Frederic Berres Skinner - biography and interesting facts from life. Biography B.F

Reflexes, both conditioned and any others, are mainly associated with internal physiological processes in organism. However, most often we are interested in such behavior that has a definite effect on the world around us. It arises as a result of a person's collision with the need to solve the problems put forward by life. In addition, its specific characteristics are also of theoretical interest. Consequences of behavior can act as feedback for the body. In this case, they change the likelihood of the behavior that gave rise to them. There are many words in the English language related to this effect, for example, "reward" and "punishment", but we can get a clear idea of ​​it only as a result of the experiment.

In 1898, E. L. Thorndike made one of the first serious attempts to study the changes caused by the consequences of behavior. His experiments arose from a discussion that subsequently interested many scientists. C. Darwin, who insisted on the continuity of species, questioned the uniqueness of man and his ability to think. The press has spread a large number of anecdotes, in which it was said about the manifestation of the "power of reason" by animals. But the spread of features that previously characterized only human behavior to animal behavior led to the posing of new questions. Did the observed facts point to mental processes, or could these obvious manifestations of thinking be explained differently? In the end, the need for an understanding of the internal thought processes disappeared. Many years had to pass before the very question of the specificity of human behavior did not arise again, but Thorndike's experiments and his "explanation of the reasoning of animals appeared important step in this direction.

If the cat is placed in a box, from which it can escape by opening the latch, it can exhibit many behaviors, some of which may be effective. Thorndike installed. that by repeatedly placing the cat in the box, the successful behavior came faster and faster, and this continued until it became extremely simple and quick. The cat solved its problem like an intelligent human being, although, perhaps, not so quickly. However, Thorndike did not see the "thought processes" behind this and argued that they were unnecessary for an explanation. He described his findings by pointing out that the cat's behavior was “stamped in” as it was accompanied by the opening of the door.

The fact that behavior is imprinted or followed by certain consequences is what Thorndike called the "law of effect." In their experiments. he found that within the framework of the same situation, a certain behavior proceeds more and more stably, in contrast to other behavioral manifestations. By recording the amount of time it took for the cat to get out of the box, he built a "learning curve." This early attempt to describe the behavioral process quantitatively, similar to the description of physical and biological processes, was seen as an important step forward. He uncovered a process that had been unfolding for a long time and that was available for observation. So Thorndike made a discovery. Since then, many curves have been obtained, which formed the basis of many psychological work dedicated to learning.

Learning curves, however, do not describe the nature of imprinting. Thorndike's criterion - the time it takes for an animal to get out of the cage - was associated with the elimination of other behaviors, and his curve depended on a number of different actions that a cat could perform in a particular box. The shape of the curve also depended on the behavior that was "successful" and whether it was rare or the usual way behavior in this box. We can say that the learning curve constructed in this way reflects the properties of the catch box, not the behavior of the cat. This provision applies to many other devices designed for learning learning. Various labyrinths through which white rats and other animals learn to pass, "boxes of choice" in which animals learn to distinguish properties or patterns of stimuli, apparatuses through which a sequence of stimuli to be learned in the study of human memory is presented - they all generate different curves learning.

By averaging many indicators of individuals, we can smooth these curves as much as we want. Moreover, the curves obtained in different conditions may have certain general properties... For example, when measured in this way, learning usually “has a negative acceleration characteristic” - improvement in performance occurs more and more slowly until it stops altogether. However, it does not follow from this that negative acceleration characterizes the essence of the process. Suppose, by analogy, that we filled a glass vessel with sand and stirred it so that grains of the same size were evenly distributed inside it. If we shake the vessel slightly, the grains of sand are redistributed. Large grains of sand will be at the top, small ones at the bottom. This process is also characterized by negative acceleration. At first, the mixture is redistributed quickly, but as it approaches its completion, the processes in the distribution occur less frequently and less frequently. Such a curve may turn out to be completely flat and reproducible, but this fact alone does not have of great importance... The curve depends on certain processes of interaction between grains of sand different sizes, from the force of the shock, the vessel, etc., but at the same time it does not directly reflect these processes themselves.

Learning curves show how different behaviors generated in difficult situations are selected, reinforced, and reorganized. Basic: the process of capturing a separate act implements this change, but in the change itself it is not directly reflected.

To understand the essence of the law of the Thorndike effect, we need to give a clear definition of the concept of "reaction probability". This is a very important concept, but unfortunately very difficult. When discussing human behavior, we often appeal to tendencies of "disposition" to behave in a certain way. Almost every theory of behavior uses terms such as arousal potential, habit force, or determinant tendency. But how do we see the trend? And how can you measure it?

If a certain behavior existed in two ways - in one case it would always take place, and in the other - never, then we would find ourselves in an almost helpless state when introducing a functional analysis program. An all-and-nothing phenomenon has only simple forms descriptions. Much more productive is the assumption that the likelihood of the reaction occurring is sequentially distributed between these two "all-nothing" poles. We can then consider variables that, unlike the eliciting stimulus, “are not the cause of the given behavior,” make it more likely to occur. Further, we can, for example, consider the consequences of the action of several such variables.

Common expressions that reflect the probabilistic nature of a phenomenon - "tendency" or "predisposition" - characterize the frequency of occurrence of certain types of behavior. We never see probability. We say that someone “loves bridge” because we notice that they often play bridge and often talk about it. “Deeply interested” in music means playing a lot, listening to music often, and talking a lot about music. The "incorrigible player" plays a lot of cards. A moviegoer takes pictures, develops them and admires his own pictures and pictures of other people, etc.

