What I would like you to do for this homework is to find some websites of a topic that was covered in the Walden Two readings for this week.
1) Discuss in some detail how your topic relates to behavior analysis (it should also be a topic in the text). Write a paragraph or two on what your text says about this topic.
2) Visit 3 sites that have information about your topic.
3) Organize your topic into a post that integrates the three sites and what else your text might have to say. Please try to incorporate the behavioral terms and concepts we are learning into your writing.
4) Make a list of course related terms you used in this post (this is to help get you focused on using behavioral terms in your regular writings).
5) Provide the 3 URLs
1. After reading Walden Two this week chapters 1-5 start out with general knowledge of Utopias and Adaptation. I had a hard time trying to figure out what to do my divergence on this week and chose shaping. Adaptation is a form of shaping which we have talked about to some extent. The text defines shaping as a method of successive approximation used to establish a response. In other words shaping is making a behavior what you want it to be by rewarding similar behaviors in order to get to the target behavior. I would call it behavior modification. There doesn’t always have to be a person sitting with you ready to reward you when you emit a behavior close to the targeted one. The text gives an example of teaching a rat to press a lever; you start reinforcing when the animal is standing close to the lever, then you reinforce when it’s even closer, when they touch it, etc. until they get the idea to press it. Walden’s shaping is a bit different in that it’s adaptation. The people who live there have adapted to the living style. They weren’t rewarded like the rat in the experiment they changed there behaviors and were rewarded by a happier lifestyle. In some way they were rewarded by not being punished. There wasn’t a set reward to begin with when they moved there they just changed the aversive stimuli in their lives and were rewarded by a better living situation and lifestyle.
3. I found three very different sites for this week but all give different examples of shaping and adaptation. The first site gives the examples of how to change a child’s behavior such as getting a child to do their homework. This example is like what we have been learning in class so far as well as the examples in the text. We would reinforce every little part until the complete target behavior was reached such as putting their name on the paper, completing one problem completing five problems, half of the problems and finally completing the whole assignment. This site lays everything out like the text just with a child example. The second site I found relates to adaptation in animals. The animals’ behavior isn’t being changed but the way they live is being altered like the people in Walden. This article gives the example of birds migrating as a behavioral adaptation. Not only do these animals have behavioral adaptations but structural adaptations as well. Polar bears have a very heavy fur coat they need that to live on the ice like they do. This relates to the example of the sheep in Walden. The sheep were trained to stay in the wired area. They started out being in an electric fence and then moved around when the grass got to low to eat. Over time the fence didn’t need to be electrified because the sheep adapted. When they had lambs they were taught by their parent to stay in the area and over time then taught their lambs. This related to the birds migrating example. The birds know when to migrate by past experience or following others who have had experience. The last site I found had to deal with children in military families having to move so much. The kids have to adapt to new living environments and schools on a regular basis. This site breaks it down into how older children will have a better understanding of moving but will resist the move because they have adapted to where they are now. Infants and toddlers aren’t able to understand the concept of moving, they are more upset because their routine is changed. They have adapted to a routine. When they get to the new place they get back in the routine and adapt. These three sites were all different examples of shaping because all three gave examples of behaviors that have been changed and adapted to.
4. Utopias, adaptation, shaping, successive approximation, response, target behavior, behavior modification, reward, punish, reinforce, and stimuli.
5. http://maxweber.hunter.cuny.edu/pub/eres/EDSPC715_MCINTYRE/Shaping.html
http://www.nhptv.org/NatureWorks/nwep1.htm
http://www.aboutourkids.org/articles/when_families_move_helping_children_adjust
While it is evident that there are many principles of behavior placed in this book, I find it quite hard to pick a certain aspect of one. So for this week I am going to focus simply on the idea of a Utiopian Society. The idea written to life by Skinner in the form of Walden 2. As far as the books I have read and the things I have learned, nothing has displayed the use of behaviorism as the topic of Utiopia has. A world where behavior rules and leads to an ultimately "perfect" society. Utopia is what we would have if all understood and could properly utilize the principles of behavior.
