History of Psychology

Definition of Psychology Modern psychologists define psychology as "The scientific study of behavior and mental processes, " or "the scientific study of the mind and behavior". Mental processes refer to thinking, problem solving, and feelings. The reason why we refer to to psychology as the "scientific study" is due to the processes we sue to study the mind and behavior. As a result, psychologists rely on the scientific method. The Four Goals of Psychology Psychologists attempt to achieve four goals in the study of behavior and mental processes. The first is to describe behavior and mental processes. If you are studying drug abuse, you might simply describe the behavior of a person while under the influence of a specific drug. Explanation is the second goal. Why do people use drugs? Is it due to learning?...biological predisposition?...lack of self-esteem? The third goal is the prediction of behavior and mental processes. No, we don't have a crystal ball. But, you might try to predict, within a certain margin of error, what the chances are that if a parent abuses alcohol, that a child in that family also will become an abuser. Finally, some psychologists also look for ways to control or influence behavior and mental processes. Introspection, Structuralism, and Functionalism

Most universities offer a semester-long 'History and Systems' course for senior psychology majors. The text presents a shorter history of psychology. In addition, you will learn more history in each of the following chapters. Before the late nineteenth century psychology was part of philosophy. Human behavior and thoughts were debated, but no one actually tested out their ideas. However, that all changed in 1879 when a German psychologist, Wilhelm Wundt, opened up the first psychological laboratory. He brought the scientific method to psychology. He wanted to measure the conscious experience of humans. He would stimulate his subjects' senses (such as sticking them with a sharp needle) and then have them report, in great detail, how they felt. This technique of asking a person to report how they feel is called introspection. This may sound very crude by today's standards, but remember no one had ever tested out his ideas before this. One of Wundt's students E.B. Titchener came to the United States and began doing much of the same research, also relying on introspection. He came to the conclusion that psychology should study the building blocks of conscious, perception, memory, and emotions, separately. He called this structuralism. Almost immediately, another American psychologist, William James, argued that it was impossible to study these separately. All these are interrelated, James stated. You cannot separate them. What was important was to study the function of human behavior. What function does learning serve to help our survival? What function does memory serve, etc.? This school of thought was called functionalism. Here's a non-psychological example. Two people go to a restaurant. One takes a mouthful of food and asks "What are the ingredients? I would like to re-create this at home." This person is a structuralist. The second person says "I can't believe you are doing that. Enjoy how the whole meal tastes." This person is a functionalist. Today, there are no structuralists or functionalists in psychology. However, we can look upon Titchener and James as the pioneers of North American psychology.

Behaviorism The study of learning, the behavioral viewpoint, has always been one of the most common perspectives. In the learning chapter we will learn about Pavlov's experiments. He was the first to systematically study learning. In the United States we think of John B. Watson as the originator of learning theory. Watson, and later, B.F. Skinner, were behaviorists. They not only believed that learning and the environment almost totally shaped human behavior, but that psychology should only study behavior since thoughts were inaccessible to exact measurement. Not all learning theorists take this extreme view, but behaviorism has been a very strong force with psychology. We will go into much greater detail about the study of learning, and it will be a factor in almost every other chapter as well. Psychoanalysis Everyone has probably heard of Sigmund Freud. As a medical doctor in 1890 Vienna he came across many patients who had strange problems for which he could find no physical cause. Some might be blind, others partially paralyzed. Under normal circumstances, they could not tell him why they had these problems. But under hypnosis and other techniques he developed, they were able to report traumatic memories, usually of a sexual nature, that had caused the problem. From this he came to the conclusion that most of our memory is unconscious. Although we cannot directly think about our childhood, the events are still motivating us to behave in certain ways. He founded the school of psychoanalysis which is not only an explanation for human behavior, but was the first attempt to use therapy to help those suffering from mental disorders. Therapists who follow Freud's ideas are called psychoanalysts. Biological Perspective For thousands of years, philosophers debated if certain liquids or "humors" in the body, such as blood or bile, affected behavior. They also wondered about the transmission of behavior from parents to children. This was long before we knew about neurotransmitters, hormones, and DNA. Today, psychologists who take the biological perspective scientifically explore this area. Or "evolutionary psychologists" might research how a behavior has helped humans to survive and reproduce. Humanistic Psychology One of the most recent developments in psychology is humanistic psychology. This viewpoint, which we usually associate with Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers, emphasizes the natural striving of all humans to achieve their full potential, the importance of self-concept, and how we should respect that everyone's perception of the world is different. Rogers' method of therapy is used by many counseling psychologists today. Cognitive Psychology Even more recent than humanistic psychology is the cognitive viewpoint. Prior to 1970, most American psychology texts would have defined psychology as "The scientific study of behavior." Catch the difference between that definition and the one at the beginning of the chapter? Our definition has "mental processes" after behavior. "If you can't see it, it shouldn't be part of science," was the behaviorist argument. But most psychologists would now agree that thinking, problem-solving, and feelings are an important part of being human, and can be measured using both neurological and psychological tests. In fact, therapy based on cognitive research has proven

