MAP601_Systems and Theories

94 System and Theories Centroversion occurs as one pulls oneself together and becomes mindful, with a higher viewpoint or state of consciousness than both introversion and extraversion. Consciousness turns vertically to become aware of the Self. There is a shift of emphasis from the Ego, with its thrust to power in creating a niche for itself within society, to the Self. This state is a requirement for Individuation as well for Metaversion. 5.6 Personality Mapping Jung published ‘Psychological Types’ in which the concepts of introverted and extroverted personality types are introduced – habitual outlooks which determine a person’s experience of life. He refined these ideas according to four functions of the mind: thinking, feeling, sensation and intuition, and considered that, in each person, one or more of these functions predominate, and that the others require development through application if that person is to become whole. Jung put it like this: “For complete orientation, all four functions should contribute equally.” By the use of a Bilateral Meter, a form of dual psychogalvanometer which measures and compares arousal of each of the brain hemispheres, it is possible to make a Hemispheric Assessment. By this method the subject’s left or right dominance and flexibility of hemispheric arousal are determined, and his degree of introversion/extraversion. People have habitual responses and styles of cognition that relate to certain personality types as specified by Jung. Although Jung was primarily interested in psychopathology, he recognised that these factors could be influenced by exercise and tailored case handling, and with the use of a Bilateral Meter (designed and built by Gregory Mitchell, unfortunately not available commercially) this is a task that we are now in a position to undertake. Galvanometer Tests may be represented in the form of a two-dimensional ‘Personality Map’, as shown below. This incorporates the factors of brain arousal (as a result of such factors as anxiety, tension, alertness, involvement and willingness to confront life) which may be measured on the GSR Meter; and hemispheric balance (as a result of cognitive or feeling functions predominating) which may be measured on the Bilateral Meter. The map derived from these two dimensions is similar in many ways to the model of personality and mental pathology postulated by C.G. Jung. If the techniques used in analysis have been effective, a client’s readings should fall within the innermost square, in which case the client may approach advanced techniques with a reasonable expectation of success. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Neo-Freudians 95 The medium sized square represents the normal range of personality according to the Jungian Model, and the terms are defined as follows: 1. Phlegmatic = Thinking Introvert. 2. Melancholic = Feeling Introvert or Intuitive Type. 3. Sanguine = Thinking Extravert. 4. Choleric = Feeling Extravert or Sensation Type. The large square represents the pathological ranges of personality. The difference between the pathological states and the normal states is a difference of degree; one state shades imperceptibly into the other. The oval marked A represents the access a hypothetical client may have to a range of personality or consciousness states: the range of arousal and hemispheric mobility which is under the person’s conscious control. The tandem arrangement of GSR and Bilateral Meters is able to show both axes simultaneously, thus presenting a dynamic display of these factors. Jung and the Transpersonal ‘My life is the story of the self-realisation of the unconscious,’ wrote Jung on the very first line of his autobiography, and the process that he called ‘individuation’ – the idea of continual, lifelong personal development – was an important part of his approach to psychology and to life. Few contemporary psychologists shared his view that psychological development, the growth towards the realisation of an individual’s true potential, continued throughout the whole of life rather than being limited to childhood. Such self-realisation could occur, he argued, by treating the unconscious as a living, daemonic presence: by confronting and examining what the unconscious has to say, a person can come to know themselves more truly and personal transformation can occur. The personal unconscious contains all the beliefs, values, feelings and memories which one is not currently conscious of. It contains material that can be made conscious by simple act of will, which can be termed ‘Preconscious’; material that requires some effort or external stimulus to retrieve, both cognitive and affective, which can be termed 'subconscious’; as well as material that may never be recalled to consciousness ever again. It is made up of the things you have experienced CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

96 System and Theories every day of your life. The personal unconscious is also a dumping ground for things we aren’t comfortable with and which we’d really rather not have in consciousness very often. In analytical psychology, the “personal unconscious” is Carl Jung’s term for the Freudian “unconscious,” as contrasted with the “collective unconscious.” Jung made the significant step of defining the unconsciousness of a person as comprised of both a personal unconscious (proceeding from the experiences of the individual) and a second, far deeper form of the unconscious underlying the personal one, the collective unconscious (issuing from the inherited structure of the brain, and common to humanity). The collective unconscious contains instinctive drives and patterns of behaviour that we all share, as human beings. It includes the overall cellular memory of past ancestors that is located inside of the body and is passed on genetically. But Jung also perceived the collective unconscious as something we tap into by psychic means, as a current ‘over-mind’ of our race. In Jung’s theory, complexes may be related to environmental traumatic experience, or they may be caused by internal conflicts. There are many kinds of complex, but at the core of any complex is a universal pattern of experience, or archetype. He postulated that the complexes originate in the archetypal depths of the psyche – deep structures, patterns and ways of living that represent an inherited memory of the history of human culture. Archetypes are innate, universal psychic dispositions that form the substrate from which the basic themes of human life emerge. A group of memories and interpretations associated with an archetype is a complex, e.g., a mother complex associated with the mother archetype. Jung treated the archetypes as psychological organs, analogous to physical ones in that both are morphological constructs that arose through evolution. Being universal and innate, their influence can be detected in the form of myths, symbols, rituals and instincts of human beings. Archetypes are components of the collective unconscious and serve to organise, direct and inform human thought and behaviour. According to Jung, archetypes heavily influence the human life cycle, propelling a neurologically hard-wired sequence which he called the stages of life. Each stage is mediated through a new set of archetypal imperatives which seek fulfillment in action. These may include being parented, initiation, courtship, marriage and preparation for death. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Neo-Freudians 97 Although the general idea of an archetype is well recognised, there is considerable confusion as regards their exact nature and the way they result in universal experiences. The confusion about the archetypes can partly be attributed to Jung’s own evolving ideas about them in his writings and his interchangeable use of the term “archetype” and “primordial image.” Strictly speaking, archetypal figures such as the Hero, the Goddess and the Wise Man are not archetypes, but archetypal images which have crystallised out of the archetypes-as-such. Basically, each of us have archetypes that are dominant in our personalities and lives. Although the number of archetypes is limitless, there are a few particularly notable, recurring archetypal images: the Child, the Hero, the Mother, the Sage, the Trickster, the Leader, the Explorer, the Warrior, the Artist, the Hero, the Master, etc. The concept of archetypes – potent universal symbols appearing in myths, fairytales and dreams – is an important part of Jung’s concept of the unconscious. He considered the complexes existing in the personal unconscious to be personifications or manifestations of archetypes from the collective unconscious leading to characteristic patterns of behaviour. The archetypes represented within each person also include the projected ideas of the world around, according to the way the individual perceives the world, in ways that may tend toward positive or negative, and according to diverse influences from upbringing, education and enculturation. Another factor is the overall intelligence of the people in whom the person has originated from; through the genes, and psychological decent. Both Jung and Freud postulated certain defenses against autonomous complexes. Freud recognises new defenses, whereas Jung perceives new contexts for defenses, so they are left and right brain in nature. Freud refers to resistance against disturbing personal emotions, whereas Jung’s defenses derive from a non-personal, “external” onslaught of the collective unconscious. Jungian defenses may involve the denial of a potentially life-changing archetypal experience and a defensive return to the earlier, narrower persona; or capitulating to the collective psyche, perhaps with the justification of possessing unique spiritual wisdom or connections. It seems to me that the Collective Unconscious is a sort of Genetic Superego, as it crosses cultural boundaries. The Superego contains parental voices that constrain thought and behaviour, whereas the collective unconscious contains archetypes that constrain thought and behaviour in much the same way. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

98 System and Theories Humans are clearly predisposed to enjoy the company of other humans, to cooperate (at least in some activities), and we have a need for recognition and a sense of belonging as well. At the same time, many of the predispositions that are commonly believed to exist in humans – envy, greed and jealousy for example, particularly with respect to territory and possessions – have the capacity to threaten society and resist the efforts of culture to constrain them. Campbell has argued that if a society is to survive, it must develop improved social and cultural mechanisms to control its anti- social instincts and the more selfish and violent archetypes of human nature. The caring and mothering archetypes are not powerful enough alone to restrain a patriarchal society. There is considerable confusion as regards the exact nature of archetypes and the way they result in universal experiences. The phenomenon is real. For example, there is a clear and obvious state of affairs with animal instincts – often with considerable sophistication, such as the migratory patterns of birds – being passed down genetically. No doubt, the same applies with humans; tribal behaviour has many parallels throughout the world, through into civilised societies. There is also the phenomena of scalar fields, information fields, morphogenetic fields – names for the same thing according to the theories of Tom Bearden and Rupert Sheldrake – hypotheses that explain an enormous amount of apparent phenomena (including archetypes, evolutionary breaks, collective consciousness and psychic communication) that otherwise lacks a scientific explanation. “Gods,” if you like, and archetypal characters could well crystallise out of such formations. The Ego-complex grows and develops through “collisions with the outer world and the inner.” Consciousness and activity are necessary for its existence, although part of the ego is unconscious, including archetypes and instincts. The Ego is a subject which relates to objects. It is capable of identifications and projections, and can weave a complex web of interpretations of reality and defenses against unwelcome truths. The Ego has four primary states: waking, dreaming, sleep and transpersonal. Every human being has a waking consciousness which is normally associated with the Ego, a dream consciousness, a sleep consciousness and a transpersonal consciousness. The fourth state is the state of Gurdjieff’s self-remembering man, the mindful awareness we have at times of our own consciousness – the aspect that responds to spiritual development. As the carrier of the individual’s consciousness, it is the task of the Ego to become aware of its own limitations, to see its existence as only an island – though an essential one – in the ocean of CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Neo-Freudians 99 personal and collective unconscious. A major part of the Ego’s task is to develop an appropriate relationship with what Jung termed the Self, the archetype of wholeness. The Self can be understood as the central organising principle of the psyche, that fundamental and essential aspect of human personality which gives cohesion, meaning, direction, and purpose to the whole psyche. Jung uses the term Superego infrequently and usually in discussion of Freud’s views. This was because of Jung’s emphasis on the innate nature of morality, there being a pre-existing moral channel to accommodate the flow of psychic energy. The inbuilt Superego has a harsh archetypal (i.e., powerful, primitive, extreme) nature and this is modified, rather than accentuated by parental introjects. Hence there is less need to postulate a learning process in connection with conscience. When Jung does write of the Superego as such, he equates it with collective morality, buttressed by culture and tradition. Against the background of such collective morality, a person has to work out his or her own system of values and ethics (Ego Morality) – this is part of the process of individuation (the integration of the Ego and the Shadow). Jung points out that conscience does not equate with Superego, but that is only true when Ego is sufficiently developed to have its own Ego Morality rather than an imposed one. There is a modern neurological explanation for the theoretical differences in psychoanalytic concepts and techniques between Freud and Jung. Freudian concepts such as Ego and Superego have a left-brain foundation, the Superego is in the left frontal lobe, and the Id resides the deep brain; whereas Jungian concepts such as the Persona, Shadow and Collective Consciousness have a right- brain foundation: Modern neurological techniques reveal unique brain functions that explain many of the visionary and so-called mystic phenomena discussed by Jung. Many of Jung’s psychoanalytic concepts can be traced to right brain function. Freud analyses defenses in the left hemisphere, whereas Jung analyses the content of the right hemisphere; both Freud and Jung are correct from their particular perspective. Ernest Rossi in The Cerebral Hemispheres in Analytical Psychology proposes that recent neurological studies indicate that the notion of bringing both hemispheres into greater harmony offers a plausible basis for Individuation or the ‘higher consciousness’, which Jung described as the primary consequence of the transcendent function and the union of opposites. Impressive reaffirmation of Jung’s archetypal hypothesis has come from developments in behavioural biology, structural CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

