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Contents
vii
viii╇╇Contents
Glossary501
References537
Author Index593
Subject Index613
Foreword
In my Foreword to the fifth edition of Behavior Analysis and Learning by David Pierce and Carl
Cheney, I€suggested that five editions of the book reflected the vitality and longevity of behavior
analysis. The publication of the sixth edition goes even further to reflect the current breadth and
depth of the discipline and its evolution as a member of the family of biological sciences by includ-
ing research and concepts from the related sciences of neurophysiology and epigenetics, all in the
context of an evolutionary framework. Because of this increased emphasis on how these other bio-
logical sciences intersect with the science of behavior analysis, Pierce and Cheney have added the
subtitle, A Biobehavioral Approach. Throughout all of its incarnations, however, Behavior Analysis
and Learning has dealt fundamentally with learning and behavior. To understand how Pierce and
Cheney arrived at the sixth edition of Behavior Analysis and Learning, it is important to understand
a few of the basic concepts of behavior analysis—behavior, environment, and learning—that the
book has elucidated since it was first published.
Behavior—anything an organism does in response to a particular situation or stimulus—is
defined by its reciprocal interaction with the environment, which itself is defined in terms of all of
the stimuli that affect an organism’s behavior at a given moment. Behavior is the means by which
animals find food and shelter and escape predation. Evolutionarily, it is largely an organism’s behav-
ior that determines whether it will survive, that is, live long enough to pass on its genes. Physiolog-
ically, these environment–behavior interactions are mediated by a nervous system that has evolved
two broad and basic functions—sensory and motor—that are supported by different and specialized
areas in the brain and their corresponding nerves.
Learning refers to relatively permanent changes in environment–behavior relationships as a
result of certain types of experiences. Thus, what changes when learning is said to occur is not
simply behavior, but rather relationships between environmental events (stimuli) and behavior. The
“certain types of experiences” that produce learning are Pavlovian and operant conditioning. Just as
behavior and stimuli are mediated by the nervous system, so too is learning. What we might refer
to as behavioral plasticity, that is, behavior’s capacity to be modified, is mediated by what neuro-
scientists refer to as neural plasticity, that is, the capacity of neuronal connections to be modified.
Learning and behavior as it relates to any particular species is a function of that species’ evolu-
tionary history. If human beings represent the pinnacle of anything evolutionarily, it is their evolved
capacity for seemingly infinite behavioral and neural plasticity, that is, their capacity to learn.
Although it is possible to scientifically study and understand the environment’s role in selecting and
maintaining behavior (i.e., learning) without any knowledge of genes and physiology—and, indeed,
such a science, behavior analysis, already exists—a complete understanding of learning requires
scientific inquiry at three levels: environment, genes, and neurophysiology.
There are textbooks on learning and behavior that do a fine job of explicating the laws of
environment–behavior relations and their accompanying theories, but to date, only one textbook,
Behavior Analysis and Learning by David Pierce and Carl Cheney, broadens the perspective. Since
it was first published in 1995 (with W. Frank Epling), Pierce and Cheney’s textbook has changed
to reflect the evolution of the field of behavior analysis into a science that incorporates both neu-
rophysiological and epigenetic concepts all within a selectionist framework. In so doing, Pierce
and Cheney present behavior analysis as a member of the family of biological sciences, which, as
xi
xii╇╇Foreword
Beginning with the first edition, Behavior Analysis and Learning has been dedicated to B.â•›F.
Skinner, and I€can think of no better tribute to him than a book which not only details the basic
principles of the science he helped to establish, but also does so in the context of the selectionist
principles he championed, and which demonstrates how, to paraphrase Skinner, we may be able to
use those principles to act to save the world.
