Human Behavior: Values, Cultural Design, And Control
We are all controlled by the world in which we live, and part of the world has been and will be constructed by men. The question is this: Are we to be controlled by accidents, by tyrants, or by ourselves in effective cultural design?" - B.F. Skinner
Cultural Design is much like "instrumental conditioning," where people are conditioned to respond favorably to a situation or stimulus that produces positive reinforcement. Pavlov first introduced the idea of conditioning in animals. Conditioning or cultural design however, can also be related to human behavior. How exactly does cultural design relate to the concepts of dignity vs. punishment? Why are moral struggles considered noteworthy to so many people?
The plight of so many individuals is finding purpose and function in life. One may argue that by subjecting persons to punishment, their dignity suffers and thus they are positively reinforced to produce only positive outcomes. Cultural Design however, implicitly connotes ideas of control and responsible, restriction of freedom and values. These ideas and more are explored below.
Ultimately the goal of conditioning or design is to predict behavior. The side effects of punishment may be considered conditioning to positive behavior in some situations. People are intimately tied to their emotions, environmental influences and feelings. By conditioning a response of remorse and regret, through the use of punishment, one may conclude that the bruise to an individual's dignity will cause a change in behavior. Hopefully this change is positive in nature.
People who "behave well" as a result of conditioning or cultural design are not truly behaving according to their instincts. Thus, proponents of personal freedom are somewhat justified in their detest of cultural design. Truly, by conditioning a person to behave well, society is asking that a person behave according to a trained or manipulated set of standards.
This set of standards admittedly will most likely reflect the "norms" of society. For example, it is reasonable to conclude that an individual should be conditioned against a response to murder other people. However, there are radical proponents of personal freedom that may argue that it is the innate instincts of human beings that should be honored. This seems contrary to reason however, and assumes that people with violent tendencies should not be designed to "behave well." Granted, such individuals may not be enabled to express their emotional freedoms, but generally this is for the better of society as a whole.
How is control related to responsibility? A cognitive approach to human behavior would presume that we all have the control over our lives, and as a result the responsibility to act in a manner that is positive and beneficial to society. Cognitive Behavioral therapists would argue that it is possible for any human to change or alter what they think, how they behave, their emotional response and response to their environment (Bernhardt, 1997). Thus, one may conclude that an individual in "control" of their faculties is expected to act responsibly in regards to situations, life experiences and in their response to the environment.
Cognitive Scientists may argue that control comes from within, as presumed above. Each person perhaps is born with the intellect and ability to make appropriate decisions based on their physiological make-up. However, just as easily arguable is the idea that control comes from the social interactions with people with whom a person is exposed to during the course of their life. For example, a child that grows up in an abusive household is likely to demonstrate emotional control issues and possibly violent behavior as an adult. Also a consideration, children that grow up in abusive or violent households often exhibit violent behavior when they become adults. Where does control come from them?
Likely physicians and psychologists would argue that people have an innate or biologically predisposed character that inherently conditions them to act one way or another. Like alcoholism, one may conclude that temperament may be a personality trait passed on from one generation to another. If one agrees with this statement, then it is logical to assume that a person who reacts violently to an environmental stimulus may be "pre-programmed" to behave in a certain way when confronted with certain situations. However, it is important when considering issues of control and responsibility to take into consideration the very significant relevance society and social interactions play on behavior.
Undoubtedly, someone that may be "biologically predisposed" to violent behavior is more likely to "fly-off-the-handle" when the dog spreads trash all over the yard for example. However, if the individual in question was predominantly exposed to caring and loving environments...
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