william schoenfeld - conditioning the whole organism

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onditional Reflex126 SCHOENF~.r.o July-Sept.1971

on ly one e f fec t ( " re sponse") , o r a few, bu t th e re a re an inde f in i te ly

la rge numbe r o f o the rs we bypass (a s pa r t o f ou r "ana lys i s " ) . C on-

s ide r any s t imu lus we have chosen (o f g iven moda l i ty , in tens i ty ,

du ra t ion , and so on ) and have app l ied ( in a g iven way , a t a g ivenbod i ly s i t e ) to the o rgan ism ( a t some junc tu re in i t s behav io r s t ream )

se lec ted as the expe r imen ta l sub ject . I f we wish , we can look back-

w a r d i n t i m e f r om t h e m o m e n t o f s t i m u la t io n , n o te t h e c o n t e n t o f

the be hav io r s t ream p rec ed ing the s t imu lus , and then look fo rward ,

ahead o f the s t imu lus in t ime , to see whe the r the re i s any re sem-

b lanc e o f the pos t -s t imu lus to the p re - s timu lus behav io r. ( I sha l l

n o t r a i se a n y p r o b l e m o f h o w f a r b a c k w a r d o r f o r w a r d o n e o u g h t

to look, o r ju s t wh a t segm en t o f the b ehav io r s t ream i s to be taken

for comp arison, or how "res emb lance" is to be assayed. ) I f a resem-

b lance i s d i sce rned , an d t he pos t -s t imu lus behav io r i s by some meas -

u re ( such a s h ighe r ra te o f appea rance , o r g rea te r s te reo typy , o rg rea te r magn i tude ) an inc reased ve rs ion o f the p re - s t imu lus be -

hav io r , then we a re today moved to dec la re tha t the s t imu lus i s a

" re in fo rce r" and tha t " ope ran t cond i t ion ing" has t aken p lace . Th e

s t imu lus in t rus ion may have been de l ibe ra te ly re se rved and t imed

to fo l low a pa r t i cu la r p re - speci f ied re sponse wh ich the expe r imen te r

desired to affec t ; or , as in the famous "supers t i t ious condit ioning"

demons t ra t ion , i t may have been app l ied by some ex t ra -behav io ra l

c r i te r ion , l ike a f ree -r~mnlng c lock , and no te m ade o f w ha t behav io r

i t chanc ed to fo llow. In e i the r case, the rou t ine desc r ip t ion o f these

even ts nowadays i s tha t th e "con t ingen cy" be tw een the re sponse and

i t s subsequen t " re in fo rc ing" s t imu lus i s r e spons ib le fo r the cond i t ion -ing. (T he content , or lack of i t , of a l l these words ca l ls for a t tent ion ,

bu t I sha l l no t pause he re to f re t ove r them .) Once , i t was more

l ike ly tha t the te rm "ope ran t cond i t ion ing" wou ld be u sed fo r ex -

pe r imen ts where the obse rved behav io r was o f the s t .da te musc le

variety bu t tod ay tha t exp ression i s ex tended to any e f fec t com paredpos t - and p re -s t imu lus . W e hea r now o f "ope ran t cond i t ion ing" o f

hea r t ra te , of b loo d pressure , of bra i n waves , of GSR, e tc. I t is th is

p rac t ice wh ich th rea tens a t ime-was t ing and p ro f i t l e s s d ig ress ion

fo r cond i t ion ing theo ry . Obv ious ly enough , the procedure of ope ran t

c o n d i t i o n in g c a n b e a p p l i ed t o a n y t h i n g - o r , t o s a y t h e s a m e t h i n g

o the rwise , an obse rve r can desc r ibe in those p rocedura l t e rms

any ope ra t ion he app l ie s to any th ing in the wor ld , inc lud ing an

organ ism. (As we l l ca l l i t "ope ran t cond i t ion ing" o f a vo lcano ff I

wa i t by the c ra te r , d rop in a nuc lea r bomb a t each rumble , and no te

tha t p re sen t ly the f req uency o f rumbles inc reases ) Bu t to do so

fo r any th in g bu t th e o rgan ism,s behavior- the t h i n g f o r w h i c h t h e

s ta temen ts , t e rms , p r inc ip le s , and en t i re a rmamen t o f ope ran t con -

d i t ion ing were dev is ed -m akes the app l ica t ion ir re levan t . I t ig'no res