SKINNER

Berres Frederick (Skinner B. F., 1904-1990). Renowned psychologist, leader of modern behaviorism. S. was born in 1904 in Saxuehan, Pennsylvania, USA. Graduated from Hamilton College in 1926. He received his Ph.D. in 1931 from Harvard University. Since 1948 - Professor at Harvard University, member of the National Academy of Sciences.
S. put forward the concept of operant learning, according to which the body acquires new reactions due to the fact that it itself reinforces them, and only after that the external stimulus causes reactions. In IP Pavlov, whose ideas influenced S., the reaction arises in response to a stimulus, that is, a conditioned or unconditioned stimulus; in the "skinner's box" the animal first produces a reaction, and only then it is reinforced.
Since 1930, Mr .. S. studied the operant behavior of animals and proposed a number of original devices and techniques. Calling verbal behavior purely human, that is, having specific properties, S. considered it possible to extend to humans the methods used in experimental research on animals without subjecting them to significant modification (Science and Human Behavior, 1953). Views on the nature of the learning process were then carried over from laboratory conditions and were embodied in the concept of programmed teaching ("Teaching Technology", 1968), covering the acquisition of speech, teaching at school. Since the 50s. the methods of operant behaviorism have spread to psychotherapeutic practice (behavioral psychotherapy).
Subsequently, S. developed ideas for managing behavior and created a technology of behavior, the purpose of which was to resolve social problems and the reorganization of society by modifying human behavior by means of external control. This is the subject of his book "Beyond Freedom and Dignity" (1971), which was criticized in different countries, including ours. This concept is called social behaviorism.
In the 70s. published works of S., generalizing his previous ideas: "On behaviorism" (1974), "Autobiography: in 2 volumes." (1976).
A number of behavioral psychotherapy methods - positive reinforcement, extinction, some aversive techniques - are based on the operant conditioning model.

Psychotherapeutic encyclopedia. - S.-Pb .: Peter. B. D. Karvasarsky. 2000 .

See what "SKINNER" is in other dictionaries:

Skinner, Frederic Burrhus (born Burrhus Frederic Skinner, 1904 1990) American psychologist. Skinner, Brett (born Brett Skinner, born 1983) Canadian ice hockey player. Skinner, Jethro (born Jethro Skinner, born 1977) English actor ... ... Wikipedia

- (Skinner) Berres Frederick (b. 20. 3. 1904, Saxuehanna, PA, USA), Amer. psychologist, leader of sovr. behaviorism. He spoke out against neobehaviorism, believing that psychology should confine itself to describing externally observable ... ... Philosophical Encyclopedia

- (Skinner) Berres Frederick (03/20/1904, Saxuehanna, Pennsylvania) American psychologist, since 1974 professor of psychology at Harvard University, representative of behaviorism. Developed an original technique and methodology for studying behavior ... ... Encyclopedia of Sociology

- (Skinner) Burres Frederick (1904 90), American psychologist, leader of modern behaviorism. He put forward the concept of operant, reinforced learning, proposed a number of methods for the experimental study of animal behavior. He performed with ... ... Modern encyclopedia

- (Skinner) Berres Frederick (1904 90), American physiologist, who developed the concept of instrumental reinforcement of CONDITIONAL REFLEXES. He put forward the concept of operant learning, according to which the body acquires new reactions due to the fact that it itself ... ... Scientific and technical encyclopedic dictionary

Skinner, B.- Skinner, B. (1904 1990) American psychologist, author of the concept of "operant behaviorism", one of the central concepts of which is "operant conditioning". This concept denotes a special way of the formation of conditioned reflexes, ... ... Big psychological encyclopedia

Skinner- Behaviorism and Skinner After Watson, behaviorism split into several different directions. We can say that the epistemological basis of Watson's ideas is close to pragmatism, and the epistemological basis of later behaviorism is close to ... Western philosophy from the beginnings to the present day

- (Skinner) Burres Frederick (b. 03.20.1904, Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, USA), American psychologist, leader of modern Behaviorism. Professor (since 1939) at the Universities of Minnesota, Indiana and Harvard. Member of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States. I spoke ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

- ... Wikipedia

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Books

• ValueWeb. How fintech companies are using blockchain and mobile technologies to create an Internet of value, Skinner K. A new book from the author of Digital Bank on the third generation of the Internet - or ValueWeb - allowing machines and consumers to trade, exchange and share value in real ...
• The origins of modern political thought. The Age of the Reformation Volume 2. Quentin Skinner, Skinner K. .. The second volume of Quentin Skinner's two-volume work is devoted to the study of the political thought of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation. The author traces the main stages in the development of Lutheranism and Calvinism, ...

»Skinner's operant theory

Original Russian Text © V.A. Romenets, I.P. Manoha

Operant conditioning theory by Berres F. Skinner (1904-1990)

Burrhus Frederic Skinner is considered the second leading non-behaviourist after K. Hull, but he is much more popular than him. Until his death, he remained one of the most famous psychologists in the world, his ideas and today influence the character psychological research, on pedagogy and practice of psychology. Historians of science ask the question: Has Skinner made a significant contribution to human self-knowledge? And basically they answer like this: "He was too far from these kinds of questions."

