Some more similarities between Peirce and Skinner

C. S. Peirce is noted for pioneering a variety of views, and the case is made here for the similarities and parallels between his views and B. F. Skinner's radical behaviorism. In addition to parallels previously noted, these similarities include an advancement of experimental science, a behavioral psychology, a shift from nominalism to realism, an opposition to positivism, a selectionist account for strengthening behavior, the importance of a community of selves, a recursive approach to method, and the probabilistic nature of truth. Questions are raised as to the extent to which Skinner's radical behaviorism, as distinguished from his S-R positivism, may be seen as an extension of Peirce's pragmatism.     

Sources for Skinner's pragmatic selectionism in 1945

Skinner's pragmatic selectionism shows up strongly in his 1945 publication, "The Operational Analysis of Psychological Terms," in which he introduced a probabilistic three-term contingency for verbal behavior. This probabilism was accompanied by an expanded contextualism and an increased emphasis on consequences with a clear alignment to pragmatism. In total, these changes represent Skinner's most striking shift from mechanistic and necessitarian values to pragmatic selectionism, and these changes may be indebted more to the conceptual contributions of others than Skinner acknowledged. Before 1945, Skinner made at least some positive associations with the views of Watson, Russell, and Carnap. From 1945 and afterwards, he strongly disassociated his views on verbal behavior from theirs. Before 1945, Skinner did not associate his views with those of Darwin or Peirce. After 1945, he strongly associated his views with those of Darwin and Peirce (in one published interview). No sources for his pragmatic selectionism, however, were referred to in 1945.     

The role of intuition and deliberative thinking in experts' superior tactical decision-making

Current theories argue that human decision making is largely based on quick, automatic, and intuitive processes that are occasionally supplemented by slow controlled deliberation. Researchers, therefore, predominantly studied the heuristics of the automatic system in everyday decision making. Our study examines the role of slow deliberation for experts who exhibit superior decision-making outcomes in tactical chess problems with clear best moves. Our study uses advanced computer software to measure the objective value of actions preferred at the start versus the conclusion of decision making. It finds that both experts and less skilled individuals benefit significantly from extra deliberation regardless of whether the problem is easy or difficult. Our findings have important implications for the role of training for increasing decision making accuracy in many domains of expertise.     

Three conceptual units for behavior

THREE GENERIC UNITS FOR BEHAVIOR ARE EXAMINED IN TERMS OF THEIR BACKGROUND: an if-then unit for stimulus and response (S-R), a holistic unit for Kantor's behavior segment, and an AB-because-of-C unit for Skinner's three-term contingency. The units are distinguished in terms of their respective historical backgrounds, causal modes, advantages, and disadvantages. The ways in which these units may be compatible are discussed.     

Clinical Judgment: The Effects of Statistical Information

Four different judges at 3 levels of clinical experience were asked to make postdictive judgments on the length of stay in psychotherapy for mental health service clients. Judgments were made under 4 conditions in which psychodiagnostic and statistical information increased incrementally at each level. Accuracy increased with more information. Accuracy by experience level was not significant. A significant group by information level interaction demonstrated a lower proportion of correct judgments for the less experienced Js under reduced levels of information. Appropriateness of judgments was also lower for the less experienced Js. Statistical information was concluded to be valuable in clinical judgment.     

Meta-analysis of age and skill effects on recalling chess positions and selecting the best move

A meta-analysis was conducted of studies that measured the effects of both age and skill in chess on the tasks of selecting the best move for chess positions (the best move task) as well as recalling chess game positions (the recall task). Despite a small sample of studies, we demonstrated that there are age and skill effects on both tasks: age being negatively associated with performance on both tasks and skill being positively associated with performance on both tasks. On the best move task, we found that skill was the dominant effect, while on the recall task, skill and age were approximately equally strong effects. We also found that skill was best measured by the best move task. In the case of the best move task, this result is consistent with the argument that it accurately replicates expert performance (Ericsson & Smith, 1991). Results for the recall task argue that this task captures effects related to skill, but also effects likely due to a general aging process. Implications for our understanding of aging in skilled domains are also discussed.     

The Effects of Experience and Disuse on Crossword Solving

At the annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, participants filled out a questionnaire about their experience with crossword solving and related activities for every year since they began solving crossword puzzles. This study focused on the role of crossword‐solving disruptions in influencing objective performance at the tournament. The number of breaks (a period of at least a year without crossword solving) predicted decreases in current performance, and the more time since the last break predicted increased performance. The effects of different types of experience on crossword performance are discussed with respect to their influence on performance, such as regular leisure engagement in crossword solving and more focused efforts to improve particular aspects of performance. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Some historical relationships between science and technology with implications for behavior analysis

The relationship between science and technology is examined in terms of some implications for behavior analysis. Problems result when this relationship is seen as one in which science generally begets technology in a one-way, or hierarchical, relationship. These problems are not found when the relationship between science and technology is seen as two-way, or symmetrical, within a larger context of relationships. Some historical examples are presented. Collectively, these and other examples in the references weaken the case for a prevailing one-way, hierarchical relationship and strengthen the case for a two-way, symmetrical relationship. In addition to being more accurate historically, the symmetrical relationship is also more consistent with the principles of behavior analysis.     

Why Skinner is difficult

Skinner's views are commonly misrepresented. One reason for this difficulty is that changes in the way that Skinner formulated his views occurred in a gradual evolution over time throughout Skinner's career, and the changes and their significance were not as conspicuously marked as they might have been. Among these changes were a movement from a two-term necessity to a three-term contingency; a movement from discriminative stimulus to setting as the first term in his three-term contingency; and a movement from determinism to random variation as a foundational principle in his selectionist behaviorism. When not seen in their historical development over time, a sample reading of Skinner's views may readily result in misleading or inaccurate interpretations, particularly in respect to his later work. Seen in historical context, however, the accounts that survived after the changes Skinner made are well integrated in a selectionist theory of behavior.