V o l u m e 6N u m b e r 3 C O N D I T I O N I N G T I ~ W H O L E O R G N I S M 27

wh at o pe ran t cond i t ion ing , and a l l cond i t ion ing fo r tha t m a t te r ,

under took to und ers tand and exp la in in the f ir s t p lace : th e do ings ,

movements , ac t ions , deportments , and disposi t ions of the organism

and i ts body, a l l of wh ich com pose only a l imited c lass of organism iceffect se lected out of a l l the possib le effects of s t imulat ion . The

h is to r ica l pu rpose o f cond i t ion ing th eo ry -a n in s igh t in to ce r ta in

t r an s a c ti o n s b e t w e e n a n o r g a n i sm a n d t h e e v e nt s i m p i n g i n g u p o n i t -

thus com es to be t r ea te d as f f i t were a pol i t ica l s logan. As worr i-

some as that is, howev er , there is even m ore cause for conce rn among

cond i t ion ing theo r is t s because o f the imp l ica t ions o f tha t p rac t ice

fo r cond i t ion ing theo ry i tse lf .

The ques t ion o f whe the r au tonomic responses can be cond i t ioned

in oper ant fashion conceals several deadfal ls . F irs t , i t accepts a d is-

t inc t ion be tw een re sponse ca tegorie s such as au tonom ica l ly v cen-

t raUy med ia ted , o r ope ran t v re sponden t , o r vo lun ta ry v in-vo lun ta ry . Second , i t accep ts the a rgumen t tha t the re a re two

types o f cond i t ion ing , ope ran t and Pav lov ian . Th i rd , i t con -

s t rues ope ra n t cond i t ion ing o be on ly a ce r ta in sequence o f re sponse

and s t imulus events . Fou rth , i t implies tha t a reduct ion of the sev-

e ra l types o f cond i t ion ing to a s ing le pa rad igm i s ach ievab le by

demons t ra t ing tha t one o f the p rocedures wi l l work on a ca tegory

of response supp osedly excluded from i ts inf luence. Ou r d iscus-

s ion o f i s sues canno t advance i f we a re no t more iud ic ious wi th

our quest ions . Th e experim ental s tudies done in the service of such

ideas may ind eed p rove va luab le fo r m any d i sc ip lines, and pe rhaps

even fo r p rac t ica l app l ica t ion in med ic ine and psych o the rapy . Bu tthe i r theo re t ica l r a t iona le i s dub ious . Labora to r ie s canno t remain

pinne to o ld theo r ie s when new ones a re requ i red wi thou t f ina l ly

becom ing on ly d ig ressiona ry in cha rac te r.

I f they are considered even br ief ly , moreover , the f indings of

such exper imen ta l s tud ies a re ha rd ly su rp ri s ing . Al though we h ave

been fo rge t fu l , we have ac tua l ly a lways known tha t any ease o f

ope rant cond it ionin g has ramif ied behavioral effects. Th e only

nove l ty today i s tha t some one is look ing a t them. W hen a ba r

press , for example , is fo l lowed by a re inforc ing s t imulus , a l l of a

ra t 's bo d i ly p rocesses accom pany ing the p ress, wh ich a re coord ina ted

wi th i t as co-funct ions , are a lso fo l low ed by tha t s t imulus; and,

wh en presses occur again af te r the s t imulus , their co-funct ions a lso

occur again as co-effects of the s t im ulat ion . Theoris ts who fee l tha t

the in depe nden t s tahas o f ope ran t cond i t ion ing needs de fense in the

face o f such obse rva t ions have dea l t wi th them as au tonomic o r

bod i ly e ffec ts med ia ted by the cond i t ioned ope ran t . I t mig h t be

less t roublesome to theory , however , f f they were ident if ied r ight

away as the mul t ip le p roduc ts o f s t imu la t ion .



