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Observing Ben Wyckoff: from Basic Research to Programmed Instruction and Social Issues Rogelio Escobar and Kennon A

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Observing Ben Wyckoff: from Basic Research to Programmed Instruction and Social Issues Rogelio Escobar and Kennon A The Behavior Analyst 2011, 34, 149–170 No. 2 (Fall) Observing Ben Wyckoff: From Basic Research to Programmed Instruction and Social Issues Rogelio Escobar and Kennon A. Lattal West Virginia University L. Benjamin Wyckoff’s seminal contributions to both psychological theory and application are the subject of this review. Wyckoff started his academic career as a graduate student at Indiana University, where he developed the observing-response procedure under the guidance of B. F. Skinner and C. J. Burke. At the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Wyckoff refined his mathematical theory of secondary reinforcement. This theory was the impetus for his creation of an electronic simulation of a rat running a T maze, one of the first ‘‘computer models’’ of learning. Wyckoff next went to Emory University, leaving there to help create two of the most successful companies dedicated to the advancement of programmed instruction and teaching machines: Teaching Machines, Inc. and the Human Development Institute. Wyckoff’s involvement in these companies epitomizes the application of basic behavior-analytic principles in the development of technology to improve education and human relationships. The emergent picture of Wyckoff is that of a man who, through his research, professional work in educational applications of behavioral principles, and active involvement in the civil rights movement of the 1960s, was strongly committed to applying behavioral science to positively influence human behavior change. Key words: Benjamin Wyckoff, observing responses, conditioned reinforcement, teaching machines, programmed instruction, human relationships, diversity issues, client-centered therapy The first author is now at the National Lewis Benjamin Wyckoff, Jr., Ben Autonomous University of Mexico and was to friends and colleagues, was born in supported by a postdoctoral fellowship award- 1922 in Niagara Falls, New York. He ed by the PROFIP of DGAPA-UNAM. This paper was possible thanks to the recollection died at age 84 on June 6, 2007, at St. of many contributors to whom the authors are Simons Island, Georgia. He is per- indebted: Estelle Wyckoff and Andrew Weisk- haps best remembered among behav- off (Benjamin Wyckoff’s family); John Cotton ior analysts as the creator of the and Richard Atkinson (Indiana University); observing-response procedure. In his Lewis Gollub (Harvard University); Bernard Pyron and H. Philip Zeigler (University of doctoral dissertation he noted that, Wisconsin); Stephen Kendall, Donald J. Levis, ‘‘We shall adopt the term ‘observing and William Deckner (Emory University); response’ (RO) to refer to any re- Donald Tosti, Roger Addison, Roger Stein- sponse which results in exposure to horst, Clifton Chadwick, and David Shields (Teaching Machines Inc.); Jerome Berlin, the pair of discriminative stimuli Gene Ruyle, and Schlomo Friedlander (Hu- involved’’ (Wyckoff, 1951b, p. 1). man Development Institute); Lizette Royer Many behavior analysts are famil- (Archives of the History of American Psy- iar with the above statement, because chology); Constance Carter (Library of Con- gress); and Kathleen Shoemaker (Emory Wyckoff’s observing-response proce- University Manuscript, Archives, and Rare dure is still widely used for investi- Book Library). gating conditioned or secondary re- Address correspondence to Rogelio Esco- inforcement (hereafter, conditioned bar, Laboratorio de Condicionamiento Oper- ante, Facultad de Psicologı´a, Universidad reinforcement) (e.g., DeFulio & Nacional Auto´noma de Me´xico. Av. Univer- Hackenberg, 2008; Escobar & Bru- sidad 3004, Col. Copilco-Universidad, Me´xi- ner, 2009; Fantino & Silberberg, co, D.F. C.P. 04510 (e-mail: rescobar@ 2010; Lieving, Reilly, & Lattal, servidor.unam.mx), or to Kennon A. Lattal, Department of Psychology, West Virginia 2006; Pessoa, Huziwara, Perez, En- University, Morgantown, West Virginia demann, & Tomanari, 2009; Shahan 26506 (e-mail: [email protected]). & Podlesnik, 2008). 