to be one of the most effective therapies for many psychological disorders Cross-Cultural Psychology Finally, the cross-cultural perspective can be seen as a combination of learning, cognitive, and humanistic theories. On the one hand, we are seen as learning a set of behaviors and thoughts from our family, culture, and society. On the other, the self is given great importance. For instance, how are the self-images of men and women, Whites and Blacks, North Americans and Asians different? How are they the same? How does gender and racial discrimination affect the self-image of both the victimized group and the dominant group? How do the selfconcepts of people change when they move from one culture to another? One of the most studied areas is the difference between Individualist cultures and Collectivist cultures. Below is a table summarizing some of the differences. Eclectic Approach Today psychologists associate with a number of viewpoints. Psychoanalytic, behavioral, cognitive, humanistic, evolutionary, cross-cultural, and biological are the main psychological paradigms. In fact, many psychologists will take parts of each and combine them into an "eclectic" viewpoint. Psychologists tend to have doctoral degrees and do not administer medication. Psychiatrists, having been trained in medical schools, tend to be either biological and/or psychoanalytic, and administer medication. Therapists and Counselors such as Licensed Professional Counselors and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists tend to have a Master's Degree (although some may have doctoral degrees).

Research Methods
All research starts with a research question, such as "I wonder why people don't like to be alone during times of stress?" This general question is then reworded into a hypothesis, which is a very specific statement, "Fear will cause an increase in the number of subjects to want to be with other subjects." In addition, what you are researching must be defined in a way so that it can be measured. This is called an operational definition. Fear could be operationally defined as an increased heart beat and amount of sweating, for instance. Another example: what is love? Webster's Collegiate Dictionary has a long list of definitions, including "strong affection for another...," "attraction based on sexual desire...," and "warm attachment...." However, for a researcher there must be a definition that can be measured, such as "The amount of time two people look in each other's eyes when left alone in a room."All research starts with a research question, such as "I wonder why people don't like to be alone during times of stress?" This general question is then reworded into a hypothesis, which is a very specific statement, "Fear will cause an increase in the number of subjects to want to be with other subjects." In addition, what you are researching must be defined in a way so that it can be measured. This is called an operational definition. Fear could be operationally defined as an increased heart beat and amount of sweating, for instance. Another example: what is love? Webster's Collegiate Dictionary has a long list of definitions, including "strong affection for another...," "attraction based on sexual desire...," and "warm attachment...." However, for a researcher there must be a definition that can be measured, such as "The amount of time two people look in each other's eyes when left alone in a room." The descriptive methods, such as naturalistic observation, the case study, psychological testing, and the survey, can only describe. They cannot tell you what causes behavior or allow you to make predictions. Only the experiment can tell you causes of behavior. Descriptive Methods The descriptive methods, such as naturalistic observation, the case study, psychological testing, and the survey, can only describe. They cannot tell you what causes behavior or allow you to make predictions. Only the experiment can tell you causes of behavior. The descriptive methods, such as naturalistic observation, the case study, psychological testing, and the survey, can only describe. They cannot tell you what causes behavior or allow you to make predictions. Only the experiment can tell you causes of behavior.

