Psychology The Science of Behavior

A volume in the series

INTRODUCTIONS TO PSYCHOLOGY

edited by Eugene L. Hartley and Frances P. Hardesty

Psychology

The Science of Behavior

KURT SALZINGER, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, And Principal Research Scientist, Biometries Research, State of New York Department of Mental Health

Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

ISBN 978-3-662-37528-0 ISBN 978-3-662-38301-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-662-38301-8

Copyright © 1969 Springer Science+Business Media New York

Originally published by Springer Publishing Company, Inc. in 1969.

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 71-78916

To Suzy

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The figures used in this book came from many sources, which are given in the figure-captions. For explicit information, please refer to the References, beginning on page 279. We are grateful to the authors and publishers of this material for giving us permission to use it. The following is a Iist of the copyright holders of these figures (the figure numbers are those used in this book) :

Academic Press: Figure 10-7.

American Association for the Advancement of Science: Figures 5-2, 5-7, 6-9, and 6-10.

American Medical Association: Figure 9-12.

The American Physiologica1 Society: Figures 5-5, 5-6.

The American Psychiatrie Association: Figure 9-1.

The American Psychological Association: Figures 3-1, 3-2, 3-5, 3-7, 3-8, 3-11, 3-12, 3-13, 4-1, 4-7, 5-l, 6-7, 6-11, 6-12, 7-1, 7-2, 7-3, 7-9, 7-10, 9-2, 9-3, 9-4, 9-5, 10-2, 10-5, 10-6.

American Scientist: Figure 3-6.

Appleton-Century-Crofts: Figures 3-3, 5-3, 5-4, 8-1, 8-2, 8-3, and 10-3.

W. H. Freeman and Company: Figure 10-4.

Grune & Stratton: Figure 9-8, 9-9.

Harper & Row: Figure 6-3.

Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.: Figures 6-1, 7-7, 7-8, 9-11.

The Journal Press: Figure 7-5.

Charles E. Merrill Books, Inc.: Figure 6-13.

New York Academy of Science: Figure 9-7.

Pergarnon Press, Inc.: Figures 7-4 and 9-6.

The Psychological Record: Figure 6-8.

The Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, Inc.: Figures 3-4, 3-9, 3-10, 4-8, 6-5, 7-6, 8-4, 8-5, 8-6, 8-7, 8-8, 8-9, 9-10, and 10-1.

The University of Chicago Press: Figures 4-3, 4-4, 4-5.

The University of Illinois Press: Figure 6-2.

Williams and Wilkins Company: Table 10-1.

The Wilson Ornithological Society: Figure 4-6.

Yale University: Figure 1-1.

vi

PREFACE

The purpose of this book is to present a consistent approach to psychology. lts central concept is that the proper study of psy­chology is the study of the behavior of organisms, including the be­havior of man. I willlet the book speak for itself on how successful such an approach is.

In writing such a book, I have found myself to be influenced by my reinforcement history and I should like to give credit to those most responsible for it. The informed reader will notice first my in­debtedness to B. F. Skinner. His systematic approach to psychology was conveyed to me not only through his books but also through the personal contact which I had the good fortune of having with Fred Kellerand W. N. Schoenfeld. The readerwill also find that I have been influenced by C. H. Graham and C. G. Mueller in the area of psychophysics and by Otto Klineberg in social psychology. To all these men I give thanks. My debt to Joseph Zubin might be de­scribed as being in the area of abnormal psychology but this would grossly underestimate it, for he has been the psychologist who for most of my career supported my research and my thinking even while he disagreed with parts of it. My thanks to him.

I wrote this book while teaching at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. I give thanks to Helmut Gruber, Chairman of the De­partment of Social Sciences, who made possible my trying out on students many of the ideas found in this book and who facilitated the typing of the manuscript. This book has benefited greatly from the thorough editing done by Mrs. Dorothy Lewis at Springer.

My most important debt is to my wife, Suzanne Salzinger, who, in addition to all her wifely attentions, found the time and the patience to read this book and improve its contents. Thanks Suzy.