100 System and Theories anthropology, developmental psychology, and dream research. A close correspondence exists between Jungian theories of dreaming in human beings and modern biological theories of dreaming in animals. Under the heading of a possible neurological basis for Jung’s concepts, Anthony Stevens in his Archetypes: A Natural History of the Self reviews Jung’s ideas in the context of an extensive study of the relationship between Jungian psychology and ethnology (a branch of anthropology that analyses cultures, especially in regard to their historical development and the similarities and dissimilarities between them). Following World War I, Jung became a worldwide traveller. He visited India and his experiences led him to become fascinated and deeply involved with Eastern philosophies and religions. He drew parallels with the ‘unitary consciousness’ of the Eastern concept of spirituality and aspects of the collective unconscious. Jung proposed an underlying, unitary reality that gives rise to the archetypes. This is an idea found in much mystical and religious thought. He also turned his thoughts to parapsychology, and developed a theory of ‘meaningful coincidence’ which he called synchronicity. He described this as ‘a coincidence in time of two or more causally unrelated events which have the same or similar meaning.’ Through the Individuation process, Jung hoped that each of us who heeds the call might one day reach our full potential. He realised that if the individuals in our society could face up to their shadows and reconnect with their inner opposites, that we could all hopefully transcend the destructive side of our nature. This could open the way for a direct connection with the vast and humbling resources of both the personal and collective unconscious, resources that have long been used by poets, painters, and performers and are there for anyone who makes the commitment to becoming a true individual. It is important to note that Jung seemed to often see his work as not a complete psychology in itself but as his unique contribution to the field of psychology. Jung claimed late in his career that only for about a third of his patients did he use “Jungian analysis.” For another third, Freudian psychology seemed to best suit the patient’s needs and for the final third Adlerian analysis was most appropriate. Freud focused on problems of adults as they related to childhood; Adler on problems of CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Neo-Freudians 101 adults as they related to adulthood; and Jung on problems of adults as they related to middle and later years. In fact, it seems that most contemporary Jungian psychoanalysts merge a personal eclectic approach with the Jungian theories in order to have a “whole” theoretical repertoire to do actual clinical work. The Superego vs. Ethical Consciousness Freud’s Superego is the consequence of the imposition of a moral code through parents and other authority figures. However, Jung has made an important distinction between the moral conscience and the ethical. The first type of conscience refers to the psychic reaction that occurs when the conscious mind decides to abandon the usual path of customs, of habits and of the mores. In this sense, moral consciousness can hardly be distinguished from the fear of primitive man of everything that is uncommon, extraordinary, or not in accordance with the usual behaviour of everybody in such and such circumstances. As such, it constitutes a practically instinctive reaction and could, when all is said, be reducible to an inherited pattern of behaviour, to a trait grafted in the genetic code of man. The ethical consciousness implies, on the other hand, that behaviour is subject to the conscious judgment of what is right or wrong, according to higher criteria of justice. The problem of ethics is raised when a conflict of duties appears, and blind obedience to the moral code or written law cannot satisfy the moral requirement of the moment any more. Jung, and those who built upon his efforts, gathered empirical data to form a groundwork for a philosophy of ethics. It is a system based on a psychological understanding of the power and influence of archetypal patterns. Depth psychology aims to bring to light unconscious motivations that, if left on their own, result in destructive and harmful behaviour. These tendencies can usually be traced to repressed feelings and emotions that make up the part of the unconscious which Jung called the Shadow. Jung writes, “Moral principles that seem clear and unequivocal from the standpoint of Ego- consciousness lose their power of conviction, and therefore their applicability, when we consider the compensatory significance of the shadow in the light of ethical responsibility.” Responsibility connotes a system of ethics. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

102 System and Theories Repressed qualities are relocated feelings and emotions that were thrown into the depths of the unconscious, condemned to be projected in a shadow-play. To help keep repressed feelings safely tucked away, the Ego dons a mask (persona), a societal role that gives an impression of identity with the community. This simultaneously hides the repressed qualities, which are, instead, cast onto others (projection or scapegoating). The persona is a psychological construct designed to help one fit in with the local culture by covering the individual’s uniqueness. To comport oneself without egotism is not a way of being that will happen of its own. This starts after one has begun to deal with one’s unconscious and its shadows. Highlighting the imperative of coming to terms with the unconscious, Jung writes, “Confrontation with an archetype or an instinct is an ethical problem of the first magnitude, the urgency of which is felt only by people who find themselves faced with the need to assimilate the unconscious and integrate their personalities.” Such persons have made a commitment to the path of individuation, which calls for the merging of conscious and unconscious. That union, according to Jung, is “the core of the ethical problem.” 5.7 Jung’s Stages of Development Jung who foresaw the development of the human mind reaching a crescendo in the late middle age, when many chances in life have been taken or ignored and the person starts to wonder if their life is truly what it should have been. Here are the four Jungian Stages of Development: Childhood The ‘archaic stage’ of infancy has sporadic consciousness; then during the ‘monarchic stage’ of the small child there is the beginning of logical and abstract thinking, and the ego starts to develop. Youth and Early Years From puberty until 35-40, there is maturing sexuality, growing consciousness, and then a realisation that the carefree days of childhood are gone forever. People strive to gain independence, find a mate, and raise a family. Middle Life The realisation that you will not live forever creates tension. If you desperately try to cling to your youth, you will fail in the process of self-realisation. At this stage, you experience what Jung CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Neo-Freudians 103 calls a ‘metanoia’ (change of mind) and there is a tendency to more introverted and philosophical thinking. People often become religious during this period or acquire a personal philosophy of life. Old Age Consciousness is reduced in the last years, at the same time there is there acquisition of wisdom. Jung thought that death is the ultimate goal of life. By realising this, people will not face death with fear but with the feeling of a “job well done” and perhaps the hope for rebirth. Jung was one of the first to describe an adult developmental position in psychology. During the first half of life (under forty), Jung sees the therapies of Freud and Adler as addressing the central problems. For the later fall and winter seasons of life, Jung’s psychology has specific relevance. As Harry Moody says in The Five Stages of the Soul: “The nearer we approach to the middle of life, and the better we have succeeded in entrenching ourselves in our personal attitudes and social positions, the more it appears as if we had discovered the right course and the right ideals and principles of behaviour. For this reason, we suppose them to be eternally valid, and make a virtue of unchangeably clinging to them. We overlook the essential fact that the social goal is attained only at the cost of a diminution of personality. Many – far too many – aspects of life which should also have been experienced lie in the lumber-room among dusty memories; but sometimes, too, they are glowing coals under grey ashes.” 5.8 Alfred Adler Alfred Adler was a physician, psychotherapist, and the founder of Adlerian psychology, sometimes called individual psychology. He is considered the first community psychologist, because his work pioneered attention to community life, prevention, and population health. Adlerian psychology emphasises the human need and ability to create positive social change and impact. Adler’s work stressed the importance of nurturing feelings of belonging and striving for superiority. He held equality, civil rights, mutual respect, and the advancement of democracy as core values. He was one of the first practitioners to provide family and group counselling and to use public education as a way to address community health. He was among the first to write about the social determinants of health and of mental health. His values and concepts drive our mission, work, and values at the Adler University today. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

104 System and Theories His Life Adler was born just outside of Vienna on February 7, 1870. After graduating with a medical degree in 1895 from the University of Vienna, he began his career as an ophthalmologist, but soon switched to general practice in a less affluent area of Vienna near an amusement park and circus. Working with people from the circus, Adler was inspired by the performers’ unusual strengths and weaknesses. It has been suggested that Adler began to develop his insights on compensation and inferiority during this time. In 1907, Adler was invited to meet with Sigmund Freud. Adler and Freud, along with Rudolf Reitler and Wilhelm Stekel, began meeting weekly during “Wednesday Night Meetings” that eventually grew to begin the psychoanalytic movement. Together, they formed the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society, of which Adler was the first president. Although Freud looked upon Adler as one of his first disciples, Adler never viewed himself that way, and broke with Freud and Freudian psychoanalysis in 1911. Many of Adler’s concepts and ideas were separate from Freud’s, particularly regarding the importance of the social realm. Adler used these ideas to form individual psychology, and founded the Society of Individual Psychology in 1912. After serving as a doctor in the Austrian Army in World War I, Adler established a series of child guidance clinics in Austria and embarked on extensive lecture tours in the United States and Europe. To significant acclaim, he successfully promoted his psychological concepts emphasising social interest, or gemeinschaftsgefühl. After his Austrian clinics were closed due to his Jewish heritage, Adler emigrated to the United States where he began a professorship at the Long Island College of Medicine. In 1937, while on a lecture tour in Aberdeen, Scotland, with his student and Adler University founder Rudolf Dreikers, Alfred Adler died of a heart attack. His body was cremated in Edinburgh, but the ashes were never reclaimed. They were rediscovered in a casket at Warriston Crematorium and returned to Vienna for burial in 2011. His Concepts and Impact Adler’s goal was to create a psychological movement that argued for the holistic view of an individual as well as social equality. In this way, Adler’s theory of personality and humanity significantly CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Neo-Freudians 105 differed from Freud’s—as well as significantly differing from much of today’s mainstream psychology. Adler believed that the social and community realm is equally as important to psychology as the internal realm of the individual. Adler was one of the first psychotherapists to disregard the symbolic couch in favour of two chairs, to create a sense of equality between patient and clinician. Adler also focused greatly on family dynamics, specifically parenting and family constellation, as a preventative means of addressing possible future psychological problems. With a practical and goal-oriented approach, Alfred held a theory of three life tasks occupation, society, and love that intermingle with one another. Success and health in each and all life tasks is dependent on cooperation. Perhaps Adler’s most influential concept and the one that drives Adler University today is that of social interest. Not to be confused as another form of extraversion, social interest should be viewed as an individual’s personal interest in furthering the welfare of others. Collaborating and cooperating with one another as individuals and communities can progress to benefit society as a whole. His Legacy Although Adler’s psychological theory was developed nearly a century ago, many of his concepts are still brought to fruition through Adler University. His concepts based in social interest, social justice, equality, and the importance of education guide the Adler University’s commitment to social change from our curriculum, practica, internships, programming and experiential offerings for students, faculty and alumni to our hundreds of partnerships at work with local communities to improve community mental health. 5.9 Individual Psychology Individual psychology was developed by AlfredAdler, an ophthalmologist and general practitioner in Vienna. In 1902, Adler was invited by Sigmund Freud to an informal discussion group that became the genesis of the psychoanalytic movement, or the “Wednesday Society,” because the meetings took place every Wednesday. Adler became the president of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society 8 years later. In 1911, he formally disengaged from Freudian psychoanalysis and biological determinism. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

