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Chapter 14: Problem 6

According to Skinner, emotion is a predisposition to behave in certain ways that is caused by some external event (such as anger over a drawer that is stuck). Can an emotion such as anger be caused by an event within the individual?

Short Answer

Expert verified
Yes, an emotion such as anger can be influenced by an event within the individual, such as their thoughts, perceptions, and feelings, despite Skinner's emphasis on the role of external events.

Step by step solution

01

Understanding Skinner's View of Emotion

Skinner believed that our emotions are behavioral responses to external events. He suggested that emotions manifest as predisposed behaviors reacting to certain situations. For instance, anger might be experienced in response to a frustrating situation like a drawer that won't open.
02

Analyzing The Role of Internal Factors

While Skinner mostly focused on the impact of external events on emotions, it's important to also consider internal events. Internal events refer to an individual's thoughts, feelings, and perceptions, which are inherently subjective and can greatly influence their emotions.
03

Providing an Answer Based on Analysis

Based on this analysis, while Skinner emphasized the role of external factors, it's also plausible that internal factors can trigger emotional responses. Hence, an emotion like anger can indeed be caused by an event within the individual. Such an event could be a memory, cognitive dissonance, conflict, or any other internal cognitive-emotional process.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

Skinner argues that operant conditioning is an unselfish and benign form of behavior control, because others must be assured of reinforcement. Yet some critics contend that his ideas represent a serious threat to individual freedom. Which view do you prefer? Why?

Skinner is highly critical of current educational practices, and argues that they do not produce a lasting love of learning. "Suppose we wish to teach a student to read 'good books'- books which do not reinforce the reader sentence by sentence or even paragraph by paragraph, but only when hundreds of pages have prepared him for a convincing denouement. The student must be exposed to a program of materials that builds up a tendency to read in the absence of reinforcement. [But] schools are likely to arrange just the wrong conditions, [as by forcing] books on students before they have had adequate preparation. It is therefore not surprising that few students even in good universities learn to read books of this sort and do so for the rest of their lives" \((1968, \mathrm{p.79}) .\) What is your evaluation of Skinner's criticism?

Give an example from real life or from fiction to illustrate each of the following Skinnerian concepts: (a) response shaping, (b) partial reinforcement, (c) stimulus generalization, (d) discrimination, (e) extinction.

(a) Explain the difference between classical conditioning and operant conditioning. (b) Explain the difference between negative reinforcement and punishment. (c) Explain the difference between Freud's concept of repression and Skinner's view of repression.

Give an example from real life or from fiction to support the following statement by Skinner: A good way to reduce the probability of undesirable behavior is by reinforcing incompatible, desirable behavior.
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