Behavior Analysis and Learning has come a long way since 1995. The experimental analysis of
behavior has also come a long way. Many things have changed and some have not—behavior is
still a function of its consequences; reinforcement still works; resurgence still happens in extinction;
differential reinforcement of successive approximations still shapes new responses; and the Skinner
Box is still a major component for exploring environment–behavior interactions. As things change
they also remain the same. Students still have to be taught by skilled, attentive teachers; labeling
and inferences about behavior are still just that and the behavior of the organism itself remains an
important subject for scientific investigation; people still act as if non-physical, invented cognitive
constructs such as mental maps, mindlessness, or other explanatory fictions provide a scientific
account of human behavior.
In this sixth edition of our textbook, we have continued to expand the presentation of neuro-
physiological mechanisms as context for the experimental analysis of behavior, believing that the
contributions of neuroscience and neurobiology will substantially improve our ultimate explanation
of where behavior comes from and how it can be controlled. The “grand synthesis” is growing expo-
nentially. One might say that the scientific study of behavior is working its way back into biology
from whence it should never have left.
We maintain the world view or paradigm of selection by consequences at the biological, behav-
ioral, and cultural levels and are impressed by the growing number of evidenced-based studies that
support this position. We continue to promote the broad practice of applied behavior analysis and
the growing literature illustrating diverse applications of behavior science. Several professional
organizations have come into existence whose members express, either in research or application,
Skinner’s philosophy of radical behaviorism in the analysis of behavior. The discovery of the way
behavior works upon the world is illuminated by the experimental analysis of behavior in learning
and genetics laboratories, free-ranging animal environments, programmed instruction for class-
rooms, training centers for explosive sniffing dogs, care and treatment of zoo animals, early inten-
sive behavioral intervention for children with autism and developmental disabilities, computer labs
and human learning environments, applications to business and organizations, and university behav-
ior laboratories investigating control by contingencies of reinforcement with a variety of organisms.
To ensure we stay current with the scientific analysis of behavior–environment relationships,
we have added approximately 300 new references to the sixth edition, some from traditional sources
like the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior and other citations from generalist and
biological journals, including Science and Nature. Refinements of technology, research design, and
data treatment together with an increased number of active investigators has vastly expanded the
field of behavior analysis and therefore the topics and sources to present to students and readers. We
have been driven by the breadth of related and contributing findings that appear from a huge scien-
tific literature and media coverage to peruse and select only some of the relevant, emerging material.
We suggest teachers recommend their students access original sources to more fully appreciate the
new lines of research and evolution of specific topics.
Chapter titles and their order have remained virtually the same as the fifth edition. The addition
of more recent citations, however, has necessitated the removal of a substantial number of refer-
ences, in many cases older papers. However, we consider many early papers in the experimental
analysis of behavior to remain as relevant today as ever. It may be that we assume most readers or
xv
xvi╇╇Preface
instructors to be somewhat familiar with older terms and findings when they are not. In which case,
we recommend perusing the references of cited papers in the sixth edition to locate original sources.
The appropriate application of behavior principles in society at large is progressing. The basic
behavior principles such as reinforcement, discrimination, and generalization have always been in
operation, but many times these principles are used poorly, inaccurately, or under a different name.
Committed students of behavior science are growing in number and even President Obama ordered
agencies of the US government to be informed by the findings of behavior science. Nonetheless,
as epigenetic transmission of the knowledge of behavior science does not seem viable in the fore-
seeable future, more traditional forms of education appear necessary. Enter Edition 6 of Behavior
Analysis and Learning.