Human understanding of himself, or at least of what philosophers and psychologists have been looking for for many centuries, was by no means Skinner's goal. Throughout his long life, he adhered to an extreme behaviorist position, according to which “subjective entities” such as mind, thinking, memory, argumentation, do not exist at all, but only “verbal constructs”, grammatical traps that humanity fell into with the development of speech. Skinner was looking for the determinants of behavior: how it is determined by external causes. He did not doubt the correctness of his position, since he believed that "behaviorism needs to be explained."

Skinner's conditioning theory was supposed to summarize his rather unusual research: everything we do and what we are is determined by the history of our rewards and punishments. The details of his theory were based on principles such as partial reinforcement of an effect, the study of the environment that causes certain behavior or stops it.

Like J. Watson, Skinner was socially active, in particular as a publicist. In one of his early television appearances, he cited the dilemma that M Montaigne had proposed: "What would you do if you had to choose: have children or create books?" - and replied that for himself personally he would give birth to children, but his contribution to the future would be significant thanks to his labors.

Skinner liked to laugh at the terms that experts used to understand human behavior: “Behavior is inherent human nature, and therefore there should be an extensive "psychology of individual differences" in which people are compared with each other and described in terms of character traits, abilities, inclinations. But according to tradition, everyone who deals with human actions continues to interpret human behavior in a prescientific way. "

Skinner also rejected attempts to understand inner side character of a person: “We had no need to say that personalities, states of mind, feelings, traits of a person's character really exist, so that we can reconcile them with scientific analysis behavior ... Thinking and everything else is behavior. The mistake lies in trying to attribute behavior to the soul. "

According to Skinner, you need to know external reasons behavior and its observable results. Only on the basis of such assumptions can a clear picture of the activity of the organism as a behavioral system be given.

According to this position, he acted as a convinced determinist: “We are what we appear in our history. We want to think that we choose, that we act, but I cannot agree that a person is either free or responsible. " Self-sufficient and autonomous human being Skinner considers it an illusion. For him, a good person is such because he is completely conditioned to behave in a certain way, and a good society should be based on "behavioral technique", which means scientific control of behavior using methods of positive reinforcement.

Skinner's contemporaries considered him a clever popularizer of science: he was eloquent, confidently selfish, and knew how to grab attention. To demonstrate the benefits of conditioning, he taught a pigeon to play a melody on a toy piano, and a couple of pigeons to play table tennis as they rolled a ball with their beaks. Millions of viewers watched it on television like a science documentary.

Two pigeons play ping pong during an operant learning experiment. Cambridge, Massachusetts, June 1950.

Skinner transferred his naturalistic visions to the society he invented. In the utopian novella Walden Two (1948), he describes a small community in which the behavior of children from birth was strictly reward-driven (positive reinforcement) to embark on a path of cooperation and sociability, all behavior scientifically controlled for the greater good. Despite the artificiality of the dialogues and a somewhat hackneyed plot, this book has become a favorite among students. It quickly sold over two million copies.

Skinner's popularity with the public was much greater than with his professional colleagues. The American Psychologist wrote: “Skinner is a leading figure in behaviorist myth. He is a scientist-hero, Prometheus, who carries the fire of discovery, a master technologist, the main rebel who frees our thoughts from old views. "

Skinner was born in a small town in Pennsylvania, his father was a lawyer. As a boy, he was fond of inventions; later, as a psychologist, he created original and effective equipment for experiments with animals. In high school and college, Skinner dreamed of becoming a writer, and after college he tried to write. Although he closely watched various forms human behavior around him, he once clearly understood that he could not say anything about what he saw and experienced, and in deep sadness gave up this kind of effort.

But Skinner soon found another, more practical way of understanding human behavior. Getting acquainted with the works of Watson and Pavlov, he realized that his future lies in the scientific disclosure of human behavior, in particular in the study of conditioning reactions. I was very upset by my failures in literature, he said in 1977. I was convinced that the writer did not really understand anything. And this led to the fact that I returned to psychology. "

Although introspective psychology reigned at Harvard at the time, Skinner was not interested in " internal history”Man and went his own way, conducting behavioral studies with rats. In his autobiography, he frankly says that, in spite of his professorship, he became more and more a behaviorist, and while defending his thesis, he sharply rejected criticism of behaviorism.

Drawing on his inventive ability, he constructed the "problem cell", which was a significant advance after the famous Thorndike model. It was quite spacious for white rats, and there was a food and drink bar on the wall. When a rat, walking through the cage, accidentally rested its front paws on the bar, pressing on it, the food in the form of a ball fell on the tray.

This made it possible to obtain more objective data on behavior than was the case before Skinner's experiments. It was the rat who "determined" how much time passes between pressing the bar. Therefore, for his discovery of the principle of learning, Skinner could thank the so-called "rat response" - a class of achievement in which the behavior of an animal changes in response to reinforcement without the intervention of the experimenter.

Skinner designed the cage research program in such a way that it approximated its conditions to real situations where behavior is reinforced or not reinforced. In particular, he examines the learning of responses if they are regularly reinforced or reinforcements are abruptly interrupted, as well as the effect on learning of time intervals with their regularity and irregularity.

