Cumulative Record. Chapter 19: Psychology in the Understanding of Mental Disease. Quote 1
Of special importance in the field of mental disease are many forms of behavior resulting from the use of punishment as a measure of control. It is now clear that in punishing a response, we do not simply lower the probability that it will be emitted. (p. 297)
Cumulative Record. Chapter 18: A Critique of Psychoanalytic Concepts and Theories. Quote 12
Freud appears never to have considered the possibility of bringing the concepts and theories of a psychological science into contact with the rest of physical and biological science by the simple expedient of an operational definition of terms. (p. 294)
Cumulative Record. Chapter 18: A Critique of Psychoanalytic Concepts and Theories. Quote 11
Freud’s contribution has been widely misunderstood. The important point was not that the individual was often unable to describe important aspects of his own behavior or identify important causal relationships but that his ability to describe them was irrelevant to the occurrence of the behavior or to the effectiveness of the causes. (p. 293)
Cumulative Record. Chapter 18: A Critique of Psychoanalytic Concepts and Theories. Quote 10
There are many words in the layman’s vocabulary which suggest the activity of an organism yet are not descriptive of behavior in the narrower sense . . . We say that a man discriminates between two objects when he behaves differently with respect to them; but discriminating is not itself behavior. (p. 291)
Cumulative Record. Chapter 18: A Critique of Psychoanalytic Concepts and Theories. Quote 9
In spite of Freud’s valuable analysis of verbal slips and of the techniques of wit and verbal art, he rejected the possibility of an analysis of verbal behavior in its own right rather than as the expression of ideas, feelings, or other inner events, and therefore missed the importance of this field for the analysis […]
Cumulative Record. Chapter 18: A Critique of Psychoanalytic Concepts and Theories. Quote 8
Inevitably, [Freud’s mental apparatus] stole the show. Little attention was left to behavior per se. Behavior was relegated to the position of a mere mode of expression of the activities of the mental apparatus or the symptoms of an underlying disturbance. [p. 289]
Cumulative Record. Chapter 18: A Critique of Psychoanalytic Concepts and Theories. Quote 7
In the process of therapy, the analyst necessarily acts upon the patient only through physical means . . . Nevertheless, it is commonly assumed that the mental apparatus is being directly manipulated. (p. 288)
Cumulative Record. Chapter 18: A Critique of Psychoanalytic Concepts and Theories. Quote 3
There is an alternative view [to the one held by some of Freud’s followers], however, which holds that Freud did not discover the mental apparatus but rather invented it, borrowing part of its structure from a traditional philosophy of human conduct but adding many novel features of his own devising. (p, 286)
Cumulative Record. Chapter 18: A Critique of Psychoanalytic Concepts and Theories. Quote 2
No matter what logicians may eventually make of this mental apparatus, there is little doubt that Freud accepted it as real rather than as a scientific construct or theory. One does not at the age of 70 define the goal of one’s life as the exploration of an explanatory fiction. (p. 286)
Cumulative Record. Chapter 18: A Critique of Psychoanalytic Concepts and Theories. Quote 1
Freud demonstrated that many features of behavior hitherto unexplained—and often dismissed as hopelessly complex or obscure—could be shown to be the product of circumstances in the history of the individual. (p. 285)
Cumulative Record. Chapter 17: Contingency Management in the Classroom. Quote 20
No matter how bad a teacher may be, he has at least one available reinforcer—dismissing his class . . . He should wait until the behavior of the class is as acceptable as it is likely to be and then dismiss. But almost inevitably he will do the wrong thing: he will tend to dismiss […]
Cumulative Record. Chapter 17: Contingency Management in the Classroom. Quote 19
Many problems in classroom management arise because the teacher reinforces students when they behave in objectionable ways . . . The teacher tends to do so “naturally,” and he will be dissuaded from doing so only when the effects of reinforcement have been made clear to him. (p. 280)
Cumulative Record. Chapter 17: Contingency Management in the Classroom. Quote 17
The training of a teacher should begin with basic principles. Everyone who intends to be a teacher should have a chance to see learning take place or, better, to produce visible learning himself, as by shaping the behavior of a rat or a pigeon. (pp. 279-280)
Cumulative Record. Chapter 17: Contingency Management in the Classroom. Quote 15