For this edition we began with the desire to include aspects of neuroscience as it contributes
to a more comprehensive understanding of the behavior of organisms. Epigenetic research, optical
excitement of neurons, computer/neural interfacing, and gut bacteria influences may seem a far cry
from schedules of reinforcement or errorless learning, but as a biological organism all such elements
contribute to the whole. We might recall that B.â•›F. Skinner did his major research work in the physio-
logical labs at Harvard. The point is, however, that BFS could see that behavior in and of itself was a
separate field of biology and it deserved a special level of analysis. So, no matter how thoroughly we
understand the neurobiological operations of the organism, principles of selection by consequences
remain at work at the level of behavior. We may become more sophisticated about the overlap of
frontal lobe circuitry and the nuanced action of synaptic neurotransmitters, but it will remain func-
tional to distinguish between behavior under the influence of fixed-ratio or variable-interval sched-
ules when accounting for specific instances of behavior on a given occasion. Recently, Skinner’s
functional approach for the analysis of language as verbal behavior has received empirical support
by the wider scientific community, findings at odds with Chomsky’s nativist, linguistic perspective.
A final issue that has not changed is our deep appreciation to the memory of W. Frank Epling,
PhD, an original author. Our friend and colleague was instrumental in generating what we con-
sider the best available source for behavior analysis and learning based on a consistent philosophy,
research program, principles and examples of application. It should also go without saying that we
acknowledge the origination of a science of behavior to B.â•›F. Skinner. He discovered and articulated
the basic principles of how the world works through selection by consequences as the operating
process.
W. David Pierce
Carl D. Cheney
A Science of
Behavior: Perspective,
History, and
1
Assumptions
1. Inquire about learning, a science of behavior and behavior analysis.
2. Discover how selection by consequences extends to evolution and behavior.
3. Explore new directions in behavior analysis and behavioral neuroscience.
4. See how early learning is retained by epigenetic mechanisms.
5. Investigate the early beginnings of behavior analysis and learning.
6. Analyze feeling and thinking as complex behavior.
Learning refers to the acquisition, maintenance, and change of an organism’s behavior as a result
of lifetime events. The behavior of an organism is everything it does, including private and covert
actions like thinking and feeling (see “Science and Behavior: Some Assumptions” section of this
chapter). Learning also involves neuroplasticity—alterations in the brain that accompany behavior
change and participate in the regulation of behavior. While our focus in this book is centered on
the study of behavior for its own sake, the links to the brain and neural processes are increasingly
important to the field of learning and behavior analysis as we discuss throughout the book.
An important aspect of human learning concerns the experiences arranged by other people.
From earliest history, people have acted to influence the behavior of other individuals. Rational
argument, rewards, bribes, threats, and force are used in attempts to promote learning or change the
behavior of people. In civilized societies, people are required to learn socially appropriate behaviors.
As long as a person conforms, no one pays much attention. As soon as conduct substantially departs
from cultural norms, people get upset and socially reject the non-conformist—ensuring that most of
us comply (Williams€& Nida, 2011). All societies have codes of conduct and laws that their people
have to learn; people who break moral codes or civil laws face penalties ranging from minor fines
to capital punishment. Clearly, all cultures are concerned with human learning and the regulation
of human conduct. Without regulation, anarchy and confusion eventually destroy the civil order of
society.
Theories of learning and behavior have ranged from philosophy to natural science. When Soc-
rates was told that new discoveries in anatomy proved that bodily movement was caused by the
arrangement of muscles, bones, and joints, he replied, “That hardly explains why I€am sitting here in
a curved position talking to you” (Millenson, 1967, p. 3). About 2300€years later, in 1934, the great
philosopher Alfred North Whitehead and the famous behaviorist B.â•›F. Skinner were seated together
at dinner involved in a discussion about the behaviorist approach to psychology. After listening
1
2╇╇ A Science of Behavior
Is astrology the ultimate key to competitive advantage? That is what Divinitel, a French company
specializing in celestial consulting, claims. For FFr350 ($70) a session, the firm’s astrologers offer
advice on anything from the timing of takeovers to exorcisms.€.€.€. So who is daft enough to pay for
such mystical mumbo-jumbo? About 10% of French businesses are, according to a study by HEC, a
French business school.