On this basis, Skinner formulated a number of principles that shed light not only on the behavior of rats, but also on human existence. We are talking, in particular, about his discovery of important variations of the effect of partial, partial reinforcement. Skinner finds an analogy in the behavior of players with a slot machine in a casino: neither the rat nor the players can predict when the next reinforcement will appear, but they have the hope that it will appear with each new attempt.

Skinner's important contribution to the behavioral sciences is his concept of operant learning. For this alone, he already deserves, according to American historians of psychology, a prominent place among the famous psychologists of the world.

In classical Pavlovian conditioning, an animal's unconditioned response (salivation) to food turns into a conditioned response in relation to the previous neutral stimulus (metronome or bell sounds: the decisive element in behavioral change is the new stimulus.

In Thorndike's "instrumental" conditioning, the crucial element of behavioral change is the response, not the stimulus. The neutral response — a random step (pressing) on ​​the pedal during a random effort to get food — is a reinforcing teaching behavior step that results in a change that the animal has not previously been trained to do.

Skinner's operant conditioning is an important development of the instrumental. The random movement that the animal carries out, in any case, can be understood as operant for others and therefore, according to Skinner, is precisely operant. Reinforcement movement leads to operant learning. By reinforcing a series of small, random movements, the experimenter can "create" the animal's behavior as long as it acts in ways that were not part of its original natural repertoire.

Burres F. Skinner

This approach enabled Skinner to "create" the behavior of the pigeon - to make it peck at a large colored plastic disc attached to the wall of the "Skinner" cage. He writes about it this way: “We first gave the bird food when it slowly turned in the direction of the disc. This led to the frequency of such behavior. We sustained reinforcements until little movement was directed towards the disc. It changed again general distribution behavior without developing a new unity. With the help of reinforcement of the position, we continued a successful approach to the spot, further reinforcement was only in the case when the head moved slowly forward, and, finally, only when the beak actually had contact with the spot.

In this way, we can construct operant behavior that would never otherwise appear in the organism's repertoire. When a series of successful approaches are reinforced, we get a response in a short time. There is a functionally connected unity of behavior; it is constructed by an ongoing process of differential reinforcement away from nondifferential behavior. "

Skinner likened the operant training of a pigeon to children's learning to talk, sing, dance, play, and eventually the entire repertoire of human behavior, created from small links of simple behavioral acts. This could be called "an Erector-set" (a view from being human), a mindless robot assembled by operant conditioning from many meaningless pieces.

Skinner, one way or another, for a long time was not recognized by the leading psychological institutions, but gradually he gained supporters, which subsequently resulted in the publication of four journals of Skinner's behaviorist works, as well as in the creation of a special section of Skinner's studies.

Skinner's operant conditioning technique has been widely used in experimental psychology. In recent years, his writings have been cited in hundreds scientific publications annually (something about a seventh of the frequency of references to Freud). In addition, Skinner was influential outside the mainstream of psychology.

Derby, 13-month-old daughter of Professor B.F. Skinner, from the moment she was born, she lived in a dustproof, closed and glazed children's playpen, in which the temperature and humidity were automatically regulated. Skinner was gradually cutting back on the time Darby spent in her drawer, so that in the end she would only sleep in it.

In 1956, during a visit to his daughter's school, Skinner realized that the operant technique used to teach a pigeon to play the piano could be more effective for teaching than traditional methods. Complex items can be disassembled into simple steps in a logical sequence; students can be asked questions and the teacher should immediately answer which of their answers are correct. There are two principles at work: 1) knowledge that is correctly told should become reinforced by behavior; 2) direct positive reinforcement works better than destructive negative reinforcement. The result is known as a "programmed instruction".

Since an educator cannot apply reinforcement at the same time in a class with many students, new textbooks should be written so that questions and answers follow one another. In addition, Skinner proposed instructional machines for operant self-learning. The mechanical model has been rejected over time, but today the use of direct reinforcement computer-based teaching instructions is experiencing a rebirth.

Over the years, the programmed learning movement has become widespread. The principles of operant conditioning have been adapted for teaching in schools and colleges in the United States and other countries. But educators realized that "atomistic" methods of programmed instruction are only part of what human existence needs: whole, hierarchical thought structures are also needed. More recent research has shown that delayed reinforcement often gives better results than instant reinforcement. Reasoning about the nature of the response can have a greater learning effect than getting a quick response. At the same time, Skinner's teaching on direct reinforcement was qualified as useful and is contained in many curricula and school textbooks.

Burres Skinner has also had some success in uncovering the causes of mental and emotional distress. The system of small reinforcements for small changes in the direction of health provides an opportunity to change the patient's behavior. In the late 1940s, Skinner and two of his students performed the first experimental test of what became known as behavior modification. They set up an inpatient facility in a psychiatric hospital near Boston, where psychotic patients received candy or cigarettes according to the appropriate method in order to operate the machine appropriately. Therapists gave incentives to patients for appropriate behaviors, such as remedies arbitrary attention, support in business tasks, the privilege of choosing a company for lunch, talking with a doctor or watching TV.

Reinforcement of the desired behavior in such people worked often. One depressed woman did not want to eat and was afraid of starving to death. But she received guests, watched TV shows, listened to the radio, read books and magazines, had flowers in her room. The therapists moved her to a room devoid of this comfort and shone the light directly at her. If she ate something, certain comforts were temporarily returned to the room. Gradually, the woman regained her weight. After 18 months, she was already leading a normal life.