Correlation Method

Correlations can describe the relationship between two variables or measurements. They can also be used to predict one variable, when the other is known. For instance, you could take two measurements on 1,000 families, whether the father is an alcoholic and whether a son is an alcoholic and calculate the correlation. In fact, there is a strong correlation, or relationship, between those two measurements. This allows you to predict, within certain limits of probability, what the chances are that the son of an alcoholic father will also have an alcohol problem. This does not tell us why this relationship occurs. It may be a genetic sensitivity to alcohol that the father passed on to the son. It may be that the son learned to drink by observing the father. It may be that the family atmosphere produced low self-esteem in the son, so he uses alcohol to reduce the pain of his poor selfimage. All these may be correct. The correlation, however, cannot tell you that. Only an experiment can show a cause and effect relationship. The diagram below gives another example of how correlation cannot demonstrate why behavior occurs. Correlations are positive or negative. Positive correlations occur when both variables increase or decrease together. For instance, high school GPA and college GPA are positively correlated. High grades in one school are usually accompanied by high grades in the other. The example of alcoholism in families is also positively correlated. So is the example of broken homes and crime. A negative correlation occurs when one variable increases, while the other decreases. For many men, age and amount of hair on the scalp are negatively correlated: as my age increases the amount of hair on my head decreases! Another negative correlation: The more partying you do the night before a test, the lower your grade will be.

The Experimental Method and Critical Thinking When a psychologist conducts an experiment, all subjects are treated identically, except for a special treatment or independent variable given to the experimental group. In addition, before the experiment starts, the subjects are divided into the experimental and control groups by random assignment. That is like shuffling a deck and dealing out cards. Theoretically, the average of both the experimental and control groups will be the same before the experiment starts. Therefore, if there is a difference in the behavior of the two groups at the end of the experiment, the only reason is because of the treatment given to the experimental group.

Critical Thinking
Psychologists and other scientists tend to be a skeptical group. Statements must be backed up with measureable observations. Extraordinary claims must be backed up by extraordinary results. On the other hand, being skeptical does not mean closed-minded. Using this a basic foundation, we speak of critical thinking. Using the critical thinking skills mentioned in this chapter can help you in school as well as in daily life.

Experimental Method and Ethical Concerns

A number of years ago some psychologists hypothesized that fear will cause a person to want to affiliate with other people. In one experiment, subjects were randomly divided into two groups. One group, the experimental group (high fear group), were told that during the experiment they would be getting extremely painful electric shocks. They were then asked if they preferred waiting alone or with others who were also going to be shocked. The control group (low fear group) were told that the shock they would receive would be like a soft touch. They were asked the same question that the high fear group was asked. (No one was really shocked!) All subjects were interviewed by the same experimenter in the same room. When a statistically significant larger percentage of the experimental group subjects asked to wait with others, the researchers concluded that high fear increases the desire to affiliate with others. In the above example, the independent variable was fear and the dependent variable was desire to affiliate. There was no difference in the groups except for the fear provoking threat. Therefore, we can say that fear causes an increased desire to be with others. This experiment, as all others, was published in a journal. Other researchers tried to replicate the results and were successful. If other researchers had not been successful, the results of the original study would have been considered an accident and not the result of the independent variable. If you noticed, the subjects in the above experiment were told a slight lie. They were threatened with a shock, but it never came. They were also not told that the purpose of the study was to test their reaction to fear. The psychologists had decided that if the subjects were told that the experiment was concerning affiliation, it might alter the subjects' true behavior. So they were told a "cover story." This is known as deception. As long as the deception is absolutely necessary and the little lie will not cause any harm, deception is allowed. It is done in only a small percentage of experiments, however.

Factors That Impact Experiments In drug studies, another type of deception can be used. Everyone is affected by "the power of suggestion." If I have a stomachache (see below), just swallowing the pain reliever makes me feel slightly better. Notice that up to 45% of the subjects who got a bogus medicine, a placebo, reported feeling better! Because of this so-called placebo effect, medical researchers must give the control group in their experiments a placebo. How can the makers of this medicine claim it is beneficial if 45% felt better after taking a placebo? Because 78% felt better after taking the real medicine. The difference between 45% and 78% is statistically significant. This is needed to separate any real effect of the drug on the experimental group from the false effect on the control group. In addition, the experimenter who administers the drug to the subject cannot know which is the placebo and which is the real drug. He or she may accidentally smile at those who get the real drug and frown at the control group, unintentionally creating demand characteristics. Therefore, the doses are labeled only with a code unknown to both subject and the administrator of the drug. This is the double blind method. It is used to counter both the placebo effect (subject's expectations) and researcher's expectations. A personal example: A number of years ago I took part in a study of a flu vaccine at the Baylor College of Medicine. For six years I received an injection at the beginning of the flu season. I was not told whether the injection was a flu vaccine or saline solution. The nurse administering the injection did not know either. My name was paired with the code on the vial of fluid, which had previously been assigned randomly by a computer, and fed back into the computer. During the flu season, if I felt ill, I came into the lab and a sample of mucus was cultured to see if I had the flu. The computer tallied the results without any problems of placebo effect or experimenter expectations. At the end of the six years, I was shown the results. I had been lucky to receive the genuine vaccine every year.