Kurt Salzinger New York City July 3, 1969

vii

CONTENTS

1 The Scientific Study of Behavior 1

2

viii

GENERAL CoNSIDERATIONS IN A SciENTIFIC APPROACH

Psycholog;y as a Science

Psycholog;y as the Study of Behavior

Operational Definition Observational Techniques: Introspectionism; The Clini­cal Approach; The Ethological Approach; General

Problems of Measurement

The Experimental Approach The Animal as Subject: The Anima[ as a Model; Un­suitability of Man for Some Experiments; A Comparative

Analysis of Behavior

SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS IN A BEHAVIORAL APPROACH 26

SuMMARY 30

Basic Processes ln learning:

Respondent Conditioning 32

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF REsPONDENT CONDITIONING 33

THE BASIC RESPONDENT CoNDITIONING PROCEDURE 36 The Classical Experimental Arrangement of Condition-

ing the Salivation Response The Respondent Conditioning Paradigm

The Scope of the Respondent Conditioning Procedure

Pavlov's View of the Role of the Nervous System in Re-

sponden.t Conditioning

REcENT WoRK IN RESPONDENT CoNorrioNING 42 Salivary Reflex Conditioning The CS-US Interval in the Respondent Conditioning of

the Fish

CONTENTS ix

3

The Orienting Reflex Interoceptive Conditioning M iscellaneous Developments

SUMMARY

Basic Processes ln Learning:

Operant Conditioning

48

51

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF ÜPERANT CONDITIONING 52

THE BASIC ÜPERANT CONDITIONING PROCEDURE 55 The Classical Operant Conditioning Experiment The Operant Conditioning Paradigm: Conditioning and Extinction; Stimulus Generalization and Discrimina­tion; Conditioned Reinforcement; Schedules of Rein­forcement; Response Class and Response Variability;

Motivation The Scope of the Operant Conditioning Procedure:

Types of Animals; Types of Responses Operant-Respondent Overlap and Interaction

SuMMARY 96

4 Ethology 100

BASIC ETHOLOGICAL CONCEPTS 101

BEHAVIOR AND GENETICS 102

TYPES OF INSTINCTIVE BEHAVIOR 104

THE FUNCTION OF THE STIMULUS IN INNATE BEHAVIOR 106

A CLASSIFICATORY SYSTEM OF ADAPTIVE BEHAVIOR 107

SaME ExPERIMENTS 109 An Experiment on Releasing Stimuli An Experiment Illustrating Et-epimeletic Behavior An Experiment Illustrating Allelomimetic Behavior

