R6

Question: What is the difference between a reinforcer and a reward? Do Chance and Kohn agree on this? It seems that these terms are used interchangably, but from my understanding they are different things.

Quote: “Reinforcement is powerful stuff, and its misuse can cause problems” (Chance, 1992, p. 117). I think of it as a tool to be used, but only when there is solid knowledge behind it. Otherwise, it can be detrimental to everyone involved: teachers and students.

Connection: These articles remind me of my love of reading. Sometimes I wonder if this was intrinsically rewarding or extrinsically rewarding for me from the start. I wonder how my teachers and school played a role in this, as Chance described. For example, I remember the Pizza Hut “Book-It” program for reading in elementary school. Although I remember liking books, however once this program was started, I made sure to read more books so that I could get my personal pan pizza at the end of the week. I don’t remember exactly when the program ended, but after the fact I know that I didn’t read as many books as I did previously. I wonder sometimes if that program helped or hurt my interest in reading.

Connection: In learning about behavior management in classrooms, Lee and Axelrod (2005) describe the different types of reinforcement schedules including, ratio and interval schedules. When Chance and Kohn discuss the long term effects of rewards in their articles, it reminds me of how variable interval or variable ratio schedules of reinforcement help behaviors persist and last over time. In addition, Lee and Axelrod (2005) suggest that reinforcers in a person’s natural environment also help to make the behaviors last. However, there is not schedule to ensure that the behaviors will last forever. Certain types of reinforcement can make behaviors resistant to extinction, but not completely immune to it.

Lee, D. L., & Axelrod, S. (2005). Behavior Modification: Basic Principles (3^rd ed.). Austin, TX: Pro-ed.

behaviorism

In this clip, good examples of positive and negative reinforcement from Family Guy are included. It is useful because it clearly illustrates how both types of reinforcement work. Considering this can sometimes be confusing, using funny clips from Family Guy make it easier to keep straight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_9ZZaPDtPk

In the clip below, Dr. Viktor Frankl, who developed logotherapy, describes how behaviorism is somewhat limited. He claims that Skinner restricted his research, where only animalistic characteristics were studied. Frankl does not disagree with the fact that human behavior has rules, yet he claims the human dimension (e.g. consciousness) is an important part missing from behaviorism. He uses the metaphor of a plane on the ground to explain his point. He says that just because a plane moves on the ground in the same way as a car does, it does not mean that it is the same as a car or that it can not fly. If humans are like planes, Skinner restricted his research to a plane while on land, but never studied the distinguishing feature of a plane:its ability to fly.

This clip was useful because it helped me to see (although Skinner does admit this in his writing), that behaviorism is restricted. It does not attempt to explain phenomenon that is beyond being observed and/or measured. It is important to keep this piece of the puzzle in mind, while appreciating its fundamental contributions to psychology.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luONY67yr2w&feature=related

R5

Reading Skinner was a shock to my system. Maybe my mind had become comfortable in the stream of James’ words; but Skinner’s words were like boulders in that stream. His points were solid, direct, and made a heavy impact. While James offered food for thought and lines for teachers to be artists in their work, Skinner outlined specific solutions to problems within education. His point of view was clear, sarcastic and unapologetic.

I wonder if Skinner’s goal was to be shocking to the reader. Even the title “The Shame of American Education” is powerful. The more I read, however, some of this shock wore off. The turning point was when he began to criticize humanistic and cognitive psychology to better prove his points. The tone did not help me to truly hear what Skinner was trying to convey. Potentially he was trying to get my voluntary attention, as James (1899) mentioned but it was not working. After reading so many articles about the problems in education, with out solutions, my mind seemed to connect Skinner’s voice with the many voices I hear daily. It had become a broken record. For instance, although documentaries like Race to Nowhere do a great job of pointing to the problem, I wish more time was devoted to creating solutions.