(“Twinkle, Twinkle,” The Economist, 22 December€1990, p. 95)
In an interview with Ashley Lutz for Business Insider (2012), Susan Miller, a successful astrol-
oger with a business degree from NYU, said, “What I€do is scientific. Astrology involves careful
methods learned over the years and years of training and experience.” Her website has six million
visitors every month and she has built an empire based on her “scarily accurate” predictions, said
the Insider. Miller states “one unlikely group of customers€.€.€. are professional men from 25 to
45-years-old. In these uncertain economic times, astrology is more important than ever!” Many
people faced with the unpredictability of daily existence turn to the theory of celestial alignment
(astrology) to inform and guide their actions in business, life, and personal relationships.
The trouble with astrology and other primitive accounts of human behavior is that they are not
scientifically valid. These theories do not hold up to objective testing, replication, and close scruti-
nizing by researchers who follow the scientific method. Over the last century, a science-based model
of learning and behavior has developed. Behavior theory states that all behavior is due to a complex
interaction between genetic influence and environmental experience. The theory is based on obser-
vation and controlled experimentation, and it provides a natural-science account of the learning and
behavior of organisms, including humans. This book is concerned with such an account.
SCIENCE OF BEHAVIOR
The experimental analysis of behavior is a natural-science approach to understanding behavior
regulation. Experimental analysis is concerned with controlling and changing the factors that affect
the behavior of humans and other animals. For example, a behavioral researcher in a classroom
may use a computer to arrange corrective feedback for a student’s mathematical performance. The
relevant condition manipulated or changed by the experimenter may involve presenting corrective
feedback on some days and withholding it on others. In this case, the researcher would probably
A Science of Behavior╇╇ 3
observe more accurate mathematical performance on days with programmed feedback. This simple
experiment illustrates one of the most basic principles of behavior—the principle of reinforcement.
The principle of reinforcement (and other behavior principles) provides a scientific account of
how people and animals learn complex actions. When a researcher identifies a basic principle that
governs behavior, this is called an analysis of behavior. Thus, the experimental analysis of behav-
ior involves specifying the basic processes and principles that regulate the behavior of organisms.
Experiments are then used to test the adequacy of the analysis.
current interactions with the environment, as well as its biological or evolutionary history (primarily
coded by the genes). Secondly, the principles (e.g., discrimination) discovered by an experimental
analysis have wide generality, applying to all animal life.
The principle of discrimination may be extended to human behavior and social reinforcement.
You may discuss dating with Carmen, but not Tracey, because Carmen has shown interest in such
conversation while Tracey has not (differential reinforcement). In a classroom, the principle of dis-
crimination can be used to improve teaching and learning. A€child is given a series of multiplication
problems from the 2-times table such as 2 × 4 =_?_. Correct answers result in the next question,
while incorrect responses lead to corrective feedback from the teacher, and repetition of the question.
In this way, most children learn their 2-times table. The use of behavior principles to solve practical
problems is called applied behavior analysis and is discussed at some length in Chapter€13.
As you can see, behavior analysis has a strong focus on behavior–environment relationships. The
focus is on how organisms alter their behavior to meet the ever-changing demands of the environment.
When an organism learns new ways of behaving in reaction to the changes in its environment, this is
called conditioning. The two basic kinds of conditioning are called respondent and operant.
Respondent Conditioning
Respondent conditioning occurs when a feature (or event) of the environment without a known
effect on behavior is correlated with an unconditioned stimulus (US). The US is a stimulus that
elicits a response based on an organism’s biological history—thus, a puff of air (US) in the eyes
elicits blinking (UR or unconditioned response) as an inherited response without apparent learning
on the part of the organism. Presentation of a light does not elicit eye blinking, and has no stimulus
function with respect to the eye-blinking response before conditioning (a non-functional stimulus).
However, if the light comes to predict the air puff (US) and control the blink response, we say the
light has acquired a conditioned-stimulus (CS) function. One method to ensure that a feature of
the environment predicts the US is called pairing or temporal contiguity; the US closely follows the
feature in time. For example, respondent conditioning occurs when the buzz of bees is paired with
painful stings (US), but other insect sounds are not. After this conditioning, a buzzing bee (CS) usu-
ally causes people to behave so as to escape it; this is the conditioned response (CR) or respondent.