The book begins with Skinner. He worked much with operant condtioning and what he called respondent principles. He believed that these were the keys to regulating behavior. At that point all of his work had occurred in the lab environment. He began to see how these same methods could put be into practice in the real world. He went as far as believing that they could alter the ways in which society runs, how people choose to interact, and how we all intereact with one another. The book we are reading is his way of describing what that world would look like.
Although things will never be able to be the way this book describes it, using what we know about behavior we can make it better. Two cities have already made great changes using the utopian ideal. Twin Oaks and Los Horcones both have built communities using behavioral principles similar to the themes in this book. According to the text these principle behaviors have already been put to use in many areas of society. These vary from things like performance of students to making people safer/better drivers. The things we learn from working with behavior in the labs, much like Skinner, help us apply it to our "world" and make it that much better.
One thing I noticed from reading this book as well as the bit I found in the text is how easy it all seems to be. By imagining a world where everything is managed through behavioral terms, you are leaving out part of the human condition. I found a website that discussed some of the true origins of a utopian society. It is human to imagine something greater than yourself. This may be God or some other great being, but either way a large majority of people believe in something. The idea of a utopis isn't simply a behavior thing, but is also a religious thing. I couldn't help but wonder how these two would be so perfectly integrated when so much of religion and behaviorism does not agree. I am not sure if positive reinforcement, shaping, or any of that would be able to bring the most different of people together.
Another problem with Utopia is that it destins itself to fail. I found an article where there was a passage originally from Skinner saying that in any society when so much is placed on freedom, it will surely fall apart. He admits that such relaxed rule is what causes societies to fall. He even believed that western cultures were in trouble. I also read in this article that Frazier's beliefs were quite similar to Skinner's. This I feel I already knew. It brings up the question of how ethical a world like that would be. Just because we have the ability, the know-how to change peoples' behavior, does that still mean we should? It is forcing control where it maybe shouldn't be. Instead of being operant behaviors that are simply learned and accepted, it sounds that with too much force, they may become involuntary, automatic reactions. It would seem there is right to fear this because according to the article Skinner thought true freedom was an illusion. He believed we were determined creatures that had no actual say. It would almost seem that in minor ways he contradicts himself. How can you control behavior if there is no freedom to begin with? Finally, on this site I was also able to read what some of the actual principles were. Communal ownership of land, devotion to art and music, freedom from jealous, and freedom from freedom were just a few examples listed.
I was also able to find a small example of something close to these societies that Skinner had in mind. There is one in Italy. Damanhur has around 1,000 people that live and work together. They share everything equally, put great focus on peace and art, and treat each other as family. They grow a lot of their own food and are much like their own little world. According to the writer the people there were happy to put it simply. This is the kind of place he had in mind I think. This just shows that it maybe is more possible than we think.
Skinner believed that by using the methods of operant conditioning that you could change how people work. Mabye be changing the catalysts you can change the possibilites someone has to react in an undesired way. Also in a community where things are simply not reinforced and maybe even punished (disapproval of members) many of the behaviors we suffer with now may become extinct. I see what he was trying to do and I would like to think it is possible, but a world like that would require great sacrifice. People have to want those changes or feel that those changes would be worth their effort. Also it may not last because people may begin to habituate to it. As I mentioned above even Skinner didn't think it could last. People would get, for lack of a better word, bored. They would begin to grow tired of things always being a certain way. They would want change, and with change would come other potential threats to the society.
terms: Utopia, shaping, positive reinforcement, operant conditioning, punishment, extinction, behaviorism, habituate
http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/amana/utopia.htm
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,909994,00.html
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,909994,00.html
1) I decided to gear my web divergence towards shaping. The text defines shaping as a method of successive approximation that may be used to establish a response. This involves the reinforcement of closer and closer approximations to the final performance. The shaping in Walden two is different because it is shaping adaptation. The people who live there have adapted to the living style. They weren’t rewarded like an animal with food; they changed their behaviors and were rewarded by a happier lifestyle and possibly praise from one another. They were rewarded by not being punished (as far as we are aware of). There wasn’t a specific reward mentioned in the book, but common sense tells us that they were rewarded for changing their old lifestyles by a new better lifestyle.