149 150 ROGELIO ESCOBAR & KENNON A. LATTAL Wyckoff’s observing-response pro- libertarians. Wyckoff’s journey cedure offered a means of demon- through behavior analysis may be strating the acquisition and main- likened to the journey described by tenance of an operant, the only Skinner in ‘‘A Case History in programmed consequence of which Scientific Method’’ (1956): an induc- is the production of discriminative tive approach in which the scientist stimuli, without altering the rate of follows the data wherever they hap- primary reinforcement (for reviews, pen to lead. This approach in Wyck- see Dinsmoor, 1983; Fantino, 1977). off’s career is an instructive counter- The procedure typically consists of point to the numerous examples of two components alternating random- gaps among basic research, applied ly. During one component, responses research, and service delivery aspects are reinforced according to an inter- of behavior analysis (e.g., Michael, mittent schedule (e.g., a variable 1980; Pierce & Epling, 1980). The interval); during the other compo- purpose of this historical review is to nent, responses are not reinforced. A trace the course of Wyckoff’s journey. response on a second operandum briefly produces the stimulus associ- EARLY ACADEMIC LIFE AND ated with the ongoing component INDIANA UNIVERSITY (e.g., a green light during the rein- forcement component and a red light Wyckoff attended Antioch College during the extinction component). from 1941 to 1947, having completed The observing-response procedure is 5 years of premed courses. Following one of most useful methods for graduation, he applied to Harvard studying conditioned reinforcement Medical School, but he changed his (see, e.g., Williams, 1994, for a mind and pursued a PhD in psychol- review). ogy instead. His wife, Estelle, noted A year after he finished his doc- that he learned of Skinner’s work and toral studies, the theoretical Part 1 of decided to study under his supervi- his dissertation was published in sion at Indiana University (E. Wyck- the Psychological Review (Wyckoff, off, personal communication, March 1952). The Social Sciences Citation 22, 2009). Index indicates that this article has According to J. Cotton (personal been cited in over 250 other research communication, February 24, 2009), and theoretical articles in psychology. who became friends with Wyckoff at The procedural details of the observ- Indiana, he and Wyckoff took an ing-response procedure, which con- introductory course on the topic of stituted Part 2 of the dissertation, the experimental analysis of behavior were not published until 1969, how- with Skinner, circa 1947. The goal of ever, in the volume entitled Condi- the course was to familiarize gradu- tioned Reinforcement edited by Hen- ate students with Skinner’s 1938 dry (Wyckoff, 1969). book, The Behavior of Organisms. Designing the observing-response Even before Skinner arrived in procedure is alone sufficient to secure Bloomington in 1945, Indiana Uni- Wyckoff mention in any history of versity was fertile ground for behav- the experimental analysis of behav- iorism and behaviorists. Under the ior. That seminal work, however, influence of J. R. Kantor, W. N. perhaps overshadowed his less well- Kellogg, and R. C. Davis, graduate known work in behavior analysis students were well acquainted with from the mid-1960s that invites the learning theories. As part of the task attention of an even broader audi- to rebuild the Department of Psy- ence of applied behavior analysts, chology after the war, Kantor at- educational technologists, educators, tracted Skinner to Indiana University computer enthusiasts, and even civil (Hearst & Capshew, 1988). In the OBSERVING BEN WYCKOFF 151 following years, the addition to the ing with him on experiments on faculty of W. O. Verplanck, W. K. discrimination in which reinforce- Estes, S. W. Bijou, D. G. Ellson, C. J. ment was contingent on two proper- Burke, W. O. Jenkins, and I. J. ties of the stimuli. Skinner’s notes Saltzman favored the melding of (1983, p. 415) suggest that the ratio- different behavioristic approaches to nale for these experiments was to the study of learning. study concept formation. The origins of behavior analysis From his interactions with Skinner are closely tied to Bloomington, at Indiana, Wyckoff earned an invi- Indiana. The first and second Con- tation to work with Skinner at ferences on the Experimental Analy- Harvard during the summer of sis of Behavior were held there, at 1950. In Cambridge, Wyckoff imme- Indiana University, in 1947 and 1948 diately became good friends with (see Dinsmoor, 1987). Wyckoff may Charles Ferster, with whom he spent be seen in a photograph of the many evenings playing music, some- attendees of the first conference (see times joined by Skinner. Wyckoff p. 456 of Vol. 5 of the Journal of the was a fine pianist (E. Wyckoff, Experimental Analysis of Behavior personal communication, June 18, [JEAB]; see also Hearst & Capshew, 2009). 1988; Skinner, 1979). Wyckoff also According to Skinner (1983, pp. 37, attended the third conference at 415), during his time at Harvard, Columbia University, where a pho- Wyckoff continued their research on tograph (Dinsmoor, 1990) shows him concept formation that was started at standing next to another graduate Indiana. It was supposed to employ a student, Lloyd Homme, who also single-key procedure in which rein- was one of his closest friends in forcement would be contingent on Bloomington. In the ‘‘Conference two properties of the stimuli. Skinner on the Experimental Analysis of wanted
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