I watched Black Swan last night and I like this film. On my way home I started thinking about all the psyche movies that I like, but I cannot recall one movie based on behaviorism. Is there any? If Skinner is right, I just cannot think about the life with no psyche movie.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
If Skinner is right
I think if it is easy to prove that Skinner is wrong, he and his theory won't stand out as one of the most important contributions for understanding human behaviors. I'm still not quite clear about why the same thing, like money, may be stronger reinforcer for some people but not the others. Is it just because for those money is not a strong reinforcer, they have been built s-r relationship or "linked" with other reinforcer already?
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You say money is a reinforcement, but is it really? Isn't it the things that we think we can buy or attain with money that serves as a reinforcement? And what if we are not so interested in those things? I mean it is an old but accepted idea that money can't buy you love and money can't buy you happiness. But of course there are things money can buy.
ReplyDeleteAnd let me riddle you this. What is a psyche other than an internal reinforcement mechanism that we have a hard time understanding. It is true I think that we lose touch with what our reinforcers are over time, but they still act as our reinforceers. Is psyche simply a way of describing how we keep those reinforcers as part of our lives?
I agree that money is about what we can buy and that some things cannot be bought, but going back to Skinner and why some things are reinforcing to some and not to others, if I understand his argument correctly, it would be based upon our past experiences, and for each of us these would be different. What I received when I did x could be different than what someone else received (or perhaps what was withheld). These patterns lead us to predict what will happen.
ReplyDeleteI am reveling in this idea of the psyche as an internal reinforcement mechanism - in a way, while I only vaguely understand Freud, it could connect with the ideas of the id and the superego. Based on our interactions with the world around us and the kinds of reinforcement we have received from society, the superego encourages us to act a certain way – overriding the pleasure-seeking id.
I was just trying to make an example, "like money". I just feel like different people may have different reinforcers, but if I get your point right, it is the ultimate love and happiness that reinforce our behaviors? Isn't it outside the Skinner's box? Because when I posted I was just trying to think inside the box...
ReplyDeleteI won't argue that money can buy love and happiness, but I think at least for some people they could live happier if they have money. I think the basic needs need to be met before the higher level needs (love and happiness). And money can make the basic needs met.
Well, since money was my most prominent reinforcer, I'll chime in as to why I think it works. I think Glassman is right when he says that its the things that money can buy - not necessarily the money itself. Like, if I were paid $1/day to do what we are all doing now, I probably wouldn't be very excited about coming to work. Most likely I would go elsewhere where I may be able to flip burgers and earn $50, which would buy me more of the things that I really want. And while money is what I would consider my underlying motivator, I feel that its the ability for me to purchase whatever I want with the money - and the more I make the more buying power I have - that makes me motivated for the money. So for me it's like a a sense of freedom - and I say sense because I do agree that we do not necessarily have freedoms. Even the sense of freedom that money "buys" me is constrained in some way, be it the availability of a product, my ability to find the exact "thing" I want, or even the price. So for me, money not only meets a basic need, but I would say a higher need because I am able to do things such as have the time to contemplate if Skinner is right or wrong because of money. That is what pays for school, right?
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