106 System and Theories In 1912, he founded the Society of Individual Psychology. Adlerian theory is a growth model that emphasises the positive attitude of human nature and control of one’s own destiny, rather than just being a victim. He suggested that early in life, we create a unique lifestyle that stays relatively constant throughout our lives. Adler’s theory says we are motivated by goal-setting and purposeful behaviour to reach for perfection and superiority. Each of us may encounter challenges or become involved in a variety of social interests which change our journey. The intent of Adlerian therapy is to challenge and encourage a client’s goals and aspirations. To achieve this, a therapist will gather as much family history as is available and learn about the client’s past performance. Then the client and therapist set a goal which is not too low or too high and can be supported and achieved. This support can be demonstrated in a healthy, respectful relationship based on mutual trust. The therapist may assign homework to stimulate client enthusiasm toward achieving a goal. Over time, Adlerian therapy encourages psychoactive chemical-dependent patients to discontinue use and become contributing members of society. This therapeutic modality has also been used to improve parenting and marital skills, as well as to encourage many resolutions of life challenges. Adler’s Individual Psychology Individual psychology, also known as Classical Adlerian Psychology after its founder, Alfred Adler, is a values-based, fully-integrated theory of personality, a model of psychopathology, philosophy of living, strategy for preventative education, and technique of psychotherapy. Its mission is to encourage the development of psychologically healthy and cooperative individuals, couples, and families, in order to effectively pursue the ideals of social equality and democratic living. A vigorously optimistic and inspiring approach to psychotherapy, it balances the equally important needs for individual optimal development and social responsibility. Adler was a pioneer in creating a holistic view of human psychology. He explained human development in the context of the whole how the human being exists and interacts within the family, society, nation, and world. He defined mental health as a feeling of human connectedness, a desire to develop one fully, and a willingness to contribute to the welfare of others. When these qualities are underdeveloped, an individual experiences feelings of inferiority, or an attitude of superiority CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Neo-Freudians 107 which may antagonise others. The perception of superiority leads to self-centered behaviour and the individual may become emotionally or materially exploitive of other people. When the feelings of connectedness and the willingness to contribute are stronger, a feeling of equality emerges, and the individual becomes more public minded, self-transcending, and behaves more beneficially to others. A former colleague of Sigmund Freud’s, Adler originally called his work “free psychoanalysis” for a time after their separation. However, he later rejected the label of “psychoanalyst” and his work became known as “individual psychology.” Individual psychology also draws upon Abraham Maslow’s concept of self-actualisation as well as an adaptation of the Socratic method. Key concepts Primary and Secondary Feelings of Inferiority In individual psychology, the original and normal experience of infants and children, such as a feeling of smallness, weakness, or dependency, is known as the primary feeling of inferiority. This usually acts as an incentive for development. However, a child may develop an exaggerated feeling of inferiority as a result of physiological difficulties or handicaps, inappropriate parenting (including abuse, neglect, pampering), or cultural or economic obstacles. The secondary feeling of inferiority is the adult’s feeling of insufficiency that results from having adopted an unrealistically high or impossible compensatory goal; often one of perfection. The adult experiences a greater or lesser degree of distress, depending on how distant they feel they are from that goal. In addition to this distress, the residue of the original, primary feeling of inferiority may still haunt them as adults. An inferiority complex is an extremely deep feeling of inferiority that can lead to pessimistic resignation and an assumed inability to overcome difficulties. Striving for Significance One of the central ideas in Adlerian psychology is the individual’s striving from a feeling of inferiority toward a feeling of significance. The basic, common movement of every human being— from birth until death—is of overcoming, expansion, growth, completion, and security. This may take a negative turn into a striving for superiority or power over other people. Unfortunately, many reference works mistakenly refer only to the negative “striving for power” as Adler’s basic premise. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

108 System and Theories However, Adler used this term to indicate a future-oriented striving toward a goal of significance, superiority, or success. When one is mentally healthy, this striving is a realistic goal of achieving socially useful significance or superiority over general challenges in life. In cases of mental disorder, however, it refers to an unrealistic goal of exaggerated significance or superiority over others. Adler spoke about the striving for significance in The Cause and Prevention of Neuroses: To me it appears that every child, indeed every human being, for some reason, is continually striving to answer questions, to overcome difficulties, to solve riddles, and to develop himself in some degree towards a self-satisfying completion, the full achievement of his life purpose. No matter what may be the age of an individual, you will find tendencies which have their beginnings if one may venture to use the phrase in the dawn of life, and which, by their persistence, ever demand a development to a higher level. Compensation Compensation refers to the tendency to make up for underdevelopment of physical or mental functioning through interest and training, usually within a relatively normal range of development. Overcompensation reflects a more powerful impulse to gain an extra margin of development, frequently beyond the normal range. This may take a useful direction toward exceptional achievement, or a useless direction toward excessive perfectionism. Genius may result from extraordinary overcompensation. Under-compensation reflects a less active, even passive attitude toward development, which usually places excessive expectations and demands on other people. Social context As an indivisible whole, or system, the human being is also a part of larger wholes or systems— the family, the community, all of humanity, our planet, and the world. In all these contexts, we meet the three important life tasks: occupation, love and sex, and our relationship with other people all social challenges. The way an individual is raised as a child and responds to their first social system, the family constellation, may become the prototype of his or her world view and attitude toward life. Adler espoused that individuals need to acknowledge their connectedness to the past as well as to the future. What we are able to do in our lives depends very much on the foundation of contributions CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Neo-Freudians 109 made in the past by others. An essential question that Adler saw facing each person was, “What will be your contribution to life? Will it be on the useful or useless side of life?” Feeling of Community “Feeling of community” is translated variably from the German Gemeinschaftsgefeuhl, as social interest, social feeling, and social sense. The concept denotes a recognition and acceptance of the interconnectedness of all people, experienced on affective, cognitive, and behavioural levels. At the affective level, it is experienced as a deep feeling of belonging to the human race and empathy with fellow men and women. At the cognitive level, it is experienced as a recognition of interdependence with others, i.e., that the welfare of any one individual ultimately depends on the welfare of everyone. At the behavioural level, these thoughts and feelings can then be translated into actions aimed at self-development as well as cooperative and helpful movements directed toward others. Thus, at its heart, the concept of “feeling of community” encompasses the full development of each individual’s capacities, a process that is both personally fulfilling and results in people who have something worthwhile to contribute to one another. Adler Spoke Eloquently of Community in Individual Psychology And since true happiness is inseparable from the feeling of giving, it is clear that a social person is much closer to happiness than the isolated person striving for superiority. Individual Psychology has very clearly pointed out that everyone who is deeply unhappy, the neurotic and the desolate person stem from among those who were deprived in their younger years of being able to develop the feeling of community, the courage, the optimism, and the self-confidence that comes directly from the sense of belonging. This sense of belonging that cannot be denied anyone, against which there are no arguments, can only be won by being involved, by cooperating, and experiencing, and by being useful to others. Out of this emerges a lasting, genuine feeling of worthiness. Style of Life This is a concept reflecting the organisation of the personality, including the meaning individuals give to the world and to themselves, their fictional final goal, and the affective, cognitive, and behavioural strategies they employ to reach the goal. This style is also viewed in the context of the individual’s approach to or avoidance of the three tasks of life: other people, work, love and sex. A lifestyle is formed early in childhood and is unique to each individual. In healthy individuals, dealing CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

