Personality Theory

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Personality Theory

• Chapter 13 Learning Theories of Personality
  The Radical Behaviourism of B.F. Skinner

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An Introduction to Skinners Radical Behaviourism

• At the turn of the 20th century, psychology was
  based on conscious experience and introspection
  to gain access to mind.
• Wundt and the use of trained observers to
  describe sensory experience.
• Wundts experimental approach
• Example mental chronometry to time mental
  activities.

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• Edward Titchener and the classification of
  sensory experiences
• A psychology called Structuralism
• Mental chemistry
• 46,708 possible sensory experiences
• How do we confirm what the observer says he
  observes?
• The privateness of private experience

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• The rebellion of John B. Watson
• A scientific psychology of observable behaviour.
• Study of learning and behaviour in children.
• Popularizer of a strictly behaviouristic approach
  to child-rearing.

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John B. Watson on The dangers of too much mother
love

• There is a sensible way of treating children.
  Treat them as though they were young adults.
  Dress them, bathe them with care and
  circumspection. Let your behaviour always be
  objective and kindly firm. Never hug and kiss
  them, never let them sit in your lap. If you
  must, kiss them once on the forehead when they
  say goodnight. Shake hands with them in the
  morning.

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Watsons Principles of Behaviourism

• The goal of psychology is to study behaviour, not
  mind.
• To understand behaviour, we have to understand
  the environmental conditions that produce it.

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• We must never try to explain the
  environment-behaviour relationship by appeal to
  covert mechanisms.
• There is no fundamental difference between the
  learning of humans and animals.

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Skinners Behaviouristic Credo

• People are complex machines.
• People are products of learning.
• The environment is neutral.
• Behaviour can change at any point in life.

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Behaviourisms Ties to Major -isms

• Associationism the connection of experiences.
• Functionalism an emphasis on adaptation to
  environment.
• Pragmatism practicality.
• Environmentalism behaviour is controlled by the
  environment.

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• Materialism mind is mechanistic matter.
• Experimentalism anything can be solved by
  experimental trial.

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Behaviourisms Promises

• Improve classroom learning and make it
  interesting.
• Make mental institutions flexible places of
  relearning.
• Increase the efficiency of psychotherapy.
• Put human social life on a rational basis.

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Burrhus Frederic Skinner

• Skinner was born in 1904, in Susquehanna, PA .
• He had bright, talented parents.
• An inventive and somewhat devilish boy, he was
  taught a strict moral code.
• He attended Hamilton College and majored in
  English.
• He was determined to become a writer but failed.

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• Reading about Watson and Pavlov turned him toward
  behaviouristic psychology.
• Admitted to psychology at Harvard
• There was not a behaviouristic department at the
  time.
• Earned his PhD (1931) on reflexes under a
  biologist
• Harvard postdoctoral fellow for 5 years

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• He then moved to the University of Minnesota,
  then Indiana University.
• Eventually returned to Harvard as professor.
• Recognized as a major behaviourist
• Important early books
• The Behavior of Organisms.
• A utopian novel, Walden Two, created a storm.

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• Many books followed
• Science and Human Behavior
• Verbal Behavior
• The Technology of Teaching
• Contingencies of Reinforcement
• Beyond Freedom and Dignity
• Enjoy Old Age Living Fully in Your Later Years
• Greatly honoured as a psychologist
• Died at 86 in 1990

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Emphases

• Human and animal behaviour are controlled by
  environment.
• An opposition to theory.
• Goal control and prediction of individual
  behaviour.
• General laws found in study of the individual
  subject.
• Functional analysis, linking behaviour to its
  causal antecedents.

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• Personality is the study of the behavioural
  attributes of persons.
• Understanding personality is shown by bringing
  behaviour under control.
• Use our knowledge of behaviour to change
  behaviour and improve learning.

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The Major Concepts of Skinners Behaviourism

• Operant conditioning, not classical conditioning.
• This is Type R conditioning, linking response to
  reinforcement.
• We begin with an already behaving organism.
• Responses cause reinforcing consequences that
  increase their probability.

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• Complex behaviour is shaped by successive
  approximation
• Shaping verbal behaviour by operant techniques
• Operants are frequently discriminative.
• Controlled by stimuli that tell when to make
  them.
• Operants become differentiated.

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• Secondary reinforcement a stimulus becomes a
  reinforcer through association with one that is
  the generalized reinforcer.
• Extinction occurs when reinforcement terminates.
• Except
• When responses are associated with primary
  reinforcement
• When responses are reinforced intermittently
• Responses are commonly chained.

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• Intermittent or partial reinforcement
• Reinforcement schedules
• Interval schedules
• Ratio schedules

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• Interval schedules
• Fixed interval
• Variable interval
• Ratio schedules
• Fixed ratio (e.g., piecework)
• Variable ratio (e.g., gambling)
• What makes gambling so addictive?

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Personality Development

• Skinners behaviourism is particularly applicable
  to developmental learning.
• The importance of shaping the responses of young
  learners.
• Punishment may suppress responses but not
  eliminate them.
• It frequently brings unwanted side effects.
• A Skinnerian mistake language as operant
  learning.

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Implications

• A behaviour technology with significant
  implications for
• Psychopharmacology
• Behaviour disorder and behaviour modification of
  psychiatric patients and developmentally disabled
  children
• The token economy
• Psychotherapy
• Education the teaching machine

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Skinners Behaviourism in Perspective

• A theory based almost wholly on experimental
  research
• A workable behaviour technology in many areas
• Is it too utopian? Too simple?
• It doesnt take account of observational learning.

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• It doesnt recognize cognitive processes.
• How do we judge it?

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Take-Home Messages

• The sterility of early 20th century psychology
  introspection and structuralism
• The Watsonian behaviouristic revolution
• Watson and classical conditioning
• Watsons credo for psychology
• B.F. Skinner, an admirer of Watson
• Skinners credo for psychology

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• Behaviourism and major ideas
• Associationism
• Functionalism
• Pragmatism
• Environmentalism
• Materialism
• Experimentalism
• Behaviourisms promise

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• Skinners history
• Born in 1904 in Pennsylvania
• Educated at Hamilton College and Harvard (PhD,
  1931)
• Strongly influenced by Watsons behaviourism
• Thought operant conditioning more important than
  classical
• Early career at Minnesota, then Indiana, then
  Harvard

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• Many influential books and a utopian novel
• Emphases in Skinners behaviourism
• Behaviour controlled by environment
• Not a theory
• Study of the individual subject
• Functional analysis of cause and effect
• Personality and behaviour, not internal states

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• Major concepts of Skinners behaviourism
• The operant
• in animals
• in human affairs
• Discriminative, differentiated operants
• Reinforcement secondary reinforcers, generalized
  reinforcers
• Chaining of operants

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• Schedules of reinforcement
• Interval fixed and variable
• Ratio fixed and variable
• Reinforcement schedules in life
• Personality development
• Operant learning
• Problems with punishment
• Language and verbal behaviour

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• Implications
• Psychopharmacology
• Behaviour disorder and treatment
• Psychotherapy
• Education
• Skinners behaviourism in perspective
• An optimistic and practical view of human affairs
  or too simple and unworkable?