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Biomedical subjects

B F Skinner

Publications and source records attributed to B F Skinner.

15 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1988

The operant side of behavior therapy.

For more than twenty-four hundred years, people were seen to behave in given ways because of what they were feeling or thinking, and feelings and thoughts were therefore the things to study. However, it has always been difficult to do very much with feelings and thoughts because of their inaccessibility to outside observers. Further, important distinctions are obscured when behavior is attributed to a state of mind. As more and more of the variables of which behavior is a function are identified and their role analysed, less remains to be explained in mentalistic ways. The operant side of behavior therapy is illustrated by considering a few characteristic problems. Discussion includes the analysis of contingencies outside and inside the clinic, and the relationship between behavioral health and medical health.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1985

Cognitive science and behaviourism.

In this paper it is argued that cognitive scientists, claiming the support of brain science and computer simulation, have revived a traditional view that behaviour is initiated by an internal, autonomous mind. In doing so, they have misused the metaphor of storage and retrieval, given neurology a misleading assignment, frequently replaced controlled experimental conditions with mere descriptions of conditions and the assessment of behaviour with statements of expectations and intentions, given feelings and states of mind the status of causes of behaviour rather than the products of the causes, and failed to define many key terms in dimensions acceptable to science.

Affect↗
PubMed1982

"Lying" in the pigeon.

Two pigeons were taught to use symbols to communicate information about hidden colors to each other. When reporting red was more generously reinforced than reporting yellow or green, both birds passed through a period in which they "lied" by reporting another color as red.

Animals↗
PubMed1980

Resurgence of responding after the cessation of response-independent reinforcement.

In an autoshaping experiment, food-deprived pigeons pecked rapidly at a moving dot that preceded the delivery of food. When the moving dot and food were no longer correlated, the rate of pecking dropped nearly to zero. When, subsequently, no food was given, pecking reappeared at a high rate (nearly 200 pecks per min for each subject), the rate dropping again in subsequent sessions. In two other experiments, designed to clarify relevant variables, the effect was replicated. The data suggest that although response-independent reinforcement produces a decrement in responding, it does not reduce a tendency to respond under other conditions.

Animals↗
PubMed1971

Autoshaping.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Animals↗