Learning

Classical Conditioning Ivan Pavlov was a Russian scientist who was interested in the process of digestion. He inserted two tubes into several dogs' cheeks. Into one he could blow dried meat powder. From the other he could collect samples of the dogs' saliva. One day, the story goes, he entered the room in which all the dogs were caged. They took one look at him and he could see they were all dripping saliva from their saliva tubes! This changed his interest from digestion to the study of how the dogs had learned to expect food when they saw him. Click on this link for a video of his famous study and discovery of classical conditioning. He started with a reflex, something the dogs did not have to learn. Food elicits the natural response of salivation. [An Unconditioned Stimulus elicits an UnConditioned Response.] He then took various stimuli, things the dogs could hear or see, but did not naturally elicit salivation. He used metronomes, bells, and circles, for instance. Pavlov would present this neutral stimulus about one-half of a second before the food. The dog salivated to the food. He kept doing this over and over. Eventually, the dog salivated before the food was presented. [A Conditioned Stimulus produces a Conditioned Response.] The process of classical conditioning involves repeatedly pairing or associating two stimuli until they both produce the same response. The food and the bell BOTH produce saliva. A key to understanding classical conditioning is that the UCS and CS are different, while the UCR and CR are the same or very similar...two stimuli paired together will eventually produce the same response.

Many of our emotional responses are classically conditioned. A feeling of pain naturally elicits fear. If you feel pain on your lower leg and look down and see a dog biting you, you may experience a fear response every time you see this dog . . . even if the dog is tied up. You may see McDonald's "golden arches" repeatedly paired with happy, hungry hamburger eaters on TV. Next time you get hungry you may automatically think of McDonald's. Or simply seeing a McDonald's sign may make you hungry, similar to the way many people get hungry at a specific time of the day, because it became associated with eating at school or home.

Other Classical Conditioning Concepts

John B. Watson, around 1915, showed that fear could be conditioned in a young infant named Little Albert. Watson's pairing of a loud noise and a white rat caused Albert to become afraid of the rat before the noise was sounded. One of the most interesting effects of this was that Albert began to fear any white-haired object, rabbits, fur coats and even a Santa Claus mask. If you were bitten by a dog, let's say a German Shepherd, you may feel your heart racing even when the neighbor's toy poodle barks. This process of making the same response to similar, but slightly different, stimuli is called stimulus generalization. The opposite of stimulus generalization is stimulus discrimination. We usually think of discrimination as treating groups of people differently. However, in learning theory, it has a broader meaning. When you respond differently to similar, but slightly different, stimuli, you are showing discrimination. For instance, you only show fear to the original dog that bit you, not other dog If you "go" on a green light, and "stop" on a red light, you have learned stimulus discrimination. If the yellow light means "go faster", you have generalized from the green to the yellow, despite what the Texas Department of Public Safety booklet tells you! These techniques are used in behavior therapy. For instance, if you have a behavior that you want to stop, a behavior therapist might pair the stimulus associated with that behavior with pain or nausea. Within a short time you will feel the pain or nausea before you take your drink, light up a cigarette, or sexually molest children. This type of aversive therapy has been successful, although the effects tend to wear off after a couple of months. The opposite of this is to remove a fear. Mary Cover Jones, a student of Watson, first developed this therapy. If you take a stimulus that frightens you and very gradually associate it with a stimulus that pleases or relaxes you, the fear will go away. This is called counterconditioning, and along with systematic desensitization, has been up to 90% successful in reducing phobias. Since a bell does not naturally elicit salivation Pavlov needed to occasionally present the food along with the bell to maintain the association between bell and salivation. If you do not, the salivation to the bell with die out or extinguish. This is called extinction: presentation of the CS without the UCS. However, give the dog a rest after extinction has occurred, put it back in the same cage and ring the bell. Even without food the dog will briefly salivate. This can be experienced by humans who are trying to break a habit. The habit goes away only to suddenly reappear. Dieters, smokers, alcohol and drug abusers experience this. Unfortunately, not knowing about spontaneous recovery causes many people to become pessimistic and falsely believe that they will never be able to overcome their problem. A brief relapse is a natural occurrence. Be patient. Do not strengthen the old behavior and it will extinguish again, eventually permanently. Generally, when using classical conditioning a number of rules must be followed. For instance, the CS and UCS must be paired within a short time, usually less than one second. The longer the interval, the less likely learning will occur. In addition, you usually need to pair the CS and UCS many times. Pavlov needed about 11 trials to get his dogs to salivate. Even Watson needed about six trials to get Little Albert to fear the rat. However, our nervous system is especially sensitive to potential poisons that we might eat. Therefore, if you get sick after eating a particular food, even if the nausea occurs hours later, you may develop a disliking for that food. This is called a taste aversion. Eat a hot dog with sauerkraut tonight and get sick. It may be a long time before you can bite into a hot dog! This will occur even if you logically know that you became sick due to the flu.