3) The first site defines shaping. I like this site because it is mainly geared towards younger children, so it is very easy to understand from an adult perspective. It is good for children because it includes many examples of shaping. At the end of the page, it includes 3 multiple choice quiz questions, and 2 open ended answers in which a situation is stated and you have to provide the desired behavior,
present behavior, and the sub-steps to get to that desired behavior.
http://maxweber.hunter.cuny.edu/pub/eres/EDSPC715_MCINTYRE/Shaping.html
The second site emphasizes defining shaping with the 'hot/cold' game. It explains the series or chain of behaviors. A behavior chain is a series of related behaviors, each of which provides the cue for the next and the last that produces a reinforcer.
Almost everything we do can be considered part of a behavior chain. For example, when you are reciting the alphabet, you start with “A”, then “B”, then “C” and so on until the task is completed at “Z”.
Each step serves as a cue for the next step; a chain is really a series of signals and behaviors. The completion of one behavior in a chain produces the signal for the next action. I like that they describe how to shape a behavior from A to Z (forward chaining) AND Z to A(backward chaining).
http://www.bbbautism.com/aba_shaping_and_chaining.htm
For the third website, I wanted to find more information about changing behavior in people with autism. Applied Behavior Analysis is one of the most common, and most evidence-based methods used to treat Autism. According to the website, Applied Behavior Analysis has been shown to be an effective means of intervention for adults and children with pervasive developmental disorders, and is one of the most widely used within this population. The Applied Behavior Analysis approach teaches social, motor, and verbal behaviors and reasoning skills, and can also be effective in managing challenging behaviors.
Applied Behavior Analysis therapy is especially useful in teaching behaviors to children with Autism who do not otherwise “pick up” on these behaviors on their own as other children would. Generally Applied Behavior Analysis involves intensive training of the therapists, extensive time spent in Applied Behavior Analysis therapy (20-40 hours per week) and weekly supervision by experienced clinical supervisors known as a certified behavior analyst. That's almost a full-time job for the child/adult just in therapy! I really liked this website because it gives examples of social situations with autism patients and how you would go about talking to the person with the disorder. You should check it out.
http://www.autism-help.org/intervention-applied-behavioral-analysis.htm
4) Behavior, shaping, reinforcement, punishment, reward, behavior analysis
After reading Walden Two, I decided to do my web divergence assignment over Adaptation. The text describes adaptation as a transition. It discusses when transitions take place, this is most likely when learning takes place. So far, Skinner is portraying the community as one that is adapting all of their ideas to make their lives easier. Since they are adapting their environment, and modifying it for the betterment of the people, they are progressing as a society. This is very behavioral because it helps to establish different behavioral modifications for a whole society to be happier and flow together more smoothly. This happiness is reinforcing for the society, which in turn, makes for a more positive atmosphere. After reading about Skinner’s idea towards adaptation, I set out to find other ways adaptation takes place.
I decided I wanted to look at the behavioral side of adaption, and not focus on the biological side of adaption. The sites discussed behavioral adaptations as things organisms do to survive. The three websites found talk about how behavioral adaptation is meant to enhance survival. Another general idea of adaption is it is a makes a species more suited for the environment. When thinking back to Walden Two, I thought about the adaptation of the cups. The people adapted the cups to be more conventional for their lifestyle. These websites also discussed how behavioral adaption can happen almost overnight if they intelligence of the animal is higher. The third website gave an example of children in a village getting attacked and killed by wild animals. The adaptation that enhances their desire for survival would be something like putting up a fence around the village to keep animals out, and only leaving the village with weapons and in groups. Another key point I read about was that behavioral changes can occur quicker, and the participation and ability to work together as a community. In Walden Two, the town was adapted to save money and space. It also made it easier to work around the town. This is why Frazier had all of the town’s people living in one giant building. It was a way to make life easier for all the people in the town.
