Hockenbury Discovering Psychology 5th txtbk

208 CHAPTER 5 LearningCRITICAL THINKINGIs Human Freedom Just an Illusion?© 1996. Washington Post Writers Group.Reprinted with permission.Skinner’s most famous invention was the operant chamber, morepopularly known as a Skinner box, in which rats or pigeons wereconditioned to perform simple behaviors, such as pressing a leveror pecking at a disk, to receive a food reward (see page 209). HadSkinner been content to confine his observations to the behaviorof rats or pigeons in a Skinner box, his career might have beenrelatively uncontroversial. But Skinner was intensely interested inhuman behavior and social problems (Bjork, 1997a). He believedthat operant conditioning principles could, and should, be appliedon a broad scale to help solve society’s problems.Skinner’s most radical—and controversial—belief was thatsuch ideas as free will, self-determination, and individual choiceare just illusions. Skinner (1971) argued that behavior is not simplyinfluenced by the environment but is determined by it. Controlthe environment, he said, and you will control human behavior.As he bluntly asserted in his controversial best-seller, BeyondFreedom and Dignity (1971), “A person does not act upon theworld, the world acts upon him.”Such views did not sit well with the American public (Rutherford,2003). Following the publication of Beyond Freedom and Dignity,one member of Congress denounced Skinner for “advancing ideaswhich threaten the future of our system of government by denigratingthe American tradition of individualism, human dignity, andself-reliance” (quoted in Rutherford, 2000). Why the uproar?Skinner’s ideas clashed with the traditional American ideals ofpersonal responsibility, individual freedom, and self-determination.Such ideals are based on the assumption that behavior arises fromcauses that are within the individual. All individuals are held responsiblefor their conduct and given credit for their achievements.Skinner labeled such notions the “traditional prescientificview” of human behavior.According to Skinner, “A scientific analysis [of behavior] shiftsboth the responsibility and the achievement to the environment.”Applying his ideas to social problems, such as alcoholism andcrime, Skinner (1971) wrote, “It is the environment which is ‘responsible’for objectionable behavior, and it is the environment,not some attribute of the individual, which must be changed.”To understand Skinner’s point of view, it helps to think of societyas a massive, sophisticated Skinner box. From the moment ofbirth, the environment shapes and determines your behaviorthrough reinforcing or punishing consequences. Taking thisview, you are no more personally responsible for your behaviorthan is a rat in a Skinner box pressing a lever to obtain a food pellet.Just like the rat’s behavior, your behavior is simply a responseto the unique patterns of environmental consequences to whichyou have been exposed.Time for Skinner’s Ideas?The impact of the publicationof Beyond Freedomand Dignity can be measuredby Skinner’s appearanceon the cover of Timeon September 20, 1971,shortly after the book waspublished. Skinner is shownin the middle of some ofhis most famous creations.Clockwise from upper left:pigeons trained to peck ata ping-pong ball; a ratpressing a lever in an operantchamber; an idealizedrural scene representingthe fictional utopia describedin Skinner’s novel Walden Two (1948a); and a teachingmachine, an early mechanical device for programmed instructionbased on operant conditioning principles.Skinner (1971) proposed that “a technology of behavior” bedeveloped, one based on a scientific analysis of behavior. He believedthat society could be redesigned using operant conditioningprinciples to produce more socially desirable behaviors—andhappier citizens. He described such an ideal, utopian society inWalden Two, a novel he published in 1948. Critics charged Skinnerwith advocating a totalitarian state. They asked who woulddetermine which behaviors were shaped and maintained(Rutherford, 2000; Todd & Morris, 1992).As Skinner pointed out, however, human behavior is alreadycontrolled by various authorities: parents, teachers, politicians,religious leaders, employers, and so forth. Such authoritiesregularly use reinforcing and punishing consequences toshape and control the behavior of others. Skinner insisted thatit is better to control behavior in a rational, humane fashionthan to leave the control of behavior to the whims and oftenselfish aims of those in power. Skinner himself was adamantlyopposed to the use of punishment and other aversive stimulito control behavior. Instead, he repeatedly advocated thegreater use of positive reinforcement (Dinsmoor, 1992).On the one hand, it may seem convenient to blame your historyof environmental consequences for your failures and misdeeds.On the other hand, that means you can’t take any creditfor your accomplishments and good deeds, either!CRITICAL THINKING QUESTIONS If Skinner’s vision of a socially engineered society usingoperant conditioning principles were implemented, wouldsuch changes be good or bad for society? Are human freedom and personal responsibility illusions?Or is human behavior fundamentally different from a rat’sbehavior in a Skinner box? If so, how? Is your behavior almost entirely the product of environmentalconditioning? Think about your answer carefully. After all,exactly why are you reading this box?