Predictive Learning and Human Potential

Mostly Nurture: The Role of Learning in Fulfilling One’s Potential

Psychology studies how heredity (nature) and experience (nurture) interact to influence behavior. In the previous chapter, we related Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs to very different human conditions. Whether we are growing up in the rain forest or in a technologically-enhanced urban setting, the bottom of the pyramid remains the same. We need to eat and drink and require protection from the elements. Deprivation of food or water will result in our becoming more active as we search for the needed substance. Unpleasant weather conditions will result in our becoming more active to remove the source of unpleasantness. Our senses enable us to detect appetitive and aversive stimuli in our internal and external environments. Our physical structure enables us to move, grasp, and manipulate objects. Our nervous system connects our sensory and motor systems.

Human beings inherit some sensory-motor connections enhancing the likelihood of our survival. Infants inherit two reflexes that increase the likelihood of successful nursing. A reflex is a simple inherited behavior characteristic of the members of a species. Human infants inherit rooting and sucking reflexes. If a nipple is placed in the corner of an infant’s mouth it will center the nipple (i.e., root). The infant will then suck on a nipple in the center of its mouth. Birth mothers’ breasts fill with milk and swell resulting in discomfort that is relieved by an infant’s nursing. This increases the likelihood that the mother will attempt to nurse the infant. This happy combination of inherited characteristics has enabled human infants to survive throughout the millennia.

Human mothers eventually stop producing milk and human infants eventually require additional nutrients in order to survive. This creates the need to identify and locate sources of nutrients. Humans started out in Africa and have migrated to practically every location on Earth’s land. Given the variability in types of food and their locations, it would be impossible for humans to depend upon the very slow biological evolution process to identify and locate nutrients. We cannot inherit reflexes to address all the possibilities. Another more rapid and flexible type of adaptive sensory-motor mechanism must be involved.

We described foraging trips conducted by members of the Nukak tribe. Foods consisted of fruits and honey and small wild animals including fish and birds. The Nukak changed locations every few days in order to locate new food supplies. Where they settled and looked changed with the seasons. Hunting and gathering included the use of tools assembled with natural elements. Clearly, prior experience (i.e., nurture) affected their behavior. This is what we mean by learning.

Operational Definition of Learning

All sciences rely upon operational definitions in order to establish a degree of consistency in the use of terminology. Operational definitions describe the procedures used to measure the particular term. One does not directly observe learning. It has to be inferred from observations of behavior. The operational definition describes how one objectively determines whether a behavioral observation is an example of the process.

The most common operational definitions of learning are variations on the one provided in Kimble’s revision of Hilgard and Marquis’ Conditioning and Learning (1961). According to Kimble, “Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior potentiality which occurs as a result of practice.” Let us parse this definition. First, it should be noted that learning is inferred only when we see a change in behavior resulting from appropriate experience. Excluded are other possible causes of behavior change including maturation, which is non-experiential. Fatigue and drugs do not produce “relatively permanent” changes. Kimble includes the word “potentiality” after behavior to emphasize the fact that even if learning has occurred, this does not guarantee a corresponding behavior change.

The fact that prior learning may not be reflected in performance is based on a classic experiment conducted by Tolman and Honzik in 1930. They studied laboratory rats under conditions resembling the hunting and gathering of the Nukak. Three different groups were placed in a complex maze and the number of errors (i.e., wrong turns) was recorded (see Figure 5.1).

Figure 5.1. Maze used in Tolman and Honzik’s 1930 study with rats (Jensen, 2006).

A Hungry No Reward (HNR) group was simply placed in the start box and removed from the maze after reaching the end. A Hungry Reward (HR) group received food at the end and was permitted to eat prior to being removed. The third, No Reward -> Reward group, began the same as the No Reward group and was switched to being treated the same as the Regular Reward group after ten days (HNR-R).

Before considering the third group, let us see how the results for the first two enable us to conclude that learning occurred in the Regular Reward group (see Figure 5.2). The HNR and HR groups were treated the same with one exception, the second received food at the end. Therefore, if the results differ, we can conclude that it must be this experience that made the difference. The average number of errors did not drop significantly below chance performance over the course of the experiment for the HNR group. In comparison, the HR group demonstrated a steady and substantial decline in errors, exactly the pattern one would expect if learning were occurring. This decline in errors as the result of experience fulfills the operational definition of learning. It would not be possible to conclude that the experience made a difference in the HR group without the HNR control condition. One could argue that something else was responsible for the decline taking place (e.g., a change in the lab conditions, maturation, etc.).

Figure 5.2. Results from Tolman & Honzik’s study (Jensen, 2006).

It is possible to conclude that the rewarded group learned the maze based upon a comparison of its results with the no reward group. A related, seemingly logical conclusion would be that the group not receiving food, failed to learn the maze. Tolman and Honzik’s third group was like the no reward Group for the first 10 days and like the rewarded group for the remaining days. This group enabled the test of whether or not the absence of food resulted in the absence of learning. It is important to understand the rationale for this condition. If the HNR-R group had not learned anything about the maze on the first 10 days, the number of errors would be expected to gradually decline from there on, the pattern demonstrated from the start by the HR condition. However, if the HNR-R group had been learning the maze, a more dramatic decline in errors would be expected once the food was introduced. This dramatic decline in errors is indeed what occurred, leading to the conclusion that the rats had learned the maze despite the fact that it was not evident in their behavior. This result has been described as “latent learning” (i.e., learning that is not reflected in performance). Learning is but one of several factors affecting how an individual behaves. Tolman and Honzik’s results imply that incentive motivation (food in this instance) was necessary in order for the animals to display what they had learned. Thus, we see the need to include the word “potentiality” in the operational definition of learning. During the first 10 trials, the rats clearly acquired the potential to negotiate the maze. These results may remind you of those cited in Chapter 1 with young children. You may recall that some scored higher on IQ tests when they received extrinsic rewards for correct answers. Just like Tolman and Honzik’s rats, they had the potential to perform better but needed an incentive.

Learning as an Adaptive Process

The operational definition tells us how to measure learning but does not tell us what is learned or why it is important. I attempted to achieve this by defining learning as an adaptive processwhereby individuals acquire the ability to predict and control the environment (Levy, 2013). There is nothing the Nukak can do to cause or stop it from raining. Over time, however, they may be able to use environmental cues such as dark skies or perhaps even cues related to the passage of time to predict the occurrence of rain. The Nukak can control the likelihood of discovering food by exploring their environment. They can obtain fruit from trees by reaching for and grasping it. The abilities to predict rain and obtain food certainly increase the likelihood of survival for the Nukak. That is, these abilities are adaptive.

The adaptive learning definition enables us to appreciate why it is necessary to turn our attention to two famous researchers whose contributions have enormously influenced the study of learning for decades, Ivan Pavlov and B. F. Skinner. Pavlov’s procedures, called classical conditioning, investigated learning under circumstances where it was possible to predict events but not control them. Skinner investigated learning under circumstances where control was possible. These two researchers created apparatuses and experimental procedures to study the details of adaptive learning. They identified many important learning phenomena and introduced technical vocabularies which have stood the test of time. We will describe Pavlov’s contributions to the study of predictive learning in this chapter and Skinner’s contributions to the study of control learning next chapter.

Figure 5.3 Ivan Pavlov.

One cannot overstate the significance of the contributions Ivan Pavlov made to the study of predictive learning. Pavlov introduced a level of rigor and precision of measurement of both the independent and dependent variables in animal learning that did not exist at the time. In 1904, Pavlov, a physiologist, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his research investigating the digestive process in dogs. He became fascinated by an observation he and his laboratory assistants made while conducting this research. One of the digestive processes they studied was salivation. Saliva contains enzymes that initiate the process of breaking down what one eats into basic nutrients required to fuel and repair the body. The subjects frequently started salivating before being placed in the experimental apparatus. Pavlov described this salivation as a “psychic secretion” since it was not being directly elicited by food. He considered the phenomenon so important that within a few years he abandoned his research program in digestion and dedicated the rest of his professional career to systematically studying the details of this basic learning process.

This is a wonderful example of what has been described as serendipity, or accidental discovery in science. Dogs have been domesticated for thousands of years. A countless number of people probably observed dogs appearing to predict (i.e., anticipate or expect) food. Pavlov, however, recognized the significance of the observation as an example of a fundamental learning process. We often think of science as requiring new observations. Pavlov’s “discovery” of the classical conditioning process is an example of how this is not necessarily the case. One of the characteristics of an exceptional scientist is to recognize the significance of commonly occurring observations.

We will now review the apparatus, methods, and terminology Pavlov developed for studying predictive learning. He adapted an experimental apparatus designed for one scientific field of inquiry (the physiology of digestion) to an entirely different field (adaptive learning). Pavlov made a small surgical incision in the dog’s cheek and implanted a tube permitting saliva to be directly collected in a graduated test tube. The amount of saliva could then be accurately measured and graphed as depicted in figure 5.3. Predictive learning was inferred when salivation occurred to a previously neutral stimulus as the result of appropriate experience.

Animals inherit the tendency to make simple responses (i.e., reflexes) to specific types of stimulation. Pavlov’s salivation research was based on the reflexive eliciting of salivation by food (e.g., meat powder). This research was adapted to the study of predictive learning by including a neutral stimulus. By neutral, we simply mean that this stimulus did not initially elicit any behavior related to food. Pavlov demonstrated that if a neutral stimulus preceded a biologically significant stimulus on several occasions, one would see a new response occurring to the previously neutral stimulus. Figure 5.4 uses the most popular translation of Pavlov’s (who wrote in Russian) terminology. The reflexive behavior was referred to as the unconditioned response (UR). The stimulus that reflexively elicited this response was referred to as the unconditioned stimulus (US). A novel stimulus, by virtue of being paired in a predictive relationship with the food (US), acquires the capacity to elicit a food-related, conditioned response (CR). Once acquiring this capacity, the novel stimulus is considered a conditioned stimulus (CS).

Figure 5.4 Pavlov’s Classical Conditioning Procedures and Terminology.

BasicPredictive Learning Phenomena

In Chapter 1, we discussed the assumption of determinism as it applied to the discipline of psychology. If predictive learning is a lawful process, controlled empirical investigation has the potential to establish reliable cause-effect relationships. We will see this is the case as we review several basic classical conditioning phenomena. Many of these phenomena were discovered and named by Pavlov himself, starting with the acquisition process described above.

Acquisition

The term acquisition refers to a procedure or process whereby one stimulus is presented in a predictive relationship with another stimulus. Predictive learning (classical conditioning) is inferred from the occurrence of a new response to the first stimulus. Keeping in mind that mentalistic terms are inferences based upon behavioral observations, it is as though the individual learns to predict if this happens, then that happens.

Extinction

The term extinction refers to a procedure or process whereby a previously established predictive stimulus is no longer followed by the second stimulus. This typically results in a weakening in the strength of the prior learned response. It is as though the individual learns what used to happen, doesn’t happen anymore. Extinction is commonly misused as a term describing only the result of the procedure or process. That is, it is often used like the term schizophrenia, which is defined exclusively on the dependent variable (symptom) side. Extinction is actually more like influenza, in that it is a true explanation standing for the relationship between a specific independent variable (the procedure) and dependent variable (the change in behavior).

Spontaneous Recovery

The term spontaneous recovery refers to an increase in the strength of the prior learned response after an extended time period lapses between extinction trials. The individual acts as though, perhaps what used to happen, still does.

Is Extinction Unlearning or Inhibitory Learning?

Pavlov was an excellent example of someone whom today would be considered a behavioral neuroscientist. In fact, the full title of his classic book (1927) is Conditioned reflexes: An investigation of the physiological activity of the cerebral cortex. Behavioral neuroscientists study behavior in order to infer underlying brain mechanisms. Thus, Pavlov did not perceive himself as converting from a physiologist into a psychologist when he abandoned his study of digestion to explore the intricacies of classical conditioning. As implied by his “psychic secretion” metaphor, he believed he was continuing to study physiology, turning his attention from studying the digestive system to studying the brain.

One question of interest to Pavlov was the nature of the extinction process. Pavlov assumed that acquisition produced a connection between a sensory neuron representing the conditioned stimulus and a motor neuron eliciting salivation. The reduction in responding resulting from the extinction procedure could result from either breaking this bond (i.e., unlearning) or counteracting it with a competing response. The fact that spontaneous recovery occurs indicates that the bond is not broken during the extinction process. Extinction must involve learning an inhibitory response counteracting the conditioned response. The individual appears to learns that one stimulus no longer predicts another. The conclusion that extinction does not permanently eliminate a previously learned association has important practical and clinical implications. It means that someone who has received treatment for a problem and improved is not the same as a person never requiring treatment in the first place (c.f., Bouton, 2000; Bouton and Nelson, 1998). For example, even if someone has quit smoking, there is a greater likelihood of that person’s relapsing than a non-smoker’s acquiring the habit.

Stimulus Generalization and Discrimination

Just imagine if you had to learn to make the same response over and over again to each new situation. Fortunately, this is often not necessary. Stimulus generalization refers to the fact that a previously acquired response will occur in the presence of stimuli other than the original one, the likelihood being a function of the degree of similarity. In Figure 5.5, we see that a response learned to a 500 Hz frequency tone occurs to other stimuli, the percentage of times depending upon how close the frequency is to 500. It is as though the individual predicts what happens after one event will happen after similar events.

Figure 5.5 Stimulus generalization gradient.

The fact that generalization occurs, significantly increases the efficiency of individual learning experiences. However, there are usually limits on the appropriateness of making the same response in different situations. For example, new fathers often beam the first time they hear their infant say “dada.” They are less thrilled when they hear their child call the mailman “dada!” Usually it is necessary to conduct additional teaching so that the child only says “dada” in the presence of the father. Stimulus discrimination occurs when one stimulus (the S+, e.g., a tone or the father) is predictive of a second stimulus (e.g., food or the word “dada”) but a different stimulus (the S-, e.g., a light or the mailman) is never followed by that second stimulus. Eventually the individual responds to the S+ (tone or father) and not to the S- (light or mailman) as though learning if this happens then that happens, but if this other thing happens that does not happen.

Pavlov’s Stimulus Substitution Model of Classical Conditioning

For most of the 20th century, Pavlov’s originally proposed stimulus substitution model of classical conditioning was widely accepted. Pavlov viewed conditioning as a mechanistic (automatic) result of pairing neutral and biologically significant events in time. He believed that the established conditioned stimulus became a substitute for the original unconditioned stimulus. There were four assumptions underlying this stimulus substitution model:

• Classical conditioning requires a biologically significant stimulus (i.e., US)
• Temporal contiguity between a neutral stimulus and unconditioned stimulus is necessary for the neutral stimulus to become a conditioned stimulus
• Temporal contiguity between a neutral stimulus and unconditioned stimulus is sufficient for the neutral stimulus to become a conditioned stimulus
• The conditioned response will always resemble if not be identical to the unconditioned response.

Does Classical Conditioning Require a Biologically Significant Stimulus?

Higher-order conditioning is a procedure or process whereby a previously neutral stimulus is presented in a predictive relationship with a second, previously established, predictive stimulus. Learning is inferred from the occurrence of a new response in the presence of this previously neutral stimulus. For example, after pairing the tone with food, it is possible to place the tone in the position of the US by presenting a light immediately before it occurs. Research indicates that a conditioned response (salivation in this case) will occur to the light even though it was not paired with a biologically significant stimulus (food).

Is Temporal Contiguity Necessary for Conditioning?

Human beings have speculated about the learning process since at least the time of the early Greek philosophers. Aristotle, in the fourth century B.C., proposed three laws of association that he believed applied to human thought and memory. The law of contiguity stated that objects or events occurring close in time (temporal contiguity) or space (spatial contiguity) became associated. The law of similarity stated that we tended to associate objects or events having features in common such that observing one event will prompt recall of similar events. The law of frequency stated that the more often we experienced objects or events, the more likely we would be to remember them. In a sense, Pavlov created a methodology permitting empirical testing of Aristotle’s laws. The law that applies in this section is the law of temporal contiguity. Timing effects, like many variables studied scientifically, lend themselves to parametric studies in which the independent variable consists of different values on a dimension. It has been demonstrated that in human eyelid conditioning in which a light is followed by a puff of air to the eye is strongest when the puff occurs approximately 500 milliseconds (½ -second) after the light. The strength of conditioning at shorter or longer intervals drop off within tenths of a second. Thus, temporal contiguity appears critical in human eyelid conditioning, consistent with Pavlov’s second assumption.

An Exception – Acquired Taste Aversion

Acquired taste aversion is the only apparent exception to the necessity of temporal contiguity in predictive learning (classical conditioning). This exception can be understood as an evolutionary adaptation to protect animals from food poisoning. Just imagine if members of the Nukak got sick after eating a particular food and continued to eat the same substance. There is a good chance the tribe members (and tribe!) would not survive for long. It would be advantageous to avoid foods one ate prior to becoming ill, even if the symptoms did not appear for several minutes or even hours. The phenomenon of acquired taste aversion has been studied extensively. The time intervals used sometimes differ by hours rather than seconds or tenths of seconds. For example, rats were made sick by being exposed to X-rays after drinking sweet water (Smith & Roll, 1967). Rats have a strong preference for sweet water, drinking it approximately 80 per cent of the time when being given a choice with ordinary tap water. If the rat became sick within ½-hour, sweet-water drinking was totally eliminated. With intervals of 1 to 6 hours, it was reduced from 80 to 10 per cent. There was even evidence of an effect after a 24-hour delay! Pavlov’s dogs would not associate a tone with presentation of food an hour later, let alone 24 hours. The acquired aversion to sweet water can be interpreted as either an exception to the law of temporal contiguity or contiguity must be considered on a time scale of different orders of magnitude (hours rather than seconds).

Is Temporal Contiguity Sufficient for Conditioning?

Pavlov believed not only that temporal contiguity between CS and US was necessary for conditioning to occur; he also believed that it was all that is necessary (i.e., that it was sufficient). Rescorla (1966, 1968, 1988) has demonstrated that the correlation between CS and US (i.e., the extent to which the CS predicted the US) was more important then temporal contiguity. For example, if the only time one gets shocked is in the presence of the tone, then the tone correlates with shock (i.e., is predictive of the shock). If one is shocked the same amount whether the tone is present or not, the tone does not correlate with shock (i.e., provides no predictive information). Rescorla demonstrated that despite temporal contiguity between tone and shock in both instances, classical conditioning would be strong in the first case and not occur in the second.

Another example of the lack of predictive learning despite temporal contiguity between two events is provided in a study by Leon Kamin (1969). A blocking group received a tone (CS 1) followed by shock (US) in the first phase and a control group was simply placed in the chamber (see figure 5.13). The groups were identical from then on. During the second phase, a compound stimulus consisting of the light and a tone (CS 2) was followed by shock. During a test phase, each component was presented by itself to determine the extent of conditioning.

In the blocking group, conditioning occurred to the tone and not the light. Conditioning occurred to both elements of the compound in the control group. It is as though the prior experience with the tone resulted in the blocking group subjects not paying attention to the light in the second phase. The light was redundant. It did not provide additional information.

A novel and fun demonstration of blocking in college students involved a computerized video game (Arcediano, Matute, and Miller, 1997). Subjects tried to protect the earth from invasion by Martians with a laser gun (the space bar). Unfortunately, the enterprising Martians had developed an anti-laser shield. If the subject fired when the shield was in place, their laser-gun would be ineffective permitting a bunch of Martians to land and do their mischief. A flashing light preceded implementation of the laser-shield for subjects in the blocking group. A control group did not experience a predictive stimulus for the laser-shield. Subsequently, both groups experienced a compound stimulus consisting of the flashing light and a complex tone. The control group associated the tone with activation of the laser-shield whereas, due to their prior history with the light, the blocking group did not. For them, the tone was redundant.

The blocking procedure demonstrates that temporal contiguity between events, even in a predictive relationship, is not sufficient for learning to occur. In the second phase of the blocking procedure, the compound stimulus precedes the US. According to Pavlov, since both components are contiguous with the US, both should become associated with it and eventually elicit CRs. The combination of Rescorla’s (1966) and Kamin’s (1969) findings lead to the conclusion that learning occurs when individuals obtain new information enabling them to predict events they were unable to previously predict. Kamin suggested that this occurs only when we are surprised. That is, as long as events are proceeding as expected, we do not learn. Once something unexpected occurs, individuals search for relevant information. Many of our activities may be described as “habitual” (Kirsch, Lynn, Vigorito, and Miller, 2004) or “automatic” (Aarts and Dijksterhuis, (2000). We have all had the experience of riding a bike or driving as though we are on “auto pilot.” We are not consciously engaged in steering as long as events are proceeding normally. Once something unexpected occurs we snap to attention and focus on the immediate environmental circumstances. This provides the opportunity to acquire new information. This is a much more active and adaptive understanding of predictive learning than that provided by Pavlov’s stimulus substitution model (see Rescorla, 1988).

Must The Conditioned Response Resemble the Unconditioned Response?

We will now examine the fourth assumption of that model, that the conditioned response always resembles the unconditioned response. Meat powder reflexively elicits salivation and Pavlov observed the same reaction to a conditioned stimulus predictive of meat powder. Puffs of air reflexively elicit eye blinks and taps on the knee elicit knee jerks. The conditioned responses are similar to the unconditioned responses in research involving puffs of air and knee taps as unconditioned stimuli. It is understandable that Pavlov and others believed for so long that the conditioned response must resemble if not be identical to the unconditioned response. However, Zener (1937) took movies of dogs undergoing salivary conditioning and disagreed with this conclusion. He observed, “Despite Pavlov’s assertions, the dog does not appear to be eating an imaginary food. It is a different response, anthropomorphically describable as looking for, expecting, the fall of food with a readiness to perform the eating behavior which will occur when the food falls.”

Kimble (1961, p. 54) offered the possible interpretation that “the function of the conditioned response is to prepare the organism for the occurrence of the unconditioned stimulus.” Research by Shepard Siegel (1975, 1977, 1984, 2005) has swung the pendulum toward widespread acceptance of this interpretation of the nature of the conditioned response. Siegel’s research involved administration of a drug as the unconditioned stimulus. For example, rats were injected with insulin in the presence of a novel stimulus (Siegel, 1975). Insulin is a drug that lowers blood sugar level and is often used to treat diabetics. Eventually, a conditioned response was developed to the novel stimulus (now a CS). However, rather than lowering blood sugar level, the blood sugar level increased to the CS. Siegel described this increase as a compensatory response in preparation for the effect of insulin. He argued that it was similar to other homeostatic mechanisms designed to maintain optimal levels of biological processes (e.g., temperature, white blood cell count, fluid levels, etc.). Similar compensatory responses have been demonstrated with morphine, a drug having analgesic properties (Siegel, 1977) and with caffeine (Siegel, 2005). Siegel (2008) has gone so far as to suggest that “the learning researcher is a homeostasis researcher.”

Siegel has developed a fascinating and influential model of drug tolerance and overdose effects based upon his findings concerning the acquisition of compensatory responses (Siegel, 1983). He suggested that many so-called heroin overdoses are actually the result of the same dosage being consumed differently or in a different environment. Such an effect has actually been demonstrated experimentally with rats. Whereas 34 percent of rats administered a higher than usual dosage of heroin in the same cage died, 64 percent administered the same dosage in a different cage died (Siegel, Hinson, Krank, & McCully, 1982). As an experiment, this study has high internal validity but obviously could not be replicated with human subjects. In a study with high external validity, Siegel interviewed survivors of suspected heroin overdoses. Most insisted they had taken the usual quantity but indicated that they had used a different technique or consumed the drug in a different environment (Siegel, 1984). This combination of high external validity and high internal validity results makes a compelling case for Siegel’s learning model of drug tolerance and overdose effects.

Drug-induced compensatory responses are consistent with the interpretation that the conditioned response constitutes preparation for the unconditioned stimulus. Combining this interpretation with the conclusions reached regarding the necessity of predictiveness for classical conditioning to occur leads to the following alternative to Pavlov’s stimulus substitution model: Classical conditioning is an adaptive process whereby individuals acquire the ability to predict future events and prepare for their occurrence.

Control Learning and Human Potential

Just as predictive learning had a pioneer at the turn of the 20th century in Ivan Pavlov, control learning had its own in Edward Thorndike. Whereas Pavlov would probably be considered a behavioral neuroscientist today, Thorndike would most likely be considered a comparative psychologist. He studied several different species of animals including chicks, cats, and dogs and published his doctoral dissertation (1898) as well as a book (1911) entitled Animal Intelligence.

Figure 5.6 Thorndike’s puzzle box.

Thorndike created mazes and puzzle boxes for use with a variety of species, including fishes, cats, dogs, and chimpanzees (Imada and Imada, 1983). Figure 5.17 provides a sketch of a cat in a puzzle box that could be rigged up in a variety of ways. A sequence of responses was required in order to open the door leading to visible food (e.g., pulling a string, pressing a latch, etc.). A reduction in the amount of time taken to open the door indicated that control learning had occurred.

Figure 5.7 B. F. Skinner.

B.F. Skinner (1938) was a second pioneer in the study of control learning. Similar to Pavlov and Thorndike, he developed an iconic apparatus (see Figure 5.8), the operant chamber, more popularly referred to as a Skinner box. In predictive learning, there is usually a connection between a biologically significant stimulus (e.g., food or shock) and the response being studied (salivation or an increase in heart rate). In control learning, the connection between the response and food is arbitrary. There is not a genetic relationship between completing a maze or pressing a bar and the occurrence of food; there is a genetic relationship between food and salivation.

Skinner boxes have many applications and are in widespread usage not only to study adaptive learning, but also to study perception, motivation, animal cognition, psychophysiology, and psychopharmacology. Perhaps their best known application is the study of different schedules of reinforcement. Unlike a maze or puzzle box, the subject can repeatedly make a response in a Skinner-box. As we will see, the pattern of an individual’s rate of responding is sensitive to the pattern of consequences over an extended period of time.

Figure 5.8 Rat in a Skinner box.

As described above, research in predictive learning involves detecting the correlation between environmental events. Individuals acquire the ability to predict the occurrence or non-occurrence of appetitive or aversive stimuli. According to Skinner (1938), research in control learning (i.e., instrumental or operant conditioning) involves detecting contingencies between one’s behavior and subsequent events (i.e., consequences). This is the same distinction made in Chapter 1 between correlational and experimental research. Correlational research involves systematic observation of patterns of events as they occur in nature. Experimental research requires active manipulation of nature in order to determine if there is an effect. It is as though the entire animal kingdom is comprised of intuitive scientists detecting correlations among events and manipulating the environment in order to determine cause and effect. This capability enables adaptation to our diverse environmental niches. It is impossible for humans to rely upon genetic evolution to adapt to their modern conditions. We are like rats in a Skinner box, evaluating the effects of our behavior in order to adapt.

