April 2018
Contingencies of Reinforcement. Chapter 4: The experimental analysis of behavior. Quote 21
“When Freud first turned from biology to psychology, he wrote to a friend: “What horrifies me more than anything else is all the psychology I shall have to read in the next few years.” The literature faced by the young psychologist today is several thousand times as extensive.” (p. 93) Subscribe to RSS feed […]
Contingencies of Reinforcement. Chapter 4: The experimental analysis of behavior. Quote 20
“The psychological literature contains a prodigious number of charts, graphs, tables, and equations reporting quantitative relations among unimportant or useless variables. Much of this may be attributed to professional contingencies of reinforcement …” (pp. 92-93) Subscribe to RSS feed here
Contingencies of Reinforcement. Chapter 4: The experimental analysis of behavior. Quote 16
“Controllable variables are . . . lacking when behavior is predicted from other behavior. The tests used in mental measurement evoke samples of behavior from which characteristics of similar behavior, usually on a larger scale, can be predicted—but only because the sample and the predicted behavior are functions of common variables, usually not identified.” (p. […]
Contingencies of Reinforcement. Chapter 4: The experimental analysis of behavior. Quote 15
“Uncontrollable independent variables. The ethologists study behavior as a function of species status. A graylag goose behaves in a given way because it is a graylag goose. To change the behavior we should have to change the species. No matter how important genetic variables may be, we do not manipulate them as such in predicting […]
Contingencies of Reinforcement. Chapter 4: The experimental analysis of behavior. Quote 14
“[Bixenstine] suggests that the optimism [in all behavior science] springs from release from the anxiety of theory construction. There is a more obvious explanation: the analysis works.” (p. 86) Subscribe to RSS feed here
Contingencies of Reinforcement. Chapter 4: The experimental analysis of behavior. Quote 13
“Patience with respect to unexplored parts of a field is particularly important in a science of behavior because, as part of our own subject matter, we may be overwhelmed by the facts which remain to be explained.” (p. 85) Subscribe to RSS feed here
Contingencies of Reinforcement. Chapter 4: The experimental analysis of behavior. Quote 12
“. . . a smooth curve showing a change in probability of a response as a function of a controlled variable is a fact in the bag, and there is no need to worry about it as one goes in search of others. The shortcomings and exceptions will be accounted for in time.” (p. 84) […]
Contingencies of Reinforcement. Chapter 4: The experimental analysis of behavior. Quote 11
“In addition to the systematic manipulation of contingencies, the interpretation of human affairs is a rich source of suggestions for experiments. Do conditions detected in some episode in daily life actually have the effects observed when more carefully controlled? Can a certain history of reinforcement be shown to be responsible for a current performance?” (p. […]
Contingencies of Reinforcement. Chapter 4: The experimental analysis of behavior. Quote 10
“A study of schedules of reinforcement . . . can proceed in a rather Baconian fashion, . . . the “theory,” if any, being concerned with what organisms will do under the contingencies analyzed. The experimental analysis of behavior dispenses with theories of that sort by proceeding to find out.” (p. 82) Subscribe to […]
Contingencies of Reinforcement. Chapter 4: The experimental analysis of behavior. Quote 9
“The experimental control of variables is emphasized rather than a later evaluation of their presumed importance through statistical analyses. The number of organisms studied is usually much smaller than in statistical designs, but the length of time during which any one organism is observed is usually much greater.” (p. 81) Subscribe to RSS feed […]
Contingencies of Reinforcement. Chapter 4: The experimental analysis of behavior. Quote 8
“[In the experimental analysis of behavior,] relations among dependent and independent variables are seldom explored according to a prior “experimental design,” as R. A. Fisher used that term. The null hypothesis finds itself in the null class.” (p. 81) Subscribe to RSS feed here
Contingencies of Reinforcement. Chapter 4: The experimental analysis of behavior. Quote 7
“Describing a set of contingencies in instructions to the subject is no substitute for exposing the subject to the contingencies, particularly when they need to be programmed.” (p. 80) Subscribe to RSS feed here
Contingencies of Reinforcement. Chapter 4: The experimental analysis of behavior. Quote 4
“Rate of responding is a basic dimension, not simply because responses can be accurately counted, but because rate is relevant to the central concern of a science of behavior.” (p. 77) Subscribe to RSS feed here
Contingencies of Reinforcement. Chapter 4: The experimental analysis of behavior. Quote 2
“Like probability, rate of responding would be a meaningless concept if it were not possible to specify topography of response in such a way that separate instances of an operant can be counted.” (p. 75) Subscribe to RSS feed here