Terminology: Adaptation, learning, behavioral, modifications, adapted, reinforcing, positive
http://www.nhptv.org/NatureWorks/nwep1.htm
http://www.ehow.com/about_4600976_what-definition-behavioral-adaptation.html
http://www.learninghaven.com/science/articles/animals_and_adaptation.htm
After reading Walden Two I found it difficult to pick a topic for our web divergence that I haven’t previously focused on. When flipping through the book I found the term behavioral flexibility and felt that it directly relates to the situations the people are experiencing at Walden Two. According to the text, behavioral flexibility is defined as adjusting one’s behavior on the basis of past experience. We see this often from the people living at Walden Two. The basis of creating this alternative society was to create a town/civilization that was better than what we currently have here on Earth. The people of Walden Two focused on what they had experienced in life and picked out the important things necessary to make individuals happy, such as love, friendship and compassion, and went away from the things less important, such as clothing styles, fast paced lifestyles, and useless innovations (i.e. the lawn mower).
When researching the web for sites on behavioral flexibility I found a large selection to choose from. The first site I came across focused on how the brain is flexible when it comes to adjusting to the demands of a particular task. The example used for this experiment was when the color blue is written in red ink the brain is able to read two separate meanings from what it sees and is able to separate the responses it receives from the color of the word and the meaning of the word. The text discusses how biological processes often determine behavioral flexibility. Skinner is noted in the book on the subject of behavioral flexibility and concludes that both respondent and operate conditioning are processes that are genetically determined, meaning there is a natural selection of conditioning.
The second site I found relates to human selection of self-conditioning. This site discusses an experiment that studied the how sex, task, and behavioral flexibility effect leadership perceptions. The experiment discussed how well men were able to perform certain tasks in life – some being primarily male dominate tasks, some primarily female dominate tasks, and others that were sex congruent tasks. In the end, it was found that men were the least likely to perform the primarily female dominate tasks such as dish washing, cleaning, etc. This shows that men naturally choose not to self-condition themselves for tasks they feel are weaker in nature and decreasing their level of behavioral flexibility.
The final site I found is a little different from the
others. It looks at one man’s opinion on behavioral flexibility in relation to common biological and genetic beliefs. As he says in the article, many men are naturally prone to behave more aggressively as it is in their natural behavior to protect what they feel is rightfully theirs – leading to war in many situations. Men are also more likely to run off with a younger women (natural selection determines that this is biological because the younger women are likely to produce more healthy offspring) whereas a woman is more likely to stand by her mate. However, the author of the article feels that we, as humans with immense knowledge compared to other species, have the power to be flexible in our behavior and choose our own path and our own individual beliefs. Humans are capable of behavioral flexibility which can lead us away from the natural hostility we may feel and lead us toward companionship.
Terminology: behavior, behavioral flexibility, conditioning, biological flexibility, respondent conditioning, operant conditioning.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/146312.php
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WP2-45KNB76-1&_user=10&_coverDate=04%2F30%2F1998&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1239404187&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=b2a98ea132daa8562aca045082ef7cf9
http://whirledview.typepad.com/whirledview/2005/12/behavioral_flex.html
I decided to do my divergence on adaptation this week because I was interested in that topic while reading Walden 2. The text talks about adaptation as a transition process in which learning occurs. For example if a species finds a behavior that is better suited to capture their food then they are more likely to use that behavior and adapt it to their hunting style and eventually all the animals will learn this behavior as well. Take the sheep in Walden 2 for example, they started out with an electric fence that gave them a shock every time they touched it and so they learned not to touch it. They then taught their offspring not to touch it as a sort of survival technique and now none of the sheep touch it and the people of since turned it into a string fence but the sheep have no idea because they have adapted their behavior to an electric fence and not a string one.