The Russian physiologist Ivan Petrovich Pavlov made explicit this form of conditioning at the turn
of the 20th century. He observed that dogs salivated when food was placed in their mouths. This
relation between the food stimulus and salivation is an unconditioned reflex, and it occurs because
of the animals’ biological history. However, when Pavlov rang a bell just before feeding the dogs
and not on other occasions (discrimination), the animals began to salivate at the sound of the bell.
In this way, a new feature (the sound of the bell) that predicted the presentation of food came to
A Science of Behavior╇╇ 5
Operant Conditioning
Operant conditioning involves the regulation of behavior by its consequences. B.â•›F. Skinner called
this kind of behavior regulation operant conditioning because, in a given situation or setting (SD),
behavior (R) operates on the environment to produce effects or consequences (Sr). An operant
is any behavior that operates on the envi-
ronment to produce an effect. The effect
or consequence in turn changes the like-
lihood that the operant will occur again
in a similar situation. During operant
conditioning, an organism emits operant
behavior based upon its genetic endow-
ment; the operant produces an effect that
increases (or decreases) the frequency of
the response in a given situation (Skinner,
1938, p. 20). In the laboratory, a hungry rat
in a chamber may receive food if it presses
a lever when a light is on. If lever pressing
increases in the presence of the light, then
operant conditioning has occurred and FIG. 1.2╇ Simple operant conditioning: In an operant
food functions as reinforcement (Sr) for chamber, lever pressing produces food for a hungry rat.
this operant response (Figure€1.2). The consequences of lever pressing (presentation of
In this example, the light (SD) even- food) increase its frequency in that setting. In another
example, a baby smiles to a human face and is picked
tually sets the occasion for lever pressing up. The consequence of smiling (social attention)
in the sense that the operant is likely to increases the frequency of this behavior in the presence
occur when the light is on and is unlikely of human faces.
6╇╇ A Science of Behavior
to occur when it is off. Basically, the frequency of lever pressing increases in the presence of the
light (SD). Turning the light on, however, does not force or elicit lever pressing as with a respondent
conditioned stimulus; it simply increases the probability of the lever-pressing response when the
light is on. The control by the light stimulus is based on the past history of reinforcement for lever
pressing in the presence of the light and no reinforcement when it is off.
Most of what we commonly call voluntary, willful, or purposive action is analyzed as operant
behavior. Operant conditioning occurs, for example, when a baby smiles to a human face and is then
picked up. If smiling to faces increases in frequency because of such social attention, then smiling
is an operant and the effect is a result of conditioning. The presentation of a human face (SD) sets
the occasion for infant smiling only after a history of operant conditioning. When a face appears,
the frequency of smiling increases; also, smiling has a low frequency of occurrence when no one is
around. In a more complex example using video games, the presence of targets on the screen (SD)
sets the occasion for pressing a sequence of buttons (operant) that result in hitting a target (Sr) and
increasing the probability of the response sequence. Other examples of operant behavior include
driving a car to work to get paid, talking on the phone for fun, taking lecture notes to pass a test,
walking to the store to buy groceries, reading a book for pleasure, writing a term paper for grades,
or conducting an experiment to resolve a scientific question. In each case, we say the operant is
selected by its consequences.
the rat’s behavior by pointing to its past consequences (the function of behavior). Thus, the current
frequency of bar pressing is explained by the contingency between bar pressing and food in the past.
The rat’s behavior has been selected by its history of reinforcement. Thus, the history of reinforce-
ment is what explains why the rat presses the lever.
Both immediate and remote causal explanations are acceptable in science. Behavior analysts
have emphasized functional analysis and selection by consequences (remote causation), but are also
interested in direct analysis of physiological and neurochemical processes (immediate causation). Ulti-
mately, both types of causal explanation will provide a more complete account of learning and behavior.
systems) is combined with the analysis of behavior. For example, in some cases it may be
possible to “sensitize” or “desensitize” a rat to the behavioral contingencies by drugs that
activate or block the action of specialized neurons (e.g., Bratcher, Farmer-Dougan, Dou-
gan, Heidenreich,€& Garris, 2005). Research at the neural level could, in this way, add to the
practical control or regulation of behavior by its consequences.
Neural processes also may participate as immediate consequences (local contingencies)
for behavior that had long-range benefits for organisms—remote contingencies, as in evo-
lution and natural selection (Tobler, Fiorillo,€& Schultz, 2005). The so-called neural basis of
reward involves the interrelationship of the endogenous opiate and dopamine systems (as
well as other neural processes) in the regulation of behavior and learning (Fiorillo, Tobler,€&
Schultz, 2003; Puig, Rose, Schmidt,€& Freund, 2014). For example, rats that are food restricted
and allowed to run in activity wheels increase running over days—up to 20,000 wheel turns.
Wheel running leads to the release of neural opiates that reinforce this behavior (Pierce,
2001; Smith€& Rasmussen, 2010). If wheel running is viewed as food-related travel, one func-
tion of neural reinforcement is to promote locomotion under conditions of food scarcity.
The long-range or remote contingency (travel produces food: travel → food) is supported
proximally by the release of endogenous opiates (physical activity → release of endogenous
opiates) that “keep the rat going” under conditions of food scarcity (e.g., famine or drought).
The integration of the science of behavior with neuroscience (behavioral neurosci-
ence) is a growing field of inquiry. Areas of interest include the effects of drugs on behav-
ior (behavioral pharmacology), neural imaging and complex stimulus relations, choice and
neural activity, and the brain circuitry of learning and addiction. We shall examine some
of this research in subsequent chapters in sections that focus on behavior analysis and
neuroscience (“Focus On” sections) or in sections that emphasize applications (“On the
Applied Side” sections).
sexual behavior is rigidly controlled by genetically driven mechanisms. In humans, however, sexual
behavior is also influenced by socially mediated experiences. It is these experiences, not genes, which
come to dictate when sexual intercourse occurs, how it is performed, and who can be a sexual partner.
Powerful religious or social controls can make people abstain from sex. This example demonstrates
that even the biologically relevant behavior of humans is partly determined by life experience.
Operant conditioning and natural selection are combined in the so-called imprinting of a newly hatched
duckling. In its natural environment the young duckling moves towards its mother and follows her
as she moves about. The behavior has obvious survival value. When no duck is present, the duckling
behaves in much the same way with respect to other objects. Recently it has been shown that a young
duckling will come to approach and follow any moving object, particularly if it is the same size as a
duck—for example, a shoebox. Evidently survival is sufficiently well served even if the behavior is not
under the control of the specific visual features of a duck. Merely approaching and following is enough.
Even so, that is not a correct statement of what happens. What the duckling inherits is the
capacity to be reinforced by maintaining or reducing the distance between itself and a moving object.
In the natural environment, and in the laboratory in which imprinting is studied, approaching and
following have these consequences, but the contingencies can be changed. A€mechanical system can
be constructed in which movement toward an object causes the object to move rapidly away, while
movement away from the object causes it to come closer. Under these conditions, the duckling will
move away from the object rather than approach or follow it. A€duckling will learn to peck a spot
on the wall if pecking brings the object closer. Only by knowing what and how the duckling learns
during its lifetime can we be sure of what it is equipped to do at birth.