110 System and Theories with the life tasks is relatively flexible. They can find creative ways to solve problems; when one way is blocked, they can choose another. This is not so for the disturbed individuals, who usually insist on one way or no way. Fictional Final Goal Classical Adlerian psychology assumes a central personality dynamic reflecting the growth and forward movement of life. It is a future-oriented striving toward an ideal goal of significance, superiority, success, or completion. The early childhood feeling of inferiority, for which one aims to compensate, leads to the creation of a “fictional final goal,” which subjectively seems to promise future security and success. The depth of the inferiority feeling usually determines the height of the goal, which then becomes the “final cause” of behaviour patterns. Unity of the Personality “Unity of the personality” is achieved when all of the cognitive, affective, and behavioural facets of the individual are viewed as components of an integrated whole, moving in one psychological direction, without internal contradictions or conflicts. Private Logic vs. Common Sense “Private logic” is the reasoning invented by an individual to stimulate and justify a self-serving style of life. By contrast, “common sense” represents society’s cumulative, consensual reasoning that recognises the wisdom of mutual benefit. Safeguarding Tendency The “safeguarding tendency” consists of cognitive and behavioural strategies used to avoid or excuse oneself from imagined failure. These can take the form of symptoms, such as anxiety, phobias, or depression, which can all be used as excuses for avoiding the tasks of life and for transferring responsibility to others. They can also take the form of aggression or withdrawal. Aggressive safeguarding strategies include depreciation, accusations, or self-accusations and guilt, which are used as means for elevating a fragile self-esteem and safeguarding an overblown, idealised image of oneself. Withdrawal takes various forms of physical, mental and emotional distancing from seemingly threatening people and problems. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Neo-Freudians 111 All Behaviour is Purposeful Individual psychology regards all behaviour as purposeful. This is the perspective that an individual uses their thinking, feeling, and actions (even his symptoms) to achieve a social end. They do not merely inherit or possess certain qualities, traits, or attitudes, but adopt only those characteristics that serve their goal and reject those that do not fit their intentions. This assumption emphasises personal responsibility for one’s character, as opposed to being a passive victim of heredity or environment. Treatment Adlerian individual psychotherapy, couple therapy and family therapy follow parallel paths. Clients are guided to overcome their feelings of insecurity, develop deeper feelings of connectedness, and to redirect their striving for significance into more socially beneficial directions. Using a respectful Socratic dialogue, they are challenged to correct mistaken assumptions, attitudes, behaviours, and feelings about themselves and the world. Continual encouragement stimulates clients to attempt what was previously felt as impossible. The growth of confidence, pride, and gratification leads to a greater desire and ability to cooperate and try new tasks. The objective of therapy is to replace exaggerated self-protection and self-indulgence with courageous social contribution. The Individual in Social Context Individual psychology is not a model of the individual in isolation. Adler’s psychology is very much a social psychology, in which the individual is seen and understood within his or her social context. In reality, Adler, unlike others, saw no fundamental conflict between self and society, individuality and relatedness, self-interest and social interest. He viewed these as false dichotomies. In individual psychology, the development of self and connectedness are processes that influence one another in mutually positive ways. The more advanced one’s personal development, the more able one becomes to connect positively with others. The greater one’s ability to connect with others, the more one is able to learn from them and develop oneself. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

112 System and Theories Adler was keenly aware of the fact that human beings are connected in many different spheres and on many different levels. An individual is connected with family, friends, community, and so on, in ever expanding circles. The feeling of interconnectedness among people is essential not only for living together in society, but also for each individual person’s higher development. Research has shown that if human infants do not have emotional connections with their caregivers, they will not only fail to thrive, but are very likely to die under those conditions. This connectedness can encompass animals, plants, and even inanimate objects, until, in the largest sense, the person feels connected with the entire universe. Adler believed that if people truly understood and felt this connectedness, then many of the self-created problems of life—war, prejudice, persecution, discrimination—might cease to exist. Such an optimistic outlook has led to the criticism that individual psychology is unrealistic in its expectations of success for people suffering serious disorders and for resolving the magnitude of evil that has tormented human history. Nevertheless, its positive view of humankind and human society has empowered many to overcome their difficulties and live more socially productive lives. 5.10 Summary Analytical Psychology is the name given to the psychological-therapeutic system founded and developed by the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961). Carl Jung was the son of a pastor in the Swiss Reformed Church, and many of his relatives were ministers too. Jung went to Basel University in 1895 to study medicine, and student life, along with the early death of his father, proved to be emancipatory. His commitment to knowing the nature of the psyche through direct, personal experience and revelation resulted in the precedence he gave to dreams and visions and the idea of understanding them through investigations of philosophy, religion and literature. The death-blow to Jung’s Christian faith came when he felt nothing at all at his confirmation, the religious initiation of which he had been led to expect much. A good deal of his later work can be viewed as a quest to replace the faith he had lost. Alfred Adler was a physician, psychotherapist, and the founder of Adlerian psychology, sometimes called individual psychology. He is considered the first community psychologist, because CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Neo-Freudians 113 his work pioneered attention to community life, prevention, and population health. Adlerian psychology emphasises the human need and ability to create positive social change and impact. Adler’s work stressed the importance of nurturing feelings of belonging and striving for superiority. He held equality, civil rights, mutual respect, and the advancement of democracy as core values. He was one of the first practitioners to provide family and group counselling and to use public education as a way to address community health. He was among the first to write about the social determinants of health and of mental health. His values and concepts drive our mission, work, and values at the Adler University today. Adler’s theory says we are motivated by goal-setting and purposeful behaviour to reach for perfection and superiority. Each of us may encounter challenges or become involved in a variety of social interests which change our journey. The intent of Adlerian therapy is to challenge and encourage a client’s goals and aspirations. To achieve this, a therapist will gather as much family history as is available and learn about the client’s past performance. Then the client and therapist set a goal which is not too low or too high and can be supported and achieved. This support can be demonstrated in a healthy, respectful relationship based on mutual trust. The therapist may assign homework to stimulate client enthusiasm toward achieving a goal. Over time, Adlerian therapy encourages psychoactive chemical-dependent patients to discontinue use and become contributing members of society. This therapeutic modality has also been used to improve parenting and marital skills, as well as to encourage many resolutions of life challenges. Individual psychology, also known as Classical Adlerian psychology after its founder, Alfred Adler, is a values-based, fully-integrated theory of personality, a model of psychopathology, philosophy of living, strategy for preventative education, and technique of psychotherapy. Its mission is to encourage the development of psychologically healthy and cooperative individuals, couples, and families, in order to effectively pursue the ideals of social equality and democratic living. A vigorously optimistic and inspiring approach to psychotherapy, it balances the equally important needs for individual optimal development and social responsibility. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

114 System and Theories 5.11 Key Words/Abbreviations  Persona: Persona in the word’s everyday usage is a social role or a character played by an actor.  Spirituality: Spirituality is a broad concept with room for many perspectives. It includes a sense of connection to something bigger than us, and it typically involves a search for meaning in life.  Art therapy: Art therapy is an integrative mental health and human services profession that enriches the lives of individuals, families, and communities through active art making, creative process, applied psychological theory, and human experience within a psychotherapeutic relationship.  Analytic Psychology: Analytical psychology is a theory of human personality and thought that takes into account the individual unconscious and its relationship to the collective unconscious.  Personality Mapping: Personality mapping is a method of assessing human personality constructs. 5.12 Learning Activity 1. You are required to prepare a report on “Ethical Consciousness” and its implications. _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ 2. You are suggested to identify the Individual Psychology. _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Neo-Freudians 115 5.13 Unit End Exercises (MCQs and Descriptive) Descriptive Type Questions 1. Discuss in brief about biography of Carl Jung. 2. Explain in details about thought of Carl Jung. 3. Discuss about Extraversion and Introversion. 4. What is Spirituality? Explain in details about paranormal beliefs. 5. Discuss about Interpretation of quantum mechanics. 6. What is Alchemy? Discuss in details about Art therapy. 7. Explain in details about Dance/Movement therapy. 8. Discuss in details about Anti-Semitism and Nazism. 9. What is Analytic Psychology? Discuss the use of the psychogalvanometer. 10. Discuss the way to Individuation. 11. What is Personality Mapping? Explain the Jung’s stages of development. 12. What is Individual Psychology? Explain about Adler’s Individual Psychology. Multiple Choice Questions 1. Which of the following is distinguished by a focus on the role of symbolic and spiritual experiences in human life, and rests on Jung’s theory of archetypes and the existence of a deep psychic space or collective unconscious? (a) Analytical psychology (b) Individuation (c) Cultural experiences (d) All the above 2. Individuation refers to the achievement of a greater degree of consciousness regarding the totality of the person’s psychological, interpersonal and cultural experiences (a) Analytical psychology (b) Individuation (c) Cultural experiences (d) All the above CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

116 System and Theories 3. Who were the Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology? (a) Rowland Hazard (b) Carl Gustav Jung (c) Alfred Adler (d) None of the above 4. Jung’s work was influential in the fields of __________. (a) Psychiatry (b) Anthropology (c) Philosophy (d) All the above 5. Jung understood and acknowledged the enormous importance of sexuality in the development of the __________. (a) Personality (b) Encompassing (c) Professionalism (d) All the above 6. Which of the following is the Jung’s Stages of Development? (a) Childhood (b) Youth and Early Years (c) Middle Life (d) All the above Answers: 1. (a), 2. (b), 3. (d), 4. (a), 5. (c) 5.14 References References of this unit have been given at the end of the book.  CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Behavioural Perspective 117 UNIT 6 BEHAVIOURAL PERSPECTIVE Structure: 6.0 Learning Objectives 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Behavioural Perspective 6.3 Watson – Psychology as a Science of Behaviour 6.4 Summary 6.5 Key Words/Abbreviations 6.6 LearningActivity 6.7 Unit End Exercises (MCQs and Descriptive) 6.8 References 6.0 Learning Objectives After studying this unit, you will be able to:  Describe the Behavioural Perspective  Explain Watson – Psychology as a Science of Behaviour 6.1 Introduction Behaviourism is different from most other approaches because they view people (and animals) as controlled by their environment and specifically that we are the result of what we have learned from our environment. Behaviourism is concerned with how environmental factors (called stimuli) CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

118 System and Theories affect observable behaviour (called the response). The behaviourist approach proposes two main processes whereby people learn from their environment: namely classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Classical conditioning involves learning by association, and operant conditioning involves learning from the consequences of behaviour. Behaviour Behaviour is the actions and mannerisms made by individuals, organisms, systems or artificial entities in conjunction with themselves or their environment, which includes the other systems or organisms around as well as the (inanimate) physical environment. It is the computed response of the system or organism to various stimuli or inputs, whether internal or external, conscious or subconscious, overt or covert, and voluntary or involuntary. Models of Behaviour Biology Although there is some disagreement as to how to precisely define behaviour in a biological context, one common interpretation based on a meta-analysis of scientific literature states that “behaviour is the internally coordinated responses (actions or inactions) of whole living organisms (individuals or groups) to internal and/or external stimuli”. A broader definition of behaviour, applicable to plants and other organisms, is similar to the concept of phenotypic plasticity. It describes behaviour as a response to an event or environment change during the course of the lifetime of an individual, differing from other physiological or biochemical changes that occur more rapidly, and excluding changes that are result of development (ontogeny). Human Behaviour Human behaviour is believed to be influenced by the endocrine system and the nervous system. It is most commonly believed that complexity in the behaviour of an organism is correlated to the complexity of its nervous system. Generally, organisms with more complex nervous systems have a greater capacity to learn new responses and thus adjust their behaviour. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Behavioural Perspective 119 Animal Behaviour Ethology is the scientific and objective study of animal behaviour, usually with a focus on behaviour under natural conditions, and viewing behaviour as an evolutionarily adaptive trait. Behaviourism is a term that also describes the scientific and objective study of animal behaviour, usually referring to measured responses to stimuli or trained behavioural responses in a laboratory context, without a particular emphasis on evolutionary adaptivity. 6.2 Behavioural Perspective Behavioural psychology is thought to be a perspective that mainly focuses on behaviours that have been learned. While psychology was mainly dominated by behaviourism in the early 20th century, it quickly started to diminish in the 1950s. Nowadays, the behavioural perspective still deals with how behaviours have been learned and reinforced. Behavioural principles have many a times been applied in settings of mental health where some therapists/counsellors have used these certain techniques to try to explain and treat a great deal of illnesses. Since Behavioural Perspective is the way people view the psychological aspect of behaviour, then it is obvious that this perspective indicates the study of observable and measurable behaviour. It does this in a way only in which the environment is the only this that determines this behaviour. Also included in this perspective is natural way of man, the belief that everything is caused by something, and the fact that change is capable of happening. Behaviourists tend to think that the nature of man is not good nor evil. They also believe in the theory of “Tabula Rasa,” also known as the blank slate theory. This theory explains that when a baby is born with no reason or knowledge then obviously their knowledge has to be drawn from their environment and experiences. Behaviourist B.F. Skinner goes over the fact that he believes in this concept by always stating that as far as he knows, at any point in time, his behaviour has not been anything more than the product of his own personal history, his own genetic endowment, and the current setting he is in at that point in time. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

