Skinners Operant Behaviour Essays - Behaviorism, B. F. Skinner

Skinner's Operant Behaviour B.F. Skinner's OPERANT BEHAVIOURISM and SELECTION BY CONSEQUENCES ~ a critical assessment ~ Reproduction was itself a first consequence, and it led, through natural selection, to the evolution of cells, organs, and organisms which reproduced themselves under increasingly diverse conditions. What we call behavior evolved as a set of functions furthering the interchange between organism and environment. -B.F. Skinner, Selection by Consequences- PHIL 225/02-1 First paper - 00/10/19 Known to some as the most influential American psychologist, B.F. Skinner was born in 1904 in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania. Attempting to further psychology's quest for an accurate and comprehensive science of the mind, he produced some very rational and innovative writings; tackling problems that have stumped mankind since the beginning. We will examine his philosophies on the evolution of behaviour through selection by consequences. Around 1920, behaviourists seemed to have established what they thought made sense of human behaviour by composing them into two laws. The first explains the unconditioned reflexes that produce involuntary reactions by our bodies. Direct actions that bypass consideration, also known as biological wiring. The second law explained the phenomena of conditioned reflexes that, although aren't part of our original reflexes, can be learned and stored into memory. Similar to the first law but it included new reflexes such as Pavlov's dog salivating when the associated bell was rung. Although these laws made perfect sense, they were found to be lacking. They didn't, and couldn't, explain manifestations of new responses to old stimuli. How did they plan on explaining new inspiration or goal-oriented action of any kind if all we do is react in the same way to stimuli every time? How did a soccer player first conceive of trying to put a corner kick directly into the net if it had never been done before? How did Beethoven write music if he had no stimuli to respond to? Why did Ghandi go on a hunger strike if his natural response was to eat when he was hungry? Skinner thought that by examining these phenomena from an evolutionary standpoint we could better make sense of the psychology of behaviourism. The law of survival of the fittest best conveys this relation of evolution to behaviour. All humans born with an evolutionary advantage over others would lead easier and more successful lives, would therefore die at a slower rate than the rest, and eventually become the majority and replace the old. They would pass on their genes, which were better suited to survival under those circumstances. Through this process of selection, all species evolve, allowing only the strongest to survive. In the same way that nature evolves, Skinner postulated that our behaviour evolves, both directly and indirectly. First, by natural selection people who are born with a behaviour more suited to surviving, with characteristics such as foresight, skepticism, diplomacy and persistence, will most likely survive better than people born with characteristics like close-mindedness, weak impulse control and laziness for example. Second, by recognizing the effects of our responses to stimuli as desirable or undesirable, and therefore reinforcing our responses, those positive consequential responses would become more frequent and likely in the future, and those negative consequential responses would become less popular. Imagine that a small child throws his dish on the floor and his mother proceeds to scold him with harsh words in a strong and unpleasant tone of voice. The child will then associate throwing the dish on the floor with his mother's reaction. His association will strengthen every time he throws his dish on the floor until the day he remembers her reaction before throwing his dish and stops himself to avoid her response. (Being somewhat of a stingy idealist, Skinner was against negative reinforcement and would not have used this example) With this in mind Skinner added a new variable to the two original laws of behaviour: the consequential response. He used the term operant to define the response to stimuli in terms of past memory of consequences to similar responses to similar stimulus. He therefore tried to explain (and succeeded in my opinion) that response to stimuli could be an involuntary reflex or a learned reaction based on memory. This result goes to justifying reaction to a new stimulus as well. If the subject does not

The Mumbo -Jumbo of Anticipatory Defense essays

The Mumbo -Jumbo of Anticipatory Defense essays Anticipatory defense is what the United States Government is now calling its precautions on terrorism. They plan to eradicate any persons of suspicion before they have the chance to infiltrate us. Isnt that an act of terror within its self. Coercing attacks on people they anticipate will show aggression or in future will have the capacity to, is their justification, but an attack is only justified if it is done in retribution. Whatever the case may be, Does two wrongs make a right? Does almost count? How many people have been convicted on anticipatory defense? Self-preservation is the first law of nature. The United States government with its hypercritical statues creates an illusion that this law is omitted its system. Striking first against an enemy was acceptable only when the necessity of that self -defense is instant, overwhelming and leaving no choice of means, and no movement for deliberation (New York Times). So in other words you want to leave them lying flat on their backs with no way up except by your goodwill. Isn't that the way the United States has always operated? They create a united front of compassion for foreign nations with an ulterior motive. They smile in your face all the time the want to take your place; back stabbers (The OJays). We live in Satans Garden of Eden, paradise for the depraved. Anticipatory defense is a word used to neutralize the governments approach in the effort to maintain its face of morality. Such mumbo-jumbo is deceptive in the since that it has a veiled intent. It beats around the bush to tell you what it plans to do. Beating them to the Pre war, (headline of the New York Times). What exactly is a pre-war? Could it be the instigation of war? Peacemakers turned instigators, shouldve been the headline. Why is it that the government seeks to disguise its intentions? If its plan...