Nearing the end of the “shame” article, my attention was grabbed again when he mentioned solutions. I was happy to see that although he was able to outline the problems, he gave as much effort in offering solutions. What stood out most was his opinion that society sometimes confuses causes with effects in education. When he spoke of the respect of teachers by saying, “Let them teach twice as much in the same time and with the same effort, and they will be held in greater respect” (Skinner, 1984, p. 952), it struck me as very truthful. His quote about learning was equally impressive, “What is reinforcing is successful play, and in a well-designed instructional program students gobble up their assignments” (Skinner, 1984, p. 952). These solution oriented quotes helped me to see that he was concerned with the root of the problem and not simply dealing with the symptoms. As he mentioned in the article about psychology as a science, Skinner (1987) said, “Behavior modification, in contrast, is more often preventive than remedial. In both instruction and therapy, current reinforcers (often contrived) are arranged to strengthen behavior that student and client will find useful in the future” (p. 785).

"Eventually some students behave in creative ways, but they must have something to be creative with and that must be taught first" (Skinner, 1984, p. 951). This particular quote reminds me of something a former professor of mine used to say all the time. She said that great writers must always learn the rules, so that they know how to effectively break them. The connection here is that we must have a foundation of knowledge to work with before we can begin to manipulate it to create something new.

R4

The final chapter on Talks to Teachers on Psychology helped make the most profound connections in the story James intended to construct for teachers. Although he touched on it throughout the book, James provided a cumulative directive for teachers: “your task is to build up a character in your pupils; and a character, as I have said often, consists in an organized set of habits of reaction” (p. 90). In more detail, he explained that building character consisted of teaching a student who “takes the whole field into consideration” (p. 88) in complex circumstances. This reminds me of the professional training I receive now to become an ethical psychologist. Although I am being trained with a set of knowledge and skills, I am also learning how to exercise professional judgement. Given the nature of professional psychology, this skill is essential.

The next point in the chapter showcased the importance of the learner in the education process. He suggested that after a teacher’s best efforts “it will probably remain true that the result will depend more on a certain native tone or temper in the pupil’s psychological constitution than on anything else” (p. 89). This was noteworthy because throughout his writing James was careful not to use extreme terms to describe ideas, unless he made sure to include an exception to a rule. However, the strong words of “anything else” only modified by “probably true” stood out in mind. The point here was to make sure teachers understood the limitations of their efforts in educating students, and how important it is to focus their efforts of educating the will of the student.

“To think, in short, is the secret of will, just as it is the secret of memory (p. 91). This quote resonated with me because this idea represents something my father taught be many times throughout my life. He instructed me to avoid believing conventional wisdom, specifically that “hindsight is 20/20”. He constantly told me that in actuality, foresight is 20/20. I will never get that idea out of my head. He explained further that it takes some effort, but it is important to consciously think before you act and therefore produce reliable results over the course in your life. So his view on life is to take responsibility and use your faculties to make decisions and chart a course that you can see even before you take the first step. Just as James (1962), maybe my dad would describe himself as a “free-willist” (p. 93). He is a person who believes in power of the individual to think, plan and build effective habits that lead to a particular character or destiny over time.

After reading the section where James discussed inhibition by repression or negation and inhibition by substitution, I was reminded of a quote I read by Mother Teresa. She said, "I was once asked why I don't participate in anti-war demonstrations. I said that I will never do that, but as soon as you have a pro-peace rally, I'll be there." This is a clear example of inhibition by substitution rather than inhibition or negation. From what I gather, James was conveying the power and strength of being in support of something instead of against something. As he said, “it is clear that in general we ought, whenever we can, to employ the method of inhibition by substitution” and that inhibition by negation “is in an inferior situation in every respect to what he [a person] would be if love of truth and magnanimity possessed him from the outset” (p. 94). Given Mother Teresa’s quote and James’ ideas, I believe there is more power in giving energy to a cause you support, rather than giving energy to a cause you do not support. It is more effective in producing the results you wish to see happen.