Operant Conditioning

A second type of learning is based on doing something first (making a response) and then getting something back (a stimulus) from the environment. If you get what you want, you will be more likely to do that behavior again. If you do not get anything back or if you get something undesired back, you will be less likely to engage in that behavior again. This type of learning was first studied in the 1920's by E. L. Thorndike. He called it the Law of Effect, because you learn by the effects of your behavior However, the person we most associate with this process is B.F. Skinner. Skinner, who died only a few years ago, termed this Operant Conditioning for operating on the environment, and the process of strengthening a behavior, reinforcement. We all experience operant conditioning every day. Why are you in this class? To get three credits. Why do you go to work? To get a paycheck. Why do you slow when you see a police car? To avoid a speeding ticket. The essence of operant conditioning as stated above: If you make a response and get what you want, you are more likely to do it again than if you get nothing back or receive a stimulus that is unpleasant. If you are trying to teach a behavior to some animal or person (including yourself) and the learning is successful, you follow the correct response with a reinforcement. But what if the behavior is too difficult? Rather than experience failure and frustration, break the behavior down into successive steps, reinforcing each until the final behavior is accomplished. This is called shaping or successive approximation. When my father taught me how to drive, we didn't go out on the highway the very first time. Every Sunday, for a couple of months, we went to a large empty parking lot. We first did circles in the empty parking lot, then figure eights, then he pointed to a specific spot and I had to drive there. Finally, after a number of weeks, I was ready to go out on the street. Sometimes, by accident, the animal or person will falsely associate a behavior with a stimulus. This occurs when one event closely follows another, but there is actually no cause and effect relationship. This is referred to a superstitious behavior. Baseball players are infamous for their superstitions. One hits a home run on a day he didn't shave, so he doesn't shave for weeks. A pitcher wins a game on a day he got out of bed on the left side, so that's what he does for months. Extinction and spontaneous recovery occur with operant conditioning as well as classical. For instance, stop rewarding a behavior reinforced in the past, and it will weaken and may eventually disappear or extinguish. Reinforcement

All reinforcement strengthens behavior. If you get something you want, after behaving, this is called positive reinforcement. If you remove the threat of something you don't want by behaving, this is negative reinforcement. Do not think of positive and negative as meaning good and bad. Think in terms of arithmetic, adding and subtracting. If driving 20 mph in school zones gives you a pleasant feeling of safety, that is positive reinforcement. If you drive 20 mph to take away the threat of a speeding ticket, that is negative reinforcement. In BOTH cases you increase the frequency of driving 20 mph. Reinforcement can also be classified in terms of primary and conditioned. If a reinforcer meets a biological need, such as food, water or avoidance of pain, it is a primary reinforcer. If you have to learn to want something, or learn to avoid something, such as praise, money, or a college diploma, that is a conditioned reinforcer. Punishment