The websites that I found talked a lot about animals and their structural adaptation and their behavioral adaptation. This one especially talks about birds http://www.nhptv.org/NatureWorks/nwep1.htm Even though we would not thing that structural adaptation relates to behavior analysis it really does. You see if a bird is born with a longer beak and it gets food more efficiently with it then it will be healthier, live longer, reproduce more, and therefore produce more birds with the same gene and soon they will all have it. However this very first bird had to learn how to adapt this difference into the way it behaved because it could not get food the same way the other birds did it had to adapt its behavior according to its own beak. The second site I found is really cool it talks about all different kinds of animals and what their unique form of adaptation is according to their environment. http://www.emints.org/ethemes/resources/S00000219.shtml The last site is just the Wikipedia page on adaptation to get a little more background on what it is and what different types there are. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptation
Structural Adaptation, Punishment, Behavioral Adaptation
For this web divergence, I chose to focus my writing on shaping. To achieve a Utopian Society, the people of Walden 2 had to change their behavior. To do this, they were shaped to accept a new lifestyle that was more simple, convenient, and free of punishment. After adapting to this new lifestyle, we can predict that the people of Walden 2 live happier lives than that of regular people.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/917377/shaping_a_behaviormodification_tool.html?cat=51
This first site is an informative article on using shaping as behavior modification. It defines shaping as a way of developing good habits. I think this is an excellent way of putting it. In Walden 2, most of the behaviors that are being shaped are simply good habits. For example, thinking in a way to simplify everything and providing rewards instead of punishment. Our textbook tells us that punishment is anything an organism wishes to avoid. This site says that “shaping involves simple, yet powerful strategies for behavior change resulting in good feelings and positive change.” Although we have only touched on the introduction so far, the people of Walden 2 seem to be more positive than regular people due to their behavior change.
http://www.mtromp.com/courses/puppy/shaping.html
This next site is on how to shape behaviors in animals, more specifically, puppies. Similar to the textbook, this site defines shaping as reinforcing closer and closer approximations to a final goal. The textbook uses the example of a rat. Researchers shaped a rat to press a lever. To do this they reinforced it with a bit of food the closer and closer it got to the lever. When it finally pressed the lever, it got a pellet out of the feeder. With puppies, your reinforcement can be a treat, a game, or simple praise. This site also discusses clicker training. To teach your dog what is correct, click. To show them what is incorrect, don’t click. By associating rewards with the click, the animal will soon learn that the click is a positive thing and shaping will come quickly.
Although clicker training is (so far) not used in shaping the behavior of individuals in Walden 2, positive reinforcement is. Our text defines positive reinforcement as the presentation of a stimulus following a behavior that increases the rate of response. To shape people’s behavior, the reward of adapting to this new environment is a better life. If the final goal is to be free of stress, punishment, judgment from others, etc. the positive reinforcement would be slowly achieving these things by changing their behavior.
http://www.mysciencesite.com/Animals_and_Adaptation.pdf
An important factor that was addressed in Walden 2 was adaptation. This site provides general information on how animals adapt to their environment. It stresses that environments are constantly changing, and in order for animals to survive, they must be able to adapt to these changes. There are two types of adaptation: behavioral and structural. Behavior adaptation is moving in large groups to protect each other. Structural adaptation would be changing physical features of an organism. The example the site gives for structural adaptation is an animal growing a thick fur coat to protect them from harsh cold temperatures.
In Walden 2, shaping and adaptation come hand in hand. The people were shaped with positive reinforcement to accept this new way of life. Because a large group of people moved to Walden 2, I would consider them to be practicing behavior adaptation more than structural adaptation. They didn’t necessarily do it for survival purposes but in a way, living in a healthier, stress free environment will more than likely elongate their lives.
Shaping, adaptation, behavior modification, positive reinforcement, punishment, clicker training, reward, structural adaptation, behavioral adaptation
After reading chapters 1-5 of Walden 2 I wanted to do my web divergance on adaptaion. The text says that adaptation is when an orgainism changes it's behaviors because of life experiences. The text uses an example of a child becoming an adult, and having to rely on themselves for food. As a teenager one has to start making food for oneself. This represents adaptation because as we move into adulthood your parents stop making all your meals for you. Therefore one must learn how to adapt, and make meals on their own. One example from Walden 2 is the tea cups. Residents of Walden 2 found that is was difficult to carry a regular tea cup without spiiling it, also if you wanted a second cup of tea, you must go back for it. They adapted by making a new design of tea cups that were taller, so held more tea, and were far less likely to spill.