120 System and Theories The Behavioural Perspective takes some ideas from the Tabula Rasa such as conditioning and behaviour modification in order to merge or combine the other valuable ideas inside of the Behavioural Perspective such as the perspective which includes the natural way of man, the belief that everything is caused by something, and the fact that change is capable of happening. The concept that we as humans have no free-will is called Determinism. Also with the Tabula Rasa theory there has been one more aspect of determinism which is called conditioning. Conditioning is considered to be one of the simplest forms one can do to learn. In conditioning, a certain type of behaviour is learned by a person and or animal. This type of learning is often considered to be a direct result of the reinforcement or the connection of an unconditioned stimulus with a conditioned stimulus. An interesting concept some behaviourists believe is that certain behaviours can be countered or unlearned through an either positive or negative change in the actual reinforcement. The change in the reinforcement is called behaviour modification and in it the person can be given an object or something that they can used to trade in for something better every time they do the right thing. The behavioural approach to understanding motivation deals with drives, both learned and unlearned, and with incentives. Drive theory involves the concepts of unlearned (or primary) drives, drive reduction, and learned (secondary) drives. It is based on the fact that all living organisms have physiological needs that must be satisfied for survival (e.g., the need for food, water, sleep, and so forth) to maintain a state of homeostasis, i.e., a steady internal state. Disruption of an organism’s homeostatic state causes a state of tension (arousal) called an unlearned, or primary, drive. If the aroused state has been created by hunger, it is called a hunger drive, and the drive can be reduced by food. Drive reduction moves toward the re-establishment of homeostasis. Drives, then, may be thought of as the consequence of a physiological need, which an organism is impelled to reduce or eliminate. Clark Hull, a learning theorist, developed an equation to show how learning and drive are related. Drives may also be learned, or secondary. Fear (or anxiety), for example, is often considered a secondary drive that can be learned through either classical or operant conditioning. In Neal Miller’s well-known operant conditioning experiment, a rat was placed in a black box and then given a mild electrical shock. Eventually, the rat learned to react to the experience of being put in a black box (with no shock given) with the response of turning a wheel to CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Behavioural Perspective 121 escape. In this case, the black box is said to have elicited the learned drive of fear. Among other drives considered by some theorists to be learned are the need for affiliation (i.e., to belong, to have companionship), the need for security (money), and the need for achievement. Theories of incentive motivation contend that external stimuli can motivate behaviour. Humans and other animals can learn to value external stimuli (e.g., the first prize in a track meet for a human and a pat on the head for a dog) and will work to get them. Incentive motivation is sometimes called pull motivation because incentives are said to pull in contrast with the push associated with drives. Kenneth Spence, well known for his work in incentive motivation, suggested that “the incentive value of the reward strengthens the response”. The behavioural perspective is mainly focused on the idea that psychology should only be concerned with the measurable physical responses one has to certain environmental stimuli. This certain perspective was first introduced to the world by John Broadus Watson who lived from 1878 to 1958. He was a great student at the University of Chicago and worked to get his doctorate at the same time. He strongly believed that the science of psychology was meant to be a hard science as the rest of the sciences were therefore psychology should seek out observable behaviour. Watson thought that psychology was not meant to deal with mental events because to him they are unmeasurable in every way except to the actual organism experiencing them. 6.3 Watson – Psychology as a Science of Behaviour John B. Watson (1878-1958) is regarded as one of the founders of the discipline of psychology, extending ideas of a science of behaviour to be found in the work of the Russian scientist Ivan Pavlov. He rejected the idea of introspection—that it was possible to think about consciousness in a scientific way, or to use the mind to think about the mind. The only reliable material for scientific analysis was the observable facts of behaviour. For this reason, there were no important differences between studying human and animal behaviour. In his book of 1914, “Behaviour”, Watson outlines the founding principles of Behaviourism: that reliable knowledge of human psychology can only be gleaned from observing empirical behaviours; that human and animal behaviours are learned in fundamentally the same way, via a process of stimulus and response; and that research into the dynamics of behaviour can be the basis of improvements in education. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

122 System and Theories It has been maintained by its followers generally that psychology is a study of the science of the phenomena of consciousness. It has taken as its proble the analysis of complex mental states. The world of physical objects (stimuli, including here anything which may excite activity in a receptor), which forms the total phenomenon of the natural scientist, is looked upon merely as means to an end data have no value per se. They possess significance only insofar as they may throw light upon conscious states. The time seems to have come when psychology must discard all reference to consciousness; when it need no longer delude itself into thinking that it is making mental states the object of observation. A psychology of interest to all scientific men would take as its starting point, first, the observable fact that all organisms, man and animal alike, do adjust themselves to their environment Certain stimulae lead organisms to make responses given the responses, the stimulae can be predicted; given the stimulae, the responses can be predicted. The behaviour of animals can be investigated without appeal to consciousness. The position is taken here that the behaviour of man and the behaviour of animals must be considered on the same plane. Psychology as the behaviourist views it is a purely objective experimental branch of natural science. Its theoretical goal is the prediction and control of behaviour. Introspection forms no essential part of its methods, nor is the scientific value of its data dependent upon the readiness with which they lend themselves to interpretation in terms of consciousness. John B. Watson is an American psychologist who is best known for establishing the psychological school of Behaviourism. His theories, research, and work were influential to the field of psychology, and through that, he left his marks on the larger world. Childhood and Early Education Born on January 9, 1878, John Broadus Watson became more commonly known as John B. Watson in academic circles. He was born in Traveller’s Rest, South Carolina. His parents were Pickens Butler and Emma Watson. His mother Emma was a religious woman and, so she named John after a Baptist minister. She hoped that he too would grow up and preach the Gospel and thus subjected John too harsh religious training. Her methods backfired as John eventually felt quite antipathic towards religion and instead identified as an atheist. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Behavioural Perspective 123 John’s father, an alcoholic, left his family when John was 13 to live with two other women. The family was left in poverty, and eventually, Emma had to sell the family farm. At that time, they moved to Greenville, South Carolina, where Emma felt John might see more success in life. Indeed, in Greenville, John was exposed to many different people and started to view the world with a psychologist’s mindset. Early Education and Early Career Despite his tumultuous early life and the impoverished state of his family, Watson knew he must attend college to improve his own life. Up to this point, Watson had not been a very good student. However, his mother had some connections, and she assisted him in gaining admission to Furman University. There, he completed his classes but did not particularly excel in his academic endeavours. He also lacked social skills, which led to him being considered insubordinate by his instructors. Watson supported himself financially while in college and graduated with his Master’s degree at age 21. He accomplished this by changing his focus and putting forth great effort in his studies. Upon graduation, he worked for a year at a one-room school (that he titled “Batesburg Institute”) in the roles of janitor, handyman, and even principal. Early Study and Career in Psychology Eventually, Watson decided he must continue his education. A professor at Furman recommended that he attend the University of Chicago and study philosophy with John Dewey. Watson successfully petitioned the President of the university to allow him admission. He worked with Dewey and other influential minds, James Rowland Angel, Jacques Loeb, and Henry Herbert Donaldson. Watson’s study and work in psychology began at the University of Chicago where he began developing what would come to be called behaviourism. Watson disliked unobservable data and believed that psychology should only study what could be measured, seen, and observed in some way. Early in his career, Watson was influenced in this thinking by the work of Ivan Pavlov. Pavlov had discovered the relationship between stimulus and response and recorded his research showing that people and animals could learn to associate one thing with something else. Watson included Pavlov’s basic principles in his theories and study on psychology. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