The "behavior modification" movement has spread to many psychiatric hospitals and schools. This modification was used to solve important problems such as smoking, obesity, timidity, tics, speech difficulties. It was a specialized technique of behavior therapy, but based more on Pavlovian conditioning than Skinner's modification.

Burrhus F. Skinner

Skinner's famous book, Walden Two, did not make American society happy, or even part of it, but it undoubtedly influenced the social perceptions of millions of its readers. Some efforts have been made to realize a Walden Two Utopia — Twin Oaks Community in Louisiana, Virginia, and a commune founded by eight people in 1966. After several years of survival, this commune has grown to 81 members. They tried, on the basis of relevant knowledge, to induce ideal behavior and create models of its various forms using skinner reinforcement methods.

Skinner once remarked: "My influence on other people was significantly less than on rats and pigeons or on humans as experimental subjects." This, apparently, should not be taken literally. What he seriously thought about was this: "I have never doubted the importance of my work." And he added in his characteristic perverse style: “When this work began to attract attention, I was more wary of this experiment than I was pleased with it. Some reproach me for being afraid or depressed from the so-called pride and lust for fame. I reject any ambition that takes time away from my work or overly reinforces specific aspects of my work.

The historian of psychology M. Hunt, expounding Skinner's ideas, does not go further than stating individual facts and describing the characterological traits of the scientist himself. But even this presentation cannot but suggest the idea: is it possible to draw a parallel between Skinner's intentions to build an ideal communist community, relying on the idea of ​​operant learning, and the intentions of Marxists to change the world, relying on "scientific communism" as a technology of social transformation?

Romenets V.A., Manokha I.P. History of psychology of the XX century. - Kiev, Lybid, 2003.

A separate line in the development of behaviorism is represented by B. Skinner's system of views. Burres Frederick Skinner (1904-1990) nominated operant behavior theory.

Based on experimental research and theoretical analysis of animal behavior, he formulated a statement of three types of behavior: unconditional reflex, conditioned reflex and operant... The latter is the specificity of the teachings of B. Skinner.

The first two types are caused by stimuli (S) and are called respondents appropriate behavior. These are S-type conditioning reactions. They constitute a certain part of the behavioral repertoire, but they alone do not provide adaptation to the real environment. In reality, the adaptation process is based on active probes - the effects of the body on the surrounding world. Some of them can accidentally lead to a useful result, which is therefore fixed. Some of these reactions (R), not evoked by a stimulus, but released ("emitted") by the body, are correct and reinforced. Skinner called them operant. These are R-type reactions.

Operant behavior assumes that the organism actively influences the environment and, depending on the results of these active actions, they are fixed or rejected. According to Skinner, it is these reactions that are predominant in the adaptation of the animal: they are a form of voluntary behavior. Skateboarding, playing the piano, learning to write are all examples of human operant actions controlled by their consequences. If the latter are favorable for the organism, then the likelihood of a repetition of the operant reaction increases.

After analyzing behavior, Skinner formulated his theory of learning. Reinforcement is the main means of shaping new behavior. The whole procedure of learning in animals is called "sequential guidance to the desired response."

Skinner identifies four modes of reinforcement:

1. Reinforcement mode with a constant ratio, when the level of positive reinforcement depends on the number of actions correctly performed. (For example, an employee is paid in proportion to the amount of output produced, that is, the more often the body responds correctly, the more reinforcement it receives.)
2. Regime of reinforcement with a constant interval, when the body receives reinforcement after a strictly fixed time has passed since the moment of the previous reinforcement. (For example, an employee is paid a salary every month or a student has a session every four months, while the speed of response deteriorates immediately after receiving reinforcement - after all, the next salary or session will not be soon.)
3. Reinforcement mode with variable ratio. (For example, a gain-reinforcement in a gambling game is unpredictable, unstable, a person does not know when and what the next reinforcement will be, but every time he hopes to win - such a regime significantly affects human behavior.)
4. Reinforcement mode with variable interval. (At indefinite intervals, the person receives reinforcement or the student's knowledge is monitored with the help of "unexpected tests" at random intervals, which prompts to observe more high level diligence and responsiveness as opposed to reinforcement at "regular intervals.")

Skinner singled out "primary reinforcements" (food, water, physical comfort, sex) and secondary, or conditional (money, attention, good grades, affection, etc.). Secondary reinforcements are generalized, combined with many primary ones: for example, money is a means for obtaining many pleasures. An even stronger generalized conditional reinforcement is social approval: for the sake of receiving it from the parents and those around him, a person seeks to behave well, observe social norms, study diligently, make a career, look good, etc.

The scientist believed that conditioned reinforcing stimuli are very important in controlling human behavior, and aversive (painful or unpleasant) stimuli, punishment, are the most general method control over behavior. Skinner identified positive and negative reinforcements, as well as positive and negative punishments (Table 5.2).

Table 5.2.

Skinner fought against using punishment to control behavior because it causes negative emotional and social side effects(fear, anxiety, antisocial actions, lying, loss of self-esteem and confidence). In addition, it only temporarily suppresses unwanted behavior that will reappear if the likelihood of punishment decreases.

Instead of aversive control, Skinner recommends positive reinforcement as the most effective method for eliminating unwanted responses and rewarding desirable responses. The “method of successfully approximating or shaping behavior” consists in positive reinforcement of those actions that are closest to the expected operant behavior. This is approached step by step: one reaction is fixed, and then replaced by another, closer to the preferred one (this is how speech, work skills, etc.) are formed.