X CONTENTS

Imprinting Operant Conditioning and Innate Behavior

THE IMPORTANCE OF INNATE ßEHAVIOR 119

SuMMARY 119

5 Psychology and Physiology 121

SOME THEORETICAL ISSUES 121

ßEHA VIORAL INFLUENCES UPON PHYSIOLOGICAL EVENTS 123

PHYSIOLOGICAL INFLUENCES UPON ßEHAVIOR 130

SoME CoMMENTS ON THE CoNCEPT oF EMOTION 137

SUMMARY 138

6 Sensation and Perception 140

THEORETICAL ISSUES 140 Sensation and Perception Compared

Two Psychophysical Laws The Behavioral Approach to Sensation and Perception

SENSATION 145 Psychophysical Methods and the Threshold Concept

The Operant Conditioning Approach to Sensation

Respondent Conditioning in Psychophysics

lnnate Behavior in Psychophysics

PERCEPTION 160 The Operant Conditioning Approach to Perception

The Respondent Conditioning Approach to Perception

SUMMARY 166

7 Developmental Psychology 169

REASONS FOR THE STUDY OF DEVELOPMENTAL PsYCHOLOGY 169

CONTENTS

THE STUDY OF DEVELOPMENTAL PsYCHOLOGY FOR ITS

ÜWN SAKE

THE STUDY OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY ßECAUSE OF

xi

171

THE ADVANTAGES OF USING CHILOREN AS SUBJECI"S 180

8

THE STUDY OF DEVELOPMENTAL PsYCHOLOGY IN ÜRDER TO

EXPLORE THE EFFECT OF EARLY EXPERIENCE UPON

LATER ßEHAVIOR

THE STUDY OF DEVELOPMENTAL PsYCHOLOGY AS PART

OF THE NATURE-NURTURE CoNTROVERSY

SuMMARY

Complex Stimuli and Complex Responses: Education

BEHAVIORAL ANALYSIS oF WHAT Is TO BE LEARNED

THE LEARNER

PROGRAMMED lNSTRUCTION

SuMMARY

9 Abnormal Behavior

MODELS OF ABNORMAL ßEHAVIOR

The Medical Disease Model

The Behavior Theory Model

DIAGNOSIS OR ßEHAVIORAL ANALYSIS

Problems in Interpretation

The Effect of the Interviewer

Some Objective Measures of Abnormality

Behavioral Analysis

PROGNOSIS

THERAPY

Treatment of Psychotic Behavior

184

185

188

190

191

201

203

213

215

216

225

236

239

xii

Treatment of Stuttering Treatment of Hysterical Blindness

SUMMARY

1 Q Social Behavior

THEORY

ANIMAL STUDIES

Social F acilitation Superstitious Behavior

Cooperation

PsYCHOPHYSICAL STUDIE.S

THE DIRECT APPLICATION OF BEHAVIOR THEORY TO

SocrAL PsYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEMS

VERBAL ßEHAVIOR

The Measurement of Attitudes Verbal Behavior and Linguistics

APPLICATIONS OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF PsYCHOLOGY TO

THE PROBLEMS OF SOCIETY

SuMMARY

References

General Index

Author Index

CONTENTS

246

248

249

252

260

263

266

275

277

279

293

303

FOR THE STUDENT

By the time the student has learned the contents of this book he should be able to see the basis for the advice which will be given in this section. Since the information will be helpful at the beginning of the book, however, I will make an attempt to impart it at the outset and ask that he trust its correctness before understanding the basis for it.

Perhaps the most important principle of effective learning is that it is an active process. Learning does not take place just because the learner exposes hirnself to material. Since most students who reach college have learned to read in what is essentially a passive way, such reading does not result in learning. Furthermore, those responses which are active often consist of inappropriate responses, such as underlining, a response typically made when reading mate­rial for the first time. Not only is such a response unrelated to learning, since underlining is not the response the student is trying to acquire, but, in addition, the underlining which a student is likely to do on first reading a book is often incorrect in that it calls attention, in future rereadings of the material, to aspects which are not particularly important in and of themselves or which are under­standable only if taken in the context of other material which has not been underlined.

The way in which a student may learn adequately is by making the reading of the book serve as a response to the kinds of questions he, or the instructor, is likely to ask about the material. Thus, the first task the student must set hirnself before he reads is the formula­tion of the questions to which the book provides the answers. This book was written in such a way as to make this task relatively simple. At the beginning of each chapter there appears an outline of the contents of the chapter and at the end there is a summary. The questions may be formulated by determining which of the words, expressions, and paragraphs present new material and there­fore require learning. After the student has read both the outline of the chapter and the summary, he should keep thinking of the ques­tions to which he is finding answers by reading each particular sec­tion. After having read the chapter, he should reread the summary

xiii

xlv FOR THE STUDENT

and thus test hirnself to see whether all the terrns are now, in fact, clear to hirn. He should deterrnine his understanding by writing the explanation on a piece of paper or by answering subvocally, without having the book available to hirn; rnerely saying to hirnself that he understands rnight sirnply rnislead the student into believ­ing that he understands when in fact he does not. Should the stu­dent discover that he does not understand, then he rnust reread the section appropriate to the question. The point of the procedure is that the student rnust give hirnself the opportunity to respond in the sarne conditions under which he expects to be asked the question. lf the student finds hirnself peeking when he is supposed to be con­structing the answer without having the book available for reference, then he rnight just do what one psychologist has suggested for this kind of situation, narnely, sit on the book while he is trying to con­struct the answer. The cornbination of the discornfort, to be terrni­nated only after writing the correct answer, and the unavailability of the text for reference when constructing the answer, will allow the student to learn to make the response most desirable, e.g., defin­ing terms, describing processes, explaining experirnents, their pro­cedures, their results, and their irnplications, thus showing an understanding of the text which would obviously be useful in a test situation as weil.

K.S.