Students reinforced on a variable-ratio schedule will show a fantastic dedication if the schedule has been properly programmed. They will work for long periods of time with no reinforcement whatsoever, and are thus well prepared for a world in which reinforcements may indeed be rare. (p. 279)
Cumulative Record. Chapter 17: Contingency Management in the Classroom. Quote 13
. . . adults put jigsaw puzzles together and work crossword puzzles for no more obvious reason than that they come out right. In a good program the student makes things come out right; he makes things work; he brings order out of chaos. (p. 276)
Cumulative Record. Chapter 17: Contingency Management in the Classroom. Quote 10
Behavioral objectives remove much of the mystery from education, and teachers may feel demeaned when their task is reduced to less awesome dimensions. But the loss is more than offset by a greater sense of achievement. (p. 275)
Cumulative Record. Chapter 17: Contingency Management in the Classroom. Quote 8
Quite complex forms of behavior can be generated, often with surprising speed, through a series of stages leading to the terminal specifications. One actually “sees learning take place,” and the visibility is important. (p. 274)
Cumulative Record. Chapter 17: Contingency Management in the Classroom. Quote 5
. . . man is an animal, although an extraordinarily complex one, and shares many basic behavioral processes with other species. Human behavior must nevertheless be studied in its own right, and human subjects are in fact now commonly used in experimental analyses. (p. 273)
Presentations from the Skinner Session are Available On-Demand
A recording of Skinner Session, an online event by B. F. Skinner Foundation is now available on-demand on behaviorlive.com. The event provides an in-depth look at the topics that Skinner discussed in his last book, Recent Issues in the Analysis of Behavior. The event features the following presentations: Lessons from Animals on How to Teach People by […]
Cumulative Record. Chapter 16: Teaching Science in High School—What Is Wrong? Quote 8
If we announce that we are interested in giving the student a thorough knowledge of a science, a grasp of its structure, an understanding of its basic relations, we shall be endlessly admired. If, instead, we specify the things we want him to do, verbally and nonverbally, we risk being called mechanical and shallow, even […]
Cumulative Record. Chapter 16: Teaching Science in High School—What Is Wrong? Quote 7
Statements of educational policy are replete with [mentalistic expressions] . . . It would be a mistake to underestimate their power, for they are supported by ancient systems of psychology imbedded in our language and by vestigial cognitive theories. It is therefore hard to realize that they are either metaphors which inadequately represent the changes […]
Cumulative Record. Chapter 16: Teaching Science in High School—What Is Wrong? Quote 6
The commonest practice in high school as well as college is still “assign and test.” We tell the student what he is to learn and hold him responsible for learning it by making a variety of unhappy consequences contingent upon his failure. In doing so we may give him some reason to learn, but we […]
Cumulative Record. Chapter 16: Teaching Science in High School—What Is Wrong? Quote 5
It is characteristic of the successful scientist, for example, that he continues to work for long periods when nothing interesting is happening. That kind of dedication can be instilled in the student, as we shall see, but not by making a subject interesting. (p. 259)
Skinner Session coming soon!
Skinner Session, a live event by B. F. Skinner Foundation is coming to behaviorlive.com on Saturday, January 21, 2023. The event will provide an in-depth look at the topics that Skinner discussed in his last book, Recent Issues in the Analysis of Behavior. The Extended Edition of this title has been recently published by the B. F. Skinner […]
Cumulative Record. Chapter 16: Teaching Science in High School—What Is Wrong? Quote 3
A student who is not paying attention is obviously not learning, and the teacher is therefore reinforced when he behaves in ways which attract attention . . . But to attract attention is to deprive the student of the chance to learn to pay attention. (p. 258)
Cumulative Record. Chapter 16: Teaching Science in High School—What Is Wrong? Quote 1
The significant results of teaching lie in that distant future in which students make use of what they have learned, and it is a future usually closed to the teacher . . . He is influenced instead only by short-term results, and many of these not only contribute nothing to long-term gains but may actually […]
Cumulative Record. Chapter 15: Reflections on a Decade of Teaching Machines. Quote 14
Appropriate terminal schedules of reinforcement will maintain the student’s interest, make him industrious and persevering, stimulate his curiosity, and so on; but less demanding schedules, carefully designed to maintain the behavior at every stage, must come first. (p. 248)