Human nature can stay as it is - cynicism may have to be aired in moderation.
In this day and age I think it is totally fair to insist, children are born ‘not guilty’:
they come into an unfamiliar world – nothing to forget or recall - don't comprehend
a word said to them - no prior teaching to show them the laws they must keep.
they come into an unfamiliar world – nothing to forget or recall - don't comprehend
a word said to them - no prior teaching to show them the laws they must keep.
Newborns possess RNA / DNA … chromosomes … but Criminal Tendencies?
Fixed Intelligence Quotient? ABA and TEAB consistently demonstrate those
depend on experience with stimulation and consequence for worse or better.
Fixed Intelligence Quotient? ABA and TEAB consistently demonstrate those
depend on experience with stimulation and consequence for worse or better.
The status of behavior analysis
Murray Sidman is another outstanding scientist who taught me to take
humanism seriously and has kept my radical behaviorism very much alive.
humanism seriously and has kept my radical behaviorism very much alive.
“… until we adopt other than coercive ways to control each other’s conduct, no method
of physically improving our species will keep our survival timer from running out.
A developing science of behavior may again give people of good will cause for optimism
about our chances for survival.”
of physically improving our species will keep our survival timer from running out.
A developing science of behavior may again give people of good will cause for optimism
about our chances for survival.”
“ Our interactions with other basic sciences, however, have slipped. As a result, our
students are losing contact with the basic behavioral science in which their
applications are rooted and from which future applications are to be derived…
… Many things about today are better than they ever were in the old days.
We cannot, however, just maintain the status quo. … I think, though, that we might
be even better off now if we continued to value some of the ways things used to be
and to follow up some of the early advances that were left uncompleted ...
students are losing contact with the basic behavioral science in which their
applications are rooted and from which future applications are to be derived…
… Many things about today are better than they ever were in the old days.
We cannot, however, just maintain the status quo. … I think, though, that we might
be even better off now if we continued to value some of the ways things used to be
and to follow up some of the early advances that were left uncompleted ...
An examination of history can reveal not just mistakes that should now be avoided
---- but can also remind us of forgotten, but productive pathways …”
---- but can also remind us of forgotten, but productive pathways …”
In this manuscript, I stand by those sentiments more than I can express. (39)
My horizon expanded when mapping a path for a rat in a setting where
stimuli and reinforcers are spread at North, East, South and West. Gradually
I realized, sound waves and light radiation affect individuals through and through.
stimuli and reinforcers are spread at North, East, South and West. Gradually
I realized, sound waves and light radiation affect individuals through and through.
I now understand this is indeed As Old As The Hills, although it presents a distinct
switch in emphasis: from the behavior of organisms à to the behavior of organisms.
switch in emphasis: from the behavior of organisms à to the behavior of organisms.
And thus to remote control - and stimuli that can be sensed from a distance.
I imagined subjects moving at their discretion - not under investigators'
instructions. I never worked in an animal lab; my graphs are unknown in classrooms;
all the same, their implications are verifiable, so something important must have occurred.
Concentrating on one mobile rat through Skinner’s lens, I found myself contending
with age-old historical arguments over causes for what people and animals do:
‘Nature - Nurture’ / ‘Inside or Outside’/ Heredity versus Environment.
instructions. I never worked in an animal lab; my graphs are unknown in classrooms;
all the same, their implications are verifiable, so something important must have occurred.
Concentrating on one mobile rat through Skinner’s lens, I found myself contending
with age-old historical arguments over causes for what people and animals do:
‘Nature - Nurture’ / ‘Inside or Outside’/ Heredity versus Environment.
With due humility, I insist: my records help to resolve such controversy.
Though hypothetical they contribute to science with Skinner’s behavioral measurement,
I am ‘radical’, insofar as this science shows habitats are primary.(40) On planet Earth,
illumination and temperature changed - and only then flora and fauna began to evolve.
I am ‘radical’, insofar as this science shows habitats are primary.(40) On planet Earth,
illumination and temperature changed - and only then flora and fauna began to evolve.
__________________________________________
(39) A nurse in my previous life, I was amazed when first I laid eyes on a Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis:
like on a hospital chart, graphic measurements before and after treatment!
How does one move from a rat to the child? I wanted to know. B.F. Skinner, Murray Sidman,
Charles Ferster and of course, Vance Hall, were the scientists who enlightened me at the start.
(39) A nurse in my previous life, I was amazed when first I laid eyes on a Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis:
like on a hospital chart, graphic measurements before and after treatment!
How does one move from a rat to the child? I wanted to know. B.F. Skinner, Murray Sidman,
Charles Ferster and of course, Vance Hall, were the scientists who enlightened me at the start.
(40) Happily, science and tradition concur in the Bible,
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” Genesis, 1-1 Habitats come first.
Science and religion are not incompatible: scientists may put faith in one God or many, and vice versa;
religious persons can be superb scientists. After all believers and non-believers can be moral and kindly;
GOING WITH NATURE could very well be a plausible commitment for human organizations.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” Genesis, 1-1 Habitats come first.
Science and religion are not incompatible: scientists may put faith in one God or many, and vice versa;
religious persons can be superb scientists. After all believers and non-believers can be moral and kindly;
GOING WITH NATURE could very well be a plausible commitment for human organizations.
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