July 2022
Cumulative Record. Chapter 11: Reinforcement Today. Quote 6
In early experiments on lever pressing, a quick response to the food-magazine was always set up before the lever was introduced. This was done for another reason—to permit emotional responses to the noise of the magazine to adapt out—but it must have been important in providing instantaneous reinforcement. (p. 167)
Cumulative Record. Chapter 11: Reinforcement Today. Quote 5
In magazine-training the pigeon—that is, in getting it to respond to the sound of the magazine by turning immediately and approaching the food tray—we had created an auditory conditioned reinforcer. This is a great help in operant conditioning because it can follow a response instantly. (p. 166)
Cumulative Record. Chapter 11: Reinforcement Today. Quote 4
In 1943 Keller Breland, Norman Guttman, and I were working on a wartime project sponsored by General Mills, Inc . . . The result [of shaping ball swiping in a pigeon] amazed us . . . The spectacle so impressed Keller Breland that he gave up a promising career in psychology and went into the […]
Cumulative Record. Chapter 11: Reinforcement Today. Quote 1
During the past twenty-five years the role of reinforcement in human affairs has received steadily increasing attention—not through any changing fashion in learning theory but as the result of the discovery of facts and practices which have increased our power to predict and control behavior and in doing so have left no doubt of their […]
Cumulative Record. Chapter 10: The Experimental Analysis of Behavior. Quote 35
For a long time men of good will have tried to improve the cultural patterns in which they live. It is possible that a scientific analysis of behavior will provide us at last with the techniques we need for this task—with the wisdom we need to build a better world and, through it, better men. […]
Cumulative Record. Chapter 10: The Experimental Analysis of Behavior. Quote 34
In extrapolating our results to the world at large, we can do no more than the physical and biological sciences in general. Because of experiments performed under laboratory conditions, no one doubts that the cooling of the coffee in the cup is an orderly process, even though the actual curve would be very difficult to […]
Cumulative Record. Chapter 10: The Experimental Analysis of Behavior. Quote 33
Have we been guilty of an undue simplification of conditions in order to obtain this level of rigor? Have we really “proved” that there is comparable order outside the laboratory? It is difficult to be sure of the answers to such questions. (p. 163)
Cumulative Record. Chapter 10: The Experimental Analysis of Behavior. Quote 32
The reproducibility from species to species is a product of the method. In choosing stimuli, responses, and reinforcers appropriate to the species being studied, we eliminate the sources of many species differences. (p. 163)
Cumulative Record. Chapter 10: The Experimental Analysis of Behavior. Quote 31
Several features should not be overlooked. Most of the records reproduced here report the behavior of single individuals; they are not the statistical product of an “average organism.” Changes in behavior are followed continuously during substantial experimental sessions. They often reveal changes occurring within a few seconds which would be missed by any procedure which […]
Cumulative Record. Chapter 10: The Experimental Analysis of Behavior. Quote 30
… in turning to probability of response or, more immediately, to frequency of responding we find a datum which behaves in an orderly fashion under a great variety of conditions. Such a datum yields the kind of rigorous analysis which deserves a place in the natural sciences. (pp. 163)
Cumulative Record. Chapter 10: The Experimental Analysis of Behavior. Quote 29
. . . under experimental conditions, a specific response can be reinforced by the production or clarification of a stimulus which controls other behavior. The matter is of considerable practical importance. How, for example, can a radar operator or other “lookout” be kept alert? The answer is: by reinforcing his looking behavior. (pp. 157-158)
Cumulative Record. Chapter 10: The Experimental Analysis of Behavior. Quote 28
Unfortunately mere “attending” (as in reading a book or listening to a concert) has dimensions which are difficult to study. But behavior with comparable effects is sometimes accessible, such as turning the eyes toward a page, tilting a page to bring it into better light, or turning up the volume of a phonograph. (p. 157)
Cumulative Record. Chapter 10: The Experimental Analysis of Behavior. Quote 27
We often forget that looking at a visual pattern or listening to a sound is itself behavior, because we are likely to be impressed by the more important behavior which the pattern or sound controls. But any act which brings an organism into contact with a discriminative stimulus, or clarifies or intensifies its effect, is […]
Cumulative Record. Chapter 10: The Experimental Analysis of Behavior. Quote 26
In watching experiments of the sort described above, most people feel that they could “figure out” a schedule of reinforcement and adjust to it more efficiently than the experimental organism. In saying this, they are probably overlooking the clocks and calendars, the counters, and the behavior of counting with which man has solved the problem […]
Cumulative Record. Chapter 10: The Experimental Analysis of Behavior. Quote 24
In one of Olds’ experiments, a rat presses a lever to give itself mild electrical stimulation in the anterior hypothalamus. When every response is so “reinforced,” behavior is sustained in strength for long periods of time . . . Although there remain some puzzling differences between behavior so reinforced and behavior reinforced with food, Olds’ […]
Cumulative Record. Chapter 10: The Experimental Analysis of Behavior. Quote 23
Much of what we do during the day is done not because of the positive reinforcements we receive but because of aversive consequences we avoid. The whole field of escape, avoidance, and punishment is an extensive one, but order is slowly being brought into it. An important contribution has been the research of Murray on […]