
are given below:
1) fixed
interval >>>>>
A fixed interval schedule of
reinforcement rewards behavior exhibited over an exact time period. For example, a father may reward his son for
doing his chore of washing the dishes every night that the family eats at home
each week by giving him his allowance every Saturday afternoon.
2) variable
interval >>>>>
A variable interval schedule of
reinforcement rewards behavior dependably over an identifiable long-term period
but not precise in the short term. For
example, a father may reward his son for doing his chore of washing the dishes
every night that the family eats at home each week by giving him his allowance
four times each month----- but not on a
set day or time.
3) fixed
ratio >>>>>
A fixed ratio schedule of reinforcement
rewards each behavior right after exhibition of the behavior. For example, a father may reward his son for
doing his chore of washing the dishes each time he completes the task, for the
agreed upon amount of $5.00.
4) variable
ratio >>>>>
A variable ratio schedule of
reinforcement rewards behavior after an average number of completions. For example, a father may reward his son for
doing his chore of washing the dishes according to the number of times he
completes the task, for the agreed upon amount of $5.00 per task, but not
necessarily paid right after completion of the task.
C.
Further Comments
All of the schedules of reinforcement given
above are highly effective and result in what behaviorist psychologists call
behavior acquisition (beginning to manifest a given behavior in the presence of
reinforcement) and maintenance (continuing a behavior in the presence of
ongoing reinforcement). When
reinforcement is discontinued, the behavior of the organism (the human or other
creature exhibiting the behavior) is extinguished. Because the exact delivery of reinforcement
is not predictable with variable reinforcement on either an interval or a ratio
schedule, behavior on variable reinforcement schedules takes longer to be
extinguished: The organism continues to
manifest the behavior for a while in the absence of reinforcement, expecting
that the reward (reinforcement) will eventually be gained, but when this does
not happen the behavior comes to an end (is extinguished).
Behaviorist psychologists observe that all
creatures respond in similar ways to the schedules of reinforcement. The schedules given above are for positive
reinforcement but work similarly for negative reinforcement and for punishment. Because they tend to be convenient subjects
under laboratory conditions, behaviorist experimental psychologists frequently
use creatures other than humans to observe responses to reinforcers and
punishments; for example, they
frequently use rats as the subjects (organisms) for their experiments. With animals, primary reinforcers are
frequently used. Primary reinforcers are
those such as food, liquids, and sex---
similar to the aspects of the human being that psychoanalytical theorist
Sigmund Freud located in the Id.
With humans, various other kinds of rewards,
called secondary reinforcers are often used (and may be used with other
creatures, as well). Secondary
reinforcers may involve smiles, words of praise, and material rewards such as
the monetary allowance that the father gave the son for doing the dishes in the
examples give above. Behaviorist
psychologists say that all responses to secondary reinforcers can be traced
back to those biological imperatives that make the organism predisposed to
respond to primary reinforcers. They
maintain that all behavior (doing well on a job; leading a volunteer effort with great
skill; or seeking to attract a mate) is
related to the need or desire to satisfy biological imperatives.
Behaviorist psychologists say that free will
is a perception, not a reality: They
deny the existence of free will. They
hold that all behavior is acquired and maintained as a result of the
presentation of positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, or
punishment. Of these three, experimental
psychologists have found that positive reinforcement is the most efficient for
achieving behavior acquisition in the organism, and that positive reinforcement
along with punishment is even more efficient and effective in getting the
organism to deliver the desired response under experimental conditions.
This is the most persuasive explanation for
why people do what they do.
People merely perceive that they have free
will.
Thus, also assumptions made by the great
majority of humankind as to why people do what they do constitutes one of the
three most important indicators long present and present still abiding in 2019
as to humanity is so abominably ignorant and inclined to such self-destructive
and life-abnegating behavior.
In the area of human psychology, toward a
sophisticated understanding of human behavior, and in the design of environment
capable of inducing human activity productive of an elevated quality of human
experience on this one earthly sojourn, women and others just now coming to the
fore must lead the way.
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