week 7 dq 1

Let me make myself absolutely clear; I cannot stand Skinners work (Ghiselin, M. T. n.d.). It is almost exactly like putting a pressure bandage on a gun shot (Hock, R. R. (2013). It is great for when the person is first hit through the first aid station, to some type of makeshift MASH or ER. This is where the patient can be stabilized, but after the patient cannot spend the rest of their lives with a pressure bandage on the location and still function.

One of the things which just annoys me to absolutely no end regarding both science and the field of psychology are the facts that “hey lets reduce everything down to its base elements, get down to just the most basic of one sentence or two sentence descriptions” when it, in most human and scientific endeavors, is literally impossible to boil everything down to just a couple facts.

In the story provided a bully picks on a smaller weaker kid for lunch money. However the question is absolutely parochial in its approach. It does not include a single word of the back story, why the bully does it. Maybe for the bully that is the only food that person will eat that day. Or maybe that bully comes from a family of bullies where the bullying behavior is all the following “Classical conditioning terms include: UCS (unconditioned stimulus), UCR (unconditioned response), NS (neutral stimulus), CS (conditioned stimulus), CR (conditioned response). Operant conditioning terms include positive reinforcers, and negative reinforcers, and punishers.” The kid being bullied also has zero background. No background exactly like medicine, no background no contact for how to treat the patient. This question is beyond impossible to responsibly answer. Only guess work can be done as to why the bully does their actions and why the bullied does their actions.

Skinner took his work directly from the absolutely worst parts of what the Prussian Empire wanted regarding behavior control tools (Luciano, C., Valverde, M. R., & Catania, A. C. 2008). Skinner and Wundt’s work are polar opposites, Wundt wanted to understand thinking and how we move our bodies (Mcleod, S. 2018, January 28). Skinner only wanted to find ways to control others (Tourinho, E. Z., & Vichi, C. (2012). Up to and including torture to force things to “do what I want, and you will face less punishment, than if you do not do what I want.” But Skinners work is loved because of the instant success in the very short term (Watson, J. B. (1925). But is ignored flat out when it comes to long term issues. I am not a fan.

Dig into the participants histories to find out more about why they are reacting the way they are. Plus as a point of fact, if x is stealing from y have the police involved. Scared straight will work, which will get CPS involved who will do an investigation to find the history. Interview the parents of both, find out what is happening. That is the only real solution. Have the bully pulled in to first the principal’s office to have a chat, and if that does not work, have the bully arrested and taken down town. CPS do interviews, and the like. Investigate the school to find out why the teachers are watching a professional thief work instead of preventing the items stolen.

I do not like boiling it down to nothing then try to treat, it annoys me to absolutely no end.

reference

Ghiselin, M. T. (n.d.). BF Skinner and the Metaphysics of Darwinism. BEHAVIOR ANALYST, 41(1), 269–281. https://doi-org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.1007/s40614-018-0139-8

Hock, R. R. (2013). Forty studies that changed psychology (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

https://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html#class

Luciano, C., Valverde, M. R., & Catania, A. C. (2008). Presentation to the series celebrating the 50th anniversary of the book Verbal Behavior, BF Skinner. International Journal of Psychology & Psychological Therapy, 8(3), 275–276. Retrieved from https://search-ebscohost-com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=psyh&AN=2008-14516-001&site=eds-live&scope=site

Mcleod, S. (2018, January 28). Skinner - Operant Conditioning. Retrieved from

Tourinho, E. Z., & Vichi, C. (2012). Behavioral-analytic research of cultural selection and the complexity of cultural Phenomena. Revista Latinoamericana de Psicología, 44(1), 169–179. Retrieved from https://search-ebscohost-com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=77052114&site=eds-live&scope=site

Watson, J. B. (1925). Behaviorism. New York: People's Institute Publishing Company