The data obtained in the study of animal behavior, Skinner transferred to human behavior, which led to a biologic interpretation. This is how Skinner's version of programmed learning emerged. Its fundamental limitation consists in reducing learning to a set of external acts of behavior and reinforcing the correct ones. This ignores the internal cognitive activity man, therefore, there is no learning as a conscious process. Following Watsonian behaviorism, Skinner ruled out inner world a person, his consciousness from behavior and produces a behaviorization of the psyche. He describes thinking, memory, motives and similar mental processes in terms of reaction and reinforcement, and a person as a reactive being exposed to external circumstances.

The biologization of the human world, characteristic of behaviorism as a whole, which fundamentally does not distinguish between humans and animals, reaches its limits in Skinner. Cultural phenomena are, in his interpretation, "cleverly invented reinforcements."

To solve social problems modern society B. Skinner put forward the task of creating behavior technologies, which is designed to exercise control of some people over others. Since the intentions, desires, self-awareness of a person are not taken into account, the management of behavior is not associated with consciousness. This means is the control over the regime of reinforcements, which allows you to manipulate people. For the greatest efficiency, it is necessary to take into account which reinforcement is most important, significant, valuable in this moment (law of subjective value of reinforcement), and then provide such subjectively valuable reinforcement in the event of a person's correct behavior or threaten to deprive him in the event of improper behavior. This mechanism will allow you to control behavior.

Skinner formulated the law of operant conditioning:

“The behavior of living beings is completely determined by the consequences to which it leads. Depending on whether these consequences are pleasant, indifferent or unpleasant, the living organism will show a tendency to repeat this behavioral act, not attach any importance to it, or avoid its repetition in the future. "

Man is able to foresee possible consequences his behavior and avoid those actions and situations that will lead to negative consequences for him. He subjectively assesses the likelihood of their occurrence: the greater the possibility of negative consequences, the more it affects human behavior ( law of subjective assessment of the likelihood of consequences). This subjective assessment may not coincide with the objective likelihood of consequences, but it is it that influences behavior. Therefore, one of the ways to influence human behavior is "escalating the situation", "intimidation", "exaggeration of the likelihood of negative consequences." If it seems to a person that the latter, arising from any of his reactions, is insignificant, he is ready to "take risks" and resort to this action.

In 1972, the members of the American Psychological Association (who already numbered about one hundred thousand at that time) were asked to name the most prominent psychologists of the twentieth century. In their almost unanimous opinion, this honorary list was headed at that time by B.F. Skinner, ahead of even Freud (he was named the second). Probably, the great-power narcissism of the Americans also played a role here. However, if there was an exaggeration in such an assessment, it was small. Skinner is truly an outstanding psychologist, and if not the first, then one of the first. Its influence on world psychology, on the entire complex of human sciences (not least on pedagogy) is enormous. One can relate differently to his radical ideas (and he was constantly reproached for radicalism), but in the analysis of the world psychological thought of the outgoing century, they should by no means be discounted.

UNUSUAL MIND

Berres (this Russian spelling is accepted for rare name Burrhus) Frederick Skinner was born in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania on March 20, 1904. As he himself noted in his autobiography, which was published in the 5th volume of the famous "History of Psychology in Autobiographies" (1967), he was brought up in a warm and friendly family atmosphere. However, the family also had strict discipline. An overall positive attitude was achieved due to the fact that parents did not abuse punishment, but, on the contrary, maintained discipline and order, each time encouraging and rewarding those actions that deserved it. Probably, this style of relations subsequently influenced the formation of Skinner's psychological and pedagogical views: he always assigned a decisive role to the so-called positive reinforcement.

In childhood and adolescence, the interests of the future psychologist were extremely diverse and completely unsystematic. Like many boys, he was fond of experimenting with mechanical devices, tried to make a homemade air gun, even designed a sophisticated multi-piece structure for ... neatly hanging his own pajamas.

In these interests, his biographers see (although this seems to be a certain stretch) a harbinger of the extreme mechanism of his future theories. At home, he set up a whole terrarium, where he kept several toads, lizards, turtles and even snakes.

He managed to play in the school orchestra, in his youth he was considered a good saxophonist. But the young Skinner paid most attention to literature. Already at the age of fourteen, on the basis of a scrupulous analysis of Shakespeare's plays, he put forward his own hypothesis about their authorship, which he attributed to Bacon. Similar hypotheses were expressed earlier and later, but it is characteristic that an American schoolchild came to such a conclusion with his mind, which in itself characterizes this mind as very extraordinary. How many eighth graders do you know who are capable of such inferences, and even read Bacon? And Skinner with special attention delved into Baconian philosophy of science, admiring the belief of the English thinker in the possibility of scientific solutions to practical life problems.

YOUTH QUESTIONS

Skinner was known among his colleagues for his amazing performance.
From a young age he most spent days in the laboratory

Skinner graduated from Hamilton College, a small liberal arts institution in New York State. Here he specialized in the field of English language and literature, intending to devote himself to literary creation in the future. He retained not the most pleasant memories of his student years. Much in the educational routine irritated him, especially the obligatory daily services (throughout his life, religiosity was absolutely alien to him).