The issue of punishment is a controversial one both within psychology and society as a whole. B.F. Skinner once stated that anyone who has to resort to punishment has failed. Positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, and extinction should be all you need to control behavior, he believed. Most psychologists would not agree with this statement, but there is wide agreement on the undesired side effects of punishment. Basically, punishment is any stimulus that stops or weakens a behavior. It is the opposite of reinforcement. It can have a powerful immediate effect. But it has been associated with fear of the punisher, desire to escape from a punishing environment, and anger either directed at the punisher or an innocent, but weaker, target (a "scapegoat"). In addition, punishment alone does not teach what is correct. A behavior just as bad, or worse, may be substituted for the punished one. If you do use punishment, either verbal, removal of privileges, or physical, there are a few guidelines to follow. The punishment should come as quickly after the undesired behavior as possible. The longer you wait the less effective it will be. After a long time interval a small child or animal may not even know why he/she is being punished! The punishment should fit the crime. Break a small rule, small punishment. Break a major rule, larger punishment. After the punishment has had its effect, allow for the correct behavior to be reinforced. Don't do this immediately or the association between the unwanted behavior and the punishment will be weakened. Better yet, use negative reinforcement. Threaten a punishment and allow for the correct behavior to prevent the punishment. This is called avoidance learning. If producing the correct behavior can terminate the punishment once it has begun, this is referred to as escape behavior. If your son knows that you will yell at him if his room is messy, he will clean it up to avoid the scolding. If you start to yell at him and he says, "OK, OK I'll clean it up now, just as long as you stop nagging me" he is escaping from the unpleasant (aversive) stimulus. If an animal or human is repeatedly in situations in which unpleasant events occur and from which escape is impossible, learned helplessness may occur. The person gives up trying to change the situation, even if change becomes possible. Dogs that have been repeatedly shocked, women in battering relationships, people who are depressed, and the "chronic unemployed" have demonstrated this phenomenon.

Discriminative Stimuli Throughout this section, all the stimuli I have referred to are either reinforcing or punishing. However, there is another type of stimulus that is a big factor in operant conditioning. This is the discriminative stimulus. If a stimulus has been present in the environment while an individual has been reinforced, that stimulus will become associated with the reinforcement (through classical conditioning). In the future, the presence of that stimulus will act as a signal for the individual to behave in an attempt to get reinforcement. Think of this concept in terms of a green light (go) and red light (stop). Why does a child behave like an angel in school but disobey parents at home? Not only are the reinforcements different in each setting, but the discriminative stimuli are different as well.

Applications of Operant Conditioning

While much of our learning through operant conditioning occurs haphazardly, these behavior modification methods can be used to target a specific behavior to be changed or modified... Biofeedback, pictured at the left, is one of many examples. Normally, we cannot directly control our heart beat or blood pressure. However, people could be attached to electronic monitors which show these biological functions. They could then attempt various methods of relaxation to reduce either of these. If successful, the feedback from the monitors would reinforce the relaxation behavior. This method has been very successful in reducing the damaging effects of stress on the body. It is not uncommon for parents to use behavior modification with their children. Children earn "stickers" for good behavior. These are posted on a calendar for all to see. At the end of the week, if enough stickers have been earned, a video game can be rented, for instance. You can even to do this to yourself. Pick a behavior you want to change, such as losing one pound per week. Give yourself check marks for successes, but none for failure. Then reward yourself when you have enough checks. But be careful, do not reward behavior that has not achieved the desired goal. Another method of behavior modification has been used to lower the amount of punishment used in a family or day care center. When a child misbehaves, rather than yelling or spanking, the child is placed alone in "time out." This is a boring environment, no toys, no TV, no other people. Using this for five minutes can calm a child down and the subsequent threat of "time out" can be used as a negative reinforcer.

Observational Learning The person we most associate with the acceptance of cognitive learning is Albert Bandura. A former follower of B.F. Skinner, Bandura conducted several experiments in the mid 1960s that showed that simply observing behavior could result in the performance of that behavior at a later time. The learner observes a model performing a behavior. The model gets reinforced. Notice that I said the model gets reinforced, not the observer. When the observer finds herself in a similar situation, she will then be more likely to perform the same behavior. If the model gets punished, the observer would be less likely to perform the behavior if given a chance. This observational learning (click on blue link for a short video) can even occur without reinforcement or punishment of the model, as long as the observer respects or identifies with the model. Bandura's original experiments showed how children can copy aggressive behavior just by watching an aggressive model in a movie. Learning is a very powerful force in humans. In fact, we may be the only organism on earth in which learning is more important than heredity.

Optional Additional Readings In 1948 B.F. Skinner wrote a book, Walden Two. In this he lays out, in the form of a novel, a perfect society, run using the principles of operant conditioning. While behaviorism is not as popular as it once was, thiseasy to read book is still quite interesting. Another one of Skinner's book, Beyond Freedom and Dignity is one of his most controversial. In this book he discusses the idea that human freedom is just an illusion. All of our behaviors are the result of either attempting to achieve a reinforcement or avoid a punishment, he says. The September 1997 issue of American Psychologist, the general topics journal of the American Psychological Association, was dedicated to Pavlov. Not only are there articles about his work, but excerpts from his original studies. One article lists the benefits psychology and humanity have derived from his work.