Skinner’s Contingency Schema

Another major contribution made by Skinner was the schema he developed to organize contingencies between behavior and consequences. He described four basic contingencies based on two considerations: did the consequence involve adding or removing a stimulus; did the consequence result in an increase or decrease in the frequency of the preceding behavior (see Figure 5.19). The four possibilities are: positive reinforcement in which adding a (presumably appetitive) stimulus increases the frequency of behavior; positive punishment in which adding a (presumably aversive) stimulus decreases the frequency of behavior; negative reinforcement in which removing a (presumably aversive) stimulus increases the frequency of behavior; negative punishment in which removing a (presumably appetitive) stimulus decreases the frequency of behavior.

Figure 5.9 Operant conditioning contingencies.

From a person’s perspective, positive reinforcement is what we ordinarily think of as receiving a reward for a particular behavior (If I do this, something good happens). Positive punishment is what we usually think of as punishment (If I do this, something bad happens). Negative reinforcement is often confused with punishment but, by definition, results in an increase in behavior. It is what we usually consider to be escaping or avoiding an aversive event (If I do this, something bad is removed, or If I do this, something bad does not happen). Examples of negative punishment would be response cost (e.g., a fine) or time out (If I do this, something good is removed, or If I do this, something good does not happen). Everyday examples would be: a child is given a star for cleaning up after playing and keeps cleaning up (positive reinforcement); a child is yelled at for teasing and the behavior decreases (positive punishment); a child raises an umbrella after (escape) it starts to rain, or before (avoidance) stepping out into the rain (both negative reinforcement); a child’s allowance is taken away for fighting (response cost), or a child is placed in the corner for fighting while others are permitted to play (time out) and fighting decreases (both negative punishment).

Skinner’s hedonic motivation “carrots and sticks” schema of contingencies between behaviors and consequences is familiar and intuitive. These principles are arguably the most powerful explanatory tools the discipline of psychology has provided for human behavior. They have been applied with a diversity of individuals and groups (e.g., autistic children, schizophrenic adults, normal school children, etc.) in a diversity of settings (e.g., hospitals, schools, industry, etc.) for every conceivable behavior (toilet training, academic performance, wearing seat belts, etc., etc., etc.). We will consider examples of control learning applications later.

Skinner’s control learning schema may be expanded to include predictive learning, thus forming a more comprehensive adaptive learning overview (Levy, 2013). Individuals acquire the ability to predict and control the occurrence and non-occurrence of appetitive and aversive events. This adaptive learning overview provides an intuitively plausible, if simplistic, portrayal of the human condition. Some things feel good (like food) and some things feel bad (like shock). We are constantly trying to maximize feeling good and minimize feeling bad. This requires being able to predict, and where possible control, events in our lives. This is one way of answering the existential question: What’s it all about?

Basic Control Learning Phenomena

Acquisition

Acquisition of a control response is different from acquisition of a predictive response. In predictive learning, two correlated events are independent of the individual’s behavior. In control learning, a specific response is required in order for an event to occur. In predictive learning, the response that is acquired is related to the second event (e.g., a preparatory response such as salivation for food). In control learning, the required response is usually arbitrary. For example, there is no “natural” relationship between bar-pressing and food for a rat or between much of our behavior and its consequences (e.g., using knives and forks when eating). This poses the question, how does the individual “discover” the required behavior?

From an adaptive learning perspective, a Skinner box has much in common with Thorndike’s puzzle box. The animal is in an enclosed space and a specific arbitrary response is required to obtain an appetitive stimulus. Still, the two apparatuses pose different challenges and were used in different ways by the investigators. Thorndike’s cats and dogs could see and smell large portions of food outside the box. The food in the Skinner box is tiny and released from a mechanical device hidden from view. Thorndike was interested in acquisition of a single response and recorded the amount of time it took for it to be acquired. Skinner developed a way to speed up acquisition of the initial response and then recorded how different variables influenced its rate of occurrence.

Thorndike’s and Skinner’s subjects were made hungry by depriving them of food before placing them in the apparatus. Since Thorndike’s animals could see and smell the food outside the puzzle box, they were immediately motivated to determine how to open the door to get out. It usually took about 2 minutes for one of Thorndike’s cats to initially make the necessary response. Unless there is residue of a food pellet in the food magazine in a Skinner box, there is no reason for a rat to engage in food-related behavior. One would need to be extremely patient to wait for a rat to discover that pressing the bar on the wall will result in food being delivered in the food magazine.

In order to speed up this process, the animal usually undergoes magazine training in which food pellets are periodically dropped into the food chamber (magazine). This procedure accomplishes two important objectives: rats have an excellent sense of smell, so they are likely to immediately discover the location of food; there is a distinct click associated with the operation of the food delivery mechanism that can be associated with the availability of food in the magazine. This makes it much easier for the animal to know when food is dispensed. Magazine training is completed when the rat, upon hearing the click, immediately goes to the food. Once magazine training is completed it is possible to use the shaping procedure to “teach” bar pressing. This involves dispensing food after successive approximations to bar pressing. One would first wait until the rat is in the vicinity of the bar before providing food. Then the rat would need to be closer, center itself in front of the bar, lift its paw, touch the bar, and finally press the bar. Common examples of behaviors frequently established through shaping with humans are: tying shoes, toilet training, bike riding, printing, reading, and writing.

In applied settings and the lab, it is possible to accelerate the shaping process by prompting the required behavior. A prompt is any stimulus that increases the likelihood of a desired response. It can be physical, gestural, or verbal. It is often effective to use these in sequence. For example, if we were trying to get a dog to roll over on command, you might start by saying “roll over” followed by physically rolling the dog. Then you might gradually eliminate the physical prompt (referred to as fading), saying “roll over” and using less force. This would be continued until you were no longer touching the dog, but simply gesturing. Imitative prompts, in which the gesture matches the desired response, are particularly common and effective with children (e.g., the game “peek-a-boo”). Getting back to our dog example, eventually, you could use fading on the gesture. Then it would be sufficient to simply say the words “roll over.” The combination of shaping, prompting, and fading is a very powerful teaching strategy for non-verbal individuals. Once words have been acquired for all the necessary components of a skill, it can be taught exclusively through the use of language. For example, “Please clean up your room by putting your toys in the chest and your clothes in the dresser.” Skinner (1986) describes the importance of speech to human accomplishments and considers plausible environmental contingencies favoring the evolutionary progression from physical to gestural to verbal prompts. He emphasizes that “sounds are effective in the dark, around corners, and when listeners are not looking.” In the following chapter we will consider speech and language in greater depth.

Learned and Unlearned Appetitive and Aversive Stimuli

We share with the rest of the animal kingdom the need to eat and survive long enough to reproduce if our species is to continue. Similar to the distinction made in the previous chapter between primary and secondary drives, and Pavlov’s distinction between unconditioned stimuli (biologically significant events) and conditioned stimuli, Skinner differentiated between unconditioned reinforcers (and punishers) and conditioned reinforcers (and punishers). Things related to survival such as food, water, sexual stimulation, removal of pain, and temperature regulation are reinforcing as the result of heredity. We do not need to learn to “want” to eat, although we need to learn what to eat. However, what clearly differentiates the human condition from that of other animals, and our lives from the lives of the Nukak, is the number and nature of our conditioned (learned) reinforcers and punishers.

Early in infancy, children see smiles and hear words paired with appetitive events (e.g., nursing). We saw earlier how this would lead to visual and auditory stimuli acquiring meaning. These same pairings will result in the previously neutral stimuli becoming conditioned reinforcers. That is, children growing up in the Colombian rainforest or cities in the industrialized world will increase behaviors followed by smiles and pleasant sounds. The lives of children growing up in these enormously different environments will immediately diverge. Even the feeding experience will be different, with the Nukak child being nursed under changing, sometimes dangerous, and uncomfortable conditions while the developed world child is nursed or receives formula under consistent, relatively safe, and comfortable conditions.

In Chapter 1, we considered how important caring what grade one receives is to success in school. Grades became powerful reinforcers that played a large role in your life, but not the life of a Nukak child. Grades and money are examples of generalized reinforcers. They are paired with or exchangeable for a variety of other extrinsic and social reinforcers. Grades probably have been paired with praise and perhaps extrinsic rewards as you grew up. They also provide information (feedback) concerning how well you are mastering material. Your country’s economy is a gigantic example of the application of generalized reinforcement.

It was previously mentioned that low-performing elementary-school students that receive tangible rewards after correct answers, score higher on IQ tests than students simply instructed to do their best (Edlund, 1972; Clingman & Fowler, 1976). High-performing students do not demonstrate this difference. These findings were related to Tolman and Honzik’s (1930) latent learning study described previously. Obviously, the low-performing students had the potential to perform better on the tests but were not sufficiently motivated by the instructions. Without steps taken to address this motivational difference, it is likely that these students will fall further and further behind and not have the same educational and career opportunities as those who are taught when they are young to always do their best in school.

Parents can play an enormous role in helping their children acquire the necessary attitudes and skills to succeed in and out of school. It is not necessary to provide extrinsic rewards for performance, although such procedures definitely work when administered appropriately. We can use language and reasoning to provide valuable lessons such as “You get out of life what you put into it” and “Anything worth doing is worth doing well.” Doing well in school, including earning good grades, is one application of these more generic guiding principles. In chapter 8, we will review Kohlberg’s model of moral development and discuss the importance of language as a vehicle to provide reasons for desired behavior.

Discriminative Stimuli and Warning Stimuli

The applied Skinnerian operant conditioning literature (sometimes called Applied Behavior Analysis or ABA, not to be confused with the reversal design with the same acronym), often refers to the ABCs: antecedents, behaviors, and consequences. Adaptation usually requires not only learning what to do, but under what conditions (i.e., the antecedents) to do it. The very same behavior may have different consequences in different situations. For example, whereas your friends may pat you on the back and cheer as you jump up and down at a ball game, reactions will most likely be different if you behave in the same way at the library. A discriminative stimulus signals that a particular behavior will be reinforced (i.e., followed by an appetitive stimulus), whereas a warning stimulus signals that a particular behavior will be punished (followed by an aversive event). In the example above, the ball park is a discriminative stimulus for jumping up and down whereas the library is a warning stimulus for the same behavior.

Stimulus-Response Chains

Note that these are the same procedures that establish stimuli as conditioned reinforcers and punishers. Thus, the same stimulus may have more than one function. This is most apparent in a stimulus-response chain; a sequence of behaviors in which each response alters the environment producing the discriminative stimulus for the next response.

Our daily routines consist of many stimulus-response chains. For example:

• Using the phone: sight of phone – pick up receiver; if dial tone – dial, if busy signal – hang up; ring – wait; sound of voice – respond.
• Driving a car: sight of seat – sit; sight of keyhole – insert key; feel of key in ignition – turn key; sound of engine – put car in gear; feel of engaged gear – put foot on accelerator.

We can also describe larger units of behavior extending over longer time intervals as consisting of stimulus-response chains. For example:

• Graduating college: Studying this book – doing well on exam; doing well on all exams and assignments – getting good course grade; getting good grades in required and elective courses – graduating.
• Getting into college: preparing for kindergarten; passing kindergarten; passing 1st grade, etc.
• Life: getting fed; getting through school; getting a job; etc., etc.

Whew, that was fast! If only it were so simple!

Adaptive Learning Applications

Predictive Learning Applications

Classical Conditioning of Emotions

John Watson and Rosalie Rayner (1920) famously (some would say infamously) applied classical conditioning procedures to establish a fear in a young child. Their demonstration was a reaction to an influential case study published by Sigmund Freud (1955, originally published in 1909) concerning a young boy called Little Hans. Freud, based upon correspondence with the 5-year old’s father, concluded that the child’s fear of horses was the result of the psychodynamic defense mechanism of projection. He thought horses, wearing black blinders and having black snouts, symbolically represented the father who wore black-rimmed glasses and had a mustache. Freud interpreted the fear as being the result of an unconscious Oedipal conflict despite the knowledge that Little Hans witnessed a violent accident involving a horse soon before the onset of the fear.

Watson and Rayner read this case history and considered it enormously speculative and unconvincing (Agras, 1985). They felt that Pavlov’s research in classical conditioning provided principles that could more plausibly account for the onset of Little Han’s fear. They set out to test his hypothesis with the 11-month old son of a wet nurse working in the hospital where Watson was conducting research with white rats. The boy is frequently facetiously referred to as Little Albert, after the subject of Freud’s case history.

Albert initially demonstrated no fear and actually approached the white rat. Watson had an interest in child development and eventually published a successful book on this subject (Watson, 1928). He knew that infants innately feared very few things. Among them were painful stimuli, a sudden loss of support, and a startling noise. Watson and Rayner struck a steel rod (the US) from behind Albert while he was with the rat (the CS) 7 times. This was sufficient to result in Albert’s crying and withdrawing (CRs) from the rat when it was subsequently presented. It was also shown that Albert’s fear generalized to other objects including a rabbit, a fur coat and a Santa Claus mask.

Desensitization Procedures

Mary Jones, one of Watson’s students, had the opportunity to undo a young child’s extreme fear of rabbits (Jones, 1924). Peter was fed his favorite food while the rabbit was gradually brought closer and closer to him. Eventually, he was able to hold the rabbit on his lap and play with it. This was an example of the combined use of desensitization and counter-conditioning procedures. The gradual increase in the intensity of the feared stimulus constituted the desensitization component. This procedure was designed to extinguish fear by permitting it to occur in mild form with no distressing following event. Feeding the child in the presence of the feared stimulus constituted counter-conditioning of the fear response by pairing the rabbit with a powerful appetitive stimulus that should elicit a competing response to fear. Direct in vivo (i.e., in the actual situation) desensitization is a very effective technique for addressing anxiety disorders, including shyness and social phobias (Donohue, Van Hasselt, & Hersen, 1994), public speaking anxiety (Newman, Hofmann, Trabeert, Roth, & Taylor, 1994), and even panic attacks (Clum, Clum, & Surls, 1993).

Sometimes, direct in vivo treatment of an anxiety disorder is either not possible (e.g., fear of extremely rare or dangerous events) or inconvenient (e.g., the fear occurs in difficult-to-reach or under difficult-to-control circumstances). In such instances it is possible to administer systematic desensitization (Wolpe, 1958) where the person imagines the fearful event under controlled conditions (e.g., the therapist’s office). Usually the person is taught to relax as a competing response while progressing through a hierarchy (i.e., ordered list) of realistic situations. Sometimes there is an underlying dimension that can serve as the basis for the hierarchy. Jones used distance from the rabbit when working with Peter. One could use steps on a ladder to treat a fear of height. Time from an aversive event can sometimes be used to structure the hierarchy. For example, someone who is afraid of flying might be asked to relax while thinking of planning a vacation for the following year involving flight, followed by ordering tickets 6 months in advance, picking out clothes, packing for the trip, etc. Imaginal systematic desensitization has been found effective for a variety of problems including severe test anxiety (Wolpe & Lazarus, 1966), fear of humiliating jealousy (Ventis, 1973), and anger management (Smith 1973, 577-578). A review of the systematic desensitization literature concluded that “for the first time in the history of psychological treatments, a specific treatment reliably produced measurable benefits for clients across a wide range of distressing problems in which anxiety was of fundamental importance” (Paul, 1969).

In recent years, virtual reality technology (see Figure 5.15) has been used to treat fears of height (Coelho, Waters, Hine, & Wallis, 2009) and flying (Wiederhold, Gevirtz, & Spira, 2001), in addition to other fears (Gorrindo, & James, 2009, Wiederhold, & Wiederhold, 2005). In one case study (Tworus, Szymanska, & Llnicki, 2010), a soldier wounded three times in battle was successfully treated for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The use of virtual reality is especially valuable in such instances where people have difficulty visualizing scenes and using imaginal desensitization techniques. Later, when we review control learning applications, we will again see how developing technologies enable and enhance treatment of difficult personal and social problems.

Classical Conditioning of Word Meaning

Sticks and stones may break your bones

But words will never hurt you

We all understand that in a sense this old saying is true. We also recognize that words can inflict pain greater than that inflicted by sticks and stones. How do words acquire such power? Pavlov (1928) believed that words, through classical conditioning, acquired the capacity to serve as an indirect “second signal system” distinct from direct experience.

Ostensibly, the meaning of many words is established by pairing them with different experiences. That is, the meaning of a word consists of the learned responses to it (most of which cannot be observed) resulting from the context in which the word is learned. For example, if you close your eyes and think of an orange, you can probably “see”, “smell”, and “taste” the imagined orange. Novelists and poets are experts at using words to produce such rich imagery (DeGrandpre, 2000).

There are different types of evidence supporting the classical conditioning model of word meaning. Razran (1939), a bilingual Russian-American, translated and summarized early research from Russian laboratories. He coined the term “semantic generalization” to describe a different type of stimulus generalization than that described above. In one study it was shown that a conditioned response established to a blue light occurred to the word “blue” and vice versa. In these instances, generalization was based on similarity in meaning rather than similarity on a physical dimension. It has also been demonstrated that responses acquired to a word occurred to synonyms (words having the same meaning) but not homophones (words sounding the same), another example of semantic generalization (Foley & Cofer, 1943).

In a series of studies, Arthur and Carolyn Staats and their colleagues experimentally established meaning using classical conditioning procedures (Staats & Staats, 1957, 1959; Staats, Staats, & Crawford, 1962; Staats, Staats, & Heard, 1959, 1961; Staats, Staats, Heard, & Nims, 1959). In one study (Staats, Staats, & Crawford, 1962), subjects were shown a list of words several times, with the word “LARGE” being followed by either a loud sound or shock. This resulted in heightened galvanic skin responses (GSR) and higher ratings of unpleasantness to “LARGE.” It was also shown that the unpleasantness rating was related to the GSR magnitude. These studies provide compelling support for classical conditioning being a basic process for establishing word meaning. In Chapter 6, we will consider the importance of word meaning in our overall discussion of language as an indirect learning procedure.

Known words can be used to establish the meaning of new words through higher-order conditioning. An important example involves using established words to discourage undesirable acts, reducing the need to rely on punishment. Let us say a parent says “No!” before slapping a child on the wrist as the child starts to stick a finger in an electric outlet. The slap should cause the child to withdraw her/his hand. On a later occasion, the parent says “Hot, no!” as the child reaches for a pot on the stove. The initial pairing with a slap on the wrist would result in the word “no” being sufficient to cause the child to withdraw her/his hand before touching the stove. Saying “Hot, no!” could transfer the withdrawal response to the word “hot.” Here we see the power of classical conditioning principles in helping us understand language acquisition, including the use of words to establish meaning. We also see the power of language as a means of protecting a child from the “school of hard knocks” (and shocks, and burns, etc.).

Let us return to the example of a child about to stick her/his hand in an electric outlet. The parent might say “No!” and slap the child on the wrist, producing a withdrawal response. Now it would theoretically be possible to use the word “no” to attach meaning to another word through higher-order conditioning. For example, the child might be reaching for a pot on a stove and the parent could say “Hot, no!” The word “hot” should now elicit a withdrawal response despite never being paired with shock. This would be an example of what Pavlov meant by a second signal system with words substituting for direct experience.

Evaluative Conditioning

Evaluative conditioning is a term applied to the major research area examining how likes and dislikes are established by pairing objects with positive or negative stimuli in a classical conditioning paradigm (Walther, Weil, & Dusing, 2011). Jan De Houwer and his colleagues have summarized more than three decades of research documenting the effectiveness of such procedures in laboratory studies and in applications to social psychology and consumer science (De Houwer, 2007; De Houwer, Thomas, and Baeyens, 2001; Hofmann, De Houwer, Perugini, Baeyens, and Crombez, 2010). Recently, it has been demonstrated that pairing aversive health-related images with fattening foods resulted in their being considered more negatively. Subjects became more likely to choose healthful fruit rather than snack foods (Hollands, Prestwich, and Marteau, 2011). Similar findings were obtained with alcohol and drinking behavior (Houben, Havermans, and Wiers, 2010). A consumer science study demonstrated that college students preferred a pen previously paired with positive images when asked to make a selection (Dempsey, and Mitchell (2010). Celebrity endorsers have been shown to be very effective, particularly when there was an appropriate connection between the endorser and the product (Till, Stanley, and Priluck, 2008). It has even been shown that pairing the word “I” with positive trait words increased self-esteem. College students receiving this experience were not affected by negative feedback regarding their intelligence (Dijksterhuis, 2004). Sexual imagery has been used for years to promote products such as beer and cars (see Figure 5.16).

When we think of adaptive behavior, we ordinarily do not think of emotions or word meaning. Instead, we usually think of these as conditions that motivate or energize the individual to take action. We now turn our attention to control learning, the type of behavior we ordinarily have in mind when we think of adaptation.

Control Learning Applications

Maintenance of Control Learning

We observed that, even after learning has occurred, individuals remain sensitive to environmental correlations and contingencies. Previously-acquired behaviors will stop occurring if the correlation (in the case of predictive learning) or contingency (in the case of control learning) is eliminated. This is the extinction process. There is a need to understand the factors that maintain learned behavior when it is infrequently reinforced which is often the case under naturalistic conditions.

Much of B.F. Skinner’s empirical research demonstrated the effects of different intermittent schedules of reinforcement on the response patterns of pigeons and rats (c.f., Ferster & Skinner, 1957). There are an infinite number of possible intermittent schedules between the extremes of never reinforcing and always reinforcing responses. How can we organize the possibilities in a meaningful way? As he did with control learning contingencies, Skinner developed a useful schema for the categorization of intermittent schedules based on two considerations. The most fundamental distinction was between schedules requiring that a certain number of responses be completed (named ratio schedules) and those requiring only a single response when the opportunity was presented (named interval schedules). I often ask my classes if they can provide “real life” examples of ratio and interval schedules. One astute student preparing to enter the military suggested that officers try to get soldiers to believe that promotions occur according to ratio schedules (i.e., how often one does the right thing) but, in reality, they occur on the basis of interval schedules (i.e., doing the right thing when an officer happened to be observing). Working on a commission basis is a ratio contingency. The more items you sell, the more money you make. Calling one’s friend is an interval contingency. It does not matter how often you try if the person is not home. Only one call is necessary if the friend is available. The other distinction Skinner made is based on whether the response requirement (in ratio schedules) or time requirement (in interval schedules) is constant or not. Contingencies based on constants were called “fixed” and those where the requirements changed were called “variable.” These two distinctions define the four basic reinforcement schedules (see Figure 5.21): fixed ratio (FR), variable ratio (VR), fixed interval (FI), and variable interval (VI).

Contingency

Response Dependent Time Dependent

FR	FI
VR	VI

F = Fixed (constant pattern)

V = Variable (random pattern)

R = Ratio (number of responses)

I = Interval (time till opportunity)

Figure 5.10 Skinner’s Schema of Intermittent Schedules of Reinforcement.

In an FR schedule, reinforcement occurs after a constant number of responses. For example, an individual on an FR 20 schedule would be reinforced after every twentieth response. In comparison, an individual on a VR 20 schedule would be reinforced, on the average, every twentieth response (e.g., 7 times in 140 responses with no pattern). In a fixed interval schedule, the opportunity for reinforcement is available after the passage of a constant amount of time since the previous reinforced response. For example, in an FI 5- minute schedule the individual will be reinforced for the first response occurring after 5 minutes elapse since the previous reinforcement. A VI 5- minute schedule would include different interval lengths averaging 5 minutes between opportunities.

It is possible to describe the behavioral pattern emerging as a function of exposure to an intermittent schedule of reinforcement as an example of control learning. That is, one can consider what constitutes the most effective (i.e., adaptive) pattern of responding to the different contingencies. The most adaptive outcome would result in obtaining food as soon as possible while expending the least amount of effort. Individuals have a degree of control over the frequency and timing of reward in ratio schedules that they do not possess in interval schedules. For example, if a ratio value is 5 (i.e., FR 5) the quicker one responds the sooner the requirement is completed. If an interval value is 5 minutes it does not matter how rapidly or how often one responds during the interval. It must lapse before the next response is reinforced. In contrast, with interval schedules, only one response is required, so lower rates of responding will reduce effort while possibly delaying reinforcement.

Figure 5.11 Characteristic cumulative response patterns for the four basic schedules.

Figure 5.11 shows the characteristic cumulative response patterns produced by each of the four basic schedules. We may consider the optimal response pattern for each of the four basic schedules and compare this with what actually occurs under laboratory conditions. High rates of responding in ratio schedules will result in receiving food as soon as possible and maximizing the amount of food received per session. Therefore, it is not surprising that ratio schedules result in higher response rates than interval schedules. FR schedules result in an “all-or-none” pattern with distinct post-reinforcement pauses related to the ratio value. In contrast, shorter pauses typically occur randomly with large value VR schedules. This difference is due to the predictability of the FR schedule, whereby with experience the individual can develop an expectancy regarding the amount of effort and time it will take to be rewarded. The amount of effort and time required for the next reward is unpredictable with VR schedules; therefore, one does not observe post-reinforcement pauses.

With an FI schedule, it is possible to receive reinforcement as soon and with as little effort as possible by responding once immediately after the required interval has elapsed. For example, in an FI 5 min schedule, responses occurring before the 5 minutes lapse have no effect on delivery of food. If one waits past 5 minutes, reinforcement is delayed. Thus, there is competition between the desires to obtain food as soon as possible and to conserve responses. The cumulative response pattern that emerges under such schedules has been described as the fixed-interval scallop and is a compromise between these two competing motives. There is an extended pause after reinforcement similar to what occurs with the FR schedule since once again there is a predictive interval length between reinforcements . However, unlike the characteristic burst following the pause in FR responding, the FI schedule results in a gradual increase in response rate until responding is occurring consistently when the reward becomes available. This response pattern results in receiving the food as soon as possible and conserving responses. Repetition of the pattern produces the characteristic scalloped cumulative response graph.

With a VI schedule, it is impossible to predict when the next opportunity for reinforcement will occur. Under these conditions, as with the VR schedule, the individual responds at a constant rate. Unlike the VR schedule, the pace is dependent upon the average interval length. As with the FI schedule, the VI pattern represents a compromise between the desires to obtain the reward as soon as possible and to conserve responses. An example might help clarify why the VI schedule works this way. Imagine you have two tickets to a concert and know two friends who would love to go with you. One of them is much chattier than the other. Let us say the chatty friend talks an average of 30 minutes on the phone, while the other averages only about 5 minutes. Assuming you would like to contact one of your friends as soon as possible, you would most likely try the less chatty one first and more often if receiving busy signals for both.

Applications of Control Learning

Learned Industriousness

The biographies of high-achieving individuals often describe them as enormously persistent. They seem to engage in a lot of practice in their area of specialization, be it the arts, sciences, helping professions, business, athletics, etc. Successful individuals persevere, even after many “failures” occur over extended time periods. Legend has it that when Thomas Edison’s wife asked him what he knew after all the time he had spent trying to determine an effective filament for a light bulb he replied “I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work!” Eisenberger (1992) reviewed the animal and human research literatures and coined the term learned industriousness to apply to the combination of persistence, willingness to expend maximum effort, and self-control (e.g., willingness to postpone gratification in the marshmallow test described in Chapter 1). Eisenberger found that improving an individual on any one of these characteristics carried over to the other two. Intermittent schedule effects have implications regarding learned industriousness.

Contingency Management of Substance-Abuse

An adult selling illegal drugs to support an addictive disorder is highly motivated to surreptitiously commit an illegal act. As withdrawal symptoms become increasingly severe, punishment procedures lose their effectiveness. It would be prudent and desirable to enroll the addict in a drug-rehabilitation program involving medically-monitored withdrawal procedures or medical provision of a legal substitute. Ideally, this would be done on a voluntary basis but it could be court-mandated. Contingency management procedures have been used successfully for years to treat substance abusers. In one of the first such studies, vouchers exchangeable for goods and services were rewarded for cocaine-free urine samples, assessed 3 times per week (Higgins, Delaney, Budney, Bickel, Hughes, & Foerg, 1991). Hopefully, successful treatment of the addiction would be sufficient to eliminate the motive for further criminal activity. A contingency management cash-based voucher program for alcohol abstinence has been implemented using combined urine and breath assessment procedures. It resulted in a doubling, from 35% to 69%, of alcohol-free test results (McDonell, Howell, McPherson, Cameron, Srebnik, Roll, and Ries, 2012).

Self-Control: Manipulating “A”s & “C”s to Affect “B”s

Self-control techniques have been described in previous chapters. Perri and Richards (1977) found that college students systematically using behavior-change techniques were more successful than others in regulating their eating, smoking, and studying habits. Findings such as these constitute the empirical basis for the self-control assignments in this book. In this chapter, we discussed the control learning ABCs. Now we will see how it is possible to manipulate the antecedents and consequences of one’s own behaviors in order to change in a desired way. We saw how prompting may be used to speed the acquisition process. A prompt is any stimulus that increases the likelihood of a behavior. People have been shopping from lists and pasting signs to their refrigerators for years. My students believe it rains “Post-it” notes in my office! Sometimes, it may be sufficient to address a behavioral deficit by placing prompts in appropriate locations. For example, you could put up signs or pictures as reminders to clean your room, organize clutter, converse with your children, exercise, etc. Place healthy foods in the front of the refrigerator and pantry so that you see them first. In the instance of behavioral excesses, your objective is to reduce or eliminate prompts (i.e., “triggers”) for your target behavior. Examples would include restricting eating to one location in your home, avoiding situations where you are likely to smoke, eat or drink to excess, etc. Reduce the effectiveness of powerful prompts by keeping them out of sight and/or creating delays in the amount of time required to consume them. For example, fattening foods could be kept in the back of the refrigerator wrapped in several bags.

Throughout this book we stress the human ability to transform the environment. You have the power to structure your surroundings to encourage desirable and discourage undesirable acts. Sometimes adding prompts and eliminating triggers is sufficient to achieve your personal objectives. If this is the case, it will become apparent as you graph your intervention phase data. If manipulating antecedents is insufficient, you can manipulate the consequences of your thoughts, feelings, or overt acts. If you are addressing a behavioral deficit (e.g., you would like to exercise, or study more), you need to identify a convenient and effective reinforcer (i.e., reward, or appetitive stimulus). Straightforward possibilities include money (a powerful generalized reinforcer that can be earned immediately) and favored activities that can be engaged in daily (e.g., pleasure reading, watching TV, listening to music, engaging in on-line activities, playing video games, texting, etc.). Maximize the likelihood of success by starting with minimal requirements and gradually increasing the performance levels required to earn rewards (i.e., use the shaping procedure). For example, you might start out by walking slowly on a treadmill for brief periods of time, gradually increasing the speed and duration of sessions.

After implementing self-control manipulations of antecedents and consequences, it is important to continue to accurately record the target behavior during the intervention phase. If the results are less than satisfactory, it should be determined whether there is an implementation problem (e.g., the reinforcer is too delayed or not powerful enough) or whether it is necessary to change the procedure. The current research literature is the best source for problem-solving strategies. The great majority of my students are quite successful in attaining their self-control project goals. Recently some have taken advantage of developing technologies in their projects. The smart phone is gradually becoming an all purpose “ABC” device. As antecedents, students are using “to do” lists and alarm settings as prompts. They use the note pad to record behavioral observations. Some applications on smart phones and fitness devices enable you to record monitor and record health habits such as the quality of your sleep and the number of calories you are consuming at meals. As a consequence (i.e., reinforcer), you could use access to games or listening to music, possibly on the phone itself.

At the end of Chapter 4, you were asked to create a pie chart consisting of slices representing the percentages of time you spend engaged in different activities (e.g., sleeping, eating, in class, completing homework assignments, working, commuting, and so on). One way of defining self-actualization is to consider how you would modify the slices of your pie (i.e., the number or durations of the different behaviors). An intervention plan manipulating antecedents and consequences could be developed to increase or decrease the amount of time spent in one or more of the activities. If you wished to increase the amount of time you spend on your schoolwork, you could control antecedents by always studying in a quiet private spot without distractions. You could reward yourself (e.g., with 15 minutes of “fun” time) each day you work ten percent more than your average baseline studying time (calculated over the two week period). For example, if you worked on the average an hour a day on your homework (i.e., seven hours per week over the two week period) you would need to work for 66 minutes to earn a daily reward. Once you have been successful in increasing the weekly average by ten percent (to eight hours and ten minutes for a week) you could increase the time required to earn a reward by an additional ten percent. In this way, you would be implementing the shaping procedure until you achieved your final study time objective.

Another way of defining self-actualization is to consider if there are behaviors you would like to increase (i.e., behavioral deficits such as not reading enough pages in your textbooks) or decrease (i.e., behavioral excesses such as number of times you check Facebook) as you strive to achieve your potential and achieve your short- and long-term goals. Many examples of student self-control projects were listed at the end of Chapter 1 along with examples of how they were assessed. The same type of shaping process described above for a duration measure could be applied to amount (e.g., pages completed) or frequency of a behavior. For example, if your baseline data indicated that you read an average of 20 pages per day, you could require completion of 22 pages to earn a daily reward. If you maintain this average for a week you could increase by an additional ten percent and so on. If you find you reach a plateau (i.e., a point at which you are no longer improving) you might keep the increase required at the same level (e.g., two pages) until achieving your goal. Best of luck in your efforts to apply the science of psychology to yourself!

Emotion and Human Potential

Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge.

Plato

The Importance of Emotion and Motivation

Chapter 4 is the third and last chapter in the Mostly Heredity section. In the biological psychology chapter, we emphasized the genetic evolution of the human nervous system, particularly the brain. In the following chapter, we considered how our nervous system transmits and interprets sensory information, relaying it to parts of the body capable of responding. The structure of our sense organs determined the raw sensory information which (with the exception of pain) was integrated and interpreted by the brain. Wundt and the structural psychologists considered sensations, images, and emotions to be the fundamental elements of conscious experience. Aristotle’s five senses (vision, hearing, taste, smell, and touch) respond to stimuli originating outside our bodies. The balance and muscle tension senses respond to stimuli originating from within our bodies. The current chapter addresses the sources of internal stimulation which determine our emotions. This stimulation motivates us to respond to our basic and higher human needs. Something has to make us want to eat, survive, and reproduce. Something must drive us to understand and transform our world and create things of beauty. As was true with respect to human perception, bottom-up and top-down processes are involved. There are biological sub-cortical underpinnings of our emotions and motivations which may then be influenced by higher-level, experientially-influenced cognitive processing.

Instincts as Explanation of Behavior

As described in Chapter 1, psychology studies the how heredity (nature) and experience (nurture) influence the behavior of individual animals, including humans. The early psychologists (Wundt, 1873; James, 1890) attributed much of human behavior, including emotions and motives, to heredity in the form of instincts. McDougall (1908) listed 18 instincts including those related to the bottom of Maslow’s human needs pyramid. Soon others began to expand the list. The term instinct became a pseudo-explanation for practically all behavior. Why do humans create things? Because of the creativity instinct. Why do humans speak? Because of the language instinct, etc., etc. A psychological explanation requires describing the specific genetic and/or experiential variables influencing a specific behavior. It is not sufficient to simply name a new instinct.

Many different definitions of the term instinct exist in dictionaries and textbooks. Combining the basic elements of these, an instinct is an unlearned, complex, stereotyped behavior, characteristic of all the members of a species. The word complex is included to exclude simple reflexes such as rooting and sucking in human infants or eye blinks and knee jerks in adults. Stereotyped behavior appears the same across different individuals within a species. For example, the web building of particular types of spiders, or the nest building of particular types of birds, appear remarkably similar. If we restrict the term instinct to behaviors fitting these criteria, one would be hard pressed to find a single example in adult humans. For example, how does one reconcile a maternal instinct with the fact that some traditional nomadic tribes engage in infanticide when an additional newborn cannot be carried on foraging trips (Diamond, 2012, 177-179). Tragically, in modern times it is not unheard of that a mother abandons or abuses her child. Much complex human behavior is taught in school and is not “unlearned.” Despite these and other strong arguments for abandoning instincts as explanations for complex human behavior (Herrnstein, 1972; Lehrman, 1953), the term persists. For example, the recently proposed “language instinct” (Pinker, 1994) fails to specify the specific human DNA (see Figure 1.2) or parts of the brain (see Figure 2.2) involved in the acquisition of speech or other forms of language (e.g., American Sign Language). The term instinct does not specify, and perhaps denies, the important role experience plays. The language we speak (or read, or write, or sign, etc.) is obviously influenced by where we are born and grow up. In Chapter 6, we will discuss the importance of the learning experiences involved in language acquisition.

Emotion

Darwin followed up The Origin of the Species with two other enormously influential and controversial books; The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex (1871), and The Expression of the emotions in man and animals (1872). These two works placed our understanding of human biology and psychology within the context of the rest of the animal kingdom. The first book distinguished between natural selection based upon inheritance of traits increasing the likelihood of survival and natural selection based on traits increasing the likelihood of mating. If a species were to survive, it was not enough for individuals to eat and avoid predators; some must also reproduce. We will consider the biology and psychology of sex later in this chapter. At this time, we will examine the important role emotions play in enriching our lives and influencing our survival as individuals and a species.

Darwin was a keen observer of nature. He concluded the facial expressions of different individuals reporting the same emotion were similar. He also thought there were similarities in the facial expressions of humans and other animals expressing the same emotion. He reasoned that emotions must be universally adaptive for them to have survived across different species of animals. Evidence in support of Darwin’s belief in the universality of human facial expressions was obtained for the seven different emotions shown in Figure 4.1 (Ekman and Friesen, 1971). Can you guess when the woman in the picture felt happy, sad, contempt, fear, disgust, anger and surprise?

Figure 4.1 Universal facial expressions for seven emotions.

There was great consistency across many literate and non-literate cultures in labeling the emotions shown in photographs depicting these seven emotions. Consistent with Darwin, Ekman (1993) also noted the similarity of the facial expressions of humans and other primates. Evolutionary psychologists have suggested that the universality of facial expressions for different emotions facilitates social learning. For example, a child (or monkey) could learn to fear an object by observing the facial expression of a parent. Ekman has since expanded his list of basic emotions to several others that were not as clearly differentiated with facial expressions. These included amusement, contempt, contentment, embarrassment, excitement, guilt, pride in achievement, relief, satisfaction, sensory pleasure, and shame (Ekman, 1999).

Biology, Thought, Emotion, and Behavior

Since its beginnings, the discipline of psychology has struggled with the relationship between human biology, thought, feeling, and behavior. As described in Chapter 1, human thoughts and feelings are not observable by others. The best we can do to study covert behavior is to obtain self-reports or make inferences based upon observable behavior.

For centuries, philosophers debated the roles played by reason and emotion in human behavior. Plato described the human being as being torn in different directions by two horses! Sigmund Freud, an extremely influential physician (he would currently be considered a psychiatrist), developed an elaborate personality theory based upon observations of his clients (Freud, 1922, 1923). He described the human condition as a conflict between basic needs and drives and the demands of one’s conscience.

Freudian, like Darwinian Theory, was enormously influential and controversial from its inception. The portrayal of the human condition as the struggle between temptation (sometimes portrayed as a devil on one shoulder) and conscience (an angel on the other shoulder) captured the imagination of the public and creative writers. However, the theory was developed and assessed tangentially to the science of psychology. For this reason, there has been confusion regarding how to interpret the theory’s implications or the effectiveness of its applications. To the extent that the theory generates testable hypotheses, it is appropriate to consider the results and implications of the evidence obtained. The Freudian theory of personality will be considered in Chapter 9 and his approach to abnormal psychology and psychotherapy in Chapters 11 and 12.

Traditionally, we consider human behavior to be influenced by emotion, reason, or both. Scherer (2005) listed five components of emotions including: a biological response; cognitive appraisal; motivational arousal; changes in facial and vocal expression; and subjective feeling. The behavioral components in Scherer’s list can be observed and measured, however the cognitive and feeling components cannot. The inferential nature of studying emotions sometimes leads to a “which came first, the chicken or the egg” problem.

Early in the history of psychology, William James made the counter-intuitive proposal that we label our emotions based upon our biological and behavioral reactions to stimuli rather than the other way around. In his words, “we feel sad because we cry, angry because we strike, afraid because we tremble, and not that we cry, strike, nor tremble because we are sorry, angry, or fearful, as the case may be” (James, 1884). This position was also being proposed at the same time by Carl Lange (a Danish psychologist), and since been labeled the “James-Lange theory of emotion.”

Walter Cannon (1927) argued that our emotional reactions occur too quickly and are too similar across different emotions to be the result of biological or behavioral responses. Phillip Bard (1928) obtained biological evidence consistent with this argument. He demonstrated that most sensory, motor, and internal autonomic stimulation first passed through the thalamus prior to higher-level processing in the brain. This suggests that autonomic arousal and our emotional response occur at the same time in reaction to an emotion-eliciting external stimulus. This position is called the “Cannon-Bard theory of emotion.”

In Chapter 11 (Social Psychology), we will describe attribution theory (Kelly, 1967). Here, we consider the two-factor theory of emotion, one of its important applications. This theory proposes that human emotions are based on a combination of bottom-up and top-down processing. The first stage consists of an emotion-eliciting stimulus resulting in a general state of autonomic arousal. The person then examines the environmental circumstances, attributing the arousal to a specific cause. The attribution then determines the label we apply to what we are experiencing. Schachter and Singer (1962) conducted an important experiment evaluating two-factor theory. College students were told they were receiving an injection to test their eyesight. Actually they were injected with epinephrine (adrenaline), a drug causing autonomic arousal. Some students were in the presence of a confederate (i.e., a person involved in the experimental manipulation) who acted in a euphoric (i.e., extremely happy) manner and others were in the presence of a confederate who acted angry. Students interpreted their feelings based upon the confederate to whom they were exposed, consistent with two-factor theory. These different emotional theories are described in the following video.

Human Motivation

Hedonic Motivation

As dissatisfaction grew with the attempts to account for human behavior by naming different instincts, psychologists shifted to explanations based upon the effects of emotions and motives. Today, when we try to answer the question of why someone did something, we frequently attempt to determine the motivation. We have seen how our nervous system transmits sensory information to the spinal cord and brain enabling adaptive responding. Some stimuli may be described as appetitive (or “good”). They typically elicit approach responses. In the case of painful stimulation, spinal reflexes immediately occur. It is as though our bodies evolved to protect us from stimuli which can cause tissue damage. Such stimuli may be described as aversive (or “bad”). They typically hurt and result in a withdrawal response. Appetitive and aversive stimuli elicit emotional responses and determine our motivation.

A simple hedonic model dates to the Greek philosophers and represents an early and straightforward approach to understanding human motivation (Higgins, 2006). It is basically a “carrot-and-stick” model assuming that one acts to seek pleasure and avoid pain. Variations on the hedonic model were postulated very early in the history of psychology by those holding very different perspectives ranging from Thorndike’s Law of Effect (1898) to Freud’s Pleasure Principle (1930). In Chapter 5, we will consider a contemporary adaptive learning model based upon hedonic principles (Levy, 2013).

Figure 4.2 Carrot and stick.

Motivation involves arousal and direction. That is, the individual’ state must change from rest to sustained action and address a specific condition (e.g., hunger) by achieving a specific objective (e.g., locating food). Maslow’s basic biological needs provide clear examples of motivated behavior. When deprived of food, humans will engage in “hunting and gathering” behaviors until finding (in the wild or in the cafeteria) a sufficient supply. When confronted with danger, humans will exhibit defense reactions until escaping. For example, if a mouse is attacked in the wild, it will probably immediately try to run away. Upon sexual arousal, animals will engage in courting and copulation. The basic survival needs at the bottom of Maslow’s Human Needs pyramid act in a manner consistent with a drive-reduction model of motivation (Hull, 1943). The assumption is that deprivation of appetitive stimuli or presence of aversive stimuli will arouse and direct behavior until the drive is satisfied.

Separate studies have been conducted with rats evaluating whether deprivation of an appetitive substance arouses behavior and whether it directs behavior. It would be unethical to intentionally deprive human subjects. Such procedures are permitted with other animals as long as justification is provided and strict protocalls are followed. The US government and American Psychological Association have strict ethical guidelines for conducting research with non-human subjects. These guidelines apply to deprivation procedures as well as those involving aversive stimuli. Laboratory animals typically have much safer and comfortable environments than those living in the wild. For example, rats and pigeons do not have free access to food in nature and are usually in a state of mild, if not severe deprivation most of the time. The level of deprivation maintained in the lab is actually low in comparison to that typically experienced in the wild.

The simplest research procedure used to systematically manipulate deprivation is to control the amount of time till the individual is provided the substance (e.g., food, water, etc.). For example, food may be withheld for 3, 6, 9, or 12 hours. A complicated but more sensitive procedure is to maintain the individual at a percentage of its free-feeding body-weight (i.e., weight when provided free access to the stimulus). Collier (1969) manipulated rats’ weights by depriving them of food and studied the relationship between level of deprivation and the number of turns on a running wheel (see Figure 2.16). As deprivation increased, the amount of activity in the running wheel increased. At first glance, this may seem maladaptive. One might expect animals to conserve energy if deprived of food or water. Whenever one observes this type of counter-intuitive observation it is often productive to consider how the behavior might be adaptive in nature. In the running wheel, despite its best efforts, the animal “goes nowhere fast.” This is not the case in nature, where movement from place to place will increase the likelihood of discovering the appetitive stimulus. In any event, the results are clearly consistent with the drive-reduction model of motivation; deprivation definitely served to arouse behavior (i.e., the rats ran more).

A study demonstrating the second assumption of the drive-reduction model, that deprivation directs behavior, was conducted using a straight runway. Those observing rats in different laboratory apparatuses frequently see them engaging in many behaviors such as sniffing, grooming, and exploring the apparatus. When this occurs in a situation where it interferes with the animal’s obtaining a reward, such behaviors are described as competing responses. In a study manipulating hours of food deprivation, Porter, Madison, and Senkowski (1968) demonstrated a reduction in competing responses as a function of level of deprivation. That is, as deprivation increased, the rats were less likely to explore the runway and their behavior became more goal-directed. This is consistent with the drive-reduction assumption that deprivation of an appetitive substance will direct animal’s behavior toward obtaining the substance.

The Biology and Psychology of Hunger

One of the very best things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.

Luciano Pavarotti

According to the drive-reduction model, you eat because you are hungry. Consuming food reduces the hunger drive, resulting in feeling full (i.e., satiation). Hunger pangs result from contractions of stomach muscles and usually do not occur until going 12 or more hours without food. Rising glucose levels, amino acids, or fatty acids in the blood, result in secretion of the hormone leptin, reducing your desire to eat (Suzuki, Jayasena, & Bloom, 2011). The effect of leptin wears off after a few hours and eventually secretion of the hormone ghrelin causes you to feel hungry again (Malik, McGlone , Bedrossian, & Dagher (2007). Leptin and ghrelin influence hunger by stimulating the hypothalamus in the limbic system. Studies with rats have found that damage to different parts of the hypothalamus result in either loss of the desire to eat or in excessive eating (Neary, Goldstone, & Bloom, 2004).

The title of this section is “Mostly Nature.” In the previous chapter, we saw the important role experience plays in determining how we perceive the world. Now we will examine the role experience plays in influencing our motivation. The biological causes of hunger are based on our genetics (i.e., nature). Other factors causing us to be hungry are based on our experiences with food (i.e., nurture). In Chapter 5, we will describe direct learning experiences in which associations are formed because of the predictability of events. If you develop a daily pattern for consuming meals or snacks, eventually you will start to feel hungry in anticipation of the time when you usually eat. Similarly, if you associate eating with particular people (e.g., a significant other or friend), places (e.g., the cafeteria or a favored restaurant), or events (e.g., attending or watching a game on TV), you may feel hungry when with the person or experiencing (or even imagining) the place or activity.

Food does not just reduce the hunger drive. Humans enjoy the taste and smell of food. Since eating is pleasurable, some cope with unpleasant emotions such as depression or boredom by consuming food. Humans have a genetic preference for sweet and fatty foods which are dense in calories and efficient sources of energy (Keskitalo, et al., 2007). This preference served us well as nomadic hunter/gatherers in environments in which supplies were scarce. Industrialization has enabled us to produce food surpluses and create all sorts of tasty snacks. This has the benefit of helping address world hunger. Unfortunately, it also means that it is relatively easy to consume an excessive amount of calories. Many industrialized nations, including the United States, are experiencing unprecedented levels of childhood and adult obesity as the result (Popkin, 2007). Obesity is not a problem for present day humans living as nomads in the rainforest or desert. They aren’t able to produce food surpluses and don’t have fast food restaurants or tasty junk foods. Nomads also get plenty of exercise!

Hunting and Gathering in the Rainforest and Supermarket

Gustavo Politis (2007) reported the results of anthropological research conducted on the Nukak tribe in the Columbian Amazonian rainforest between 1990 and 1996. The Nukak are anatomically and physiologically the same as we are. They share the same needs to eat, survive, and reproduce. Women bear children, and along with elders of both genders, assume primary responsibility for nurturing and socializing them.

Women participate somewhat in hunting and gathering for food but spend more time in food preparation. Nukak foraging trips generally last much of the day (between nine and ten hours) and usually are conducted by adult males, sometimes accompanied by adult women and/or older children. Trips often cover distances approaching ten miles, back and forth. The products consist of fruit, vegetables, honey, and sources of protein such as turtles and squirrel monkeys. These foraging trips are similar to those made for the past thousands of years. Most elderly adults, young women, and children, remain in the camp. Young children may collect water from nearby watering holes as their contribution to the survival needs of the camp.

The Nukaks’ rainforest conditions, in contrast to our technologically enhanced circumstances, pose very different challenges. For thousands of years the Nukak lived in a relatively predictable and controllable environment. They have had time to experience and adjust to the intricacies of the rainforest and transmit their knowledge and skills to each other and their children. We live in an ever-changing environment but have the advantage of continually accumulating knowledge and technologies. Every day, Nukak band members travel several miles to forage for unknown quantities and varieties of locally-available food. In contrast, it would take us less than an hour to shop in a supermarket for a week’s worth of food from all over the world!

The Nukak pick up and move every 4-5 days, constructing between 70 and 80 campsites each year, almost never reoccupying an abandoned camp. One benefit of this mobility pattern is the creation of future sources of edible plants. The seeds left from previous occupancy result in larger and denser patches of fruit than typically occur in the rainforest. Thus, the Nukak practice a form of migratory agriculture, literally laying the seeds for future foraging trips (Politis, 2007, 114-119). Campsites are located next to resources at those times when they are abundant throughout the year. For example, fish are more abundant during the dry season; during those months campsites are usually established near waterways and streams (Politis, 2007, 281-283).

A campsite consists of an average of four functional units, each accommodating a nuclear family and perhaps one or two close relatives. Every functional unit includes at least one central hearth, providing heat for cooking, tool-crafting, and warmth. Hammocks are hung from the trunks of medium-sized and small trees. In the rainy season (8 months of the year), roofs are constructed of platanillo and seje leaves (Politis, 2007, 100-103). The Nukak perform most daily activities near the hearth while seated in the hammocks.

Establishing a new camp takes no more than a couple of hours and is mostly conducted by the men. Nukak camps are designed for providing warmth when needed, effective ventilation, and cover during the rainy season. They are not designed for protection from predatory animals or other humans. There were no known instances of attacks by jaguars or other carnivores (Politis, 2007, 124). The camp is designed so that the individual shelters housing the separate families are inter-connected without separating walls. This permits the members of the band to protect each other from spirits at night. It also eliminates privacy, resulting in most intimate sexual activity occurring during the day on foraging trips (Politis, 2007, 124).

The Nukak traditionally live almost all of their lives in these small camps located within a 240-to 300-square mile portion of the Amazonian rainforest (Politis, 2007, 163). Living in this manner facilitates communication and sharing of food, water, firewood, and other substances required for survival and comfort. Periodically, the Nukak visit bands, often consisting of kin, located within a wider, tribal region of approximately 600 to 1,200 square miles. The population density is such that tribes in the Nukak’s region of the Amazonian rainforest do not compete for land or resources. There is no evidence of conflict or inter-tribal aggression (Politis, 2007, 180).

Many of us live for years in enclosed, secure apartments and homes in policed neighborhoods. It is ironic that we may be less safe than the Nukak in their temporary, open camps in the unguarded Amazon. Population densities in the Nukak’s section of the rainforest consist of perhaps a few dozen people per square mile. Some of our cities have population densities in the tens of thousands per square mile! The Nukak live amongst their kin and close relations, all of whom depend upon each other to survive. For us, industrialization has resulted in movement from sparsely-populated rural areas to crowded urban centers. Increasingly, people live among strangers with a diversity of needs, interests, and values.

Domestication of plants and large animals enabled humans to abandon the nomadic lifestyle and settle in one location. Larger and larger communities formed and there was increased competition for resources. There became a need for collective security. Hunting weapons originally developed during the Stone-Age, such as the axe, spear, and bow-and-arrow, became tools of self-defense and war. Evolutionary biologist Jared Diamond wrote a wonderful Pulitzer prize-winning book tracing the history of the human being leading up to and after the last ice age, approximately 13,000 years ago. He describes how features of the climate and environment impacted on the course of development of humans on the different continents and why some cultures eventually became dominant over others. The revealing title of his book, Guns, Germs, and Steel (Diamond, 2005) describes the important impact this had on the current human condition for cultures as distinct as the Nukak and us.

Survival of our species: The Biology and Psychology of Sex

And that’s why birds do it
Bees do it
Even educated fleas do it
Let’s do it, let’s fall in love

Let’s Do It, Cole Porter

We don’t know if birds, bees, and fleas fall in love. We do know they engage in sex or they wouldn’t be here. The hunger and sex drives are very primitive, having existed in mammals for millions of years. Unlike hunger, the sex drive is not present at birth. Unlike eating, you do not have to engage in sexual activity in order to survive. However, some of us must do so in order for the species to survive.

Chapter 8 describes the physical and psychological changes characterizing the lifespan of human development. For practically all of our history, no matter where humans existed, the only meaningful distinction in developmental status was between childhood and adulthood. The stages were demarcated by initiation of the sex drive and the ability to reproduce toward the end of puberty. The significant major indicators for the onset of puberty are the first menarche (i.e., period) for females and ejaculation for males. Puberty typically lasts approximately five years and starts one year later for males than females. The physical changes resulting from puberty are initiated by the hypothalamus secreting lutenizing hormone releasing factor. This stimulates the pituitary gland to secrete the gonadotropic hormones LH (lutenizing hormone) and FSH (follicle stimulating hormone). The gonads (i.e., sex glands; ovaries in the female and testes in the male) start increasing in size until the end of puberty.

Drives arouse individuals and direct their activity. As seen previously, deprivation of food increases activity and the likelihood of discovering something to eat. A painful stimulus elicits a withdrawal response, decreasing the likelihood of suffering a serious injury. At the end of puberty, deprivation of sexual stimulation arouses and directs humans to engage in sexual activity (e.g., intercourse, masturbation, etc.).

Masters and Johnson (1966) physiologically recorded the sexual activity of over 300 male and 300 female volunteers for eight years. The subjects consisted mostly of white, highly educated, married couples. This pioneering research led to formulation of the four phase human sexual response cycle shown in Figure 4.4.

Figure 4.3 Sexual response cycle.

During the excitement phase, heart rate increases and blood flows to the genitals resulting in swelling of a women’s clitoris accompanied by vaginal lubrication, and erection of a man’s penis. In males, erotic stimulation can result in a partial erection within a matter of seconds. In women, the excitement phase usually lasts for several minutes and can be extended for lengthy periods of time, even hours. During the plateau phase, the biological changes increase in intensity until orgasm is achieved. Orgasms last only a few seconds and consist of involuntary muscle contractions, a building and sudden release of sexual tension, and ejaculation of semen by men. During the resolution phase, the body gradually returns to its state prior to excitement accompanied by calm, pleasant feelings. Women are capable of repeated orgasms; however men must usually wait a while before being able to obtain an erect penis and ejaculate again.

Males and females are socialized differently to assume their defined sex roles at the end of puberty. Much of that socialization relates to eating, surviving, and reproducing. There are substantial cultural differences in the treatment of sexuality. Unlike most technologically-enhanced cultures, traditional nomadic Stone-Age tribes treat sex in a matter-of-fact manner. It is expected that upon completing puberty, a suitable mate will be identified, couples will be formed, and they will have children.

Nukak couples are mostly monogamous (approximately 85 % in two samples taken in the 1990s) with some men having two wives. Cross-cousins (i.e., cousin from a parent’s same-sex sibling) are the preferred partners with marriage between parallel cousins (i.e., cousin from a parent’s opposite-sex sibling) being prohibited. Although the stated norm was for the woman to live with the husband’s family, in practice living arrangements appeared to be flexible in the 1990s (Politis, 2007, 81-82). This may have been the result of sudden reductions in population resulting from contact with the outside world starting in 1988. Nukak bands travel periodically so that members may visit (frequently kin), searching for potential mates (Politis, 2007, 80-81).

For several decades, cross-cultural research has indicated that approximately 90 per cent of individuals all over the world get married (Carrol & Wolpe, 1996). The idea that there is only one perfect spousal match is certainly truer for the Nukak than for us. It is very unlikely that there are many cross-cousins of the right age and gender among the Nukak bands in the rainforest, the entire population numbering less than 500. Contrast that with the number of potential partners you might meet on Facebook! Actually, the idea of romantic love as the basis for marriage is relatively recent. “In most cultures throughout history, marriages have been arranged by parents, with little regard for the passionate desires of their children” (Arnett, 2001, 267). Buss (1989) conducted a monumental study of over 10,000 young people in 37 different cultures representing all the continents except Antarctica. There was striking consistency across cultures in the most important factors in mate selection. Both males and females considered “love” (i.e., mutual attraction) first, followed in order by “dependable character”, “emotional stability and maturity”, and “pleasing disposition.” It would certainly seem an evolutionary challenge for two people to find one another given the complexity and difficulty of this search. However, the fact that 90% of us eventually marry, happily indicates that it is usually possible to locate potentially desirable mates.

Sleep

We are such stuff

As dreams are made on, and our little life

Is rounded with a sleep.

The Tempest, WilliamShakespeare

After spending the day hunting and gathering, preparing meals and taking care of the kids, and perhaps sneaking in a little reproduction time, it should not be surprising that the Nukak spend the remaining third of their day sleeping. Sleep possesses the characteristics of a basic drive. As portrayed in Figure 4.5, deprivation leads to an increased need for and urge to engage in sleep. The need for sleep is a straightforward function of how long it has been since waking (6:00 a.m. in the figure). The need similarly declines linearly once the person goes to sleep (10:00 p.m. in the figure).

The hypothalamus acts like a biological clock in regulating some life functions, including sleep (Abrahamson, Leak, & Moore, 2001). Destruction of specific cells in the hypothalamus will result in loss of a sleep-wake cycle. Circadian rhythms consist of approximate 24-hour cycles which may be influenced by environmental events. The urge (i.e., feeling) that one needs to sleep is based on the circadian rhythm caused by day-night cycles and secretion of the hormone melatonin by the pineal gland (Benloucif, Guico, Reid, Wolfe, L’hermite-Balériaux, M., & Zee, P. C., 2005). . The urge is highest at approximately midnight, declines till about 10:00 a.m. and then rises to a moderate peak around 2:00 p.m. before dipping again. This mid-afternoon rise is probably the reason for the mid-afternoon naps practiced by some cultures.

Interestingly, the effects of deprivation are more specific than simply increasing the likelihood of sleeping. An adult’s sleep pattern consists of cycles of four different stages (see Figure 4.4). Deprivation can be specific to any of these stages (Silber et al., 2007). For example, if deprived of REM (rapid eye movement) sleep (stage 1) or deep sleep (stage 4) and able to rest, one will immediately enter an extended REM or stage 4, rather than starting with stage 1. It seems one not only needs a certain amount of sleep, but a certain amount of the different stages of sleep.

Figure 4.4 Stages of sleep.

There are usually four to five complete cycles each night. Typically, the deep sleep stages of each cycle last longer the first times they occur and the REM stages last longer the last times they occur prior to waking up. The dreams one remembers practically all occur during REM sleep which is accompanied by deep muscle relaxation, bordering on paralysis. Research with rats suggests that this paralysis is the result of two neurotransmitters acting upon the motor cortex. It is thought that in humans, this paralysis protects us from acting out the contents of our dreams (Brooks & Peever, 2012).

Even people who believe they do not dream may be shown to do so when studied under laboratory conditions (Dement 1974). The contents of dreams are influenced by one’s culture. The dreams of the Nukak are more likely to include animals than the dreams of those living in contemporary cities (Domhoff, 2001). For the most part, dream content does not appear as exciting or romantic as often portrayed. Rather, the content appears to reflect everyday events such as eating, being with friends, taking exams, or trying to solve problems (Domhoff, 2003).

What’s It All About?

Yesterday a child was filled with wonder

Caught a dragon fly inside a jar

Fearful when the sky was full of thunder

And tearful at the falling of a star

The Circle Game, Joni Mitchell

The first and simplest emotion which we discover in the human mind, is curiosity.

Edmund Burke

The opening stanza of Joni Mitchell’s song reminds us of children’s innate curiosity. From the beginning, humans are awed by their surroundings and try to understand what they observe. Not all human behavior appears to fit a drive-reduction model of motivation. Why do we play games, solve puzzles, and explore nature as children and adults? Why do we ask ourselves “What’s it all about?” To account for such behaviors, some have postulated an “effectance” (i.e., need for competence) drive (White, 1959), or a “curiosity” drive (Berlyne, 1960). These are considered drives based on the assumption that they are activated under low levels of stimulation (i.e., sensory deprivation) in the same manner that the hunger and sex drives occur after deprivation of food and sexual stimulation (Tarpy, 1982, 318). If deprivation is not necessary, the term “drive” would pose the same problem as we observed with the term instinct as an explanation for a multitude of behaviors. Drive would just be a label for the behavior it is purporting to explain. It would not specify the relationship between an independent variable (a specific type of deprivation) and a specific behavior.

The drive reduction model of motivation appears to adequately account for the basic biological needs we share with the rest of the animal kingdom. The model also appears adequate to understanding the motivation for practically all human behavior under our original nomadic Stone Age conditions where life was a day to day struggle to survive. However, we have transformed the human condition such that school and/or work now comprise substantial parts of our lives. What sort of motivational model applies to schools and the workplace?

Motivation as State and Trait

Drive-reduction models consider motivation to be a state induced by environmental conditions. Motivation occurs and increases as a function of deprivation of an appetitive substance or the presence and intensity of an aversive stimulus. Chapter 9 describes different approaches to assessing and understanding human personality. Some approaches describe personality as consisting of traits, including different types and levels of motivation. Henry Murray developed the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) to assess individual personality traits (1938). The TAT consists of a series of ambiguous pictures of people in different situations.

You may recall examples of top-down processing from Chapter 3 in which one’s prior experience influenced the interpretation of ambiguous stimuli. The TAT is an example of a projective technique in which it is assumed that an individual will interpret and describe pictures of ambiguous social situations based upon their own personal needs and motives. Usually between eight and a dozen of the 32 pictures are selected by the researcher or practitioner. The person is asked to develop a narrative including what happened prior to the events depicted, what is happening in the picture, what the individuals shown are thinking and feeling, and what happens afterward. Murray inferred that individuals differ in levels of the need for achievement (nAch) based upon their responses. Many included narratives describing: “intense, prolonged and repeated efforts to accomplish something difficult. To work with singleness of purpose towards a high and distant goal. To have the determination to win” (Murray, 1938, 164).

Primary and Secondary Motives

A distinction is sometimes made between primary (sometimes referred to as biological or unlearned) and secondary (sometimes referred to as psychological or learned) needs, drives, or motives. David McLelland (1958) followed up Murray’s research, modifying the scoring of the TAT and relating the findings to motivation in school and at the worksite. McClelland inferred the existence of three different psychological needs; achievement, affiliation, and power.

McClelland inferred a high need for achievement (nAch) from TAT narratives emphasizing competitive themes and expressions of the desire to excel in activities of personal interest. Those low in nAch often expressed fears of failure. They pursued very easy tasks where they were unlikely to fail or very difficult ones where they would not be embarrassed by failure. In contrast, those scoring high in nAch sought out moderately difficult tasks which were challenging but possible. Students with high nAch scores tend to perform better in school (Raynor, 1970). High nAch workers indicated being more extrinsically motivated by social recognition of their accomplishments than low nAch scorers who appeared more concerned with money and other tangible rewards. McLelland believed (and research supports) the important role of parenting and socialization in developing achievement motivation. Parents of high nAch individuals encourage independence, teach goal-setting skills, praise and reward demonstrations of effort and success, and attribute accomplishment to competence rather than luck (McClelland, 1965). McLelland inferred a need for affiliation (nAff) from narratives emphasizing the importance of getting along with others and maintaining harmony. Hi nAff scorers prefer work situations involving a high degree of interpersonal interaction. Those with a need for power (nPow) produce narratives emphasizing the need to influence and control others’ behavior. At the worksite, high nAch scores have been found to correlate with persistence (McClelland, 1987) and with success in low level management positions. Those motivated by power, however, were more likely to succeed in high level leadership positions (McClelland & Boyatzis, 1982).

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation

Rather than distinguishing between primary and secondary sources of motivation, some have made the distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic sources of human motivation (Hunt, 1965). That is, humans appear to engage in many complex tasks due to the stimulation resulting from the activity itself. This is different from engaging in an activity in order to obtain a different stimulus, be it food, a gold star, or money.

Data suggest that both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation decline gradually over the course of one’s school years (Harter, 1981; Sansone & Morgan, 1992; Lepper, Henderlong, & Iyengar, 2005). Some have suggested that reliance upon extrinsic rewards for learning (e.g., test grades and awards) is at least partially responsible for this decline. Others cite over-reliance on high-stakes standardized tests, a lack of relevance of the material to students’ everyday lives, as well as other factors for this steady decline in motivation.

There is controversy concerning whether dispensing extrinsic rewards undermines intrinsic motivation (Sansone & Harackiewicz, 2000). In an often cited seminal study (Deci, 1971), intrinsic motivation was assessed in college students by observing the amount of time spent performing different activities when no extrinsic rewards were provided. The subjects were randomly divided into two groups. Three daily sessions were conducted in which the students were timed while trying to produce four different patterns on a cube puzzle. In the second session, one group received a dollar for each puzzle solved within the allotted time. The experimenter left the room for eight minutes during each of the daily sessions and the subjects were told they could do whatever they liked. The subjects in this group increased the amount of time spent working on the puzzle from the first to the second day but spent less time working on the puzzle on the third day than they did on the first day. This pattern was not observed in the control condition which did not receive a monetary reward on the second day. Deci described this apparent undermining of intrinsic motivation by extrinsic rewards as an overjustification effect. That is, focusing upon extrinsic rewards diverts attention from the intrinsic rewards generated by the activities themselves. This is thought to result in a temporary increase in motivation for performing the task. When the extrinsic reward is eliminated, there is still decreased attention to intrinsic rewards, resulting in the observed decline in time spent on the activity. In a second experiment reported by Deci, it was shown that the time spent on the puzzles continued to increase when verbal praise rather than money was provided for correct responses on the second day. Praise, which can also be considered an extrinsic reward, apparently does not distract the individual from intrinsic sources of motivation.

Deci’s original findings and conclusions generated considerable controversy as well as a substantial research literature. A 25-year review concluded that the effects of providing extrinsic rewards for performing a task are varied and complex (Lepper & Henderlong, 2000). When performance standards are set low or are vague, extrinsic rewards have been found to reduce performance of the task. However, when standards are set high and described clearly, extrinsic rewards have been found to increase intrinsic motivation (Eisenberger, 1999). Another summary of the research literature concluded that the overjustification effect was limited to Deci’s free-time measure. When actual task performance was measured, extrinsic rewards were found to enhance rather than undermine intrinsic motivation (Wiersma, 1992). It has also been found that subjects displaying high degrees of intrinsic motivation are unlikely to demonstrate an overjustification effect (Mawhinney, 1990). It now appears appropriate to conclude that it is desirable to encourage intrinsic motivation. If implemented effectively, extrinsic rewards can be helpful toward this end. Just as perceptual phenomena are affected by prior experience, the same is true with motivational phenomena. Motivation is influenced by the ways in which extrinsic rewards, including praise, are administered at home, in the classroom, and at the worksite.

Motivation and Human Potential

Putting it All Together: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Needs

Classic economic theory, based as it is on an inadequate theory of human motivation, could be revolutionized by accepting the reality of higher human needs, including the impulse to self actualization and the love for the highest values.

Abraham Maslow

As presented in chapter 1, Abraham Maslow, a humanistic psychologist, proposed a hierarchy of human needs (1943) often portrayed as a pyramid (see Figure 4.7). Maslow’s pyramid integrates primary (biological) and secondary (psychological) needs into one overarching schema portraying the human condition. Basic physiological needs form the base of the pyramid, followed by safety and security, sense of belonging (i.e., love and interpersonal relationships), self-esteem (i.e. feeling of accomplishment), and self-actualization (fulfilling one’s personal goals and potential) at the pyramid’s peak.

Figure 4.5 Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs.

Maslow’s hierarchy is a perceptive and constructive schema for organizing and prioritizing aspects of the human condition. It provides a meaningful lens through which to view the differences between the adaptive needs of different cultures. According to Maslow, the objective of human adaptation is to rise through the pyramid ultimately achieving self-actualization.

Fulfilling Our Potential under Different Human Conditions

In order to demonstrate the extreme variability in human conditions, Maslow’s schema can serve as a basis for examining the differences between Stone-Age and technologically-advanced cultures. Obviously, far more time and effort must be dedicated by the Nukak than by us to satisfy the basic survival needs at the base of Maslow’s pyramid.

Self-actualization refers to the attainment of one’s personal goals and fulfillment of one’s potential. It is often assumed that self-actualization is achieved through creative and artistic endeavors. For the most part, the Nukak’s personal goals are addressed under survival and family needs. Fulfilling one’s potential requires time and opportunity, neither of which is in large supply for the Nukak. As we have seen, almost all of their days are taken up with activities related to survival. These include foraging, food preparation, tool making, moving, and building new shelters. Still, the Nukak manage to demonstrate such distinctly human acts of creativity as face and body painting and wearing jewelry. They fashion flutes on the flat side of long jaguar or deer bones with mouthpieces made of beeswax. Such flutes have important symbolic and ritual value among many tribes in the Amazon (Politis, 2007, 219). Body painting using plant dyes serves as a means of indicating one’s gender and band identity. Body painting is more extensive and elaborate in preparation for meetings and ceremonies (Politis, 2007, 83). It is thought that the paint may act as an insect repellent. Many of the Nukak adults and children of both genders wear necklaces fashioned of monkey-teeth.

Unlike the Nukak, we do not have to dedicate the majority of our time and effort to simply surviving until the next day. There is an ever-increasing variety of educational, career, and leisure-time possibilities. Still, many face obstacles in attaining their goals or realizing their potential. What are the prospects for self-actualization in the technologically enhanced world?

First, the importance of the “self” in “self-actualization” must be recognized. That is, “goals” and “one’s potential” are subjective and must be defined by each individual for her/himself. This thought is recognized in the most famous quote from The Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Self-actualization and happiness are elusive concepts. Jonathan Haidt opens his book, The Happiness Hypothesis (2006), with the questions: “What should I do, how should I live, and whom should I become?” Despite all our technology, there are limitations to what we can do, how we can live, and who we can become. Unless an identical twin, each of us has our own genetic endowment resulting in differences in the ease of learning different behaviors. Try as we might, none of us is able to fly like Superman. Some of us find learning mathematics easier than learning to speak a foreign language whereas the reverse is true for others. Some of us live in environments that are supportive of our behaviors whereas others are discouraged or find it dangerous to behave in the same way. Some of us grow up in privilege and others face significant economic obstacles and barriers. Some of us have a smooth and direct educational and career path. Others of us follow a “long and winding road” in life.

No matter what our life circumstances or where we live on earth, a day lasts 24 hours. Our unique human conditions may be represented as pie charts in which the slices represent how we spend our time each day. Due to the conditions under which they live, more than half of a Nukak’s waking life is dedicated to survival needs. Relatively little time is left for addressing interpersonal and esteem-needs, let alone self-actualization. In comparison, college students in our technology-enhanced environments can dedicate much more of their waking time to these “higher” levels of Maslow’s pyramid of human needs.

Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs was used as an organizational schema to compare and contrast the human conditions of nomadic Stone-Age and technologically enhanced cultures. In the absence of food surpluses, life is a daily struggle to survive. Population densities and social networks are minimal. Advanced learning is unnecessary and there are few examples of artistic creativity.

Technology can free the human being from the struggle to meet basic physical needs. Much of childhood and adolescence can be dedicated to schooling. As an increasing percentage of the population acquires reading, writing, and quantitative skills, more individuals can contribute to a culture’s knowledge, technology, and creative arts. The social, vocational, and creative opportunities available to an individual are all influenced by the existing technologies. Life becomes adaptation to a human constructed world.

Self Actualization: The ultimate do-it-yourself project

Creation of a detailed personal pie chart involving recording and graphically portraying how you spend your time is a way to objectively describe who you are and who you want to become. This process can be diagnostic and prescriptive with respect to your achieving your self-actualization objectives. That is, realizing your potential can be considered an exercise in time management.

Whenever you undergo a transition in life, there is a change in how you must spend your time. This applies to when you start attending school, get a job, commit yourself to a significant other, have a child, advance in your career, and retire. Whew, that was fast! Let’s slow things down by concentrating on this particular and special time in your life. As a college student, you have committed yourself to a pie requiring specific slices. In addition to facing safety and survival needs, you must attend classes and prepare for exams. Otherwise you will be forced to “bake” a different pie!

The first step in creating your personal pie chart is to keep a diary of how you spend your time every day. Allowing for the fact that your schedule might not be representative at the beginning of the semester, you will probably need at least two weeks of data. It is probably possible to anticipate some of the pie “slices” (i.e., meaningful time blocks). For example, sleep will most likely constitute approximately one-third of your pie (i.e., 8 hours per day). Another slice could be allotted for “start-up” and “wind-down” (e.g., washing, brushing your teeth, etc.) each day, and another slice for meals. Time will be spent in class some days (another slice), and studying and working on assignments (another slice). Time will be spent socializing with friends and family. Many of my students use apps such as Screentime and Moment to monitor and limit time spent streaming, listening to music, social networking and playing video games. If you are employed, hours spent on the job and commuting (which can also apply to non-residential students) should be included.

If you are keeping a diary, add up the number of hours spent in different categories (slices) at the end of a representative week. The size of each slice (i.e., percentage of the pie) will be the total number of hours in a category divided by 168 (24 hours x 7 days). If you have trouble assigning some activities, it is fine to create a “miscellaneous” slice. In subsequent chapters, we will refer to the data you collect as you consider what constitutes self-actualization at this stage of your life (i.e., your “ideal” pie chart). This could require creating a different slice or even a separate pie (e.g., digital world or screen time).

The cell phone is becoming a very helpful self-actualization tool. If you own one, rather than keeping a diary, you could use one of the many convenient time-management apps for collecting and compiling the data for your pie chart. Some apps even create the pie chart for you. Other useful apps enable one to accurately determine sleep, nutritional, and exercise patterns. As we progress in the book, you will see how the science of psychology can provide scientifically-based strategies for modifying the slices of your pie in order to achieve your goals and dreams.

Sensation and Human Potential

You fill up my senses / Like a night in a forest / Like the mountains in springtime / Like a walk in the rain / Like a storm in the desert / Like a sleepy blue ocean/ You fill up my senses/ Come fill me again

Annie’s Song by John Denver

The Importance of Sensation and Perception

Eat, survive, reproduce. Whether one lives in the rainforest or an urban metropolis, survival requires locating and identifying edible foods and avoiding predators. In Chapter 2, we examined how our nervous system evolved to enable us to address these basic survival needs and how our brain evolved to enable us to consider “what’s it all about?” In this chapter, we consider how our nervous system transmits and interprets sensory information, relaying it to parts of the body capable of responding. Sensation refers to the initial detection of a stimulus resulting from the physical stimulation of a receptor in a sense organ (e.g., eye, ear, etc.). Perception refers to the integration and interpretation of sensory information. Often sensation is described as a bottom-up process, starting with stimulation of a sense organ receptor and moving toward the brain. In contrast, perception is often described as being a top-down process since the initial integration and interpretation takes place in the brain. The importance of sensation and perception to individual and species survival is undeniable.

Sensation – Detecting Stimuli

Even very simple organisms possess the ability to sense and respond to environmental stimulation. For example, moths are attracted by light. Aristotle referred to five human senses: seeing, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. Others consider there to be additional senses of temperature (thermoception), pain, muscle tension (kinesthesia), and balance (equilibrium). Each sense responds to a specific type of physical stimulation and possesses specific receptor cells. Figure 3.1 lists the stimulus, sense organ, and receptor for the different senses.

Sense	Stimulus	Sense Organ	Receptor
Vision	Light waves	Eye	Rods and cones of the retina
Hearing	Sound waves	Ear	Hair cells of the basilar membrane
Taste	Edible substances	Tongue	Taste buds of the tongue epithelium
Smell	Odorous molecules	Nose	Smell receptor of the nasal epithelium
Touch	Tactile stimulus	Skin	Touch receptors
Temperature	Heat and cold	Skin	Thermoceptor of skin
Pain	Intense mechanical, thermal, or chemical stimulus	Skin	Pain receptor of skin
Balance and muscle tension	Position of muscles, joints, and tendons	Ear, skeletal muscles, joints, tendons	Hair cells of the semicircular canals, nerve endings of the muscles, joints, and tendons

Figure 3.1 The senses

Evolution of Sensation

Sensory information, to the extent that it accurately represents the environment, improves adaptation (Gaulin & McBurney, 2003). It should not be surprising that sense organs exist in very simple animals or that more than half the human brain is dedicated to the reception and interpretation of sensory information. Vision enables humans as well as less complex organisms (e.g., insects, sea crabs, birds, etc.) to avoid bumping into objects and to identify food sources. Hearing enables animals to detect the presence and location of dangerous or appetitive objects at a distance. Taste and smell enable us to detect potential foods or poisonous substances. Touch and pain indicate the presence of potentially dangerous objects or conditions (Gaulin & McBurney, 2003).

It is possible to study how the human brain evolved to detect, transmit, and interpret sensory information by studying the brains of other animals, especially primates (and particularly monkeys (Kaas, 2008). In comparison to our earlier mammalian ancestors, primate sensory and motor systems are much more complex and divided into a large number of functional units. For example, macaque monkeys possess between 30 and 40 separate cortical areas dedicated to vision and 15 to 20 areas dedicated to hearing. The human brain is approximately 15 times the size of the brain of macaques, possessing approximately 100 billion neurons in comparison to 6.4 billion neurons and over 200 cortical areas. Early primates were small, nocturnal, lived in trees, and ate insects, buds, and fruit. Their eyes were forward-looking and large, implying that vision played an important adaptive role in their survival. The increased number and size of cortical areas dedicated to vision, and increased number of motor areas, enabled coordination of visual information with reaching for and grabbing food while suspended from unsteady tree branches (Kaas, 2008).

Figure 3.2 Tree dwelling primate

Sensory Thresholds

The first scientific studies of human sensation and perception were conducted at the University of Leipzig where Wundt later established the first psychology laboratory. This earlier research obviously influenced Wundt’s proposed definition, goals, and methods for the discipline. In 1860, Gustav Fechner published the classic “Elements of Psychophysics”, naming the systematic study of the effect of varying the properties of stimuli on sensation and perception. Fechner extended the prior work of Max Weber examining the initial step enabling perception; detecting the presence or change in value of a stimulus. Weber distinguished between these two types of sensory thresholds. An absolute threshold is the minimum intensity of a stimulus required for one to detect its presence. For example, how bright does a light have to be or how loud does a tone have to be for a person to notice it. A difference threshold (often referred to as the “just noticeable difference” or jnd) is the minimum amount of change in intensity required for a person to notice a difference. Fechner replicated Weber’s findings that the amount of change required is a constant fraction of the comparison stimulus. For example, if the constant jnd for length is one-tenth, you would need to increase a 10-inch line by one inch and a 20-inch line by two inches to notice the difference. This relationship is known as “Weber’s Law.”

Adaptation requires detecting changes in one’s environment and behaving in a way which promotes survival. Clearly, one is at a disadvantage if a sense is not functioning optimally. If you ever had your hearing tested, the technician probably used one of the two procedures developed by Weber, the method of limits or the method of constant stimuli. Using the method of limits to determine an absolute threshold, the amplitude (i.e., loudness) of a sound would be gradually increased until you report hearing it. Then the amplitude would be decreased until you report no longer hearing it. This would be repeated several times for different frequencies of sounds, from very low bass to very high treble.

Usually, we think of a single value as determining an absolute or difference threshold. That is, a sound must reach a particular decibel level (loudness) for us to sense its presence. Unfortunately, when testing is conducted, one does not always obtain the same result. This raises the question of how to define what constitutes “the” (apparently not so absolute) threshold? Is it the value where you first report hearing the sound? Or, is it the value where you always report hearing it? Early on, researchers decided to compromise between these two possibilities. The (not so) absolute threshold is defined as the average of the points at which the sounds appeared and disappeared.

A similar process would be followed to determine a difference threshold. In this instance, the technician would start with a sound you could hear and gradually increase the amplitude until you reported it being louder. Then the amplitude would gradually be decreased until you reported it being softer, etc. The jnd would be defined as the average change required for you to report the tone as being louder or softer.

A problem with the method of limits is that people sometimes anticipate hearing a stimulus appear or disappear. In order to address this problem, the method of constant stimuli presents sounds at random amplitudes. Unfortunately, the result frequently changes from trial to trial. That is, in testing for an absolute threshold, sometimes the person will report hearing it and sometimes not. So much for absolutes! Weber defined the absolute threshold as that value which the individual reported hearing 50 percent of the time. Similarly, a jnd was defined as the amount of change required for you to report a difference half the time. These procedures and criteria continue to be used for research and diagnostic applications.

Threshold values change as the result of continual exposure. This phenomenon is called sensory adaptation. With the exception of pain and extremely intense stimulation, the nervous system becomes decreasingly sensitive to prolonged events. For example, if someone holds your hand you stop feeling it after a little while. You quickly adapt to hot showers and to the cold when you jump into a pool of water. The same is true after exposure to perfume or after-shave lotion, or to constant background noise (e.g., the sound of a fan). From an adaptive perspective, it is as though once you have detected the presence of a stimulus it is not essential to maintain the same level of sensitivity.

Vision

Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world.

Arthur Schopenhauer, Studies in Pessimism (1851).

Whether adapting to the rainforest or a modern city, we rely heavily on vision to survive and enjoy our surroundings. From the time we wake up in the morning to the time we go to bed at night, we almost constantly process and respond to visual information. We move about our surroundings, locating needed substances and objects, constantly assessing achievement of our goals. We fashion and use tools tailored to the demands of our unique environmental niches. Examples include blowpipes in the rain forest and laptops in our schools. No matter where they reside, humans engage in creative arts. Examples include playing flutes and fashioning necklaces in the rainforest; and playing flutes and fashioning necklaces in cities. The more some things change, the more they stay the same! We gaze upon and pay close attention to the appearance of others as we interpret facial expressions and body language in our interpersonal interactions. As expressed by Schopenhauer, our interpretation of our world and life is based upon what we see.

For most of our history on earth, humans experienced daily changes in the amount of light based upon the position of the sun. Only in the light do we experience the beauty of color. Seeing in the dark is a very different and more challenging experience. We will review how our eyes detect and process reflected light to enable color perception, and adapt to different levels of illumination. Transduction refers to the process through which physical stimulation is converted into neurological action potential and transmitted from receptors to higher brain regions for further processing. Figure 3.3 shows the major parts of the eye involved in the transduction process converting light into electronic signals transmitted to the brain. Light reflected from objects enters and undergoes initial focusing as it passes through the transparent cornea. Depending upon darkness or brightness, the iris dilates or closes, controlling the amount of light reaching the lens. The lens changes shape depending upon distance of the object, completing focusing. The remaining focused beam of light reaches photoreceptors lining the surface of the retina. Most of the light reaches the center of the retina, with the fovea being the small focal point with the greatest concentration of photoreceptors. Signals from the photoreceptors travel along nerve fibers to the optic nerve at the back of the eye. From there the signals are transmitted to the occipital lobe of the cerebral cortex.

Figure 3.3 The Human Eye

Color Vision

Can you imagine the world without color? Figures 3.4and 3.5 demonstrate not only the beauty which would be missing, but also the amount of potentially adaptive information. It is far easier to identify similarities and differences or look for a particular feature with the added dimension of color. This is even true for the birds and the bees, both of which possess excellent color vision. Clearly this ability is valuable from an adaptive evolutionary perspective.

Figures 3.4 and 3.5 The birds the bees

The psychophysics of color perception is non-intuitive. Subjectively, color differences seem qualitative rather than quantitative. That is, blue, green, and red are perceived as different in kind rather than different in magnitude on a dimension. You may be familiar with the acronym Roy G Biv. It stands for red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. This is the reverse order of these colors on the electromagnetic wavelength dimension which extends from infinitesimally small gamma rays (measured in fractions of nanometers, billionths of a meter) to TV and radio waves which can extend for thousands of meters (see Figure 3.6).

Figure Figure 3.6 The electromagnetic spectrum

The retina contains photoreceptors sensitive to a very narrow range of wavelengths, approximately 400 nm (violet) to 700 nm (red). The retinal surface includes two types of photoreceptors called rods and cones based on their shape. Rods are very sensitive to light and serve as the basis for vision in the dark, however visual acuity is poor in comparison to during daylight. Since rods are monochromatic (i.e., respond to only one color) and the information cannot be combined with information from cone receptors, very limited color perception is possible in the dark. There are three types of cones activated during daylight, each enabling perception of color on limited sections of the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum: those responding to short (bluish), medium (greenish), and long (reddish) wavelengths (see Figure 3.7).

Figure 3.7. Rods and cones

The trichromatic theory of color vision, first advanced by Young (1802) and elaborated upon by Helmholtz (1850), proposes that all the colors humans perceive result from combinations of the outputs of photoreceptors for three primary colors (see Ypu Tube video). It was not until a century later that existence of the three types of cone cells was confirmed (Svaetichin, 1956), providing support for trichromatic theory.

Hering (1892) challenged trichromatic theory based on the observation that it does not seem possible to combine certain colors. There is no problem imagining reddish-orange, yellowish-green, or greenish-blue, but one cannot imagine reddish-green or bluish-yellow. For this reason, Hering proposed the opponent-process theory of color vision. The theory proposes that there is an achromatic (i.e., without color) brightness system and a color system based upon the combined results of red-green and blue-yellow opponent channels. Stimulation of one of the colors of an opponent pair is presumed to inhibit perception of the other. This is how the theory explains the inability to combine red and green or blue and yellow. Another phenomenon that can be explained by opponent-process theory but not the trichromatic theory is the negative afterimage (see Figure 3.8). Stare at the word “afterimage” in the center of the rectangle below for 30 seconds. If you then shift your gaze to a white surface you will see the letters and background comprised of the compliments of the original colors. This is what would be expected if the initially activated component of a red-green or blue-cell system became fatigued. The result would be an illusion consisting of the complementary color.

Figure 3.8 Negative afterimage.

We now know that whereas the trichromatic theory of color vision is correct at the level of the cones, the opponent-process theory is true at later stages of processing in bipolar cells on the way to the optic nerve (see Figure 3.8).

Figure 3.9 Opponent-process retinal receptor cells

Adapting to the Dark

Figure 3.9 shows the change in threshold intensity (i.e., the amount of light needed) to see in the dark over time for rods and cones. The cones are much more sensitive to light during the first five minutes but do not increase in sensitivity beyond ten minutes. Dark adaptation continues to improve with the trajectory for the rods leveling off after another ten minutes. This produces the scallop in the figure labeled the rod-cone break.

Figure 3.10 Dark adaptation

Hearing and other Senses

Hearing

The exhilarating ripple of her voice was a wild tonic in the rain.

Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

Humans rely heavily on hearing as well as vision to survive and enjoy our surroundings. Sound can help us detect the presence of and locate objects which are at great distances or out of sight. Speech communication relies on the ability to hear. If you are similar to most college students, you spend a considerable amount of time listening to music. As expressed by Fitzgerald, the voice of a loved one can soothe and exhilarate us.

Our ears detect and process the vibrations produced by sound waves. When graphed, the amplitude (loudness) of a sound is indicated by the height from top to bottom of a wave cycle. The pitch (low bass vs. high treble) is a function of the frequency of waves per unit of time (see Figure 3.11).

Figure 3.11 Amplitude and frequency of sound waves.

Loudness is measured in decibels. Figure 3.12 shows the decibel levels of some common events. Please be careful about exposing yourself to loud sounds. It is possible to permanently damage your hearing by prolonged exposure to loud music, whether at concerts or when listening with headphones.

Figure 3.12 Decibel Levels of Common Events.

Figure 3.13 shows the major parts of the ear involved in the transduction process converting sound waves into electronic signals transmitted to the brain, primarily the temporal lobe of the cerebral cortex.

Figure 3.13 Anatomy of ear (brown is outer ear, red is middle ear, purple is inner ear).

The ear can be divided into outer, middle, and inner parts. The outer ear includes the ear flap, ear canal, and eardrum. The middle ear is in an enclosed chamber behind the eardrum and includes the three tiniest bones (ossicles) in the body often described as the hammer, anvil, and stirrup. The inner ear consists of the cochlea, a snail shaped tube filled with fluid. When sound waves reach the eardrum they cause it to vibrate. These vibrations are amplified by the ossicles and transmitted to the cochlea. The limits of human hearing are determined by the nature of tiny hair cells contained within the basilar membrane lining the cochlea (see Figure 3.14). Starting at the end (apex) of the cochlea, the hair cells are responsive to increasing frequencies of sound waves. Human hearing extends approximately from 20 to 20,000 Hz (vibration cycles per second). The neural information from the basilar membrane is transmitted to the auditory nerve and then to the brainstem.

Figure 3.14 The cochlea.

Smell and Taste

One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.

Luciano Pavarotti and William Wright, from Pavarotti, My Own Story

Figure 3.15 portrays the different cells for salty (Type I), sweet, umami (flavor of glutamates) and bitter (Type II), and sour (Type III) tastes. Figures 3.16 and 3.17 show the neural pathways for the senses of taste and smell. The surfaces (epithelium) of the nasal passage and tongue contain receptors sensitive to specific odors and tastes. Stimulation of the smell and taste receptors transmit signals terminating in the temporal lobe of the cerebral cortex. The senses of smell and taste are not as fundamental to human survival as vision and hearing. Still, they play an important adaptive role in the identification of poisonous foods and chemicals. Eating is also one of the basic pleasures of life. Smell and taste work in concert in helping us discriminate flavors and enjoy the spices of life.

Figures 3.15 and 3.16 Neural cells and pathway for sense of taste.

Figure 3.17 Neural pathway for sense of smell.

Touch, Temperature and Pain

Figure 3.18 portrays the different specialized skin receptors for touch, temperature, and pain. Information from these receptors is relayed to the primary somatosensory area of the parietal lobe in the central cortex.

Figure 3.18 Skin receptors for touch, temperature, and pain.

Two-point discrimination thresholds for the sense of touch vary according to the amount of brain space dedicated to the body part in the somatosensory cortex (see Figure 2.2). The fingertips and lips which have disproportionate amounts of brain space are the most sensitive areas, typically requiring only 2-4 mm for one to be able to report being touched in two different spots. In comparison, it might take from 10-15 mm on the palm of one’s hand or 30-40 mm on one’s back to detect being touched in two different spots.

Sherrington (1906) was the first to demonstrate that certain types of intense stimulation could elicit reflexive responses and responses by the autonomic nervous system along with the sensation of pain. When a high threshold is reached for mechanical (intense pressure or injured tissue), thermal (extreme heat or cold), or chemical (toxins) stimulation, a neural signal is transmitted to the central nervous system. A stimulus likely to result in injury will elicit a withdrawal reflex at the level of the spinal cord within half a second (see Figure 3.19).

Figure 3.19 Spinal reflex arc.

Balance and Muscle Tension

Animals, including human beings, are able to perform amazing feats of balance. These feats require coordination between the vestibular system in the ears, the eyes, and proprioception (i.e., sense of muscle location and movement). Attached to the cochlear in the inner-ear (see Figure 3.12) is a pretzel-like structure called the semi-circular canals. The three circles are filled with fluid and contain hair cells which respond to the position of and speed of movement of the head in three-dimensional space. This information is transmitted to the thalamus and parietal lobe of the cerebral cortex. There it is combined with information obtained through the eyes regarding the body’s position in space and sensors of the muscles and joints. Integration of this information enables us to maintain our balance while stationary or in motion.

A common test to determine whether your proprioceptive sense is functioning properly is to see if you can touch the tip of your nose with your eyes closed. This would only be possible if you are receiving accurate non-visual information regarding the location of your body parts (see Figure 3.20).

Figure 3.20 Proprioceptive receptors.

Sensation and Human Potential

Our senses helped humans to survive on earth under very different geographic and climatic conditions for tens of thousands of years. For practically all of this time we lived as nomadic hunter-gatherers. It is only within the past 11,000 years that domestication of plants (i.e., agriculture) and large animals permitted production of sufficient food surpluses to remain in one location (Diamond, 2005). This eventually led to establishing larger and larger social units, starting with bands and tribes, eventually becoming chiefdoms and states (Diamond, 2012). Recalling the picture of Manhattan, it is only within the past 400 years that the scientific method has resulted in technologies substantially transforming the human condition. Prior to then, we adapted to the environmental conditions under which we biologically evolved. Now we must adapt to a human-constructed environment. This technology-enhanced world frees us from dedicating our lives to fulfilling basic survival needs. We are able to contribute to our social units in an increasing variety of ways. At the same time, technologies have resulted in dangers for which we are not genetically prepared. Some of these dangers result from limitations of our senses. For example, industrialization resulted in production of carbon monoxide, a gas which did not previously exist on earth. Humans cannot smell carbon monoxide, resulting in many accidental deaths from exposure.

Technological enhancements of our senses (primarily vision) were essential to much of the progress occurring over the past 400 years. It is common to refer to Galileo when discussing the beginning of the scientific revolution. One of the ways in which sciences progress is by developing instruments permitting the observation of new natural events. Galileo used a telescope to discover four of Jupiter’s moons. The observation that these moons revolved around Jupiter and not the earth was inconsistent with the prevalent belief that the earth was the center of the universe. Although extremely controversial at the time, it is now impassionately accepted that the earth revolves around the sun rather than the other way around. Key to Galileo’s observations and conclusions was the ability to see objects not visible to the naked eye. Much of the scientific knowledge acquired since Galileo’s time has required similar enhancements of our senses. Examples include the microscope and amplification of sound. It is fascinating to consider the possibilities for enhancement of human senses and performance along with the ethical implications (Khushf, 2005).

Perception and Human Potential

The beginning of human knowledge is through the senses, and the fiction writer begins where human perception begins.

Flannery O’Connor

Perception – Interpreting Stimuli

We have completed consideration of the stimulation processed through Aristotle’s five major senses along with balance and movement. At this point the body has received input that something has happened in an exclusively bottom-up process. With the exception of painful stimuli posing immediate danger triggering a spinal withdrawal response, sensory information is relayed to the brain for further processing.

Not all environmental stimulation relates to survival or achievement of one’s goals. Adapting to one’s environment requires interpretation and prioritization. Once an event is detected, it is important to determine where it originated and what it is. One way the brain has evolved to interpret and prioritize sensory input is the development of feature detectors (Hubel and Wiesel, 1959, 1962). These are cells in the visual cortex which respond to stimuli likely to convey adaptive information. Specialized cells have been discovered for movement, lines, edges, and angles. These characteristics are frequently associated with biologically significant stimuli. For example, movement might signal the presence of a predator. Lines and edges could signal the presence of solid stationary objects or a sudden drop off in height. As shown in Figure 3.21, even infants and other animals are cautious upon approaching a visual cliff (Gibson and Walk, 1960).

Figure 3.21 The visual cliff.

Depth Perception

The ability to perceive depth (the relative location of objects) and distance (how far objects are from you) in three-dimensional space is essential to survival and responsible for the visual cliff. In addition to feature detectors for edges and lines, there are additional visual cues which facilitate depth perception. Some of these are dependent on the information obtained from both of our eyes (i.e., binocular cues) whereas others are based upon the information available to one eye (i.e., monocular cues). Not all animals with two eyes have them located so that they are facing in the same direction (e.g., fish). When both eyes face forward there is overlap as well as differences in the visual fields providing potential information regarding the location of objects. The human visual field covers approximately 200 degrees of which there is 120 degrees of overlap between the two eyes.

The major binocular cues are retinal disparity and convergence. Retinal disparity results from your eyes being separated in space, producing stimulation from slightly different angles. The stimulation from objects which are far away is much more similar for both eyes than the stimulation from close objects. Similarly, your two eyes converge (i.e., move closer to each other) as objects move closer. This provides depth and distance information from the muscles controlling eye movements.

It is counter-intuitive but most of the cues related to perceiving objects as three-dimensional are monocular and two-dimensional. Artists take advantage of such cues in creating realistic images. The major monocular cues are linear perspective, occlusion (interposition), textual gradient, relative size, size familiarity and position relative to the horizon (Figure 3.22).

Figure 3.22 Monocular depth cues.

Gestalt Principles of Perceptual Organization

As described in Chapter 1, the Gestalt psychologists believed that perception was primarily a top-down process involving meaningful units rather than a bottom-up process combining elements of sensation. Only a process including the effects of prior experience could meaningfully interpret often ambiguous sensory information. Determination of what constitutes the figure and ground in an image provides an example. The images in Figures 3.23 and 3.24 may be perceived in two ways. The first may be perceived as either a black vase on a white background or two white heads facing each other on a black background. The second image may be seen as either a saxophone player on a white background or a face on a black background. Ordinarily you will see one of the two possibilities and not the other. Once informed of the other possibility one may cycle back-and-forth between the two perceptions demonstrating the impact of prior experience upon the organization and interpretation of sensations. Another way of influencing interpretation of an ambiguous image is to establish a perceptual set through exposure to conceptually related images or words. For example, if you first saw pictures of a table and a chair, or read the words “table” and “chair”, you would be more likely to perceive the vase than the faces. If you saw pictures of an arm and leg or read the words, you would be more likely to perceive the faces. The establishment of a perceptual set is a clear cut example of top-down processing of sensory information.

Figure 3.23 and Figure 3.24 Faces or vase? Saxaphone player or woman?

Another example of top-down processing involving prior experience is perceptual constancy. This refers to the fact that an object’s shape and size is perceived as remaining constant despite differences in orientation and location (see Figure 3.25).

Figure 3.25 Constancy of shape and size.

The Gestalt psychologists proposed several principles to account for the organization and perception of groups comprised of ambiguous elements. Their major principles include proximity (Figure 3.26), similarity (Figure 3.27) and closure (Figure 3.28). You are likely to perceive the first drawing as consisting of alternating blue and black rows, the second as pairs of lines in three columns, the third as four curved lines consisting of four dots and the fourth as a complete circle and square.

Figures 3.26 – 3.28 Principles of proximity, similarity and closure.

Learning to read is an excellent example of the importance of Gestalt principles. Reading may be described as a sequence of steps establishing larger and larger meaningful units (i.e., gestalts). Eye-movement recordings reveal that individual letters are not initially perceived as units. With increased experience, we are able to integrate the components into a relatively small number of distinct letters followed by integration of letters into words. It has recently been demonstrated that we perceive the letters of words simultaneously (i.e., as a “gestalt”) not sequentially (Adelman, Marquis, and Sabatos-DeVito, 2010). Eventually, we are able to read aloud fluently by scanning phrases and sentences (Rayner, 1998). The role played by experience and top-down processing in the interpretation of letters is exemplified by the ambiguous second letters below. The first letter is usually perceived as an “H” and the second as an “A” (Figure 3.29).

Figure 3.29 Gestalt principles of perceptual organization and reading.

Arguably, reading is the most important skill one can acquire to adapt to the modern human condition. We describe the elementary-school experience as emphasizing the three “R”s (reading, “riting” and “rithmatic.” “Reading is fundamental” in that it is essential to learning to write and acquiring quantitative concepts. The importance of reading will be considered further in Chapters 6 (Indirect Learning) and 8 (Developmental Psychology).

College As Education of your Senses

As described in Chapter 1, the college curriculum is designed to help you develop different perspectives with which you can understand and appreciate your life. Usually undergraduates take a course in art, music, or both. Such courses might be considered “education of the senses.” The fact that even bands of nomadic hunter-gatherers produce art and music suggest that there is something about our genetics which makes such activities intrinsically rewarding. In Chapter 4, we will discuss the role of motivation and emotion in realizing our potential as individuals and a species. Certainly, a developed appreciation of the different forms of human creativity enhances and enriches our lives.

College courses in art and music expose students to classic and current forms of human creativity. In the same way that reading requires constructing larger and larger “gestalts” (i.e., letters, words, phrases, sentences, etc.), the same can be true for art (lines, shapes, forms, patterns, etc.) and music (e.g., tones, chords, melodies, etc.). Your eyes and ears can be “trained” to detect elements and patterns of visual and auditory sensations. Courses in art and music analyze (i.e., determine the common elements of “good” art and music) and synthesize (i.e., relate different examples of art and art forms to each other) the creative and performing arts. In this way, such courses convey our current understanding of those defining human qualities which do not at first glance appear related to eating and surviving but rather to “What’s it all about?”

There is a saying that you get out of life what you put into it. The amount of time and effort you dedicate to any activity will influence how proficient you become. This applies to your schoolwork and grades, but the college experience provides other possibilities for developing your potential. There are usually many extra-curricular activities available for you to sustain existing hobbies and interests and explore new ones. At the end of the next chapter, I will describe a strategy for objectively describing your current self and ideal self. This will provide an opportunity to engage in soul-searching concerning the knowledge, skills, and attitudes you would like to acquire in your immediate and long term future. For now, I will restrict the discussion to activities related to sensation and perception. Colleges and universities frequently have clubs or activities dedicated to art (vision), music (hearing), food and/or wine tasting (taste and smell), dance and gymnastics (balance). There are often offices or campus units where you can obtain paid or voluntary positions requiring specialized applications of your senses. This would certainly be true if you worked as an artist for a campus newspaper or as a DJ for a college radio station. There is an old saying that there are three types of people: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who ask, “What happened?” In the same way that it is important to be an active student by trying to anticipate and answer questions based upon your course material, it is important to be active in your personal development during your college years. Try to explore your college environment, searching for growth opportunities. Try out and join interesting clubs. Attend special lectures and events. Make things happen!

Things do not happen. Things are made to happen.

John F Kennedy

Self-Control Projects to Educate your Senses

At the end of Chapter 1, I listed several recent self-control projects conducted by my students. Scattered among them were projects designed to increase and improve drawing and piano playing. As an example of how the psychology research literature can assist you in achieving your personal objectives, an experiment was conducted to compare two different approaches to learning to play the piano. It was found that practicing with both hands at the same time was better and more efficient than practicing with one hand at a time (Brown, 1933).

The psychology research literature can also play a valuable role in your self-control project. One of the skills a professional in any field must possess is the ability to locate and evaluate research. We live in a time in which we are inundated with information from the media and the internet. Reviewing the literature can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack. Even when you think you have located relevant information, how can you be certain you can trust the source? Fortunately, most professions attempt to facilitate this process by developing peer-evaluated databases. The American Psychological Association produces PsycINFO, which lists and abstracts peer-reviewed articles dating from the 1800s. In addition to psychology research, PsycINFO covers related fields such as medicine, neuroscience, and social work. Most college libraries will have a subscription to this extremely helpful and credible database.

Evolution: Adaptation through Natural Selection

Mostly Nature

As we move along in the book, I will frequently try to relate the current material to major themes described in Chapter 1. I will ask you to periodically recall Maslow’s pyramid of human needs, the video of the Nukak tribe in the rainforest, and the transformation of New York City over the course of two centuries. Despite the inventions and technological innovations of the relatively recent past, there are still people living the nomadic Stone-Age lifestyle which characterized the human condition for almost our entire time on this planet. What made it possible and what was necessary in order for this transformation to occur?

We share many basic needs and behavior with other species. We all inhabit a planet replete with edible foods, predators, and potential sexual partners. Unless we continue to eat adequately, successfully avoid and/or escape from predators, and mate, we will not survive as individuals or as a species. In order to eat, survive, and reproduce, we need to be able to sense food and danger, identify receptive mates, and respond in an adaptive manner.

The Mostly Nature section addresses how our physical structure impacts upon our ability to survive and realize our potential as individuals and a species. In Chapter 1, we reviewed how our contemporary approach to psychology integrated the interests and goals of the early schools. This will be reflected in the chapters which comprise this section of the book. The earliest school, eventually named structuralism, was primarily concerned with our internal world consisting of sensations, images, and feelings. In Chapter 3, we will review the structure and function of our sense organs for external stimuli (e.g., our eyes for vision, ear for hearing, etc.) addressing how experience results in combining stimulus elements into meaningful patterns (i.e., gestalts). The functionalist school was concerned with how our internal world enabled us to adapt to our external world. Chapter 4 reviews how we process and eventually respond to internal stimuli (e.g., hunger for food deprivation, thirst for water deprivation, pain, etc.).

The current chapter reviews the evolutionary processes and hereditary mechanisms which resulted in the structure of the human body. We will see how our brain and nervous system transmit and interpret sensory information relaying it to parts of the body capable of responding. All of the inferences and conclusions drawn regarding how our internal processes enable us to adapt to our environment are based upon behavioral observations. At times you may wonder why so much detail is provided regarding human anatomy. You were expecting a course in psychology, not biology. I have done my best to emphasize those parts of the nervous system crucial to our survival and achievements as a species. We will start with a discussion of how human anatomy evolved.

Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection

Between December of 1831 and October of 1836, Charles Darwin took one of the most important geographic and intellectual journeys in recorded history. On this voyage he collected fossils and observed many forms of wildlife. Upon returning to England and examining his evidence, Darwin detected patterns in variations of animals seemingly related to environmental conditions. For example, he observed that the size and form of a species of birds’ beaks appeared related to the types of available foods (see Figure 2.1). Eventually he published The Origin of Species (1859), arguably the most influential book in the history of biological (if not all) science.

Figure 2.1 Darwin’s finches

Darwin was familiar with the selective breeding practices of farmers designed to result in improved stocks. He reasoned that a similar selective process could occur as the result of natural causes (i.e., natural selection). That is, if environmental factors resulted in some animals having an adaptive advantage relative to others, those animals would be more likely to survive long enough to reproduce. With respect to the birds, those possessing the type of beak best suited to eating the available food type would be able to consume more food and be more likely to survive. Similarly, if some animals possessed a characteristic resulting in their being more attractive to potential mates, they would be more likely to breed (Figure 2.2).

Figure 2.2 Sexual selection

The most controversial aspects of Darwin’s theory of natural selection relate to human evolution. The implication is that our physical structure, and therefore our behavioral potential, is the result of a natural process related to arbitrary environmental factors. Darwin did not at first relate natural selection to human evolution but eventually did so in his later publication, The Descent of Man (1871). It was not until a century later that a substantial number of fossils suggesting very gradual changes in human structure were discovered. This provided physical evidence for human evolution through natural selection.

You might be wondering if the human being is still evolving. In fact, there are several examples of relatively recent adaptive biological modifications apparently resulting from environmental changes. For example, tens of thousands of years ago, humans started moving to higher altitudes. DNA samples from cultures with a history of living in the mountains included genes impacting upon the amount of hemoglobin in the blood (NY Times, May 30, 2013). Individuals with these genes would be better able to cope with the low oxygen levels characteristic of high altitudes. For example, Tibetans tend to have broader arteries and capillaries than nearby Chinese populations living in low-lying areas. These broader vessels permit greater blood flow and a corresponding increase in delivery of oxygen to the cells of the body.

Heredity and Genetics

Darwin did not possess our current knowledge of the mechanisms involved in heredity, the transfer of characteristics from parent to child. He thought that half the characteristics of each parent were combined and transmitted to the next generation. This was a plausible hypothesis given the obvious similarities and differences between parents and offspring. However, if nothing else was involved, natural selection could not occur. Darwin had specified a process for selection but not for the potential variation in genes necessary for change to occur over time. The possibility of genetic mutation was yet to be discovered.

Although occurring at about the time that Darwin published The Origin of the Species (1859), Gregor Mendel’s genetic research with peas did not attain influence until early in the twentieth century. Mendel’s findings enabled Theodor Boveri (1904) to demonstrate the role of chromosomes (tiny threads contained within a cell’s nucleus) in heredity. Cells are the basic building blocks for plants and animals. The human body is comprised of trillions of cells. In 1910, Thomas Hunt Morgan, studying heredity in the fruit fly, demonstrated that genes were located on chromosomes in the cell nucleus. Genes are the basic units of heredity and ordinarily occupy constant positions on chromosomes. Genes are comprised of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), which includes all the information required for cell replication. Nearly every cell in the body has the same DNA. In 2003, the Human Genome Project reported that the entire human genome (i.e., all the genetic information characteristic of our species) consisted of approximately 20,000 genes. We now know that most genetic variation results from mutation, a permanent chemical change in the composition of a gene’s DNA. Mutations are rare, and ordinarily provide no adaptive advantage. Thus, it is not surprising that evolution through natural selection is very slow, taking millions of years in humans. First, an adaptive mutation must occur in a member of a species which must be fortunate enough to survive and successfully mate. Then, multiple generations would be required for this difference to show up in a significant number of other surviving individuals. It should be emphasized that the adaptive value of a mutation depends upon the environment in which it occurs (Figure 2.3). For example, one third of the indigenous inhabitants of Sub-Saharan Africa carry the gene for sickle cell disease. This gene increases immunity to malaria, making it adaptive in Africa while being maladaptive elsewhere.

Figure 2.3 Explanation of evolution

Genotypes and Phenotypes

The inherited instructions contained within an individual’s genes are referred to as its genotype. Your DNA includes all the information required to create an individual with your exact physical characteristics, susceptibility to specific diseases, and even some of your temperament. At fertilization, humans inherit 46 chromosomes, 23 apiece from our biological mothers and fathers. The 23rd male chromosome determines the sex of the child. This is because females carry two of the same sex chromosome (called X) whereas males carry one X and one Y (male) chromosome (see Figure 2.4). The chromosome pairs and DNA sequences are structurally similar. Traits are passed on from generation to generation through the DNA contained in genes on these chromosomes.

Figure 2.4 The Y-chromosome

Mendel discovered that when crossing plants with different characteristics (e.g., white or purple) the result was not a blend. Rather, one of the initial characteristics would occur (e.g., the next generation would be purple). Mendel referred to this as a dominant trait and to the other as a recessive trait. For example, in humans brown hair is dominant over red hair. This means that if a child inherits a brown gene from one parent and red gene from the other parent, her/his hair will be brown. However, since that child carries both gene colors, it is possible that offspring will inherit red hair. Traits can skip generations.

The observable physical and behavioral characteristics of a species are referred to as its phenotype. We saw in Chapter 1 that complex human behavior is the result of an interaction between hereditary and environmental variables. It is also true that environmental factors interact with genetic factors with regard to physical traits. For example, an individual’s height and weight can be influenced by nutrition, infection, and other variables.

Human Evolution

It is estimated that the universe is 13.8 billion years old and that the earth is 4.54 billion years old (Dalrymple, 2001). The human being is the most complicated animal on earth. Physical evidence suggests life in the form of simple cells first appeared 3.6 billion years ago. Half a billion years ago, animal life emerged from the sea. Over time, closer approximations to a modern human being appeared. In terms of biology’s family tree, humans are considered primates, a branch including apes, monkeys, and lemurs for which we have discovered fossils dating back approximately 55 million years. The human being’s closest existing primate “relatives”, chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas, diverged approximately four to six million years ago. Fossilized evidence suggests the first bipedal animals (i.e., standing on two legs) appeared approximately seven million years ago with the earliest documented evidence for humans (i.e., members of the biological genus “Homo”) dating back approximately 2.3 million years. It is at this time that we observe the first indication of use of stone tools by Homo hablis. This and other transformational events are depicted in Figure 2.5. Note that the brains of early humans were comparable in size to those of chimpanzees and gorillas. This size more than doubled over the course of 2 million years until the appearance of Homo sapiens (modern humans) approximately 200,000 years ago.

Figure 2.5 Human timeline

None of the transformational discoveries listed in Figure 2.5 was inevitable. Evolutionary biologist Jared Diamond (2005) wrote a wonderful Pulitzer prize-winning book tracing the history of the human being leading up to and after the last ice age, approximately 13,000 years ago. He describes how features of the climate and environment impacted on the course of development of humans on the different continents and why some cultures eventually became dominant over others. For most of our time on earth, variations of the human species survived as nomadic small bands of hunter/gatherers in Africa. Diamond (2005, 36-37) describes fossilized evidence that humans migrated to Southeast Asia approximately 1 million years ago, with Homo sapiens reaching Europe ½-million years ago. Existing evidence suggests that modern humans reached the Americas between 14,000 and 35,000 years ago. Diamond (2005, 87) provides an overview of the causal factors impacting upon the human condition. Geographic and climatic conditions affecting the availability of wild plants and animals determined the possibility of development of agriculture and animal domestication. Localized food production enabled establishment of more permanent residences and larger communities. Food storage permitted surpluses, freeing people from survival demands on a day-to-day basis. This resulted in development of new “occupations” and technologies, dramatically altering the human condition.

My students readily admit that where they were born was an extremely important yet arbitrary event impacting upon the course of their life. If they were born and lived in the rain forest they would not be prepared to attend college. Alternately, if at their present age they were dropped in the rain forest without modern technologies or assistance from natives, they would probably not survive.

The terms “human evolution”, “ human condition”, and “human potential”, must be carefully analyzed to be most meaningful. Our potential as individuals and as a species starts with the physical structure (i.e., anatomy) that evolved through the process of natural selection. The Mostly Nature section of this book describes how our anatomy permits us to sense specific sources of physical stimulation originating from outside (Chapter 3) and within (Chapter 4) our bodies. The current chapter describes how the anatomy of our brain and nervous system enables us to process and coordinate this physical stimulation and transmit information to those parts of our body capable of responding. Our anatomy places limits on the types of physical information we are able to sense and the types of responses we are able to make. These limitations meant that we were not always capable of surviving and reproducing under all the geographic and climatic conditions that existed on earth. Our physical structure, however, included the potential to touch, manipulate, and change the planet. The development of tools and technologies magnified this capability, eventually resulting in transformative changes in our environmental conditions. We refer to the interface between our physical structure and environment as the human condition. Over the millennia, humans acquired the capability of surviving anywhere on this planet, traveling to the moon, and exploring the universe. The fascinating story of the past, present, and future potential of our species starts with an understanding of human genetic potential

Human Genetic Potential

When I was a child I faithfully watched the Superman TV show. I would play with my friends, pretending to be Superman, and try to leap off a step while wearing my cape (actually a towel). Despite doing my best to imitate my hero I never took off. I wasn’t a bird or Superman. Flying was beyond my genetic potential. We saw that the human brain significantly increased in size over the course of evolution. A convenient way of considering what constitutes the genetic potential for human behavior is to examine the human motor homunculus (little person). This is a representation of the amount of “brain space” in the cortex allotted to different parts of our body for acting upon our environment (see Figure 2.6). Consistent with the distinctive human DNA described in Figure 1.2, a disproportionate amount of the cortex is allocated to organs related to speech (lips, jaw, tongue, and voice box) and to the hands (particularly the thumb). The ability to manipulate our facial muscles, tongue, and larynx provides the potential to emit an enormous variety of vocalizations. Initial attempts to teach chimps to speak (Hayes and Hayes, 1952) were unsuccessful, primarily due to limitations in the use of these body parts. Our ability to manipulate our fingers and thumbs to form the “precision grip” enables us to grasp and hold objects of different sizes and shapes.

Figure 2.6 The motor homunculus

Millions of years of evolution resulted in an animal with the genetic potential to learn complex behaviors, speak and create tools. This potential took a very long time to emerge. However, once realized, the combination of imagination, communication, and manipulation resulted in humans dominating and changing our planet. Theodosius Dobzhansky (1960), a noted Russian genetic biologist, stated

“Mutation, sexual recombination and natural selection led to the emergence of Homo sapiens. The creatures that preceded him had already developed the rudiments of tool-using, tool making and cultural transmission. But the next evolutionary step was so great as to constitute a difference in kind from those before it. There now appeared an organism whose mastery of technology and of symbolic communication enabled it to create a supraorganic culture. Other organisms adapt to their environments by changing their genes in accordance with the demands of the surroundings. Man and man alone can also adapt by changing his environments to fit his genes. His genes enable him to invent new tools, to alter his opinions, his aims and his conduct, to acquire new knowledge and new wisdom.” The “supraorganic culture” Dobzhansky describes, results from the multiplicative effects of human’s shared imaginings, communications and manipulations. Throughout this book we will seek to understand our potential to transform the world, the human condition and our individual selves. We start with the human genotype.

The Nervous and Endocrine Systems

The Nervous System: Connecting Sensation and Movement

As we consider the human genotype, we will start by providing an overview of the nervous system (see Figure 2.7), those structures which transmit information regarding external and internal stimulation and coordinate behavior.

Figure 2.7 Overview of human nervous system

The central nervous system, consisting of the brain and spinal cord, organizes and interprets information received from the peripheral nervous system and initiates responding. The somatic division of the peripheral nervous system responds to sensory information originating outside the body and stimulates the skin, joints, and skeletal muscles. This type of behavior is often considered voluntary. The autonomic nervous system governs the activity of the smooth muscles and glands internal to the body involved in circulation, respiration, and digestion (see Figure 2.8). This type of activity is often considered involuntary. The sympathetic division results in arousal under stressful or dangerous conditions as the body is prepared for “fight or flight.” The parasympathetic division calms the body upon removal of the stress or danger.

Figure 2.8 The autonomic nervous system

Making the Physical Connections: The Neuron

Even very simple animals require some way of connecting environmental input with behavioral output. Specialized nerve cells called neurons are required to respond to external and internal stimulation (i.e., sensory neurons) and carry information to parts of the body capable of responding (i.e., motor neurons). A third type of cell referred to as an interneuron connects nerve cells to each other. Nervous systems consist of these types of specialized neurons and range in size from a few hundred nerve cells in worms to approximately 100 billion nerve cells in humans. Neurons are capable of transmitting information electrically and chemically. Figure 2.9 portrays the major parts of a neuron. Dendrites are small branches which can connect to nearby neurons. A single axon can extend in length up to about a meter in humans and connect to the dendrites of more distant neurons. For example, a neuron could connect the spinal cord to a foot.

Figure 2.9 The neuron

Nerve cells “fire” (i.e., achieve their electrical action potential) according to an all-or-none principle. That is, either the cell is totally activated or not at all. Increasing the intensity of stimulation does not increase the likelihood of a nerve responding. Rather, it increases the nerve’s rate of firing (i.e., frequency over time). For example, as a lamp becomes brighter, this does not increase the likelihood of a receptor cell in your eye firing. Rather, it increases the frequency with which the receptor cell fires. Nerves can fire at rates as high as a thousand times per second.

Making Chemical Connections: Neurotransmitters

The chemical exchange between neurons occurs at synapses, the small spaces separating the dendrites and axon endings (see Figure 2.10).

Figure 2.10 The synapse

The first nerve cell releases chemical neurotransmitters that can bind with receptors in the second neuron. The exchange can result in excitation or inhibition, depending upon the type of receptor activated. Figure 2.11 lists the major neurotransmitters along with their roles in the body.

Figure 2.11 The major neurotransmitters

Psychoactive drugs can affect mood, thought, and behavior. Most achieve these effects by impacting upon neurotransmitters and synaptic connections. In Chapter 11 (Maladaptive Behavior), we will consider the use of psychoactive drugs in the treatment of depression and schizophrenia.

The Brain

For literal and figurative reasons, it is tempting to refer to the human brain as evolution’s crowning achievement. After all, the brain sits atop our nervous system and enables our most complex overt and covert behaviors. Your thoughts, your feelings, all the complex things you do, would not be possible without this organ housed inside your skull on top of your head.

The human brain is similar in construction to the brains of other mammals but much larger in comparison to the size of our bodies. Without the increase in brain size occurring during human evolution it would not matter if we inherited the physical structures necessary to speak and create tools. This potential would never be realized. Manhattan would still look the same as it did 400 years ago. We are now using our remarkable brain to study itself. The United States government declared the 1990s as the “Decade of the Brain” and much progress has been made in understanding how the brain operates. President Barack Obama of the United States declared “The BRAIN (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies) Initiative” in 2013, hoping to advance this knowledge.

There are many ways of describing the brain in terms of its structure (i.e., anatomy) or function (i.e., parts operating together in producing a specific effect). Figure 2.12 shows the major parts of the human brain. The prefrontal cortex is involved in the higher human cognitive functions including attention, perception, thinking, memory, language and consciousness.

Figure 2.12 Human brain

The brain is an adaptive organ connecting sensation with movement. Besides the primary somatosensory area in the parietal lobe, sensory areas include the occipital lobe for vision and temporal lobe for hearing. Besides the primary motor area at the rear of the frontal lobe, motor areas include the brain stem and spinal cord. The rest of the cortex is referred to as association areas and is dedicated to perception and cognition. It is the size and structure of this area which expanded enormously as humans evolved and enabled us to not only survive but to transform the human condition.

A human brain weighs about three pounds and feels “squishy” (something like gelatin). The cerebral cortex covers most of the brain and is comprised of nerve fibers folded in such a manner (called convolutions) to increase the amount of surface area in the total space. There are two symmetrical halves often referred to as the left brain (or hemisphere) and right brain (or hemisphere). The two halves are connected by the corpus callosum, a thick network of nerve fibers enabling the two sides to communicate. The left side of the brain connects to the right side of the body and vice versa. Certain activities appear more characteristic of one side than the other (see Figure 2.13). These distinctions are referred to as lateralization. Despite the different emphases, both sides usually act in concert in carrying out these activities (Toga & Thompson, 2003).

Figure 2.13 Brain lateralization

Most of the expansion in the size of the human brain occurred in the frontal lobe. This part of the brain is involved in self-control, described in Chapter 1, and in abstract thought and problem-solving, described in Chapter 7. The small occipital lobe is dedicated to vision, described in Chapter 3. At the borders of the frontal and parietal lobes is a deep fissure (the central sulcus) where large strips of neural tissue dedicated to sensation (the primary somatosensory cortex) and movement (the primary motor cortex) meet. The temporal lobe is primarily involved with memory and language, described in Chapter 6. The parietal lobe is involved with sensation originating in the skin, muscles, and joints.

The Endocrine System: Hormonal Regulation

The endocrine system consists of ductless glands that secrete hormones (chemical messengers) into the blood stream to maintain homeostasis. It exists in all animals having a nervous system. Like the nervous system, the endocrine system enables communication between different parts of the body.

The endocrine system maintains homeostasis through a series of feedback loops, the most important of which are controlled by the hypothalamus interacting with the pituitary gland. Often, the hypothalamus stimulates the pituitary gland to secrete an activating hormone to another gland. If a signal is transmitted to a gland, indicating low blood levels of its hormone, it secretes additional amounts into the blood stream. Once the optimal level is restored, the gland stops secreting the hormone. In this way the endocrine system plays its critical role in metabolism, growth, sexual development, reproduction, and responding to stress. Figure 2.14 shows the locations of the major glands.

Figure 2.14 Major gland locations

The pituitary gland connects to the base of the hypothalamus and is often referred to as the master gland since it secretes several different hormones impacting upon other glands involved in maintaining homeostasis. Hormones secreted by the pituitary control growth, blood pressure, water balance, temperature regulation, and pain relief. The pineal gland is located at the base of the cortex between the two hemispheres and next to the thalamus. It influences the sleep-wake cycle by secreting the hormone melatonin when stimulated by light. The thyroid gland is located in the neck by the larynx (voice box) and affects metabolism by controlling the rate at which energy is expended. It is one of the glands under the control of the pituitary which secretes thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH). The pituitary in turn is controlled by the hypothalamus through the release of thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH). Humans usually have four parathyroid glands located on the rear surface of the thyroid gland. These control the amount of calcium in the blood and bones. The thymus is located below the thyroid gland in the middle of the chest. It is an important part of the immune system. Damage, such as through contracting the HIV virus, can result in increased susceptibility to infection (e.g., AIDS). The spleen lies toward the bottom of your rib cage and is involved in the removal of red blood cells. The adrenal glands are located on top of the kidneys and through the release of epinephrine (adrenalin) are significantly involved in the body’s “fight-or-flight” response in reaction to danger. The sex glands (ovaries for the female and testes for the male) secrete hormones controlling the development of the reproductive sex organs and secondary sex characteristics (e.g., pubic hair) during puberty.

Self-Control and Biological Psychology

Life is a rat race

In the first chapter, we saw how an experiment conducted with pigeons provided important insights into the self-control process. At the end of each chapter, I will consider implications of the material to achieving your own potential. You might be wondering how this could be possible in a chapter describing human biology. Think of the implications of neuroplasticity. By making environmental manipulations, you can actually “rewire” your brain. What may surprise you is that studies measuring EEGs and MRIs with humans have demonstrated that physical activity affects the brain. It is known that the cortex and hippocampus atrophy in the aged. Experimental studies with other animals (primarily rats and mice) have demonstrated that exercise can actually increase the number of nerve cells in the hippocampus (Brown, Cooper-Kuhn, Kempermann, van Praag, Gage, & Kuhn, 2003; van Praag, H., Shubert, Zhao, & Gage, 2005; Eadie, Redilla, & Christie, 2005).

You are probably aware of the many benefits of exercise. The Public Health Service concluded exercise was one of the most significant ways in which humans could improve their health (Powell, & Paffenbarger, 1985). Consistent aerobic exercise has been found to reduce the likelihood of developing hypertension (high blood pressure), heart disease, type II diabetes, and osteoporosis (thinning of the bones). A good way to understand research is to use the scientific schema I described in Chapter 1. Ask yourself to describe out loud or in writing the question being investigated, the procedures used to investigate the question, the research findings, and the conclusions. It is often helpful to try to imagine yourself as a research subject. I am sure it is easy for you to imagine being on a treadmill or exercise bike with electrodes attached to your head to take EEG readings. That would enable us to observe the effects of independent variables (e.g., duration of exercising, speed, the incline on a treadmill or resistance on a bike) on a dependent variable (e.g., changes in EEG recordings).

In order to obtain more precise data regarding the effects of exercise on the brain, it is necessary to examine the brain itself rather than simply recording EEG or obtaining MRI scans. This type of invasive research can only be conducted on other animals. You may be wondering, how is it possible to study the effects of exercise on rats and mice. Are there rat and mice gyms or health clubs? Do they have swimming pools, bikes, and treadmills? The answer is, sort of (Figure 2.15).

Figure 2.15 Rat in a running wheel.

One study compared the effects of moderate and more intense exercise on two types of learning and on changes in the presence of neural plasticity-related proteins in the hippocampus and amygdala (Liu, Chen, Wul, Kuol, Yu, Huang, Wu, Chuang, & Jen, 2009). Both groups were taught to swim to the end of a water maze and to avoid shock in another apparatus. Then, one group of mice engaged in self-paced wheel running for four weeks and another group received more intense workouts on a treadmill. Both groups were then retested on the two tasks and underwent surgery to assess changes in their brain chemistry. After their four weeks of exercise, both groups improved their performance in the water maze. Only the group given the more intense treadmill workouts improved on the more difficult shock avoidance task. It was determined that this group increased the levels of specific proteins in both the hippocampus and amygdala whereas the self-paced group only experienced increases in the hippocampus. The authors concluded that different exercise routines can differentially affect learning and brain chemistry.

In Chapter 1, I listed examples of the behaviors my students have targeted in self-control projects. Many students are interested in improving their cardiovascular fitness by engaging in aerobic exercises (i.e., involving sustained rhythmic activity). According to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans (Garber, 2011), one should engage in 1-1/4 hours (75 minutes) of intense (e.g., jogging or running) or 2-1/2 hours (150 minutes) of moderate (e.g., brisk walking) exercise per week. You can break up the activity into sessions lasting at least 10 minutes. For example, you could walk briskly for half an hour on five different days, or 50 minutes on three different days, etc.

Usually, for exercise projects, students assess the frequency, duration, and intensity of exercises they would like to perform. In Chapter 5, we will discuss application of learning principles to modify behavior. However, if you would like to try a self-control intervention before then, you could implement an adjusting criterion procedure. In the case of aerobic exercise, start by obtaining baseline data on the frequency, duration, and (when applicable), the intensity of your sessions. If you do not exercise at all, try a minimal amount (e.g., five or ten minutes) on three different days. Once you have stable baseline data, you will be ready to adjust the criterion upward in order to earn a reward. For example, you could require a ten per cent increase (to five and a half or eleven minutes). If you earn the reward three sessions in a row you can increase the criterion by an additional ten per cent, and so on until you reach your ultimate objective. The reward could be something tangible such as a treat (but watch out for the calories!) or money, or an enjoyable activity such as reading, listening to music, playing video games, engaging in social networking, etc. Make sure you leave sufficient time to study for your courses, though. Otherwise you will need to implement an adjusting criterion procedure on study time!

Introduction to the Science of Psychology

Assumptions

There are things I think I know, things I think I might know, and things I know I don’t know. I have learned that it is important to be able to tell the difference. In this book, I am trying to share some of the most important things I think I know about psychology. What I mean by important is that I think you will find many of these things interesting and some helpful in contemplating human potential and living your life under your unique human conditions.

I don’t know you personally but I am going to try to communicate based on certain assumptions. My assumptions are usually inferences based on things I think I know. I think I know that you just completed reading this sentence. Another thing I think I know (but am not as certain of), is that you are a student or someone interested in psychology. Accordingly, I will try to relate the material to college’s and life’s usual demands (e.g., passing objective and essay examinations; time management, problem-solving, health and weight control, etc.).

Mighty oaks from tiny acorns grow.

In their attempt to understand their world and the meaning of their existence, humans increasingly rely on the scientific method to understand nature. All sciences are interested in establishing cause and effect relationships that apply under natural conditions. Over the past 400 years, there have been enormous advances in the physical, chemical, and biological sciences. This has resulted in applied technologies that have transformed the planet and the human condition.

This book describes the results of application of the scientific method to understanding the behavior of individual animals including humans. As a science, psychology studies how genetics (i.e. heredity or nature) and the environment (i.e. experience or nurture) influence covert (i.e. thinking and feeling) and overt behavior. That is, psychology assumes that the same principles that apply to acorns and oaks apply to human beings. Exposure to sunlight, water, and fertilizer determine the development of acorns. Throughout subsequent chapters we will see how different environmental variables influence human development. Traditionally, psychology has been broken down and introductory textbooks organized according to distinct content areas. In this book, these content areas are separated into those heavily influenced by genetics (biological psychology, sensation, motivation); those heavily influenced by experience (learning and cognition); and those emphasizing nature/nurture interactions (lifespan development, personality, social psychology, and maladaptive behavior). As will be observed as you advance through these content areas, the scientific method has been successfully applied to complex and important behavioral phenomena. Just as with other sciences, the establishment of cause and effect relationships has enabled the development of applied strategies.

The idea of potential is a paradox. It implies absolute limits and enormous possibilities. It is simultaneously pessimistic and optimistic. Potential can result in good or harm, creation or destruction. To consider psychology the science of human potential requires recognizing and accepting these contradictions. Every acorn has the potential to become a mighty oak but not every acorn will achieve that potential. Every healthy human child has enormous potential but not every child will achieve their potential.

The first paragraph of the serenity prayer, usually attributed to Reinhold Niebuhr, states:

God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.

The college experience can be described as encouraging students to consider the meaning of their lives within the context of lives that have been lived and lives that could be lived. This requires knowledge of history and culture to inform one regarding the likelihood of accomplishing change and imagination to consider other possibilities. The hope is that such knowledge and imagination will be applied wisely throughout one’s life.

An amusing distinction related to the serenity prayer describes three types of individuals: those that make it happen (i.e. demonstrate courage), those that watch it happen (i.e. are passive), and those that ask “what happened” (i.e. are clueless). The messages conveyed by the serenity prayer and this distinction relate to human potential. Those that are informed and active in considering options and making decisions are more likely to achieve their potential than those less informed or passive.

The Importance of Grades and Performance Standards

Do you think people have traits? Do you think some students are industrious and others are lazy? We will discuss such issues in Chapter 9 (Personality). I think I know that if you are a student, you care about the grades you receive on exams. It is very difficult to be accepted into a university if you did not do reasonably well on exams. It is unlikely that you would have done well on exams if you didn’t care how you performed. Similarly, you will not excel at anything in life unless you are motivated to meet acceptable standards of performance. Parents and teachers probably tried hard when you were young to get you to care about how you performed in and out of school. We know that with respect to school grades, this often happens early. The reason we know is that research has demonstrated that some Head Start (Edlund, 1972), first-grade, and second-grade students (Clingman & Fowler, 1976) do better on IQ tests if they are given extrinsic rewards (e.g., candy or trinkets) for correct answers . Other students perform to the best of their ability without the extrinsic rewards. We will discuss such issues in Chapter 4 (Motivation & Emotion). Getting students to care about how they performed was obviously very important. Do you think research conducted with rats and pigeons can help us develop procedures to get children to care about their performance in school and on other tasks? We will review related questions later in this chapter and examine some of the practical implications of animal research in Chapter 5 (Direct Learning).

Edlund, and Clingman and Fowler are the first researchers cited in this book. Many more will follow. Complete references are listed alphabetically at the end of the book. You are encouraged to consult the original references whenever you have questions concerning a particular finding or conclusion or wish to obtain additional information. We live in a world where we are continually exposed to information designed to influence our beliefs and opinions. One of the most important skills you can acquire as a student or in life is the ability to determine what constitutes a credible basis for believing something is true.

The Importance of Knowing When You Know and When You Don’t Know

Even experienced students and adults sometimes have difficulty determining when they understand something and when additional (or more likely, different) preparation is required. One of the ways in which I will try to help you determine whether you understand material is by inserting essay questions at the end of major sections. Some of these questions can be answered through memorization. Others will require a level of understanding beyond memorization. They will require integrating key concepts and applying them so that you will appreciate the basis for our current understanding of psychological issues. Test yourself by writing out your answers to these questions. I suspect you will sometimes find that even though you thought you understood the material after you read it, you have difficulty providing a clear, complete, and accurate answer. If this is the case, you will know that it is necessary to review the material until you are able to provide such an answer. For example, can you answer the following question?

The Structure of College and Types of Knowing

Psychology is an academic discipline (i.e., body of knowledge based upon accepted, standardized methods). Before we consider the structure of the psychology curriculum and how it relates to the organization and content of this book, we will consider where psychology fits within the usual college curriculum. College students are asked (sometimes required) to take courses in many academic disciplines. Many of these courses are taught by departments housed in administrative units known as Arts and Sciences. Psychology is almost always housed within colleges of Arts and Sciences encompassing many disciplines not designed to prepare students for specific career paths (e.g., Art & Music, History, Philosophy, Physics, etc.). This is in contrast to pre-professional academic units such as Education, Business, and Nursing.

The psychology major prepares students for graduate education and psychology related vocations such as clinical, counseling, school, and industrial psychology. The American Psychological Association website includes a substantial amount of information concerning career opportunities in psychology (http://www.apa.org/careers/resources/guides/careers.aspx). Another very helpful psychology career website is: www.drkit.org/psychology.According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the job growth for psychology till 2026 is projected to be faster than the average for other occupations.

Over the years, many students have asked me why they have to spend so much of their first two years taking courses in Arts and Sciences (often referred to as core courses). They indicate the desire to just take courses in their favorite department (often referred to as a major). I often respond to such questions by referring to the famous picture based on the poem, The Blind Men and the Elephant (Saxe, 1872).

Figure 1.1 Blind men and an elephant

Often students are asked to take courses in the arts (e.g., history, literature, art or music, philosophy), “natural” (i.e., perhaps more accurately referred to as “laboratory”), and social and behavioral sciences. Psychology, which may be defined as the scientific study of individual thought, feeling, and behavior, is usually included in the last category with disciplines such as Sociology and Political Science. It is usually not included in the next-to-last category with disciplines such as Biology, Chemistry, and Physics even though, as we shall see, much of its research is conducted in laboratories. The arts, natural sciences, and behavioral sciences may be considered blind men with the elephant representing the human condition. Each perspective is attempting to help you place your life within a broader context of time, place, and ideas. History attempts to base its understanding on artifacts obtained over different time periods. Literature attempts to capture the essence of the human condition in different types of creative narratives (e.g., novels, plays, poems). Art and music provide different types of examples of human creativity. Philosophy applies reason and logic to questions regarding the meaning of life. Sometimes students believe since they have already taken similar courses in high school they will be repeating the same material. We have long known from the cognition literature (see Chapter 7) that repetition improves memory (Ebbinghaus, 1885). Also, you will probably find that your college professors ask you to do more and provide more difficult assignments, even when treating the same material.

Early History of Psychology

Wilhelm Wundt is given credit for founding the discipline of psychology at the German University of Leipzig in 1879. It is there and then that the first laboratory exclusively dedicated to psychological phenomena was established. Prior to then, research that would be considered psychological in nature was conducted in physics and neurology laboratories. Examples would include Fechner’s (1860) psychophysics research investigating just noticeable differences on sensory dimensions and Helmholtz’s studies of vision conducted in the 1850s and 1860s (translated into English in 1924).

Figure 1.2 Wilhelm Wundt

Wundt (1873, 1896) defined psychology as the scientific study of conscious experience or, as some prefer, the study of the mind. His thinking was influenced by the chemist Dmitri Mendeleev, who formulated the periodic chart of elements. Wundt felt the goal of psychology should be to determine the fundamental elements of conscious experience, a sort of “mental chemistry.” His research suggested that the basic elements were images, sensations, and affective states (i.e., emotions) and that these had the attributes of quality, intensity, and duration. Wundt relied upon introspection (i.e., looking inward) as the exclusive methodology. He felt that, with extensive training, individuals could be taught to make objective judgments regarding the attributes of what they were covertly (i.e., privately) experiencing. Thus, a subject might be placed in front of a desk and asked to describe the intensity and duration of her/his images, sensations, and emotional experiences.

Inevitably, other scientists interested in psychology reacted to different aspects of Wundt’s original approach to the discipline. In 1890, Harvard’s William James published his classic textbook The Principles of Psychology introducing much of the content and organization of subsequent introductory psychology textbooks. Edward Titchner, a student of Wundt’s who established a laboratory at Cornell University, made distinctions between Wundt’s and James’ approaches to psychology, labeling the former as structuralism and the latter as functionalism (1898, 1899). The University of Chicago’s James Angell responded (1903, 1907) with the functionalist perspective on the same distinction. This perspective was influenced by Charles Darwin’s (1859) contributions regarding natural selection. Titchner and Angell argued that Wundt’s original goal of analyzing conscious experience did not adequately emphasize the adaptive role played by the mind in survival. The major functionalists, in addition to William James and James Angell, included John Dewey and Harvey Carr of the University of Chicago. In addition to arguing for broadening the goals of psychology, they proposed expanding the methodology beyond introspection to include active experimentation in which the effects of different variables could be investigated.

Figure 1.3 William James

In 1910, Max Wertheimer, a doctorate in psychology, was studying the perceptual experience of apparent movement later labeled as the phi phenomenon. He had purchased a toy stroboscope that subjectively produced the impression of continuity from appropriately timed presentations of still photos (similar to projection of filmed still images in a movie theater) and was searching for subjects to investigate the effect. A friend provided laboratory facilities at the Frankfurt Psychological Institute and introduced him to Kurt Koffka and Wolfgang Kohler, two outstanding post-doctoral students to serve as subject colleagues (Kendler, 1987). This union resulted in the formation of the distinct psychological perspective called Gestalt psychology (Kohler, 1929). The German word gestalt is usually translated as “organized whole” and the catchphrase “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts” succinctly summarizes the major message of this approach. Gestalt psychologists disagreed with structuralism’s goal of analyzing conscious experience. The phi phenomenon was used to exemplify this message. Analyzing the phenomenon into distinct presentations of single photos was inappropriate. They argued that to do so, misrepresented and actually destroyed the very essence of what we perceive. When describing conscious experience, one had to work at the level of complete organized units. For example, to describe a desk in terms of the visual and tactile sensations it produces, does not capture the meaningful whole we perceive.

Figure 1.4 Max Wertheimer

It has been quipped that sciences advance when one scientist stands on the shoulders of another and psychology advances when one psychologist stomps on the head of another. The originator of this comment could have had John Watson in mind. Watson was trained as a functionalist at the University of Chicago and upon graduation accepted an excellent position at Johns Hopkins, where he remained for 12 years. Publication of his Psychological Review article, “Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It” (1913), resulted in no less than a permanent transformation of the discipline. Unlike the functionalists and Gestalt psychologists, Watson considered Wundt’s approach to have been a false start. His manifesto called for a change in the definition, goals, and methods of psychology. Watson reasoned that if psychology were to be considered a natural science the subject matter had to meet the three criteria of being observable, testable, and replicable. Since conscious experience cannot be independently verified by any means, testable questions could not be formulated and results could not be replicated. Watson limited the subject matter of psychology to observable behavior and defined the discipline as the science of individual behavior. The scientific method would be applied to the goal of prediction and control of observable behavior.

Watson’s behaviorism was particularly critical of introspection as a method of inquiry. Not only was introspection inherently subjective, making independently verifiable replication of results impossible, it was a reactive procedure that unnecessarily limited the discipline’s subject matter. A reactive procedure is one in which the observational procedure affects the results. Watson argued that the act of introspecting necessarily altered one’s conscious experience. That is, the research findings obtained while introspecting would only apply under circumstances where an individual is engaged in introspection. This is not ordinarily the case. Also, since only reliable verbal human beings could accurately describe their introspections, it was impossible to study abnormal populations, children, or other animals as subjects.

Figure 1.5 John Watson

Psychology Today

Each of the major early schools contributed significantly to the way psychology is currently practiced. Working backward, it is recognized that our scientific observations are limited to observable behavior (Skinner, 1990). Indeed, just as in other sciences, psychology’s subject matter is expanded with the development of new instruments. Astronomy benefited from the invention of the telescope, biology from the microscope, and psychology from such innovations as the IQ test, personality tests, reaction timer, galvanic skin response (GSR), Skinner-box, electroencephalograph (EEG), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computerized recording of behavior, and so on.

Current psychology has profited from the wisdom of the Gestalt psychologists as well. Indeed, a hard lesson was learned when it was realized that many conclusions reached regarding human memory based on the study of nonsense syllables (e.g., GUX) did not apply to meaningful words and sentences. For example, it has been demonstrated that the individual letters in words are processed simultaneously rather than sequentially (Adelman, Marquis, and Sabatos-DeVito, 2010). This means the word is processed as a “Gestalt’ (organized whole), not separate letters.

Functionalism continues to be influential within psychology. Indeed, evolutionary psychology, an approach consistent with major themes of this book, has emerged recently as a unifying perspective for such distinct content areas as biological psychology, learning, and social psychology (Confer, Easton, Fleischman, Goetz, Lewis, and Buss, 2010).

By virtue of being first, Wilhelm Wundt was able to define, state the goals, and develop the methodology of psychology. We have seen that this advantage had its cost since it provided others the opportunity to make suggestions and offer criticisms, not always in a collegial manner. Still, the most important components of structuralism have been incorporated within current practice. The fact that Introduction to Psychology textbooks practically all include chapters on perception, learning, and cognition demonstrates continued interest in conscious experience. We do not directly observe people perceive, learn and think. These topics must be studied in an inferential manner based upon behavioral observations. That is, people behave as though they perceive, learn, and think.

Introspection continues as a methodology for acquiring data in the form of self-report with the inherent limitations of such data being recognized and studied in their own right. Wherever possible, confirmatory measures other than self-report are frequently obtained. For example, in studies designed to reduce cigarette smoking, subjects are often required to provide carbon dioxide measures in addition to cigarette per day self-reports.

Research Methods in Psychology

Scientific Explanation

As mentioned previously, by explanation we usually mean a statement of cause and effect. Scientists refer to potential causes as independent variables and the related effects as dependent variables. Different sciences are defined by the dependent variables of interest. That is, physics studies the effects of different independent variables on matter and energy. Biology studies the effects of different independent variables on life processes. Psychology studies the effect of different independent variables on the behavior of individual animals.

All sciences assume that nature is lawful and that if you study nature systematically the underlying laws can become known. This assumption is referred to as determinism and is not today considered controversial with respect to physics, chemistry, and biology. We look to these disciplines to provide answers regarding questions regarding how nature works and benefit from technological advances resulting from scientific understanding. The assumption of determinism with regard to human behavior, however, is considered very controversial by those believing we possess freedom of the will. I hope to reduce or eliminate the controversy by pointing out that the logical opposite of determinism is not freedom of the will, but non-determinism. That is, the logical opposite of the assumption that nature is lawful is that nature is not lawful. Everyone, including those believing strongly in freedom of the will, acts as though behavior is lawful. We (usually) stop at red lights and proceed when they turn green. We (usually) take turns listening and speaking. We (usually) show up for class on time, etc., etc. None of this would be true if we did not expect others to act in a predictable manner. Predictability, implying lawfulness, can only be true within a deterministic system.

Let us now consider what psychology considers a lawful explanation of human behavior. We start with a couple of scenarios. Imagine that you are in a classroom and a person your age enters, walks over to a wall and starts banging their head against it. Then the person takes a seat and starts talking out loud to someone else, although no one else is present. Someone from the university counseling center enters the room and concludes these behaviors occur as the result of schizophrenia. Another person your age enters the classroom, congested and coughing. Someone from the university health services concludes the person is experiencing these symptoms as the result of influenza.

These two scenarios appear very similar. An individual’s behaviors or physical symptoms are explained by reference to an underlying condition or illness. However, the first example constitutes an example of a pseudo- (i.e., false) explanation whereas the second example could fulfill the requirements of an adequate explanation. Why is that? Both explanations involve terms that are difficult to pronounce and spell. What makes influenza “better” than schizophrenia? Remember, by explanation we mean a statement of cause and effect. This requires a separate observable potential cause (independent variable) and effect (dependent variable). In the case of influenza, a specific bacteria or virus can be detected through the appropriate tests. The term influenza does not simply stand for a syndrome of symptoms. It stands for the relationship between a specific “germ” and a specific syndrome. It is possible to test and replicate the relationship between this specific germ and specific symptoms. This is not the case with the term schizophrenia which is defined exclusively on the effect (dependent variable) side (DSM 5, 2013). It is circular to explain a phenomenon with the name for the phenomenon. Why does the person behave that way; because the person is schizophrenic. How do you know the person is schizophrenic; because the person behaves that way.

As will be shown repeatedly, pseudo-explanations can be extremely problematic in psychology. For example, it is known that students’ getting out of their seats can be increased through the attention of their teacher (Allen and Harris, 1966). If you were informed that your child gets out of the seat frequently because of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), you might not search for an alternate explanation. Even worse, there is the potential for the development of a self-fulfilling prophecy. That is, by virtue of being labeled ADHD, others might treat your child differently, resulting in the problem behaviors increasing in frequency. Earlier, I emphasized the importance of knowing when you know something and when you do not. The possibility of accepting a pseudo-explanation is an important example. One of the most valuable lessons you can learn is when you understand a phenomenon (in psychology or otherwise) and when you do not. Be vigilant for pseudo-explanations. Always look for testable relationships between observable independent and dependent variables.

Nature/Nurture and Explanation

Many psychologists and psychiatrists are searching for the cause(s) of schizophrenia. Where do they look? Based on the influenza example, one might consider the possibility of a genetic influence or a germ. Psychologists look to nature (heredity) and nurture (the environment) for causes. The assumption is that our genes determine our total potential for development which is then realized through exposure to appropriate environmental events. An example with plants was provided by a high school valedictorian who thanked his parents, friends, and teachers for helping him prepare for life. He thanked his parents for providing water, his friends for their sunshine, and his teachers for producing so much fertilizer!

I am sure you are familiar with so-called nature-nurture controversies. For example, some suggest that heredity is more important than the environment or vice versa with respect to schizophrenia or intelligence. In technical journals, one will see reference to heritability ratios as indications of the extent to which behavior results from genetic influences. This is another controversy that I believe is best reframed, as we did with questions regarding freedom of the will. Let us combine some of the elements of the novels Jurassic Park (Crichton, 1990) and Tarzan of the Apes (Burroughs, 1914) to show how. Someone is exploring the sight where Marie Curie or Albert Einstein died and discovers a mosquito frozen in amber. It is determined that this mosquito stung the scientist while alive and it is possible to extract the DNA and clone it. A healthy, lively infant results and is given to a loving pair of gorillas to raise. Obviously, this infant’s genetic potential will never be realized in this impoverished environment (by current technologically advanced human standards). The reverse is also true. We could provide a wonderful, loving pair of human parents with a chimpanzee to raise. This, in fact, was done with the famous chimp Washoe, the hero of a wonderful book, Next of Kin (Fouts, 1997). I can guarantee you that this book will make you laugh and make you cry and that you will never think of chimpanzees in the same way. Chimpanzees share more than 98% of their DNA with humans (Pollard, 2009). Still, by human standards, Washoe does not attain many of the complex abilities that the great majority of us do as adults. That remaining 2% of DNA accounts for some very significant differences in our genetic potential.

Nature/nurture issues frequently arise in psychology. For example, to what extent is intelligence (see Chapter 7), personality (see Chapter 9), or abnormal behavior (see Chapter 11) influenced by each? Psychology studies the influences of genetics (nature) and experience (nurture) on every aspect of individual behavior. In the next section, the methods developed by psychologists to scientifically study the effects of different variables on behavior will be described.

The Scientific Revolution

It has been suggested that the most significant accomplishment of the previous millennium was the transition from relying upon personal experience or authority figures to relying upon empirical testing to understand nature (Powers, 1999). Thus legend has it that Galileo climbed to the top of the leaning tower of Pisa to drop rocks in pairs to determine the effect of the weight of objects on how quickly they fall. Familiar experiences with very light objects (e.g., paper or feathers, which are disproportionately influenced by air currents) could lead us to believe that heavier objects fall faster than light objects. Even today, most people believe this is true. However, simple tests, such as by simultaneously dropping a dime and quarter, lead to the correct conclusion reached by Galileo that the weight does not matter. This reality is confirmed when studies are conducted in vacuums eliminating atmospheric effects.

It is not coincidental that reliance upon empirical testing resulted in tremendous strides in physics, chemistry, and biology. Many of the technological advances we take for granted in our modern world (e.g., electricity, plastics, and inoculations against diseases) subsequently emerged. Figure 1.6 dramatically shows the transformation of New York City that took place over the course of the four centuries since Henry Hudson arrived there in 1609. The island was transformed from the forest it had been for hundreds of thousands of years to a modern metropolis. These spectacular feats of engineering and construction would never have been possible without the systematic application of the scientific method. The combination of science and practice has enabled us to develop powerful technologies capable of transforming our environment and way of life. Clearly, we must appreciate this powerful methodology if we are to understand our contemporary human condition.

Figure 1.6 How Manhattan Island appeared in 1609 when Henry Hudson landed there and in 2009

Scientific Questions

Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted

(Cameron, 1963)

Might a contemporary scientist be interested in determining the number of angels that could fit on the head of a pin? When I ask this question, students frequently chuckle, some seeming uncomfortable. When I ask, might a contemporary scientist be interested in determining the number of influenza viruses that could fit on the head of a pin, students usually respond “yes”, immediately recognizing the difference between the questions. Given the limitations of human senses and currently existing technologies, we are unable to observe the presence of angels and therefore to count them. However, thanks to the existence of electron microscopes we could theoretically count influenza viruses. The fact that electron microscopes did not exist until 1931 does not mean that influenza viruses did not exist or that they were not important. The scientific method is limited to questions that may be tested through empirical observation. Only then is there the possibility for replication of results, a requirement for scientific advancement. However, if the limitations of being observable, testable, and replicable are met, we know of no more reliable, powerful strategy for determining cause and effect in nature. Next, we will review the early history of psychology, considering the implications and challenges of applying the scientific method to the subject matter.

Internal and External Validity

There are two assumptions underlying the title of this book, Psychology: The Science of Human Potential. The first is that application of the scientific method has enabled us to develop reliable cause and effect relationships between specific hereditary and experiential independent variables and specific behaviors. The second assumption is that these principles apply to our potential as individuals and a species. The first of these assumptions relates to the research issue known as internal validity and the second to the issue known as external validity. Internal validity is the ability to draw cause-effect conclusions from research findings. External validity is the ability to apply cause-effect conclusions under naturalistic conditions.

It is almost universal on college campuses that the laboratory sciences occupy separate facilities from the humanities. Laboratories create isolation from many of the extraneous variables that might influence research results. They typically include extensive electrical and plumbing requirements beyond those of “chalk-and talk” classrooms. It is the emphasis upon control and precision that results in the laboratory sciences being described as “hard” in comparison to non-empirical disciplines. For example, if one were interested in replicating Galileo’s observations regarding the influence of the effect of weight on the rate at which an object falls, it is advantageous to perform the observations inside where the wind would not play a role. Laboratories also permit greater control of the independent variable and precision in the measurement of the dependent variable. Today we could create perfect spheres that differ only in weight and measure the time taken to fall any distance in millionths of a second. Despite the differences between the laboratory and external environments, we would expect the findings to continue to apply. In fact, this would constitute an empirical question that could be tested using the scientific method. Any time the findings did not apply would suggest further research to determine the cause(s). For example, fans of different sizes and power could be placed at different locations to systematically study wind effects.

Non-experimental Research Methods

Experimentation, where the researcher is able to manipulate the independent variable and control for the influence of other possible confounding variables (i.e., other potential influences on the dependent variable), is the most reliable and powerful method for determining cause and effect. However, it is not always possible to conduct experiments in psychology (or other sciences, for that matter). Sometimes, you do not have the ability to manipulate a variable. For example, one cannot “make” someone male or female, or a particular age, etc. We can only select subjects already possessing the different attributes. We do not have the power to manipulate geographic or climatic variables to see the extent to which they influence behavior. Many variables cannot be manipulated for ethical reasons. For example, we cannot systematically punish children severely to see if that is an effective technique for eliminating undesirable behavior. Indeed, some have even questioned studying the effect of punishment on the dangerously self-destructive acts of autistic children (Bettelheim, 1985). For these reasons, many in the other laboratory sciences describe psychology as “soft.” Sometimes they even question the possibility of conducting psychology as a science. The research findings described in this book attest to the fruitfulness of applying the scientific method to psychological questions. The discipline of psychology frequently applies non-experimental designs under conditions where experimental procedures are logistically impossible, prohibitive in cost, or unethical.

Frequently non-experimental studies can provide information about the relationship between variables despite not being able to demonstrate cause and effect. However, even when relationships between variables are compelling, for example when a substantial statistical correlation exists, it is still not possible to conclude cause and effect. Often there is a hidden third variable underlying the correlation. For example, it is likely there is a high correlation between the number of books in one’s home and success in school. That does not mean that by simply providing books to an individual it will improve school performance. It is likely the number of books in one’s home is indicative of a number of economic and attitudinal advantages. Still, the fact that this correlation exists is informative and could lead to an experiment to test whether there is a cause and effect relationship between the number of books and school performance.

Experimental Research Methods

Experimental procedures involve the systematic manipulation of an independent variable in such a way as to permit the demonstration of an effect on a dependent variable. Theoretically, in psychology this would involve manipulation of genetic and/or experiential independent variables to see the extent to which they influence individual behavior. In practice, due to current technological limitations with respect to “genetic engineering”, experimental psychological research practically always involves manipulation of experiential variables. Following up on the previous example, the number of books in a home would need to be systematically manipulated as described below.

Studies Comparing Groups

In psychology, group studies conforming to major statistical designs (e.g., t-tests, analysis of variance, etc.) are the most popular experimental procedures. Small-N (i.e., small number of subjects) designs are also popular and have their distinct advantages. Before describing them, we will review the rationale underlying group studies. As mentioned before, even animals of the same species (especially humans) differ from each other. The logic of group studies is that with sufficient sample sizes (i.e., the number of subjects in each group), random assignment to conditions (groups) should result in comparable averages for all subject characteristics. That is, if 200 children were randomly selected from the general school population and assigned to two conditions according to the flip of a coin, we would expect each condition to start out with approximately the same gender, racial, and ethnic composition, to be of the same average height, age, intelligence, etc. Therefore, if after manipulation of the independent variable (e.g., the number of books provided) the groups differed significantly in their academic performance, it would be possible to conclude that the number of books caused the difference rather than a subject characteristic.

The great majority of experimental research studies cited in this book are group designs. Often it is only necessary to include two groups to demonstrate an effect, one usually receiving a type of experience (often referred to as the experimental group) and the other not receiving the experience (often referred to as the control group). If the groups differ it would be concluded the experience made the difference. Once an effect has been demonstrated, subsequent research is often conducted to obtain additional information. Control groups receiving different types of experience may be included. The nature of the control groups will determine the possible conclusions one may reach. For example, someone might be interested in evaluating whether the type of book provided to children made a difference. One group could be provided books related to their academic subjects in school, another group provided with age-appropriate “classics”, and a third group with books the children themselves selected. Parametric studies are often conducted to determine how the magnitude of a variable affects the phenomenon. For example, groups of subjects might be provided with 5, 10, 15, or 20 books.

Small-N Designs

If a researcher were seriously interested in testing the hypothesis that providing free books to children improved their academic performance they would obviously recognize that the books would be of no value unless the children actually read them. They might want to test a procedure to determine if it motivated children to read the books which are provided. A group design in which some subjects received the procedure (or different procedures) and some subjects did not could be implemented. Sometimes it is difficult to obtain a sufficient number of subjects to use a group design. This is especially true when working with special populations (e.g., autistic children, the gifted, etc.) or interested in only one or a very small number (e.g., one’s own children). In these instances, it is still possible to conduct an experiment permitting one to conclude cause and effect using a small-N design. One might suspect that it is impossible to conduct a controlled experiment with such a limited sample. That is not the case. Rather than manipulating levels of the independent variable across groups of subjects, small-N designs involve manipulation on each subject.

Establishing the Baseline

Small-N designs require establishing baselines of performance prior to introducing the experimental intervention (see Figure 1.7). Fine-tuning of baseline performance is a critical step and can require many sessions. It is usually necessary to establish consistency of responding (as in the top graph) or responding trending in the direction opposite the expected intervention effect (as in the bottom graph). Although small-N designs require far fewer subjects (thus the name), they can involve similar (or greater) investments of research time due to the number of observations made during the different phases.

Figure 1.7 Fine-tuning the baseline. Consistent responding or responding in the opposite direction of an anticipated intervention effect constitutes a useful baseline.

Although the results may seem compelling, one cannot conclude cause and effect by simply following a baseline condition with an intervention (an AB design, see Figure 1.8). For example, let us say we were monitoring the number of pages a child was reading before going to bed at night. First we would try to establish consistency by putting the child to bed at the same time, keeping the length of reading sessions constant, etc. After the number of pages read each night stabilized we might introduce our planned intervention, perhaps giving “stars” for every 3 pages completed. Even if the number of pages read started to increase dramatically, it would not at this time be possible to conclude the stars made the difference. Although perhaps unlikely, it is logically possible to suggest that something else coincidentally occurred at the time the stars were introduced. Perhaps the book(s) became more interesting, or the weather changed, or the child started drinking orange juice, etc.

Figure 1.8 AB design.

Reversal Designs

Reversal designs (sometimes referred to as ABA, see Figure 1.9) are powerful and popular small-N procedures. In our example, once the intervention results stabilized or continued to increase for several sessions, we could discontinue providing stars. If the number of pages completed then decreased, it would be possible to conclude it was the stars that made the difference. It strains the limits of credulity to suggest that a second coincidence having the opposite effect occurred at precisely this time.

Figure 1.9 ABA reversal design.

Although reversal procedures are the mainstay of small-N designs, there are unusual circumstances where reversals do not occur or where reversing the procedures would be unethical. For example, it is conceivable that after being given stars, the child discovered the intrinsic rewards provided by reading. In that instance, discontinuing the stars would have no effect. The intrinsic rewards would be sufficient to maintain the behavior, a phenomenon known as behavioral trapping (see Figure 1.10). You might think that this is just the result one would hope for. That may be true as one who cares about the child. However, if you are a researcher attempting to establish cause and effect, you are back to square one.

Figure 1.10 Behavioral Trapping. Naturally occurring consequences maintain the changes resulting from intervention.

One might also question the ethics of changing a procedure that was successful in increasing a child’s reading. This concern would be more apparent in research resulting in the child’s increasing a healthy behavior (e.g., wearing seat belts) or decreasing a dangerous behavior (e.g., head-banging). Clearly, in these instances, despite the requirements of science, reversal procedures should not be implemented.

Multiple Baseline Designs

For the unusual circumstances where reversals do not occur or where reversing the procedures would be unethical, variations of multiple baseline designs have been developed (see Figure 1.11). Such designs consist of replications of AB designs across subjects, situations, or behaviors. For example, Tom, Dick, and Mary might be given stars for reading. Stable baselines would be established for each child and the treatment would be introduced at different times for the three children. Instead of working with 3 different children, a similar procedure could be implemented at home at bedtime, at home with the baby sitter, and at school. The third option would be to provide stars for reading, writing, and doing math problems. In all 3 instances, if improvement occurred during the intervention phase for all 3 children, situations, or behaviors, it would be concluded that the stars were responsible.

Figure 1.11 Multiple Baseline Design. Treatment is introduced at different times for different subjects, settings, or behaviors.

This concludes our discussion of the major experimental methods used to study psychology. If you become a psychology major you will be exposed to other, more complicated procedures in graduate research methods courses.

Psychology Research Methods and External Validity

The title of this textbook assumes that our current understanding of psychology informs us about the human condition including our potential as individuals and a species. This assumption is made despite the fact that some of the research findings were obtained with other animals in apparatuses developed for the laboratory. Humans share many characteristics and needs with other animals as we all do our best to adapt to our environmental circumstances. None of us had a choice about where or when we were born, or about the conditions under which we would have to survive and, hopefully, thrive. We all need to adapt to the circumstances we experience as individuals in the journey of life.

Non-Humans as Subjects

The nature of the psychological process under investigation dictates the minimal requirements of an appropriate subject. For example, in order to study perception we not only need a subject capable of sensing and perceiving the environment (see Chapter 3), but also one able to demonstrate that it perceives. The researcher must be able to observe an appropriate response to a specific stimulus. Does this mean that other, less complex animals can be used to study processes applicable to the human being? This is actually an empirical question. One could demonstrate a lawful relationship in a very simple animal (e.g., an earth worm) and test whether the same relationship could be replicated with human subjects.

This issue is similar to the doubts expressed by many at the beginning of the 20th century that vivisection of other animals could tell us anything about human biology or inform surgical technique. In fact, many of the advances in our understanding of human physiology and surgical technique occurring since then would have been impossible if such research had not been conducted. As we shall see, there is much compelling evidence that the same is true with respect to psychology.

Besides being relatively inexpensive to obtain and house, other animals do not raise the same internal validity issues intrinsic to human subjects. That is, they are closer to the perfect spheres we could use to replicate Galileo’s findings with rocks. As we saw previously, we explain differences in behavior as resulting from the interaction between hereditary and environmental variables. Laboratory animals can be purchased from the same litter, thereby having the same genes. They can even be bred or modified for specific characteristics making them ideal for specialized research projects. For example, a colleague of mine studies the learning process in rats infected with the HIV virus (Vigorito, LaShomb, & Chang, 2007). Naturally, for ethical reasons this is a study which could not be conducted with humans despite having important implications and possible beneficial applications. Laboratory animals are often obtained soon after birth and housed under restricted conditions. Obviously, they do not have the extreme cultural and other experiential histories of humans. Also, they are extremely reliable subjects. They do not require phone reminders the previous night in order to show up for a study.

The American Psychological Association has very strict ethical guidelines for the care and use of animal subjects in research. The United States government requires that an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee be responsible for insuring that all requirements regarding feeding, access to water, climate control, and access to veterinary care are met. One learning textbook author has quipped, “It is unfortunate that there are no similar federal regulations guaranteeing adequate food, a warm place to live, and health care for the human members of our society” (Mazur, 2006, p. 13).

Often choice of species for a research subject is a matter of convenience, expense, and tradition regarding a particular topic area. Laboratory rats are frequently favored for these reasons in addition to the fact that so much is known about their characteristics based upon their research use in other disciplines (e.g., biology). Sometimes, choice of subject is dictated by species characteristics related to a particular area of interest. For example, rabbits have an extra eyelid (nictitating membrane) making them especially suitable subjects for studying the predictive learning of eyeblinks. Pigeons have exceptional eyesight in comparison to rats and are therefore favored as subjects when investigating visual perception.

Experimental Apparatus

The choice of experimental apparatus often hinges on the same issues as the choice of subject; convenience, expense, and tradition. The apparatus must permit observation of a response related to the topic area (e.g., function of part of the brain, perception of a particular stimulus, motivation, learning, etc.). Research apparatuses are considerably different from the natural environments of the species being investigated (see Figure 1.12). It is an empirical question as to whether research findings obtained under these controlled conditions apply elsewhere for these species, let alone tell us anything about the human condition. As we review the empirical findings of the psychology research literature we must constantly remind ourselves of this question.

Figure 1.12 Apparatus to study learning.

All sciences must address both internal and external validity. This is especially challenging in psychology. We do not have the equivalent of perfect spheres as subjects of investigation. Rats, pigeons, chimpanzees, or people often differ from each other in significant ways. The behaviors we study may be complex and difficult to measure. The subjects and laboratory environments we use to obtain control over possible confounding variables are typically very different from the subjects or conditions of real interest. Psychologists are left with two difficult strategies to simultaneously address internal and external validity. They can try to capture the essence of the natural environment and recreate it under more controlled laboratory conditions. The other strategy is to attempt to introduce precise manipulation of the independent variable and measurement of the dependent variable in the natural environment. Throughout this book you will see many examples of the ingenuity of research psychologists in empirically investigating important issues while addressing internal and external validity concerns.

Psychology, Human Potential and Self-Control

A recurring message of this book is that the discipline of psychology uniquely applies the scientific method to study and understand the human condition. It helps us understand why we, more than any other animal, dominate this planet. The human being shares many basic needs and drives with the rest of the animal kingdom and must adapt to its environment in order to survive individually and as a species. Yet the differences in our accomplishments appear do great as to suggest qualitative differences from even our closest DNA relatives.

In the not too distant future, it is likely that communication will occur with the remaining few cultures not significantly impacted upon by current technologies. This could cause us to forget that the biological natural selection process, which continues albeit slowly, evolved over millions of years in an environment that has been significantly altered by human beings. The few remaining indigenous cultures remind us that for almost all our time on earth our everyday needs and experiences were similar to those of other animals.

In the Preface of his book documenting research conducted in the Amazon between 1990 and 1996, Politis (2007) states that his study of the Nukak “probably represents one of the last opportunities to observe a hunter-gatherer society that still lives in a traditional way.” The Nukak, living day to day, have maintained a similar lifestyle for more than 10,000 years. They lack familiarity with government, property, or money. The Nukak do not have a concept of the future and their past history is limited to a few generations. For thousands of years, the Nukak have been adapting to the demands and resources of the Amazonian rainforest. If you or I had been born under such conditions, we would be very different from the way we are and vice versa for the Colombian young adult. Human potential is developed under enormously diverse environmental conditions. Psychology is the discipline which helps us understand how you became the unique individual you are and how you can conceptualize and achieve your potential.

Determinism and Freedom in Psychology

The human condition, whether it takes place in the rain forest or a modern city, may be described as a series of choices. Moment by moment we are confronted by different possibilities. We all have the subjective experience of being free to choose as we wish, whether we are in the rain forest, desert, or modern city. How do we reconcile this feeling with the scientific understanding of the human condition implied by the assumption of determinism? Determinism implies that the subject matter of the discipline is lawful. Thus, through application of the scientific method we ought to be able to discover reliable relationships between hereditary and environmental variables and behavior. If determinism did not hold, none of the research findings described in this book would be possible. Clearly, the research findings support the applicability of the assumption of determinism to the study of psychology.

Choice and Self-Control with Pigeons

For the first of many research studies we will treat in depth, we will examine an experimental study conducted with pigeons with the surprising title “Commitment, choice and self-control” (Rachlin and Green, 1972). Do you think it is possible to scientifically study what are usually considered human characteristics such as choice, self-control, and commitment using pigeons as subjects? Do not the concerns for internal and external validity seem insurmountable? Rachlin and Green (1972) reported the findings of a study manipulating both magnitude and delay of food reward in an apparatus named a Skinner-box, after the scientist who developed it (see Figure 1.13). In a sense, they asked the proverbial question, “Which is worth more, a bird in the hand or two in the bush?” Actually, they asked which is worth more to a bird (pigeon), immediate access to 2-seconds of food or twice as much food after a 4-second delay (see bottom choice in Figure 1.14). The findings were unequivocal. Pigeons almost always chose the red (right) key associated with the small immediate reward rather than the green (left) key associated with the larger delayed reward. Anthropomorphizing, the pigeons appeared “impulsive” rather than displaying “self-control” (i.e., choosing the larger delayed reward over the smaller immediate one).

Figures 1.13 and 1.14 Procedures used to study the effect of magnitude and delay of reinforcement on choice (Adapted from Rachlin & Green, 1972). Pigeons behave “impulsively” (i.e., choose an immediate small reward rather than a larger delayed reward) when confronted with the bottom choice. However, when an initial choice response includes a delay (10 seconds in the example), pigeons are more likely to make a “commitment” (i.e., avoid temptation) to self-control (i.e., selecting the delayed larger reward).This finding, in and of itself, is interesting. However, Rachlin and Green went one step further by adding an initial choice. Pigeons were first confronted with two unlit keys (see left choice in Figure 1.9). Pecking the left key caused it to turn green after 10 seconds. At that point, the pigeon could only respond to the left (now green) key in order to receive 4 seconds of food after an additional 4-second delay. If instead, the pigeon pecked the right key, it was presented with the original choice between the left green and right red keys after the 10-second delay. The surprising finding was that the pigeons were twice as likely to press the left key as the right key.

This result is certainly counter-intuitive. We know that when confronted with the red/green choice, the pigeons strongly preferred red. Why didn’t they initially go right, resulting in the opportunity to make that same choice? Or, why didn’t they initially go right and then press red when provided the original options? The surprising interpretation by Rachlin and Green (1972) is included in the title of their article. By pressing the left unlit key, the pigeons exhibited a “commitment” to a self-control response. By responding in this manner, they were not “tempted” by the red key that was likely to be followed by a response resulting in a small, immediate reward.

Why, one might ask, is the pigeon able to act less impulsively when provided with the choice between the two unlit keys than when presented with the choice between the red and green keys? They usually say that the devil is in the details. This is an instance where the opposite appears true. Something very beneficial is revealed in a detail of the procedures used by Rachlin and Green (1972). It is easy to overlook the 10-second delay that occurred no matter whether the pigeon responded to the left or right unlit key. At that point in time, the choice is not between 2 seconds of immediate food versus 4 seconds of food after a 4-second delay. It is between 2 seconds of food after a 10-second delay as opposed to 4 seconds of food after a 14 (10+4)-second delay. Apparently a 10-second delay is an eternity to a pigeon and the “psychological” difference in a delay of 10 versus 14 seconds is far less than the difference between immediacy and 4-seconds. Since there is a long delay (10 or 14 seconds) no matter the choice between the unlit keys, the pigeon is more influenced by the magnitude of the reward (4 rather than 2 seconds) at that point in time.

One of the objectives of this book, is to encourage the development of a scientific schema as a way of evaluating scientific (and many non-scientific) questions. All sciences use similar formats in research articles. They generally consist of: introductions placing the study within the context of prior research; method sections providing sufficient detail to replicate the procedures; reporting of results and statistical analyses; discussion of the conclusions, implications, and limitations of the research. In order to assess whether you understand the Rachlin and Green study (or any other research), you should ask yourself the following: What was the question being addressed by the investigator(s)? How did the procedures enable the question to be addressed? What were the results and conclusions regarding the question? In this instance you should be able to:

Choice and Self-Control with Humans

Rachlin and Green’s findings have been replicated many times, attesting to the internal validity of the findings. That is, we know that that there is a cause-effect relationship between delay of reward and choice behavior in pigeons. The question remains, however, whether these results relate to human behavior. Walter Mischel developed the “marshmallow test” to study impulsiveness and self-control in children (Mischel and Ebbesen, 1970; Mischel, Ebbesen, and Raskoff Zeiss, 1972; Mischel and Yates, 1979; Mischel, Shoda, and Peake, 1988; Mischel, Shoda, and Rodriguez, 1989; Shoda, Mischel, and Peake, 1990). An adult placed a single marshmallow in front of a child with the instruction that it could be eaten immediately or if the child waited a certain amount of time (e.g., 20 minutes), a second one would be provided. There are many amusing and interesting You Tube videos of children undergoing the marshmallow test and implementing strategies to avoid giving in to temptation. Children who distracted themselves (e.g., by playing with a toy) were more successful than children who focused upon the marshmallow. Importantly, Mischel and his colleagues found the ability to delay gratification by 4-year olds to be significantly related to their later success in life as indicated by such measures as school performance, SAT scores, completion of college, and interpersonal competence.

It has been demonstrated that self-control can be learned. Mazur and Logue (1978) first trained pigeons to choose a large delayed reward over a small delayed reward (which is obviously easy to do). Over the course of a year the pigeons were taught to gradually adapt to increasingly shorter delays of the smaller reward. When tested a year later, the pigeons continued to exhibit a preference for large delayed rewards over small immediate ones (Logue and Mazur, 1981). These same findings were obtained with children provided similar training (Schweitzer and Sulzer-Azaroff, 1988). Given the documented importance of self-control to success later in life, it would appear prudent to incorporate such training as early in life as practicable for all children. Logue (1995) has written an excellent review of the self-control literature including applications to eating disorders, substance abuse, money management, studying, and interpersonal relations.

Many human problems occur as the result of choosing immediate small rewards rather than delayed, but more significant rewards. Examples include: eating an ice-cream sundae despite trying to lose weight; excessive drinking, threatening one’s (and others’) safety; smoking a cigarette (“slow-motion suicide” according to one Secretary of Health); hitting one’s spouse or a child because it immediately stops them from bothering you even though it creates much larger, delayed family problems; or, horror of horrors, checking out Facebook or playing video games instead of reading this book! Rachlin and Green’s (1972) results suggest that each of these problems may be addressed by committing oneself to a course of action in advance. For example: shop from a list including only nutritious, non-fattening foods; don’t drive past the ice-cream store; don’t go to the bar, or make sure you have a “designated driver”; stay away from places or events where you are likely to smoke; imagine the behaviors that upset you and rehearse a better coping strategy; use a daily planner for time-management and write the title of this book all over the pages (only kidding).

There is a substantial research literature attesting to the importance of self-control skills. It has been demonstrated that 8th-graders’self-discipline scores were more predictive than IQ for school attendance, homework time, and final grades (Duckworth and Seligman, 2005, 2006). Wills and his co-workers have documented that self-control skills reduce the risk of tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana abuse in 9-year-olds, middle-, and high-school students (Wills, Ainette, Stoolmiller, Gibbons, and Shinar, 2008; Wills, Ainette, Mendoza, Gibbons, and Brody, 2007; Wills, Walker, Mendoza, and Ainette, 2006; Wills and Stoolmiller, 2002). College students who avoid and seek alternatives to situations associated with heavy drinking have been shown to consume less alcohol (Sugarman and Carey, 2007). Thus, to a large extent, success in life appears related to the ability to resist short-term temptations in order to achieve long-term goals.

Different parenting styles will be described in Chapter 8. Mothers’ manner of instruction and level of emotional support for their preschoolers were shown to later relate to their children’s behavioral control and task persistence in school (Neitzel and Stright, 2003). Religiosity as well as the quality of parent-adolescent communication has been shown to relate to substance abuse and sexual behaviors in African American adolescents (Wills, Gibbons, Gerrard, Murry, and Brody, 2003). A major review article addressed the relationship of religiosity to self-control. It was suggested that religion promotes self-control by encouraging self-monitoring and attainment of behavioral goals (McCollough and Willoughby, 2009).

Despite the fact that we and the Nukak experience very different human conditions, there is no reason to suspect that they feel less “free” than we do in striving to reach their goals and realize their potential. From our perspective, however, we might question whether this is true. Do not the constraints of the rain forest as well as the limitations of their educational experiences result in our being able to think about things, feel things, and act in ways that they cannot? And, is not the reverse also true since we have such limited experience in the rainforest in comparison to them? Is it not true that none of us is “free” to do whatever we wish, live however we want, or become whomever we choose? Psychology provides a lens through which we may ponder the potential of the human condition from the perspective of individuals and our species.

What should I do, how should I live, and who should I become? These are the questions Haidt (2006) considered fundamental to human happiness. In a sense, one becomes freer by accepting that you are a lawful part of nature. It means that you can apply the principles of psychology to yourself in order to accomplish your own objectives. This places you more in control of your life. Is that not what we mean by freedom?

The importance of the “self” in self-control must be recognized. That is, “goals” are subjective and must be defined by each individual for her/himself. This thought is recognized in the most famous quote from The Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” You have the ability to apply self-control techniques to influence what you do, how you live, and ultimately who and how happy you become.

Practicing Self-Control

I describe psychology as a discipline enabling humans to achieve their potential as individuals and as a species. That is clearly a bold and ambitious claim. At the end of many chapters, I will suggest you test this claim by engaging in a self-control project. As a by-product, I hope you acquire knowledge and skills which facilitate your transition to college and serve you well throughout your life. You will be asked to act like a professional psychologist. Your initial reaction might be “Is that ethical?” The answer would be “yes” if you are not only the “psychologist” but also the “client.” For years, I have been assigning self-modification projects in some of my classes. These are not only do-it-yourself projects, but also do-it-to-yourself projects. It is an instructive assignment requiring the student to observe her/his own behavior, develop a plan to change in a desired way, and assess progress. In addition to the instructional benefit, a very high percentage of the projects are successful. This is exactly what one would expect if psychology as a science was successful in discovering reliable ways of changing behavior. Note the advantage you have when you are both “client” and “psychologist.” It is logistically problematic, if not impossible, for someone else to monitor your overt behavior every waking moment. It is absolutely impossible for someone else to monitor your covert behavior at all. Despite your friend’s belief that she/he “feels your pain” or can “read your mind”, only you have direct access to your feelings and thoughts. The best your friend can do is to make inferences about your feelings and thoughts based upon how you overtly behave. You have a distinct advantage over anyone else in influencing how you feel, think, or behave.

Defining and Measuring Your Goals

Often, individuals fail to identify circumstances as requiring self-control and thereby fail to act in their long-term self-interest (Myrseth and Fishbach, 2009). Within the context of self-control, this means you would like to change the way you behave, feel, or think under specific circumstances.

The first step in self-control is to objectively describe your current and desired behaviors. Vague descriptions such as I want to be in better shape, be neater, or control my anger, etc., are not sufficient. As described earlier, psychology relies upon observable and measurable observations of behavior. Response measures typically consist of the frequency, amount, or duration of the target behavior. Following is an alphabetical listing of self-modification project response measures recently submitted by my students:

Behavior	Response Measure(s)	Type
Anger	instances/week	Frequency
Anxiety	subjective units of distress	Amount
Cigarette smoking	number/day	Frequnecy
Cleaning room	minutes/week	Duration
Clutter reduction	items on desk	Amount
Coffee consumption	ounces/day	Amount
Credit card spending	dollars/week	Amount
Drawing	minutes/day	Duration
Exercise	minutes/day	Duration
Exercise	repetitions	Frequency
Knuckle cracking	times/day	Frequnecy
Measurements	inches	Amount
Meditation time	minutes/day	Duration
Nail & cuticle biting	length of nails	Amount
Piano playing	minutes/day	Duration
Punctuality	minutes late/instance	Duration
Reading	pages/week	Amount
Sleep	hours/night	Duration
Smoking	cigarettes/day	Frequency
Social Avoidance (shyness)	subjective units of distress	Amount
Social network use	times/day	Frequency
Social network use	hours/day	Duration
Soda consumption	ounces/day	Amount
Studying	minutes/day	Duration
Task completion	number/day	Requency
Television viewing	hours/day	Duration
Time management	percentage/tasks completed	Amount
Video game use	hours/day	Duration
Weight	pounds	Amount
Worrying	instances/week	Frequency
Writing	pages/day	Amount

Collecting Baseline and Intervention Data

Once response measures have been decided, it is possible to start data collection. Fulfilling the objective of a self-control project requires being able to determine whether an intervention is working. One must therefore collect baseline and intervention data. Unlike the Small-N designs described previously, there is no need to determine cause and effect. It is not necessary to include a reversal phase or a multiple baseline. It is only necessary to demonstrate an improvement in the target behavior. The only instance where a baseline is unnecessary is when the behavior does not occur at all. For example, some students report never exercising before starting their self-control project. Recall that a good baseline is either stable or moving in the wrong direction. Once that is attained, improvement (or lack thereof) will become apparent when graphing the intervention data. Sometimes, just the act of assessing and graphing baseline data leads to improvement (Maletsky, 1974). Often my students reported that the requirement to record instances of their problem behavior focused their attention in such a manner that their behavior changed. You might recall that this would be an example of reactivity. Several experimentally verified intervention procedures will be described in Chapter 5 (Direct Learning). You might be able to derive your own procedures based upon the Rachlin and Green (1972) findings or by consulting the extensive empirical self-control literature. There will be additional suggestions concerning possible self-control projects in subsequent chapters.

Licensing Information

This text was adapted by #OpenCourseWare under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

Chapter 1: Introduction to Research

• How do social workers know what to do?
• Science and social work
• Why should we care?
• Understanding research

Chapter 2: Linking Methods with Theory

• Micro, meso, and macro approaches
• Paradigms, theories, and how they shape a researcher’s approach
• Inductive and deductive reasoning

Chapter 3: Ethics in Social Work Research

• Research on humans
• Specific ethical issues to consider
• Ethics at micro, meso, and macro levels
• The practice of science versus the uses of science

Chapter 4: Design and Causality

• Types of research
• Causality
• Unit of analysis and unit of observation
• Mixed methods

Chapter 5: Defining and Measuring Concepts

• Measurement
• Conceptualization
• Levels of measurement
• Operationalization
• Measurement quality
• Challenges in quantitative measurement

Chapter 6: Sampling

• Basic concepts of sampling
• Nonprobability sampling
• Probability sampling
• Critical thinking about samples

Chapter 7: Survey Research

• Survey research: What is it and when should it be used?
• Assessing survey research
• Types of surveys
• Designing effective questions and questionnaires

Chapter 8: Experimental Design

• Experimental design: What is it and when should it be used?
• Quasi-experimental and pre-experimental designs
• The logic of experimental design

Chapter 9: Unique Features of Qualitative Research

• Qualitative research: What is it and when should it be used?
• Qualitative interviews
• Issues to consider for all interview types
• Types of qualitative research designs
• Spotlight on UTA School of Social Work
• Analyzing qualitative data

Chapter 10: Unobtrusive Research

• Unobtrusive research: What is it and when should it be used?
• Strengths and weaknesses of unobtrusive research
• Unobtrusive data collected by the researcher
• Secondary data analysis

Chapter 11: Real-World Research

• Evaluation research
• Single-subjects design
• Action research

Chapter 12: Reporting Research

• What to share and why we share
• Disseminating your findings
• The uniqueness of the social work perspective on science