He did not succeed in getting close to his classmates, since he considered them (probably not unreasonably) to be limited people with low spiritual demands. While they indulged in uncomplicated youthful amusements, he enthusiastically read Joyce and Proust. However, even in student pranks, Skinner sometimes took Active participation, and after several risky rallies organized on his initiative, the young man was almost expelled from college. He still managed to graduate from college, in 1926 he received a bachelor's degree.

It should be noted that psychology was taught as an option at Hamilton College. Skinner did not attend these classes, his interest in psychology was formed later. And in those years, he seriously planned his literary career. Acquaintance with the famous poet Robert Frost further strengthened this intention. Frost believed that the young man showed great promise as a writer, and warmly admonished him. This forecast was not destined to come true. After graduating from college, Skinner spent quite a long time in creative pursuits, until he finally came to the disappointing conclusion that he had "absolutely nothing to say."

MILESTONES IN A SCIENTIFIC CAREER

By the end of the 30s, young Skinner acquired
renown as one of the leading behaviorists

At that moment, he underwent a sharp reorientation from the field of art to the field of science, which, as he realized, is the "art of the twentieth century." In 1928 Skinner entered the psychology department at Harvard University. He was aware that he had missed a lot of time and in terms of psychological erudition was far behind his university colleagues. Therefore, he established for himself the strictest, truly Spartan mode of study, completely denying himself leisure: he devoted 15 minutes a day to extracurricular activities. This dedication has borne fruit. In 1931 Skinner received doctoral degree and published his first serious scientific study, which immediately propelled him to the forefront of behavioral psychologists.

From 1931 to 1936, Skinner was engaged in scientific work at Harvard. He concentrated his efforts on the study of animal behavior. In 1936, he took up a teaching position at the University of Minnesota and remained there until 1945. In the fall of 1945, he became head of the Department of Psychology at Indiana University, a position he held until 1947, after which he returned to Harvard as a lecturer. He worked there until his retirement in 1974.

BEHAVIOR AND REINFORCEMENT

Skinner's scientific bibliography is very extensive: over half a century, he wrote 19 major monographs and many articles. But the earliest publication that brought him fame is usually mentioned even in the most short lists his writings. This is a short article "The concept of reflex in descriptions of behavior." Here, for the first time, the conditioned reflex was interpreted not as a real act of life, inherent in it in itself, but as a derivative of the experimenter's operations.

In one of his subsequent works, Skinner wrote that in his entire life he had only one idea, and this idea is expressed by the term "control" ("control"), meaning the control of behavior. The experimenter is able to cope with this task only if he controls all the variables under the influence of which the behavior of the organism develops and changes. He loses power over his object when he admits his dependence on hypothetical internal factors that elude direct observation. Therefore, only the directly fixed relationships between experimentally controlled stimuli and subsequent reactions are of interest to science.

According to Skinner, science is forced to resort to hypotheses and deductive theories where its objects are phenomena that are inaccessible to direct perception. Psychology is in a better position. The interaction of the factors generating behavioral responses can be directly seen.

This, however, requires special experimental installations and circuits. They are like optical instruments that can detect events hidden from the naked eye. Such a device Skinner considered the experimental box invented by him (later called, despite the protests of the inventor himself, the Skinner box), in which a rat or a pigeon, pressing a lever or a button, receives reinforcement. The arm connects to a motion recorder.

Pressing the lever is considered as a sample and an independent unit of the "operant reaction" - very convenient for fixing, since it is always possible to unambiguously determine whether it happened or not. Additional devices allow you to connect reinforcements with various signals (sound, light, etc.).

The experiment scheme can be complicated. For example, instead of one lever in front of the rat, there are two, thereby placing it in a situation of choice. From this fairly simple set of elements, a wide variety of behavior management plans are constructed. So, the rat presses the lever, but receives food only when the light comes on. As a result, in the future, under the light of the bulb, the reaction rate increases markedly. Or food is dispensed only when pressed with a certain force. In the future, movements of the required force appear more and more often. You can combine movements in a chain (say, a reaction to green color leads to the appearance of a new stimulus - red, the motor response to which is reinforced). The experimenter can also vary widely the timing and order of positive and negative reinforcement by constructing different “reinforcement plans”.

ACCOUNTING AND CONTROL

In his experiments, Skinner clearly preferred experimenting on animals, mainly pigeons and rats, believing that the difference between humans and animals is actually not at all fundamental.

Skinner reacted negatively to statistical generalizations, believing that only a careful recording of the reactions of an individual organism would allow solving the main task of psychology - to predict and control the behavior of specific individuals.

The statistics for the group (sample) are insufficient to draw conclusions that have predictive power for each of its members. The frequency of reactions and their strength are captured by curves that, according to Skinner, exhaust everything that positive science can say about behavior. As an example of this type of research, Skinner's work, carried out by him with C. Foerster, "Reinforcement Plans" (1957), was proposed, in which data on 250 million reactions were collected in 921 diagrams, which were continuously produced by experimental pigeons for 70,000 hours.

Like most behaviorists, Skinner believed that turning to physiology was useless for studying the mechanisms of behavior. Meanwhile, his own concept of "operant conditioning" was influenced by Pavlov's teachings. In recognition of this, Skinner distinguished between two types of conditioned reflexes. He proposed to classify the conditioned reflexes studied by the Pavlovian school as type S. This designation indicated that in the classical Pavlovian scheme, a reaction arises only in response to the action of a stimulus (S), that is, an irritant.