Module 1: Implicit Associations

I took the Presidents and Gender-Science tests. Taking the tests was difficult for me, and my brain. I found myself wanting to take the time to get the answers right, and override my initial reactions. As psychologists and scientists, we have often been taught to take a step back, gather information, make observations, and ultimately ask more questions before making decisions or acting. So I found myself fighting the urge to make quick decisions. I assume this could have made my results less valid. In any event, I was not particularly surprised with the results, but the level of intensity associated with them. For instance, the Gender-Science test showed that I highly associated women with liberal arts and men with the sciences. I had a feeling I might think this way, but it was interesting to see how much I did.

The Dateline video on IAT tests caused me to wonder about participants backgrounds, based on the results featured in the segment. Although we (the audience) was privy to the current careers of the individuals tested, I would have liked more information about their families, hometowns and past experiences. I wondered what may have been the difference between someone who associated White with good and Black with bad, regardless of the race of the person. What defining moments, if any, may have shaped their lives in terms of race?

Implicit associations have serious implications for learning. It seems, according to James, that we build upon our old associations to learn new things. Moreover, these old associations are continuously reinforced in our minds. In terms of learning, James wrote, “whatever appears in the mind must be introduced; and when introduced, it is as the associate of something already there" (James, 1962, p. 59). James said that education is "the organization of acquired habits of conduct and tendencies to behavior" (James, 1962, p. 15). Therefore, the process of learning is all about associations and connections: they serve as the organizing force in education. This fact makes me wonder if striving for objectivity is futile. Even our cues are many and diversified, as James suggested for teachers to encourage, the fact is that our society and especially family lives play a large part in these cues. The more a cue is introduced and reinforced by society, the less likely a person will be able to resist them, based on sheer numbers. In my mind society is as much of a teacher as the classroom teacher is. Therefore the real process of learning and associations depends on how a student's time and attention is spent over many years.

The new information we take in is connected to our old associations in our memory and habits of thinking. Just as James suggested, “our mind is essentially an associating machine” and memory is “explained as a result of the association of ideas” (James, 1962, p. 58). Because of this, it is probably very difficult to change these associations, once set in our minds.

R3

William James' work was presumably revolutionary for the time period. As I read the pages in this chapters, I thought of several psychological theories that were almost exactly in line with James' thoughts. It made me want to reexamine what I knew and where that knowledge originated. For example, James wrote about different levels of development in childhood which seem to mirror the work of Piaget. In addition, many parts of chapters 10-14 deal with specific aspects of behaviorism. So my question is: Did James ignite interest in these theories? Did he ever develop these more fully before other theorists?

One of the main ideas I took away from chapter 12 was the idea of differentiated instruction. This idea was summed up well, as "the same thing recurring on different days, in different contexts, read, recited on, referred to again and again, related to other things and reviewed, gets well wrought into mental structure" (James, 1899/1962, p. 64). He went even further to explain that "this principle of multiplying channels and varying associations and appeals is important, not only for teaching pupils but for teaching them to understand. It runs, in fact, through the whole teaching art" (James, 1899/1962, p. 68). Both of these passages reminded me of my favorite teacher, who ignited my interest and passion in English in high school. Ms. McCabe was an excellent teacher who understood this principle well. She offered visual, auditory, and other perceptual styles of teaching to make sure lessons were initially accessible and reinforced. She also focused on vocabulary as the basis for most every lesson. One specific example that really stood out is how she acted out the Tell-Tale Heart. Although we read the text independently, she performed it in front of our class, including sound effects and visuals. The passion that she showed was completely unlike any other teacher I had. To this day, things I learned in her class have stayed with me and helped to form a foundation for my writing and love of reading. Her passion for the subject matter was contagious. As James said, "in almost any subject the passion of the subject will save you" (James, 1899/1962, p. 67). In my case, her passion for teaching, saved my learning and love for the subject.

"The old in the new is what claims the attention, -- the old with a slightly new turn" (James, 1899/1962, p. 54). This quote struck me when I first read it because it clearly resonated with me. Just as James mentioned fashion along with this quote, I thought of an interesting documentary I saw on the creative director behind Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld. In this, he described how Chanel is a classic brand with distinct features, yet the challenge each season is to create a new or fresh perspective, while enhancing the classic brand.