Rococo, French Baroque and Classicism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Rococo, French Baroque and Classicism - Essay Example Rococo art is characterized by elegance compared to the classical approach which emphasized grandeur and symmetry making it a prerogative and preference of the aristocracy. It is more ornate whose approach complements the overall architecture and paintings of a home or structure and is praised for its aesthetic qualities. It objective is to appeal to the senses of its audience rather than evoke or stimulate the intellect. It strives for no deeper meaning other than to be beautiful and ornamental. Thus, it serves the elegant taste and ornamental use of the aristocrats making it their prerogative. For example, the murals that adorn the buildings and the homes of the aristocrats in the eighteenth century were Rococo in approach attesting their preference and for the art movement. The Rococo as an art movement was not received well from its inception and had been criticized as superficial owing to its ornamental and aesthetic approach. This criticism came from the perspective of the prev ailing art genre during that time which was French Baroque and Classicism. As an art movement, it even took a while for Rococo art to be formally recognized by art historians that only in the mid nineteenth century was it formally recognized. Having said this, philosophers became critical of the Rococo movement because it emphasizes elegance and aesthetics which run in contrast to philosophy which emphasizes depth and search for meaning. Philosophy is also particular about rules, symmetry and harmony which Rococo.

Nervous system Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Nervous system - Research Paper Example Each is charged with a specific cognitive function and even though they are separate, they still communicate and work together with each other in order to process, integrate, and store information. Sometimes in cases of head trauma and other incidents, parts of the brain become damaged to the point where behavior and some cognitive functions become impaired (Squire, 2003). The primary function of the temporal lobe is the processing of auditory stimuli as well as processing some memory functions. It is also where the hippocampus is housed, which is responsible for long-term memory formation. Because this area plays a key role in memory integration, any damage to this area would affect the way in which memories are formed, leading to different types of amnesia. In addition, the ways in which hearing and visual stimuli are processed would also be affected. The parietal lobe is a part of the brain, which is responsible for integrating all of the senses from the different sensory systems together, and processing them. It is also important due to the fact that it coordinates the understanding of things such as mathematical relationships as well as visuospatial processing. As a result, if damage was to occur in this area, a person might loose their ability to perform math tasks, as well as loose the ability to visualize conceptually and literally.

How has the treatment of cancer evolved over the past 10 years Research Paper - 1

How has the treatment of cancer evolved over the past 10 years - Research Paper Example cannot imagine the circulation of blood in the veins and arteries of the body, not only this, but if blood is not circulated then the liver may cease to perform its function and in turn, kidney shall stop filtering the waste out of the body. If waste is not excreted out of the body then it will obstruct the digestion procedure and hence the process of assimilation will be hindered and ultimately the body will lack the energy that it requires to perform various tasks and thus one can imagine how the machinery inside the body functions. The most significant components, however, in the body that lays the foundation of the entire human structure are cells. Cells in medical terms are known to be the building blocks of a human body. Every organ is composed of these cells. Blood circulation is the most important condition that is to be met for the continuation of life in a body cannot take place without the presence of cells. But the paradox is, if these cells start growing unnecessarily than they may prove to be as dangerous as being fatal. Cells in a human body are produced by the multiplication of existing cells and splitting of these cells provides the human body with its cell requirement from time to time. When the body does not require some cells, they die and are drained out of the body in various forms. However if the cells began to divide and give birth to more cells without the body needing them then this causes complexities in the body and leads to a disease known to us as cancer. Cancer is the abnormal growt h of body cells and it may take place at any portion of the body. Growth of the human body is a natural phenomenon and it takes place by virtue of the dispensable ability of the body cells. A cell divides into two, two divides into four and four into eight and so on and so forth, as per the body requirement. The DNA in the cells contains all the information regarding growth or demise of cells in the body if this information is corrupted, by reasons to be

