History of Behavior Analysis 9

1
History of Behavior Analysis (9)

• Christine L. Whitley
• Savannah State University

2
Book

• 1. Introduction
• 2. B.F. Skinner The man
• 3. Skinners Intellectual Background
• 4. Skinners Philosophy of a Science of Human
  Behavior Radical Behaviorism
• 5. Operant Conditioning and the Experimental
  Analysis of Behavior
• 6. Skinner on Cognition
• 7. Skinner on Language
• 8. Applied Behavior Analysis
• 9. B.F. Skinner Expert Self-Manager
• 10. Skinners Views on Bettering Society
• 11. Criticism of Skinner
• 12. Skinners Legacy
• 13. B.F. Skinners Published Works

3
Criticism of Skinner

• It is much easier to be critical than correct
• Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881)
• Reading something out of context
• Misunderstanding what is read
• Criticism based on inaccurate interpretation of
  the text
• Poor scholarship

4
Psychology and Skinner

• Sinner did not deny the existence of the mind in
  a physical sense (e.g. the brain or its
  behavior) he did, however, deny the existence of
  a nonphysical mind.
• P. 222 By psychology

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Bad exegesis

• Criticism 1
• State of Mind Private events within our
  bodies and can be studied as a natural science.
• Criticism 2
• Innate behaviors Contingencies of survival
• Criticism 3
• Intention and purpose operant conditioning and
  contingencies of reinforcement.
• Criticism 4
• sense of self and personality a locus, point
  at which many genetic and environmental
  conditions come together in a joint effect.

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Bad exegesis

• Criticism 5
• Results cannot be replicated in daily life
  generalization
• Criticism 6
• too closed to common sense ex. Reinforcement
  ) less frequent behavior! Contradiction of
  common sense!
• Criticism 7
• morality and justice fiction nothing good or
  bad only its reinforcing effects
• Criticism 8
• anti-democratic the subject controls his/her
  behavior

7
Noam Chomsky

• Wikipedia
• Beginning with his critique of the Vietnam
  War in the 1960s, Chomsky has become more widely
  known especially internationally for his
  media criticism and radical politics than for his
  linguistic theories.12 He is generally
  considered to be a key intellectual figure within
  the left wing of United States politics.
  According to the Arts and Humanities Citation
  Index, between 1980 and 1992 Chomsky was cited as
  a source more often than any other living
  scholar, and the eighth most cited scholar
  overall.345 Chomsky is widely known for his
  political activism, and for his criticism of the
  foreign policy of the United States and other
  governments. Chomsky describes himself as a
  libertarian socialist and a sympathizer of
  anarcho-syndicalism

8
Good Exegesis and Valid Criticism

• 1 environmental determinism, by definition
  automatons
• 2 creative behavior? (mutations, flaws)
• 3Punishment
• 4 limited relevance with complex behaviors
• 5 no real prediction without deep understanding
  of instinctive patterns, evolutionary history and
  ecological niche

9
Skinner and authority

• Read the book of nature and dont trust any
  authority!
• Question, read, question, read, question, read
• P.236 last paragraph what are the B.A. obstacles?

10
Skinners legacy

• 1. Radical Behaviorism
• 2. Schedules of reinforcement
• 3. Practical application
• 4. based on scientific explanations
• 5. selections natural, consequence,, culture
• 6. use of apparatus
• 7. single-subject methodology
• 8. maximize potential utopianism
• 9. other definition for cognition
• 10. language as a behavior