Chapter 16 Skinner: Behavioral Analysis 481act out sexual fantasies and to actually inflict damage on an enemy are two behaviors
likely to be associated with punishment. Even to covertly think about these behav-
iors may have punitive effects, but in dreams these behaviors may be expressed
symbolically and without any accompanying punishment.
Social Behavior
Groups do not behave; only individuals do. Individuals establish groups because
they have been rewarded for doing so. For example, individuals form clans so that
they might be protected against animals, natural disasters, or enemy tribes. Indi-
viduals also form governments, establish churches, or become part of an unruly
crowd because they are reinforced for that behavior.
Membership in a social group is not always reinforcing; yet, for at least three
reasons, some people remain a member of a group. First, people may remain in a
group that abuses them because some group members are reinforcing them; second,
some people, especially children, may not possess the means to leave the group;
and third, reinforcement may occur on an intermittent schedule so that the abuse
suffered by an individual is intermingled with occasional reward. If the positive
reinforcement is strong enough, its effects will be more powerful than those of
punishment.
Control of Human Behavior
Ultimately, an individual’s behavior is controlled by environmental contingencies.
Those contingencies may have been erected by society, by another individual, or
by oneself; but the environment, not free will, is responsible for behavior.
Social Control
Individuals act to form social groups because such behavior tends to be reinforcing.
Groups, in turn, exercise control over their members by formulating written or
unwritten laws, rules, and customs that have physical existence beyond the lives
of individuals. The laws of a nation, the rules of an organization, and the customs
of a culture transcend any one individual’s means of countercontrol and serve as
powerful controlling variables in the lives of individual members.
A somewhat humorous example of both unconscious behavior and social con-
trol involved Skinner and Erich Fromm, one of Skinner’s harshest critics. At a pro-
fessional meeting attended by both men, Fromm argued that people are not pigeons
and cannot be controlled through operant conditioning techniques. While seated
across a table from Fromm and while listening to this tirade, Skinner decided to
reinforce Fromm’s arm-waving behavior. He passed a note to one of his friends that
read: “ ‘Watch Fromm’s left hand. I am going to shape a chopping motion’ ” (Skinner,
1983, p. 151). Whenever Fromm raised his left hand, Skinner would look directly
at him. If Fromm’s left arm came down in a chopping motion, Skinner would smile
and nod approvingly. If Fromm held his arm relatively still, Skinner would look
away or appear to be bored with Fromm’s talk. After 5 minutes of such selective
reinforcement, Fromm unknowingly began to flail his arm so vigorously that his
wristwatch kept slipping over his hand.