Dec 4, 2019

>Understanding Human Ignorance< >>>>> Chapter Eight >>>>> Why People Do What They Do: Facing the Psyhcological Reality of Humanity

Understand, then, that humanity is psychologically adrift, mired in a world that assumes the existence of free will, when nothing of the sort has any reality.

 

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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