Relation Between Psychological Well-being and Internet Usage

Relation Between Psychological Well-being and Internet Usage Two major paradigms have been utilized in attempt to describe interactions between psychological well-being and internet usage: a deficiency paradigm which points out that the use of media is the consequence and compensation for unsatisfactory face-to-face interactions, and a global use paradigm, where internet usage are considered to be universal in terms of behaviours in online and offline social interaction (Tsao, 1996). Studies into the usage of social networking sites, such as Facebook, delivers several distinctions for the contrast of the two paradigms. University students supported the global use paradigm, where the relationship of online and offline social interactions were compared, and students reporting larger number of close friends and more offline face-to-face interactions had larger pool of Facebook friends. Humans, as social animals, are bound and thrive with social interactions; which cultivates our psychological well-being. According to Diener (1997), psychological well-being denotes how individuals appraise their lives, and such evaluations may essentially be in forms of cognitions, where it is an evaluation of the lives of individuals based on their satisfaction of their life as a whole, or, in another way, in the form of affect, where it is an appraisal guided by emotions and feelings in which individuals experience positive or negative moods in reaction to their everyday lives, and as people invariably experience moods and emotions, which may have a positive effect or a negative effect, the postulation is that most individuals evaluate their life as either good or bad, so they are normally able to offer judgments. Thus, as individuals who are unable to experience satisfaction in one area of their life, they would look to another medium in attempt to search for a comfort zone, and especially in times where technology thrive, where individuals dwell in an increasingly networked world, they are relentlessly connected to each other through various methods, with social networking spaces providing one of the most popular methods that people employ to link each other together. Individuals who cope well in social interactions make use of media as a tool for advancement in their social standings, and those who are unable to cope, use media as compensation for their unsatisfactory face-to-face interactions. Tsao (1996) describes interactions between media use and psychological well-being as two separate major paradigms: a global use paradigm, as well as a deficiency paradigm. Tsao (1996) explains that the deficiency paradigm, which forecasts that individuals view media usage as a compensatory mean of their unsatisfactory social interactions. Ashe McCutcheon (2001) refer such phenomenon that an individual exhibit as parasocial interaction, where it is considered a one-sided interpersonal relationship in which one party holds a great amount of information about the other, but the other party does not. Such occurrences can usually be observed between celebrities and fans. While it may not necessarily be negative, the emergence of a new medium for social interactions to occur was considered to provide more negative effects than positive ones, as parasocial interaction are considered to be counterproductive in terms of social interactivity. It has been clarified by Stepanikova, Nie He (2010) that in the long run, deficits on offline face-to-face social interconnectivity can be observed as individuals are immersed in online interactions and have diminished in terest in actual real world interactions. Turkle (1995) argued that individuals who engage and immerse in online-role-playing games would have the tendency to neglect their real lives so as to be able to live in the virtual world. Kraut et.al (1998) provides the same point of view, and added on that after a period of time, the families of such parasocial interactions garnered higher rates of loneliness, as well as lower rates of social involvement in the real world, and as reported by Nie and Erbring (2002), there was a negative correlation with the amount of time spent on the internet and amount of time spent for social interactions. As such, online interactions were preferred to as compared to face-to-face communications, and were found to be lonelier as time spent online increases. The deficiency paradigm is strong in its concept to explain the relationship of how individuals deal with online and offline social interactions, with illustrations of the causal behaviour of parasocia l interaction. However, further analyses conducted by other researchers may overthrow the deficiency paradigm. Gross (2004) challenges the strength of the research of Tsao by proposing that the deficiency paradigm is limited as it may not apply to every situation or case, and findings suggested that there are no significant correlations between social involvement and total time spent online, and there would be a better explanation on the relationship of online and offline social interactivity which can be established. Tsao (1996) elicits that in the global use paradigm, individuals display similar behavioural patterns when they are online, as well as offline. This would mean that individuals make use of media not as a compensatory mean, but rather, as a tool for the enrichment of their social statuses, as well as being connected to others. Park, Kee Valenzuela (2009) illustrates such universal behavioural pattern, as explained by the global use paradigm, through their findings that university students were using online social media sites such as Facebook to satisfy their social and psychological needs. Their results revealed that students were participating in Facebook groups to be kept up to date with events occurring on and off campus, to socialise with friends and to gain self-status (Park et al. 2009). In a similar study, Freberg et. al (2010) conducted a survey which includes 124 undergraduate students, and questionnaires were administered to the students to evaluate the relationship between online and offline social interactions. Several factors that were part of the assessment criteria was how individuals spend their time offline, which includes face-to-face social interactions with friends and family, as well as assessing their online connectivity, which translates to how often they spend interacting with friends they consider to be close. Results revealed that the majority of the assessed students reported being active on social networking sites, and it is found that there was no significant negative relationship between online and offline social interactivity. However, the limitation in this particular study is such that distortion to the actual number of close friends an individual has online would contaminate the actual data set, and thus would affect the reliability of the survey. Student in the sample size may not answer truthfully, or may have errors in thinking that they may have more close friends than they actually would have. Another example that limits t he research is that the needs and gratifications of the students were not assessed beforehand, and as such it was not clear to ascertain that media usage of the participant was attributed to compensatory or non-compensatory means. All total, few studies regarding the effects of online usage on psychological well-being revealed adverse effects, as majority of studies displayed little to no impact on online and offline social interactions (Gross, 2004), and other studies suggested that the relationship of online and offline social interaction would be better improved by a certain amount of online usage (Shaw Gant, 2002). These findings are more consistent with the global use paradigm brought up by Tsao, which evidently advocates internet use has become a universal experience as opposed to being referred to as a strategy for compensating what is lacking in our actual lives. The studies have provided a direction in explaining that the global use paradigm is more appropriate in the explanation of the relationship of online and offline social interactions. In addition, studies suggests that the way we interact online is shifting in the direction of the way we interact in the real world, and that proposes that the amount of social media usage by students are seen as universal in terms of behaviour in social interaction, as opposed to the deficiency paradigm suggesting that users have dissonance in the relationship of online and offline social interactions, and as researches reveal, those who are lacking in terms of offline face-to-face social interaction do not appear to be finding for more social connections online as a means of compensating for the deficient real world social experience. Nonetheless, it is certain that as the amount of time spent on social networking sites increases to a level where it is considered deficit, it would cause our offline soc ial interactions to be damaged as the more time spent online, it would mean we would have lesser time for face-to-face social interactions (Stepanikova, Nie He, 2010).