Skinner's box of various designs "accompanied" its creator throughout his creative life

The behavior in the "skinner box" was assigned to type R and called operant. Here, the animal first produces a reaction (R), and then the reaction is reinforced. During the experiments, significant differences were established between the dynamics of the R-type reaction and the development of the salivary reflex according to the Pavlovian technique.

According to Skinner, a limitation of the traditional S-R behavioral formula is that it does not account for the effect of response results on subsequent behavior. The response is viewed only as a derivative of the stimulus, only as a consequence, but not as a determinant that transforms the body. An adequate formula for the interaction of an organism with the environment, Skinner wrote, must always take into account three factors: 1) the event about which the reaction occurs, 2) the reaction itself, 3) reinforcing consequences. This relationship is incomparably more complex than the relationship between stimulus and response.

OPERATING TECHNOLOGY

This is how the transition from a linear concept of behavior to the assertion of the role of feedback in the construction of reactions was outlined of fundamental importance. This role was played by reinforcement, producing selection and modification of reactions.

The technique of operant conditioning, developed by Skinner and his followers, is widely used in various areas of practice in the United States. The attitude to apply the principles of operant behaviorism to the solution of practical problems different kinds, gave this direction wide popularity far beyond the boundaries of psychology. The operant technique began to be used in the upbringing of mentally retarded children, in the treatment of neurotics and the mentally ill. In all cases, behavior modification is achieved through gradual reinforcement. For example, the patient is rewarded for every action that leads step by step to the goal of the treatment regimen.

During World War II, observation of the pecking of food by trained pigeons led Skinner to the invention of special guided projectiles. However, this invention has not been applied in practice. (This idea of ​​Skinner was parodied many years ago by Danish filmmakers: in the comedy Hit First, Freddie! Specially trained pigeons were replaced in the belly of a rocket by ordinary carrier pigeons, which are accustomed to ... return home.)

PROGRAMMED LEARNING

Skinner's ideas have found extremely wide application in pedagogy. He himself explained this phenomenon by chance, as well as all his achievements (true to his theory, he assessed everything that happened in life as a consequence of the circumstances).

On November 11, 1953, after attending an arithmetic class at his daughter's school, Skinner, as he recalls in his autobiography, was confused: “Suddenly the situation seemed completely absurd to me. Without feeling guilty, the teacher violated almost all the laws discovered by scientists regarding the learning process. "

Impressed by this painting, Skinner began to think about reinforcement factors that could be used to improve the teaching of school subjects and designed a series of learning machines. This is how the direction called programmed learning arose. Its rapid development met the needs of the era of the scientific and technological revolution.

True, the very idea of ​​optimizing training and using special machines for these purposes is not inextricably linked with any specific psychological concept. As for Skinner's theory, it was able (unlike other psychological systems) to become the basis for search work on programmed learning, due to the fact that it introduced the principle of dividing the process of solving an educational problem into separate operations, each of which is controlled by reinforcement that serves as a feedback signal ...

The vulnerability of Skinner's "learning technology" was that it introduced into pedagogical theory and practice the idea inherent in all behaviorism about the identity of the mechanisms of behavior modification in all living beings. The controversy of this position was especially sharply exposed in Skinner's interpretation of those higher forms of mental activity, which from ancient times have been considered to be a purely human property, namely, speech acts.

RAT SPEECH AND REACTION

In the book "Verbal Behavior" (1957) Skinner develops the concept according to which mastery of speech occurs according to the general laws of formation of operant conditioned reflexes. When one organism produces speech sounds, another organism reinforces them (positively or negatively), thereby controlling the process of acquiring stable values ​​by these sounds. The latter, according to Skinner, can refer to one of two sections - to indicate either an object in which the speaking individual has a need, or an object with which this individual comes in contact.

The famous American linguist Noem Chomsky sharply criticized this concept, showing that attempts to explain the generation of speech by the type of operant reactions of a rat pressing a lever are not only incompatible with the linguistic interpretation of language as a special system, but also make sense of the key concepts of stimulus for behaviorism. reactions, reinforcements. And although most specialists in the field of the theory of language in this controversy gravitate rather to the position of Chomsky, Skinner himself until the end of his days considered "Verbal Behavior" to be the most successful and convincing work.

PIONEER, LEADER, MASTER

No less, and perhaps even more acute controversy, was caused by another work of Skinner - the social utopia "Walden II".
In this book, combining his literary inclinations and psychological findings, Skinner depicted in fictional form the prospects for creating a new just social order using operant conditioning technique.

Despite its humanistic intent, the analogy with Aldous Huxley's Brave New World was so obvious in Walden II that Skinner's most ecstatic publicists wrote it down as almost fascist. However, life itself put everything in its place. The communes created according to Skinner's model did not last long: it turned out to be not very comfortable to live in them. However, as in the communes of flower children who professed diametrically opposite principles. This is probably the fate of all social utopias.

Skinner, in fact, has given a lot of criticism. However, the names of his critics (with the exception of Chomsky and perhaps also Rogers) are unlikely to survive in the history of psychology, and Skinner remains one of the most frequently cited authors to this day. The Gold Medal awarded to him in 1971 by the American Psychological Association barely fit a panegyric: “B.F. Skinner, a pioneer in psychological research, a leader in theory, a master of technology who revolutionized the study of behavior. "
B.F. Skinner died of leukemia on August 18, 1990.
None of his works have yet been translated into Russian.