124 System and Theories For his doctoral dissertation, Watson studied brain myelination and learning in rats. The resulting paper was titled “Animal Education: An Experimental Study on the Psychical Development of the White Rat, Correlated with the Growth of its Nervous System.” It showed that myelination was related to learning. After graduating with his doctorate, Watson was offered a faculty position at Johns Hopkins University where he was offered the chair of the psychology department. Unfortunately, in October 1920, he was asked to leave the positions due to bad publicity. Watson had been found to be having a relationship with his graduate assistant, Rosalie Rayner, who he later married. Significant Contributions John B. Watson created the school of behaviourist methodology within psychology and he published his views on this psychological theory in 1913. The article was entitled “Psychology as the Behaviourist Views It,” and it is commonly considered a manifesto on behaviourism. It outlined behaviourism as an objective branch of science that would base its theories and findings on experimental research using purely observable data. One goal of behaviourism was to understand how certain behaviours develop as a consequence of conditioning to external stimuli. Watson was not particularly concerned with thought, cognition, introspection, or other forms of internal consciousness. He thought it was foolish to interpret the inner workings of the mind and believed psychologists should concern themselves with only what they could see. Watson applied his views to all parts of human behaviour including language and memory. He believed language to be a “manipulative habit.” This term was meant to describe the human ability to manipulate the sounds made with the larynx. He believed that language and all behaviour is conditioned (taught) in this case through imitation. He theorised that over time people learned to associate certain sounds or spoken words with certain objects, situations, or shapes on paper (words). He hypothesised that just as people learn to associate sounds with objects or symbols, so too did people learn to associate certain feelings, behaviours, and other things with situations, objects, and symbols. This was Watson’s blueprint for learning, through which he believed all people learn or can unlearn and relearn lessons as needed. Watson’s most influential and well-known work was his study of emotions. He was particularly interested in studying the way that emotions could be learned. He believed that emotions were CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Behavioural Perspective 125 merely physical responses to external stimuli. He also believed that rage, fear, and love were all yet to be learned at birth. Watson and Little Albert Watson was particularly interested in studying fear. By pairing an otherwise mundane stimulus (a loud bang), with the appearance of an equally non-dangerous object (a white rat), that the sudden unpleasant sensation of loud noise paired with the rat would produce a fear response. He studied this phenomenon in the famous and controversial “Little Albert” study. In this study, he used loud noises to condition (or teach) a baby to be fearful of white rats, rabbits, and other similar stimuli. In another study, Watson also found that such fears could be unlearned through exposure to the feared object and learning new associations between stimuli. Moreover, Watson believed that the principles of behaviourism could be used to shape babies into anything an experimenter, parent, or another person might want. He famously said: “Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my specified world to bring them up in and I’ll guarantee to take anyone at random and train him to become any specialist I might select-doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief, and yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors. I am going beyond my facts, and I admit it, but so have the advocates to the contrary, and they have been doing so for many thousands of years.” – John. B Watson Many find Watson’s treatment of Little Albert and his assertion that he could use behaviourism to shape any child into anything, alarming. The study of Little Albert and his learned fears was met with controversy when it was determined that Albert had withdrawn from the study and did not receive treatment to repair his learned fears of white animals. Rosalie Rayner would later joke about Albert as a grown man being terrified of all things white and fuzzy, which drew more controversial critique of the research. Watson and Rayner ultimately experimented on a human child without regard to their certain ability to reset the fear he’d learned, and because Albert was withdrawn from the study, whoever ‘Little Albert’ really was likely never unlearned those fears. Watson’s controversial points were made in response to Eugenics, which was a belief that genes were most important and those with lesser genes should be eliminated and not allowed to pass on their genes, an attitude popular during Watson’s time. Watson emphasised the role of nurture and CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

126 System and Theories the ability for children to become anything, responding to the environment around them. Some of Watson’s thinking and the behaviourist approach is how and why we know that some environments are helpful to the development of emotionally healthy children and adults and others are not. Despite Watson’s recognition of the importance of nurture in the nature-nurture debate, he also believed that parents should not be particularly nurturing. He believed that children should be treated as adults and not given much attention or affection. He thought that doing so would give children unrealistic expectations for their treatment in the world. This is a view that was criticised, and Watson did later admit he perhaps did not know enough about child development to speak on such issues. Nonetheless, his views were influential in the fields of psychology and child development. Lessons to be Learned John B. Watson overcame environmental obstacles of his own and benefited from the nurturing of his early mentors at college, despite stating that nurture was not necessary or could affect a child’s expectations in life. Perhaps, John’s on childhood that lacked nurturing and his later success influenced that opinion. Watson contributed greatly to the understanding of certain behaviours, which may be conditioned by stimuli found in the environment, and revolutionised treatment of some behaviours. Therapists today utilise a similar method of “exposure” to help clients move past fears and other conditioned responses of all sorts of things. If in your own life, you have faced adversity, developed fears, and find yourself held back by your circumstances, the right people and experiences can also help you to overcome those barriers. Therapy is a tool that many people turn to for help to work past difficult situations and fears. Many therapists use the principles of behaviourism that were initially developed and popularised by John B. Watson. However, many psychologists also recognise that the views of learning advanced by Ivan Pavlov and John B. Watson underestimated the importance of thought or cognition. Cognitive behavioural therapy or CBT is one of the most researched methods of therapy in use and shows success with all sorts of problems. CBT was developed by Aaron Beck, who incorporated elements of behaviourism. CBT examines the links between events or external circumstances, thoughts or meaning derived from those, and resulting behaviour to help people manage behaviour and emotions. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Behavioural Perspective 127 6.4 Summary Behaviourism is different from most other approaches because they view people (and animals) as controlled by their environment and specifically that we are the result of what we have learned from our environment. Behaviourism is concerned with how environmental factors (called stimuli) affect observable behaviour (called the response). The behaviourist approach proposes two main processes whereby people learn from their environment: namely classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Classical conditioning involves learning by association, and operant conditioning involves learning from the consequences of behaviour. Behavioural psychology is thought to be a perspective that mainly focuses on behaviours that have been learned. While psychology was mainly dominated by behaviourism in the early 20th century, it quickly started to diminish in the 1950s. Nowadays, the behavioural perspective still deals with how behaviours have been learned and reinforced. Behavioural principles have many a times been applied in settings of mental health where some therapists/counsellors have used these certain techniques to try to explain and treat a great deal of illnesses. The time seems to have come when psychology must discard all reference to consciousness; when it need no longer delude itself into thinking that it is making mental states the object of observation. A psychology of interest to all scientific men would take as its starting point, first, the observable fact that all organisms, man and animal alike, do adjust themselves to their environment Certain stimulae lead organisms to make responses given the responses, the stimulae can be predicted; given the stimulae, the responses can be predicted. The behaviour of animals can be investigated without appeal to consciousness. The position is taken here that the behaviour of man and the behaviour of animals must be considered on the same plane. Psychology as the behaviourist views it is a purely objective experimental branch of natural science. Its theoretical goal is the prediction and control of behaviour. Introspection forms no essential part of its methods, nor is the scientific value of its data dependent upon the readiness with which they lend themselves to interpretation in terms of consciousness. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

128 System and Theories If in your own life, you have faced adversity, developed fears, and find yourself held back by your circumstances, the right people and experiences can also help you to overcome those barriers. Therapy is a tool that many people turn to for help to work past difficult situations and fears. 6.5 Key Words/Abbreviations  Behaviour: Behaviour is the actions and mannerisms made by individuals, organisms, systems or artificial entities in conjunction with themselves or their environment, which includes the other systems or organisms around as well as the (inanimate) physical environment.  Human behaviour: Human behaviour is believed to be influenced by the endocrine system and the nervous system. It is most commonly believed that complexity in the behaviour of an organism is correlated to the complexity of its nervous system.  Animal behaviour: Ethology is the scientific and objective study of animal behaviour, usually with a focus on behaviour under natural conditions, and viewing behaviour as an evolutionarily adaptive trait.  Behavioural Perspective: Behaviourism is the theoretical perspective in which learning and behaviour are described and explained in terms of stimulus-response relationships. 6.6 Learning Activity 1. You are requested to identify various Models of Behaviour and prepare a report on the same. _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ 2. You are suggested to prepare the projet report on “Behavioural Perspective”. _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Behavioural Perspective 129 6.7 Unit End Exercises (MCQs and Descriptive) Descriptive Type Questions 1. What is Behavioural Perspective? 2. Discuss about Watson’s Behavioural Perspective. 3. What is Psychology? 4. Explain Psychology as a Science of Behaviour. Multiple Choice Questions 1. Which of the following is concerned with how environmental factors affect observable behaviour? (a) Behaviourism (b) Consumerism (c) Psychology (d) All the above 2. The behaviourist approach proposes two main processes whereby people learn from their environment namely __________. (a) Classical conditioning (b) Operant conditioning (c) Both (a) and (b) (d) None of the above 3. Which of the following are the actions and mannerisms made by individuals, organisms, systems or artificial entities in conjunction with themselves? (a) Behaviour (b) Behaviourism (c) Consumerism (d) Psychology 4. Which of the following is the model of Behaviour? (a) Biology (b) Human behaviour (c) Animal behaviour (d) All the above CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

130 System and Theories 5. Which of the following is thought to be a perspective that mainly focuses on behaviours that have been learned? (a) Behavioural psychology (b) Biology (c) Human behaviour (d) Animal behaviour Answers: 1. (a), 2. (c), 3. (a), 4. (d), 5. (a) 6.8 References References of this unit have been given at the end of the book.  CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Neo-behavioural Perspective 131 UNIT 7 NEO-BEHAVIOURAL PERSPECTIVE Structure: 7.0 Learning Objectives 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Neo-behavioural Perspective 7.3 Skinner – Inductive Behaviour 7.4 Contributions to Psychological Theory 7.5 B.F. Skinner’s Theory of Operant Conditioning 7.6 Guthrie – Learning of Contiguity 7.7 Summary 7.8 Key Words/Abbreviations 7.9 LearningActivity 7.10 Unit End Exercises (MCQs and Descriptive) 7.11 References 7.0 Learning Objectives After studying this unit, you will be able to:  Explain the Neo-behavioural viewpoint  Elaborate Contributions to Psychological Theory CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

