Chapter 16 Skinner: Behavioral Analysis 489Furthermore, as predicted, the reinforcement sensitivity components of BAS and
BIS explained differences in how the three forms of perfectionism predicted recent
positive and negative mood. Self-oriented perfectionism seems to be a double-edged
sword, in that it predicts higher levels of both positive mood via the BAS and negative
affect via the BIS. Other oriented perfectionists, having reduced sensitivity to negative
reinforcers, appear to experience less negative mood overall, compared to self-oriented
perfectionists. These sorts of perfectionists appear to have overlaps with psychopathy
with high defensiveness when attacked and a reduced sensitivity to negative reinforc-
ers. Finally, socially prescribed perfectionism appears to be an entirely maladaptive
form of perfectionism, with direct negative effects on emotional well-being. These
people have more negative and less positive affect than their other perfectionist coun-
terparts, likely because they perceive that they nearly always fail at upholding others’
exacting standards of perfection and therefore find few rewards in their environment.
Corr and his colleagues have extended this research in an effort to understand
the darker side of personality, applying the revised RST to the emergence of psy-
chopathy (Hughes, Moore, Morris, & Corr, 2012). Psychopathic individuals are char-
acterized by extreme egocentrism, lack of remorse, impulsivity and, germane to a
chapter on Skinner, an impaired ability to learn from negative consequences. Most
studies of psychopathy examine clinical or imprisoned populations, but this one
surveyed 192 university students in the United Kingdom, so as to provide important
information about how non-disordered personality can evolve into pathology.
Corr and colleagues assessed students with the Behavioral Inhibition System/
Behavioral Activation System Scales (BIS/BAS; Carver & White, 1994) as well
as the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (LSRP; Levenson, Kiehl, &
Fitzpatrick, 1995), which measures dispositional attitudes and beliefs presumed to
underlie psychopathy, such as a lack of remorse or a tendency to lie. The results
were consistent with Corr’s (2010) neuropsychological model, which proposes an
underactive behavioral inhibition system (BIS) in psychopathic people, who do not
anticipate or respond typically to potentially punishing events. That is, those who
scored higher on the LSRP also tended to have low scores on the BIS. The idea
here is that psychopaths show deficits in their ability to detect goal conflict, and
hence to learn from aversive experiences.
Research on reinforcement sensitivity helps us see that all people do not
respond to reinforcers in the same way. Our basic temperaments are key mecha-
nisms that moderate the effects of reinforcers. In turn, our habitual responses or
sensitivities to reinforcements solidify into personality qualities that come to define
us. More research is sure to emerge from within this paradigm that will further our
understanding of the mutual relationship between personality and conditioning.
Critique of Skinner
The maverick psychologist Hans J. Eysenck (1988) once criticized Skinner for
ignoring such concepts as individual differences, intelligence, genetic factors, and
the whole realm of personality. These claims are only partly true, because Skinner
did recognize genetic factors, and he did offer a somewhat unenthusiastic definition
of personality, saying that it is “at best a repertoire of behavior imparted by an