2) The first website I found demonstrates that behavioral adaptation is something that begins occuring early in life. This site talks about how toddlers use of hand rails when crossing bridges. Toddlers were able to use adaptation of holding on to hand rails, and slowing their pace when the bridge was narrower. This relates to how in Walden 2 they could use string to hold in the sheep because the older generations would teach the younger generatiions not to go near the fence.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1200/is_24_163/ai_104523256/?tag=rel.res4
In our society, and for centurys past, physical attrativness has had a great impact. It is important to survival that you have resources. One way to aquire resources is to marry someone that has them, and people will go to great lengths to do so. In the developmental adjustment section of the second website I found talks about people who alter their body. In ancient China tiny feet were thought to be very desirable, so parents would bind their daughters feet. In the late 19th century "wasp-shaped" waists were thought to be very attractive, so women would wear corsets. Some even went to the extent of having lower ribs removed. Today neither of these things are done, but we still change our apperance through plastic surgery to seem more attractive. However in Walden 2 these things are not needed because everyone has access to all the reasources that they need. Also wanting of excess of resources is no longer present. Therefore these extreme measures aren't needed any longer.
http://anthro.palomar.edu/adapt/adapt_1.htm
The third website I found talks about how to survive in the desert. Survival in the desert is all about rationing the resources that you have, especially water. Although Walden 2 doesn't have a lack of resources, they do thrive on the idea of only using what you need. For example, they don't have many cars. As they don't travel outside of the communitty often, they only need a few motor vehicles. Also as a way to not waste clothing, they don't follow the "seasons" of fashion. They wear their clothes for much longer, and waste less.
http://www.desertusa.com/mag99/mar/stories/desertsur.html
http://www.grandin.com/
http://www.grandin.com/behaviour/transport.html
http://managingwholes.com/bud-williams-1.htm
http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/pubs/livestock/lvstchap.htm
The residents of Walden Two use sheep to “mow the grass” on their lawn. When asked how they kept the sheep from straying, Frazier explains that they were first controlled by a portable electric fence. The shocks kept the sheep from straying. The residents moved the fence from time to time to allow the sheep to graze different areas of the grass. After a time, the residents noticed that the sheep did not touch the electrified fence, so for their own convenience they substituted a piece of string tied to poles for the fencing. The sheep did not touch the barrier and so the string fence was used as the enclosure. As the guests and Frazier continued to discuss the situation, Frazier also pointed out that they used a sheep dog to control the sheep.
This situation shows good examples of some of the principles of behavior analysis. Sheep will move away from a something that causes pain. This is a reflex because the animal will automatically move away from the thing that caused the pain. The sheep show respondent conditioning when they touch the electrified fence. The wire is a meaningless stimulus to the sheep, however, when the sheep receives the shock (an unconditioned stimulus) after touching it, the wire becomes associated with the pain. The sheep learn to avoid the fence as a result.
When the residents replace the electrified wire with the string, the sheep had transferred the experience of receiving the shock. The shape of the wire and string had become a conditioned stimulus. The sheep will avoid touching the wire.
The residents also use another stimulus to control the sheep; that is the sheep dog. Based on evolution, the sheep will avoid a dog. So the dog is also an unconditioned stimulus. The behavior of the sheep to avoid the dog is also examples of reflexive behavior.
The animal behavior researcher, Temple Grandin, has studied animal behavior from a unique position. She is autistic and credits her autism with allowing her to clearly understand the behavior of large domesticated farm animals such as cattle, hogs, buffalo, and horses. She has designed livestock control systems that are use worldwide. She has also done research in using grazing animals’ natural, instinctive behaviors to help handlers better manage their animals. Her research and training methods are interesting examples of the use of behavior analysis to solve real world problems. Other livestock handlers have discovered similar trick and behaviors that allow them to more safely and effectively handle large, grazing animals.
One key to her success in managing animals is her accurate observation of their instinctive, reflexive behaviors. She argues that human behaviors and systems that ignore these instincts are inefficient, and often dangerous. For example, she developed the concept of the “flight zone” and “point of balance.” The flight zone is the instinctive area around an animal that will cause the animal to run away from an intruder. This is a reflex. The point of balance is a spot inside the flight zone where the animal will move away from an intruder. These two concepts can be combined to more efficiently move animals in a pasture, livestock yard, or in a pen.