132 System and Theories 7.1 Introduction Neo-behaviourism is a behaviour which cannot be fully understood simply in terms of observable stimuli and reactions. It introduces mediating variables into the behaviourist stimulus-response scheme. Behaviourism is the theoretical perspective in which learning and behaviour are described and explained in terms of stimulus-response relationships. Theories of learning have been significantly shaped by two perspectives, behaviourism and neo-behaviourism. Both perspectives of learning theories were not developed as a consequence of research in any one academic field and these theories have influenced the conduct in many disciplines, for both researchers and practitioners. Present study is aimed at investigating both perspectives of learning theories, behaviourism and neo- behaviourism. With several sub-categories of behavioural and neo-behavioural theories of learning, only those theories will be discussed that cast a profound impact on discipline of learning. 7.2 Neo-behavioural Perspective Behaviourism is the theoretical perspective in which learning and behaviour are described and explained in terms of stimulus-response relationships. The key assumptions of behaviourism are: (i) The environment influences behaviour. Behaviourists believe that people’s behaviours are a result of their interaction with the environment. Specifically, people become conditioned, or moulded, to respond in certain ways based on responses like feedback, praise and rewards. (ii) Learning is described through stimuli and responses. Behaviourists focus on observable events rather than events that occur inside a person’s head, such as thoughts, feelings and beliefs. (iii) Learning must involve a behavioural change. Theorists believe that learning has not occurred unless there is an observable change in behaviour. (iv) Learning must result when stimulus and response occur close together in time. Learners must associate their response with a stimulus. In order for that to occur, the two must happen in conjunction with each other, or, in other words, be contiguous. (v) Animals and humans learn in similar ways. Behaviourists, unlike many other theorists, performed their experiments using animals because they believed the study of animals could explain human learning behaviour. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Neo-behavioural Perspective 133 7.3 Skinner – Inductive Behaviour Burrhus Frederic Skinner (March 20, 1904 – August 18, 1990), commonly known as B.F. Skinner, was an American psychologist, behaviourist, author, inventor and social philosopher. He was the Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology at Harvard University from 1958 until his retirement in 1974. Skinner considered free will an illusion and human action dependent on consequences of previous actions. If the consequences are bad, there is a high chance the action will not be repeated; if the consequences are good, the probability of the action being repeated becomes stronger. Skinner called this the principle of reinforcement. To strengthen behaviour, Skinner used operant conditioning, and he considered the rate of response to be the most effective measure of response strength. To study operant conditioning, he invented the operant conditioning chamber, also known as the Skinner Box, and to measure rate he invented the cumulative recorder. Using these tools, he and C.B. Ferster produced his most influential experimental work, which appeared in their book Schedules of Reinforcement (1957). Skinner developed behaviour analysis. He called the philosophy of that science radical behaviourism, and founded a school of experimental research psychology the experimental analysis of behaviour. He imagined the application of his ideas to the design of a human community in his utopian novel, Walden Two, and his analysis of human behaviour culminated in his work, Verbal Behaviour. Skinner was a prolific author who published 21 books and 180 articles. Contemporary academia considers Skinner a pioneer of modern behaviourism, along with John B. Watson and Ivan Pavlov. A June 2002 survey listed Skinner as the most influential psychologist of the 20th century. 7.4 Contributions to Psychological Theory Behaviourism Skinner called his approach to the study of behaviour radical behaviourism. This philosophy of behavioural science assumes that behaviour is a consequence of environmental histories of reinforcement. The position can be stated as follows: what is felt or introspectively observed is not some nonphysical world of consciousness, mind, or mental life but the observer’s own body. This does not mean, as I shall show later, that introspection is a kind of psychological research, nor does CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

134 System and Theories it mean (and this is the heart of the argument) that what are felt or introspectively observed are the causes of the behaviour. An organism behaves as it does because of its current structure, but most of this is out of reach of introspection. At the moment we must content ourselves, as the methodological behaviourist insists, with a person’s genetic and environment histories. Theoretical Structure Skinner’s behavioural theory was largely set forth in his first book, Behaviour of Organisms. Here, he gave a systematic description of the manner in which environmental variables control behaviour. He distinguished two sorts of behaviour respondent and operant which are controlled in different ways. Respondent behaviours are elicited by stimuli, and may be modified through respondent conditioning, which is often called “Pavlovian conditioning” or “Classical conditioning”, in which a neutral stimulus is paired with an eliciting stimulus. Operant behaviours, in contrast, are “emitted”, meaning that initially they are not induced by any particular stimulus. They are strengthened through operant conditioning, sometimes called “instrumental conditioning”, in which the occurrence of a response yields a reinforcer. Respondent behaviours might be measured by their latency or strength, operant behaviours by their rate. Both of these sorts of behaviour had already been studied experimentally, for example, respondents by Pavlov, and operants by Thorndike. Skinner’s account differed in some ways from earlier ones, and was one of the first accounts to bring them under one roof. Origin of Operant Behaviour Skinner’s answer to the first question was very much like Darwin’s answer to the question of the origin of a “new” bodily structure, namely, variation and selection. Similarly, the behaviour of an individual varies from moment to moment; a variation that is followed by reinforcement is strengthened and becomes prominent in that individual’s behavioural repertoire. “Shaping” was Skinner’s term for the gradual modification of behaviour by the reinforcement of desired variations. Control of Operant Behaviour The second question, “how is operant behaviour controlled?” arises because, to begin with, the behaviour is “emitted” without reference to any particular stimulus. Skinner answered this question by saying that a stimulus comes to control an operant if it is present when the response is reinforced and absent when it is not. For example, if lever-pressing only brings food when a light is on, a rat, or CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Neo-behavioural Perspective 135 a child, will learn to press the lever only when the light is on. Skinner summarised this relationship by saying that a discriminative stimulus (e.g., light) sets the occasion for the reinforcement (food) of the operant (lever-press). This three-term contingency (stimulus-response-reinforcer) is one of Skinner’s most important concepts, and sets his theory apart from theories that use only pair-wise associations. Explaining Complex Behaviour Most behaviour of humans cannot easily be described in terms of individual responses reinforced one by one, and Skinner devoted a great deal of effort to the problem of behavioural complexity. Some complex behaviour can be seen as a sequence of relatively simple responses, and here Skinner invoked the idea of “chaining”. Chaining is based on the fact, experimentally demonstrated, that a discriminative stimulus not only sets the occasion for subsequent behaviour, but it can also reinforce a behaviour that precedes it, i.e., a discriminative stimulus is also a “conditioned reinforcer”. For example, the light that sets the occasion for lever pressing may also be used to reinforce “turning around” in the presence of a noise. This results in the sequence “noise – turn-around – light – press lever – food”. Much longer chains can be built by adding more stimuli and responses. However, Skinner recognised that a great deal of behaviour, especially human behaviour, cannot be accounted for by gradual shaping or the construction of response sequences. Complex behaviour often appears suddenly in its final form, as when a person first finds his way to the elevator by following instructions given at the front desk. To account for such behaviour, Skinner introduced the concept of rule-governed behaviour. First, relatively simple behaviours come under the control of verbal stimuli: the child learns to “jump”, “open the book”, and so on. After a large number of responses come under such verbal control, a sequence of verbal stimuli can evoke an almost unlimited variety of complex responses. Reinforcement Reinforcement, a key concept of behaviourism, is the primary process that shapes and controls behaviour, and occurs in two ways, “positive” and “negative”. In The Behaviour of Organisms (1938), Skinner defined “negative reinforcement” to be synonymous with punishment, that is, the presentation of an aversive stimulus. Subsequently, in Science and Human Behaviour (1953), CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

136 System and Theories Skinner redefined negative reinforcement. In what has now become the standard set of definitions, positive reinforcement is the strengthening of behaviour by the occurrence of some event (e.g., praise after some behaviour is performed), whereas negative reinforcement is the strengthening of behaviour by the removal or avoidance of some aversive event (e.g., opening and raising an umbrella over your head on a rainy day is reinforced by the cessation of rain falling on you). Both types of reinforcement strengthen behaviour, or increase the probability of a behaviour reoccurring; the difference is in whether the reinforcing event is something applied (positive reinforcement) or something removed or avoided (negative reinforcement). Punishment is the application of an aversive stimulus/event (positive punishment or punishment by contingent stimulation) or the removal of a desirable stimulus (negative punishment or punishment by contingent withdrawal). Though punishment is often used to suppress behaviour, Skinner argued that this suppression is temporary and has a number of other, often unwanted, consequences. Extinction is the absence of a rewarding stimulus, which weakens behaviour. Writing in 1981, Skinner pointed out that Darwinian natural selection is, like reinforced behaviour, “selection by consequences”. Though, as he said, natural selection has now “made its case”, he regretted that essentially the same process, “reinforcement”, was less widely accepted as underlying human behaviour. Schedules of Reinforcement Skinner recognised that behaviour is typically reinforced more than once, and, together with C.B. Ferster, he did an extensive analysis of the various ways in which reinforcements could be arranged over time, which he called “schedules of reinforcement”. The most notable schedules of reinforcement studied by Skinner were continuous, interval (fixed or variable), and ratio (fixed or variable). All are methods used in operant conditioning. Continuous reinforcement (CRF) each time a specific action is performed the subject receives a reinforcement. This method is effective when teaching a new behaviour because it quickly establishes an association between the target behaviour and the reinforcer (e.g., if you put your finger over the flame – action, your finger gets burnt – negative reinforcement). CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Neo-behavioural Perspective 137 Interval Schedules Based on the Time Intervals between Reinforcements Fixed Interval Schedule (FI): A procedure in which reinforcements are presented at fixed time periods, provided that the appropriate response is made. This schedule yields a response rate that is low just after reinforcement and becomes rapid just before the next reinforcement is scheduled (e.g., read textbook before exams to pass the exams. reading textbook is the response, regular exams are reinforcement). Variable Interval Schedule (VI): A procedure in which behaviour is reinforced after random time durations following the last reinforcement. This schedule yields steady responding at a rate that varies with the average frequency of reinforcement (e.g., learning Japanese = Japanese class – interaction with real world (at cashier, in office conversion time durations vary) – next Japanese class). Ratio Schedules Based on the Ratio of Responses to Reinforcements Fixed Ratio Schedule (FR): A procedure in which reinforcement is delivered after a specific number of responses have been made (e.g., you have to downgrade if you failed two compulsory courses). Variable Ratio Schedule (VR): A procedure in which reinforcement comes after a number of responses that is randomised from one reinforcement to the next (e.g., slot machines). The lower the number of responses required, the higher the response rate tends to be. Ratio schedules tend to produce very rapid responding, often with breaks of no responding just after reinforcement if a large number of responses is required for reinforcement (e.g., like video gaming, gamer gets upgraded or rewarded after achieving some actions required by the game via many tries. The less the number of actions required to be rewarded, the faster the action tends to be. Gamer moves very fast to perform rewardable actions. After playing the actions for hours, gamer usually take a break from playing before starting acting again in the video game). Token Economy Skinnerian principles have been used to create token economies in a number of institutions, such as psychiatric hospitals. When participants behave in desirable ways, they are reinforced with tokens that can be changed for such items as candy, cigarettes, coffee, or the exclusive use of a radio or television set. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

