Skinner’s Analysis of Private Events: The Essence of Radical Behaviorism

Behavior Analysis Association of Michigan

Ypsilanti, MichiganFriday, March 18, 2004

Jack Michael, Western Michigan University

Skinner’s Radical Behaviorism

1. Behavior is a function of stimuli and other variables in the environment.

2. Some parts of the environment are within the organism’s skin:private events.

3. Private events are related to behavior in a unique way because no one else can be affected by them--inflamed tooth eg.

4. But such variables seem to have no special properties because of the limited accessibility by others.

5. We acquire tacts of public stimuli by the reactions of others to

our behavior in the presence of those stimuli. We also acquire tacts of private stimuli (itches, pains nausea, etc. So how is it accomplished? 6. Four ways: two indirect and two direct followed by stimulus generalization.

Skinner’s Radical Behaviorism

1. Behavior is a function of stimuli and other variables in the environment.

2. Some parts of the environment are within the organism’s skin:private events.

3. Private events are related to behavior in a unique way because no one else can be affected by them--inflamed tooth eg.

4. But such variables seem to have no special properties because of the limited accessibility by others.

5. We acquire tacts of public stimuli by the reactions of others to

our behavior in the presence of those stimuli. We also acquire tacts of private stimuli (itches, pains nausea, etc. So how is it accomplished? 6. Four ways: two indirect and two direct followed by stimulus generalization.

B. F. Skinner's philosophical view, Radical Behaviorism, concerns the treatment of private stimul. Six points, as in S&HB, pp. 257-258 (which I modify slightly) as follows:

1. Behavior is a function of the environment–any event in the universe capable of affecting the organism. (stimuli, motivative operations, response–consequence relations)

2. But part of the universe is enclosed within the organism's own skin. (some stimuli originate within the organism' own skin)

3. Some stimuli etc. may, therefore, be related to behavior in a unique way. The individual's response to an inflamed tooth, for example, is unlike the response that anyone else can make to that particular tooth, since no one else can establish the same kind of contact with

it. These are private events.

4. But we need not suppose that private events have special properties for that reason. They may be distinguished by their limited accessibility but not, so far as we know, by any special structure or nature. Interoceptive and proprioceptive stimuli are just stimuli, like exteroceptive stimuli. The only difference is that exteroceptive S can affect more than one person in approximately the same way.

5. We acquire vb under control of public stimuli by the reactions of others to our behavior in the presence of those stimuli. We also acquire vb controlled by private stimuli where others cannot make direct contact with those stimuli. We tact itches, pains, nausea, etc. How is it accomplished?

6. Four ways: two involving indirect contact with the private stimuli (common public accompaniment and collateral responses); two involving direct contact with stimuli that are first public but still control vb when they become private (common properties and response reduction).

Skinner refers to private and pub-lic stimuli by example, but it willbe helpful to have a more specificdescription. I will refer to a con-text in which one person, theteacher, is attempting to developa tact relation in the repertoire ofanother person, the learner(usually a child). I find it conve-nient to consider a sense modepublic if it is possible for theteacher to be affected by a partic-ular stimulus in that mode in thesame way that the learner isaffected by that stimulus. If it isnot possible I will consider thatsense mode private. The statusof three sense modes is unclear:surface pain, kinesthesis, and vestibular. Surface pain is unclear in part because of theteachers' reluctance to teach it directly (to subject themselves to a painful stimulus to besure of what the effect on the learner consists of). Kinesthetic and vestibular stimulation isalmost public when the behavior is overt; but completely private when it is covert .

Human Sense Modes.

1. vision2. audition3. gustation4. olfaction5. cutaneous (or skin) sense

a. surface touchb. surface warmth and cold

c. surface pain

6. organic sense,a. deep touchb. deep warmth and coldc. deep pain

7. kinesthesis (the muscle sense)8. vestibular sense (balance sense)

public

private

unclear

unclearunclear

What are the private stimuli?

Normal tact learning, same stimuli: An adult teaching a child to name geometric shapes of objects on a tray.

teacher reinforces the vocal rsp cube by the learner

as the teacher observes (sees) the the cube

and as the learner also observes (sees) the cube

eventually the learner says cube in the presence of the visual stimuli of the cube–the visual SD for saying cube

Public Stimulus Control