Mercutio as Catalyst in Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet Essay

Mercutio as Catalyst in Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet In Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet, the quick-witted character Mercutio â€Å"is a notorious scene-stealer† (Utterback 105). Mercutio’s major function in the play is to be a catalyst for the plot. Mercutio’s purpose as a character is most significantly revealed in his relationship with Romeo, his baiting of Tybalt, and his death. More importantly, Mercutio functions as the catalyst for the pattern of disasters in the play that follows his own tragic death, making him, as described by critic Stephen Greenblatt â€Å"a spirit that seems to challenge the very possibility of romantic love or tragic destiny† (856). Mercutio’s role in the play is directly linked to his relationship with his â€Å"very friend,† Romeo (III.i.108). This bond and camaraderie of the men provides the basis for the revelation of Mercutio’s character as a foil to Romeo. â€Å"These basic roles for the two friends mean that, through the badinage, Mercutio is essentially active and Romeo reactive or passive† (Porter 103). For example, Mercutio tells Romeo â€Å"Nay, gentle Romeo, we must have you dance† (I.iv.13). He playfully pushes Romeo to â€Å"borrow cupid’s wings / And soar with them above a common bound† (I.iv.17-18) and advises his friend that â€Å"If love be rough with you, be rough with love. / Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down† (I.iv.27-28). These lines demonstrate Mercutio’s characteristic need for urgency and action. â€Å"Romeo by contrast characteristically replies that he is unable to comply with his friendâ₠¬â„¢s exhortations—he won’t dance, don’t ask him—and his most urgent words, ‘Peace, peace, Mercutio, peace’ (I.v.95), urge not action but its cessation† (Porter 103).... ... Pennsylvania State University Press, 1965. Phillips, Brian. â€Å"Character Analysis.† SparkNote on Romeo and Juliet. 24 April 2003. http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/romeoandjuliet/canalysis.html. Porter, Joseph A. Shakespeare’s Mercutio: His History and Drama. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1988. Romeo and Juliet. Dir. Baz Luhrman. Perf. Leonardo DiCaprio, Claire Danes, Brian Dennehy, and John Leguizamo. 20th Century Fox, 1997. Romeo and Juliet. Dir. Franco Zeffirelli. Perf. Leonard Whiting, Olivia Hussey, John McEnery, and Milo O’Shea. Paramount, 1968. Shakespeare, William. The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. The Norton Shakespeare. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York: Norton, 1997. 865-939. Utterback, Raymond V. â€Å"The Death of Mercutio.† Shakespeare Quarterly. 24.2 (1973): 105-116.