138 System and Theories B.F. Skinner was one of the most influential of American psychologists. A behaviourist, he developed the theory of operant conditioning – the idea that behaviour is determined by its consequences, be they reinforcements or punishments, which make it more or less likely that the behaviour will occur again. Skinner believed that the only scientific approach to psychology was one that studied behaviours, not internal (subjective) mental processes. Skinner was heavily influenced by the work of John B. Watson as well as early behaviourist pioneers Ivan Pavlov and Edward Thorndike. He spent most of his professional life teaching at Harvard University (after 9 years in the psychology department at Indiana University). He died in 1990 of leukemia, leaving behind his wife, Yvonne Blue and two daughters. Burrhus Frederic Skinner was born March 20, 1904 (he died in 1990 of leukemia), in the small Pennsylvania town of Susquehanna. His father was a lawyer, and his mother a strong and intelligent housewife. His upbringing was old-fashioned and hard-working. Skinner was an active, out-going boy who loved the outdoors and building things, and actually enjoyed school. His life was not without its tragedies, however. In particular, his brother died at the age of 16 of a cerebral aneurysm. B.F. Skinner received his BA in English from Hamilton College in upstate New York. Ultimately, he resigned himself to writing newspaper articles on labour problems, and lived for a while in Greenwich Village in New York City as a “bohemian.” After some travelling, he decided to go back to school, this time at Harvard. He got his Masters in Psychology in 1930 and his doctorate in 1931, and stayed there to do research until 1936. Also in that year, he moved to Minneapolis to teach at the University of Minnesota. There he met and soon married Yvonne Blue. They had two daughters, the second of which became famous as the first infant to be raised in one of Skinner’s inventions, the air crib which was nothing more than a combination crib and playpen with glass sides and air conditioning. In 1945, he became the Chairman of the Psychology Department at Indiana University. In 1948, he was invited to come to Harvard, where he remained for the rest of his life. He was a very active man, doing research and guiding hundreds of doctoral candidates as well as writing many books. While not successful as a writer of fiction and poetry, he became one of our best psychology CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Neo-behavioural Perspective 139 writers, including the book Walden II, which is a fictional account of a community run by his behaviourist principles. B.F. Skinner’s theory is based on operant conditioning. The organism is in the process of “operating” on the environment, which in ordinary terms means it is bouncing around its world, doing what it does. During this “operating,” the organism encounters a special kind of stimulus, called a reinforcing stimulus, or simply a reinforcer. This special stimulus has the effect of increasing the operant – i.e., the behaviour occurring just before the reinforcer. This is operant conditioning: “the behaviour is followed by a consequence, and the nature of the consequence modifies the organism’s tendency to repeat the behaviour in the future.” Skinner conducted research on shaping behaviour through positive and negative reinforcement and demonstrated operant conditioning, a behaviour modification technique which he developed in contrast with classical conditioning. His idea of the behaviour modification technique was to put the subject on a program with steps. The steps would be setting goals which would help you determine how the subject would be changed by following the steps. The program design is designing a program that will help the subject to reach the desired state. Then implementation and evaluation which is putting the program to use and then evaluating the effectiveness of it. 7.5 B.F. Skinner's Theory of Operant Conditioning Place a rat in a special cage (called a “Skinner box”) that has a bar or pedal on one wall that, when pressed, causes a little mechanism to release a food pellet into the cage. The rat is moving around the cage when it accidentally presses the bar and, as a result of pressing the bar, a food pellet falls into the cage. The operant is the behaviour just prior to the reinforcer, which is the food pellet. In a relatively short period of time, the rat “learns” to press the bar whenever it wants food. This leads to one of the principles of operant conditioning – A behaviour followed by a reinforcing stimulus results in an increased probability of that behaviour occurring in the future. If the rat presses the bar and continually does not get food, the behaviour becomes extinguished. This leads to another of the principles of operant conditioning – A behaviour no longer followed by the reinforcing stimulus results in a decreased probability of that behaviour occurring in the future. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

140 System and Theories Now, if you were to turn the pellet machine back on, so that pressing the bar again provides the rat with pellets, the behaviour of bar-pushing will come right back into existence, much more quickly than it took for the rat to learn the behaviour the first time. This is because the return of the reinforcer takes place in the context of a reinforcement history that goes all the way back to the very first time the rat was reinforced for pushing on the bar. This leads to what are called the Schedules of Reinforcement. Schedules of Reinforcement Continuous reinforcement is the original scenario: Every time that the rat does the behaviour (such as pedal-pushing), he gets a food pellet. The fixed ratio schedule was the first one Skinner discovered: If the rat presses the pedal three times, say, he gets a goodie or five times or twenty times or “x” times. There is a fixed ratio between behaviours and reinforcers: 3 to 1, 5 to 1, 20 to 1, etc. The fixed interval schedule uses a timing device of some sort. If the rat presses the bar at least once during a particular stretch of time (say 20 seconds), then he gets a goodie. If he fails to do so, he does not get a goodie. But even if he hits that bar a hundred times during that 20 seconds, he still only gets one goodie! One strange thing that happens is that the rats tend to “pace” themselves: They slow down the rate of their behaviour right after the reinforcer, and speed up when the time for it gets close. Skinner also looked at variable schedules. Variable ratio means you change the “x” each time – first it takes 3 presses to get a goodie, then 10, then 1, then 7 and so on. Variable interval means you keep changing the time period – first 20 seconds, then 5, then 35, then 10 and so on. With the variable interval schedule, the rats no longer “pace” themselves, because they can no longer establish a “rhythm” between behaviour and reward. Most importantly, these schedules are very resistant to extinction. It makes sense, if you think about it. If you have not gotten a reinforcer for a while, well, it could just be that you are at a particularly “bad” ratio or interval, just one more bar press, maybe this will be the one time you get reinforced. Shaping A question Skinner had to deal with was how we get to more complex sorts of behaviours. He responded with the idea of shaping, or “the method of successive approximations.” Basically, it CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Neo-behavioural Perspective 141 involves first reinforcing a behaviour only vaguely similar to the one desired. Once that is established, you look out for variations that come a little closer to what you want, and so on, until you have the animal performing a behaviour that would never show up in ordinary life. Skinner and his students have been quite successful in teaching simple animals to do some quite extraordinary things. Beyond fairly simple examples, shaping also accounts for the most complex of behaviours. We are gently shaped by our environment to enjoy certain things. Aversive Stimuli An aversive stimulus is the opposite of a reinforcing stimulus, something we might find unpleasant or painful. This leads to another principle of operant conditioning – A behaviour followed by an aversive stimulus results in a decreased probability of the behaviour occurring in the future. This both defines an aversive stimulus and describes the form of conditioning known as punishment. If you shock a rat for doing x, it will do a lot less of x. If you spank Johnny for throwing his toys he will probably throw his toys less and less. On the other hand, if you remove an already active aversive stimulus after a rat or Johnny performs a certain behaviour, you are doing negative reinforcement. If you turn off the electricity when the rat stands on his hind legs, he will do a lot more standing. If you stop your perpetually nagging when I finally take out the garbage, I will be more likely to take out the garbage. You could say it “feels so good” when the aversive stimulus stops, that this serves as a reinforcer. Another operant conditioning principle – Behaviour followed by the removal of an aversive stimulus results in an increased probability of that behaviour occurring in the future. Skinner did not advocate the use of punishment. His main focus was to target behaviour and see that consequences deliver responses. From his research came “shaping” (described above) which is described as creating behaviours through reinforcing. He also came up with the example of a child’s refusal to go to school and that the focus should be on what is causing the child’s refusal not necessarily the refusal itself. His research suggested that punishment was an ineffective way of controlling behaviour, leading generally to short-term behaviour change, but resulting mostly in the subject attempting to avoid the punishing stimulus instead of avoiding the behaviour that was causing punishment. A simple example of this, he believed, was the failure of prison to eliminate criminal CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

142 System and Theories behaviour. If prison (as a punishing stimulus) was effective at altering behaviour, there would be no criminality, since the risk of imprisonment for criminal conduct is well established, Skinner deduced. However, he noted that individuals still commit offences, but attempt to avoid discovery and therefore punishment. He noted that the punishing stimulus does not stop criminal behaviour; the criminal simply becomes more sophisticated at avoiding the punishment. Reinforcement, both positive and negative (the latter of which is often confused with punishment), he believed, proved to be more effective in bringing about lasting changes in behaviour. Behaviour Modification Behaviour modification often referred to as b-mod is the therapy technique based on Skinner’s work. It is very straight-forward: Extinguish an undesirable behaviour (by removing the reinforcer) and replace it with a desirable behaviour by reinforcement. It has been used on all sorts of psychological problems – addictions, neuroses, shyness, autism, even schizophrenia –and works particularly well with children. There are examples of back-ward psychotics who have not communicated with others for years who have been conditioned to behave themselves in fairly normal ways, such as eating with a knife and fork, taking care of their own hygiene needs, dressing themselves, and so on. There is an offshoot of b-mod called the token economy. This is used primarily in institutions such as psychiatric hospitals, juvenile halls, and prisons. Certain rules are made explicit in the institution, and behaving yourself appropriately is rewarded with tokens – poker chips, tickets, funny money, recorded notes, etc. Certain poor behaviour is also often followed by a withdrawal of these tokens. The tokens can be traded in for desirable things such as candy, cigarettes, games, movies, time out of the institution, and so on. This has been found to be very effective in maintaining order in these often difficult institutions. Walden II In 1948, Skinner published his actual ideas on child-rearing in Walden Two, a fictional account of a behaviourist-created utopia in which carefree young parents stroll off to work or school while their little ones enjoy all the comforts of community-run, behaviourist-approved daycare. Skinner’s book Walden Two presents a vision of a decentralised, localised society which applies a practical, scientific approach and futuristically advanced behavioural expertise to peacefully deal with social problems. Skinner’s utopia, like every other utopia or dystopia, is both a thought experiment and a rhetorical work. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Neo-behavioural Perspective 143 In 1971, he wrote Beyond Freedom and Dignity, which suggests that the concept of individual freedom is an illusion. Skinner later sought to unite the reinforcement of individual behaviours, the natural selection of species, and the development of cultures under the heading of The Selection by Consequences (1981), the first of a series of articles in the journal Science. 7.6 Guthrie – Learning of Contiguity Application Principles Early Life and Education Psychology Interest One Trial Theory Punishment Breaking Habits Historical Relevance Guthrie on Education Guthrie’s contiguity theory specifies that “a combination of stimuli which has accompanied a movement will on its recurrence tend to be followed by that movement”. According to Guthrie, all learning was a consequence of association between a particular stimulus and response. Furthermore, Guthrie argued that stimuli and responses affect specific sensory-motor patterns; what are learned are movements, not behaviours. In contiguity theory, rewards or punishment play no significant role in learning since they occur after the association between stimulus and response has been made. Learning takes place in a single trial (all or none). However, since each stimulus pattern is slightly different, many trials may be necessary to produce a general response. One interesting principle that arises from this position is called “postremity” which specifies that we always learn the last thing we do in response to a specific stimulus situation. Contiguity theory suggests that forgetting is due to interference rather than the passage of time; stimuli become associated with new responses. Previous conditioning can also be changed by CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)