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THE S‐R ISSUE: ITS STATUS IN BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS AND IN DONAHOE AND PALMER'S LEARNING AND COMPLEX BEHAVIOR
Author(s) -
Donahoe John W.,
Palmer David C.,
Burgos José E.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
journal of the experimental analysis of behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.75
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1938-3711
pISSN - 0022-5002
DOI - 10.1901/jeab.1997.67-193
Subject(s) - reinforcement , respondent , psychology , moment (physics) , operant conditioning , argument (complex analysis) , control (management) , cognitive psychology , reinforcement learning , focus (optics) , social psychology , epistemology , cognitive science , artificial intelligence , computer science , law , philosophy , biochemistry , classical mechanics , optics , chemistry , physics , political science
The central focus of this essay is whether the effect of reinforcement is best viewed as the strengthening of responding or the strengthening of the environmental control of responding. We make the argument that adherence to Skinner's goal of achieving a moment‐to‐moment analysis of behavior compels acceptance of the latter view. Moreover, a thoroughgoing commitment to a moment‐to‐moment analysis undermines the fundamental distinction between the conditioning processes instantiated by operant and respondent contingencies while buttressing the crucially important differences in their cumulative outcomes. Computer simulations informed by experimental analyses of behavior and neuroscience are used to illustrate these points.