The interesting point from a behavior analysis point of view is that the humans in the interaction are learning through operant conditioning. While the animals’ actions are instinctive, the human operant behavior (standing in the proper point of balance) is shaped by the consequence of the animal moving in the desired direction. It would be interesting to ask the animal handlers if they realize that they are the ones learning through conditioning.
Grandin also applies these basic learning principles to other parts of livestock handling. She suggests changing the human behaviors to take advantage of the animals’ reflexive behavior to follow a leader. She also has studied why animals balk at certain instinctive fear producing stimuli such as shadows, sudden noises, and sudden movements and has created systems to reduce such distractions from livestock handling facilities.
On his website, Bud Williams, takes a similar position. He talks about letting the animal do something. He writes that anytime you try to make an animal do something, this causes problems. He states that whenever he wants an animal to do something, he positions himself at the right spot and the animal does its natural behavior. This is another example of using the animal’s natural behaviors – its reflexes – while the human learns through operant conditioning.
Temple Gradin’s practices have been adopted worldwide. Her experience, like that of Bud Williams, shows that using the animals natural behaviors can be the safest, most effective means of large animal control. Using the basics of behavioral analysis these researchers and livestock handlers have developed these successful techniques.
Terms: operant conditioning, reflexes, respondent conditioning, unconditioned stimulus, conditioned stimulus, instinct,
1) For the web divergence this week I will focus on the topic of behavioral engineering. I was a little fuzzy on a concrete definition of what it was so I decided to do a little more research on the topic. My text did not have much to say on the matter so I went to Wikipedia and found a definition. Behavioral engineering is intended to identify issues associated with the interface of technology and the human operators in a system and to generate recommended design practices that consider the strengths and limitations of the human operators.
2/3) The first site I found gave a basic definition of behavioral engineering. The site suggested it is everything that makes us humans/ internal rules that we apply to ourselves through nature, nurture and choice. It also said it can be positive or negative and we have to evaluate our own chosen rules in order to make new ones and achieve greater performance. Some of the methods used to help better ourselves are changing habits, setting and achieving goals, overcoming fears and hypnosis. The only other mentioned aspect of the site was that this process is individualized from person to person. The last site that I found was on Thomas F. Gilbert’s Behavioral Engineering Model. This site examined how a manager can get production out of his workers through proper information, incentives/ motivation. The first couple of boxes given emphasized how employees need to have the proper information and resources in order to have adequate production in the workplace. The next aspect dealt with using incentives in order to create positive performance .
4)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
http://www.achievinggreatness.co.uk/index.php/Behavioral-Engineering/what-isbehavioural-engineering.html
http://darinphillips.blogspot.com/2008/02/thomas-f-gilberts-behavioral.html
The entire focus of Walden II is to convince the public that a Utopian society can exist in our world if we use behavioral techniques. As far as Skinner was concerned, Utopia was simply living in a happy and self-sustaining community independent from a capitalistic American lifestyle. By his definition, Skinner believed Utopia could then easily be accomplished if each behavior is analyzed and simplified using operant conditioning.
To better understand the concept, I first searched for a definition of what the word 'Utopia' really implies. The word derives from a book by Sir Thomas More in which people live in an ideal community on a fictional island, enjoying a perfectly balanced socio-politico-legal system. Many religious people believe the only real utopia to occur in the afterlife, where their god or gods will treat them with eternal happiness and reward. Interestingly, I found websites dedicated to achieving Utopia in the modern world. One site describes Utopia as the place where everyone achieves the greatest achievable happiness. The website then breaks down how to achieve this Utopia in several steps. One step is understanding that undesirable experiences are inevitable, and that the only way around it is to inspire others. Although the website may not realize it, they are using behavioral principles to create an ideal world. What they refer to as inspiring others would be called reinforcement in behavioral terms and may be exactly what Skinner was trying to portray in Walden II.
Terms used- Behavioral Engineering, Reinforcement, Behavioral Principles, Operant Conditioning.
http://www.achievingutopia.org/essential/undesirable_experiences/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopia
http://users.erols.com/jonwill/