The Psychology Book (27 page)

resulted in a negative response.

operant conditioning has striking

where he continued to refine his

While still careful to avoid the

parallels with Charles Darwin’s

experimental research in operant

notions of “reward” and

theory of natural selection—in

conditioning and to explore

“punishment,” Skinner concluded

essence, that only organisms

practical applications for his ideas,

that behavior was shaped much

suited by their genetic make-up

this time using pigeons instead of

more efficiently by a program

to a particular environment will

rats. With the pigeons, Skinner

of positive reinforcement. In fact,

survive to reproduce, ensuring

found that he was able to devise

he came to believe that negative

the “success” of their species.

more subtle experiments. Using

reinforcement could even be

The likelihood of a rat behaving

what he described as a “method of

counter-productive, with the

in a way that will result in a

successive approximations,” he

subject continuing to seek positive

reinforcing stimulus, triggering

could elicit and investigate more

responses for a specific behavior,

the process of operant conditioning,

complex patterns of behavior.

despite this leading to a negative

is dependent on the level of its

Skinner gave the pigeons

response in the majority of cases.

curiosity and intelligence, both of

positive reinforcement for any

This has implications in various

which are determined by genetic

behavior that was similar to that he

areas of human behavior too; for

make-up. It was this combination

was trying to elicit. For example, if

example, in the use of disciplinary

of predisposition and conditioning

he was trying to train a pigeon to

measures to teach children. If a

that led Skinner to conclude that

fly in a circle clockwise, food would

boy is continually being punished

“a person’s behavior is controlled by

be given for any movement the

for something he finds enjoyable,

his genetic and environmental

pigeon made to the right, however

such as picking his nose, he is

histories”—an idea that he explored

small. Once this behavior had ❯❯

84 B.F. SKINNER

been established, the food was only

the end. Although it only achieved

given for longer flights to the right,

limited approval at the time, the

and the process was repeated until

principles embodied in Skinner’s

the pigeon had to fly a full circle in

teaching machine resurfaced

order to receive some food.

decades later in self-education

computer programs.

The objection to inner

Teaching program

It has to be said that many of

states is not that they do

Skinner’s research led him to

Skinner’s inventions were

not exist, but that they are

question teaching methods used

misunderstood at the time, and

not relevant in a

in schools. In the 1950s, when his

gained him a reputation as an

functional analysis.

own children were involved in

eccentric. His “baby tender,”

B.F. Skinner

formal education, students were

for example, was designed as a

often given long tasks that involved

crib alternative to keep his infant

several stages, and usually had to

daughter in a controlled, warm, and

wait until the teacher had graded

draft-free environment. However,

work carried out over the entire

the public confused it with a

project before finding out how well

Skinner box, and it was dubbed

they had done. This approach ran

the “heir conditioner” by the press,

contrary to Skinner’s findings about

amid rumors that Skinner was

guidance systems were yet to be

the process of learning and, in his

experimenting on his own children.

invented, so Skinner devised a nose

opinion, was holding back progress.

Nevertheless, the baby tender

cone that could be attached to a

In response, Skinner developed a

attracted publicity, and Skinner

bomb and steered by three pigeons

teaching program that gave

was never shy of the limelight.

placed inside it. The birds had been

incremental feedback at every

trained, using operant conditioning,

stage of a project—a process that

War effort

to peck at an image of the bomb’s

was later incorporated into a

Yet another famous experiment

target, which was projected into

number of educational systems. He

called “Project Pigeon” was met

the nose cone via a lens at the front.

also invented a “teaching machine”

with skepticism and some derision.

This pecking controlled the flight-

that gave a student encouraging

This practical application of

path of the missile. The National

feedback for correct answers given

Skinner’s work with pigeons was

Defense Research Committee

at every stage of a long series of

intended as a serious contribution

helped fund the project, but it was

test questions, rather than just at

to the war effort in 1944. Missile

never used in combat, because it

was considered too eccentric and

impractical. The suspicion was

that Skinner, with his passion for

gadgets, was more interested in the

invention than in its application.

When asked if he thought it right

to involve animals in warfare, he

replied that he thought it was

wrong to involve humans.

In later life as an academic at

Harvard, Skinner also expanded

on the implications of his findings

in numerous articles and books.

Praise or encouragement
given at

frequent intervals during the progress

of a piece of work, rather than one large

reward at the end, has been shown to

boost the rate at which children learn.

BEHAVIORISM 85

Walden Two
(1948) describes a

falls from heaven, he ends in hell.

utopian society based on behavior

And what does he say to reassure

learned with operant conditioning.

himself? ‘Here, at least, we shall

The book’s vision of social control

be free.’ And that, I think, is the

achieved by positive reinforcement

fate of the old-fashioned liberal.

caused controversy, and despite

He’s going to be free, but he’s

Skinner has an

its benign intent was criticized by

going to find himself in hell.”

unbounded love for the

many as totalitarian. This was not

Views such as these gained

idea that there are no

a surprising reaction, given the

him notoriety, and prompted some

individuals, no agents—

political climate in the aftermath

of his fiercest critics. In particular,

there are only organisms.

of World War II.

the application of his behaviorist

Thomas Szasz

ideas to the learning of language

Radical behaviorism

in
Verbal Behavior
in 1957 received

Skinner remained true to his

a scathing review from Noam

behaviorist approach, coining

Chomsky, which is often credited

the term “radical behaviorism”

as launching the movement known

for the branch of psychology he

as cognitive psychology.

espoused. Although he did not

Some criticism of Skinner’s

deny the existence of thought

work, however, has been based on

was a two-way process, in which

processes and mental states, he

misunderstanding the principles

an organism operates on its

believed that psychology should

of operant conditioning. Radical

environment and that environment

be concerned solely with the study

behaviorism has often been

responds, with the consequence

of physical responses to prevailing

linked erroneously to the European

often shaping future behavior.

conditions or situations.

philosophical movement of logical

In the 1960s, the focus in

In his book,
Beyond Freedom

positivism, which holds the view

psychology swung away from

and Dignity
, Skinner took the

that statements or ideas are only

the study of behavior to the

concept of shaping behavior

meaningful if they can be verified

study of mental processes, and

even further, resurrecting the

by actual experience. But it has in

for a time Skinner’s ideas were

philosophical debate between

fact much more in common with

discredited, or at least ignored.

free will and determinism. For the

American pragmatism, which

A reappraisal of behaviorism soon

radical behaviorist Skinner, free

measures the importance or value

followed, however, and his work

will is an illusion; selection by

of actions according to their

found an appreciative audience in

consequences controls all of our

consequences. It has also been

many areas of applied psychology,

behavior, and hence our lives.

misinterpreted as presenting all

especially among educationalists

Attempts to escape this notion

living beings as the passive

and clinical psychologists—the

are doomed to failure and chaos.

subjects of conditioning, whereas

approach of cognitive behavioral

As he put it: “When Milton’s Satan

to Skinner operant conditioning

therapy owes much to his ideas. ■

Classical conditioning
creates an

automatic behavioral response to a

+

=

neutral stimulus, such as salivating in

expectation of food when a bell is rung.

Operant conditioning
creates a

higher probability of repeated behavior

+

=

through positive reinforcement, such as

releasing food by pulling a lever.

86

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THE SCENE