Chapter 8

Experimental Analysis of BehaviorDollard and Miller, B.F. Skinner

Behavior and Learning Theories• Empiricism: Behavior and learning theorists

emphasize experience as the primary forces that shape human behavior• Explore personality experimentally by

studying behavior in laboratory settings• Dollard and Miller – psychoanalytic learning

theory• Skinner – radical behaviorism

Experimental analysis of behavior

• Pavlov and classical conditioning• Watson and behaviorism• Thorndike’s Law of Effect

John Dollard and Neal Miller – Habits, Drives, and the Learning Process

• Emphasize the role of learning in personality and place less stress on personality structure• Habits – learned association between a stimulus

and response that make them occur together frequently

• Drives – a strong stimulation that produces discomfort• Primary drives• Secondary drives

Frustration and Conflict

• Frustration • Unable to reduce a drive

because response is blocked• Due incompatible responses

occurring at same time = conflict • Experiments based on this

theory with animals successful in predicting behavior

Integration of Learning Theory and Psychoanalysis

• Adapted Freudian concepts and reconceived them in learning theory terms• Unconscious processes = unlabeled drives and cues• Defense mechanisms• Critical training periods in child development

B. F. Skinner

• As a child, fascinated with machines and knowing how things work• Interested in animal behavior

and biology• Took beliefs of Watson to

their logical extreme• Observable behavior can be

completely comprehended in terms of responses to factors in the environment

Development of Behavior Through Learning

• Reinforcement is anything that increases the likelihood of a response• Operant behaviors • Operant conditioning• Shaping

• Types of reinforcement• Positive• Negative• Punishment• Omission Training

Schedules and Types of Reinforcement

• Continuous reinforcement• Ratio reinforcement

• Fixed ratio• Variable ratio

• Interval reinforcement• Fixed interval• Variable interval

Psychotherapy and Behavioral Change

• Skinner’s attitude toward therapy is pragmatic• Behavior modification seeks to

eliminate undesired behaviors by changing the environment Token economy

Social Utopias

• Skinner’s book Walden II described his concept of utopia • Behaviorally engineered

society designed by benevolent psychologist using positive reinforcements

Evaluating Behavioural Theories

• Experimental data and research to support ideas• Lead to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy