A thread through the archive
Essays tagged “B.F. Skinner”. Follow an idea across the archive.
Scott presents Skinner's definition of voluntary behavior as that which is transparent to reinforcement, then extends this framework to explain the perceived unity of consciousness and the feeling of a core 'self'.
Scott explains how thoughts and intentions are reinforced separately from actions, using B.F. Skinner's concept of "mental behavior" to show why people often intend to do things but never actually do them.
Scott explains how reinforcement learning concepts like secondary reinforcers, generalization, and social learning apply to human behavior, while acknowledging these mechanisms don't fully explain complex decisions like quitting smoking on medical advice.
Scott explains the basics of classical and operant conditioning, focusing on B.F. Skinner's work with pigeons and different reinforcement schedules, ultimately connecting variable ratio reinforcement to slot machines and human behavior.
Scott defends behaviorism as a sophisticated methodological approach that avoided using mental phenomena as fundamental explanations, connecting it to reinforcement learning and the idea that minds are behavior-executors rather than utility-maximizers.