Conditional Reflex128 SC HO EN FE LD July Sept. 1971

On the o the r hand , f f we choose a ce r ta in so r t o f s t imu lus fo r

in t rusion , and f f we l imi t ou r in spec t ion o f behav io r changes a f te r

s t imu la t ion , we mig h t dec ide to ca l l ou r s timu lus uncon d i t iona l

a n d t h e b e h a v i o r c h a n g es o r i e n ti n g . I f w e r e p e a t t h e s ti m u l a t i o nseve ra l t imes , and no te tha t i t s behav io ra l e f fec t s fade , we migh t

make up a t e rm fo r tha t ; and ano the r t e rm i f , wi th many regu la r

repe t i t ions o f the s t imu lus , the behav io r change comes to occu r

regu la r ly in advance o f the s t imu la t ions . Or , we m igh t e lec t to

in t rude two s t imu l i pa i red in a f ixed t ime re la t ion to each o the r ,

and compare the b ehav io r changes fo l lowing the second s t imu lus

wi th those be tween the s t imu l i , o r wi th those p reced ing the f i r s t

s t imu lus . And so on th roug h the e pocha l d iscoverie s and inven t ions

o f the m an whose nam e th i s Soc ie ty honors . Aga in , i t mus t be con-

ceded tha t , in such exper imen ts a s we l l , ou r s t imu la t ions have mu l t i -

p ie e f fect s, and no t on ly the one o r two tha t have been measu redt rad i t iona l ly . I r ecaU speak ing o f th i s to an acqua in tance o f mine

a f t e r h i s c o ll o q u iu m i n m y d e p a r t m e n t . H e h a d d e s c r ib e d h is w o r k

on operan t cond i t ion ing o f au tonom ic behav io r , and as we c rossed

the cam pus I a sked as de l ica te ly a s I cou ld whe the r he had con-

s ide red measu r ing one o r ano the r ope ran t wh i le ca r ry ing ou t

Pav lov ian p rocedures . W ould no t th is , I a sked , pe rhaps p ro v ide the

comp lemen ta ry case , tha t i s , the Pav lov ian cond i t ion ing o f ope ran t

re sponses ? W ould he no t im ag ine i t poss ib le to re -desc r ibe in the

la t te r t e rms some exper imen ts a l ready in the l i t e ra tu re , such as

those on so -ca l led CE R? He sh rugged o f f the m a t te r som ewha t d i s -

tan t ly , as o f no pe rsona l in te res t to h im. I d id no t da re a sk wh ye i the r so r t o f exper imen t was w o r t h doing.

The re i s toda y a re s tiveness am ong behav io r theo r is t s . Am ong

the i r d i s sa t is fac tions is the sepa ra t ion o f con d i t ion ing pa rad igms in to

the Pav lov ian and ope ran t ca tegorie s wh ich a s imp le ope ra t ion is t

f a i t h h as f o r m a n y d e c a d es b e l i e v e d t o b e u n c h a l le n g e a b le . I t i s

doub t fu l , however , th a t the i r r educ t ion is t goa l , i f i t i s a t a l l co r rec t

and rea l i s t i c , wi l l be reached by a s t ra tegy o f c ross -app ly ing sup -

posed ly incom pa t ib le cond i t ion ing p rocedures to supposed ly d i s -

pa ra te re sponse ca tegor ies . The suppos i tions themse lves need to b e

d isposed o f , and tha t wi l l r equ i re a more rad ica l sc ru t iny and a

new pe rspec tive . Fa i l ing tha t , a l l the labo ra to ry work wi l l on ly cu t

de tou rs, a lbe i t scen ic ones , fo r cond i t ion ing theo ry . Th ere i s as t ra igh te r t r ack home . I t i s ma rked by such e leme n ta ry t ru ths ab ou t

an o rgan ism as i t s func t ion a l un i ty and con t inu i ty .W. N. Scaom-~,-~ta~

City Universi ty of Ne w York andCorneU Universi ty M edical C ollege

william schoenfeld - conditioning the whole organism

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