e has a greatperspective on human behavior and I would agree withAdler on almost all of his theory. I feel he is the mostaccurate in his interpretation of human behavior. B.F. Skinner was a behaviorist which means he is neutralin his theories; all men start as blank slates. He believedthat men are controlled by their environment and they canbe molded. All behavior is learned and conscious. Operant Conditioning is the idea that man is shaped byrepetition and/or reinforcement. Reinforcement can bebroken down into many different categories. First isprimary reinforcement which meets biological andpsychological needs. Next comes secondary reinforcementwhich is a conditioned reinforcer and it is a learned value.An example of this would be money. Positive reinforcementis the next part, and it is anything someone wants thatincreases positive behavior. Negative reinforcement isoftenly mistaken for punishment which it is not. Negativereinforcement is basically avoidance or behaving in a wayto avoid a negative stimulus or consequence. Escape isanother part of negative reinforcement which is avoidingsomething that is already there. Punishment whichdecreases the likelihood of a negative behavior. Examplesof this could be jail or other sorts of consequences.Punishment has limited effects. There are short-termresidual effects. Another part of Skinner's theory is something by thename of Beyond Freedom and Dignity which says that mandoes not have free will. He is a product of reinforcement.Skinner says free will is an illusion and that man shouldhave no pride. He also says that whatever mankindaccomplishes he accomplishes because of a system whichhas certain limitations. B.F. Skinner says that "Man's Biggest Problem" is thatmankind's behavior is more easily influenced by small orimmediate reinforcers than it is by large but distant anduncertain reinforcers. In other words Skinner feels that wewill take immediate gratification and not look at...