(Skinner, 1974, pp. 40–41)
The duckling’s biological history, in terms of providing the capacity for reinforcement by prox-
imity to a duck-sized object, is the context for the regulation of its behavior. Of course, the anatomy
and neurophysiology of the duckling allow for this capacity. The way the environment is arranged
during its lifetime, however, determines the behavior of the individual organism on a specific occa-
sion. Laboratory experiments in behavior analysis identify the general principles that govern the
behavior of organisms, the specific events that regulate the behavior of different species, and the
arrangement of these events during the lifetime of an individual.
noncoding mRNAs of sex cells or gametes (Dias€& Ressler, 2014; Gapp et al., 2014;
see Jablonka€& Raz, 2009 for a complete discussion of transgenerational epigen-
etic inheritance). One implication is that learning sometimes can be transmitted
epigenetically from one generation to the next with no change in the genes them-
selves. Also, in the future, it may be possible to produce lasting reversal of epigenetic
changes by targeted early behavioral interventions (as in autism; see Chapter€13) or
reverse epigenetic effects in later life by arranging new (re)programmed learning
experiences (Tammen et al., 2013). Generally, evolution has provided animals with
epigenetic mechanisms that allow for retention of learning experiences (changes
in behavior due to the prevailing environmental contingencies) over an organism’s
lifetime and perhaps beyond.
Skinner’s paradigm is a selectionist paradigm not unlike Darwin’s selectionist theory of the evolution
of species. Where Darwin found an explanation for the evolution of species, Skinner looked for vari-
ables functionally related to changes in behavior over the lifetime of an individual. Both explanations
assumed variation; Darwin in inherited characteristics, Skinner in individual acts. Skinner, in other
words, does not concern himself with why behavior varies, only with how patterns of behavior are
drawn out from the variations that already exist. In looking at the functional relationships between
acts and their effects on the world, Skinner broke with the S–R, input–output transformation model.
(Vargas, 1990, p. 9)
Skinner recognized that operants are selected by their consequences (behavioral selection). He
also noted that operant behavior naturally varies in form and frequency. Even the simple movement
12╇╇ A Science of Behavior
of opening the door to your house is not done exactly the same way each time, an observation con-
sistent with recent optogenetic studies of variation of neuron firing in fruit flies (Vogelstein et al.,
2014). Pressure on the doorknob, strength of pull, and the hand used change from one occasion to
the next. If the door sticks and becomes difficult to open, a more forceful response may eventually
occur. This energetic response may succeed in opening the door and become the most likely perfor-
mance for the situation. Other forms of response may occur at different frequencies depending on
how often they succeed in opening the door (reinforcement). Thus, operants are selected by their
consequences.
Similarly, it is well known that babies produce a variety of sounds called “babbling.” These
natural variations in sound production are important for language learning. When sounds occur,
parents usually react to them. If the infant produces a familiar sound, parents often repeat it more
precisely. Unfamiliar sounds are usually ignored. Eventually, the baby begins to produce sounds
(we say talk) like other people in their culture or verbal community. Selection of verbal behavior
by its social consequences is an important process underlying human communication and lan-
guage (Skinner, 1957).
cultural design. B.â•›F. Skinner addressed this possibility in his utopian book, Walden Two (Skinner,
1948a). Although this idealistic novel was written more than six decades ago, contemporary behav-
ior analysts have conducted small-scale social experiments based on Skinner’s ideas (Komar, 1983).
Behavioral technology also has been used to manage environmental pollution, encourage energy
conservation, and regulate overpopulation (Bostow, 2011; Lehman€& Geller, 2004; Wilson, Hayes,
Biglan,€& Embry, 2014).
are explained in science. These independent variables [causes] are of many sorts and their
relations to behavior are often subtle and complex, but we cannot hope to give an adequate
account of behavior without analyzing them.
(Skinner, 1953, p. 31)
One of Skinner’s most important achievements was his theory of operant behavior.
The implications of behavior theory were outlined in his book, Science and Human Behav-
ior (Skinner, 1953). In this book, Skinner discussed basic operant principles and their appli-
cation to human behavior. Topics include self-control, thinking, the self, social behavior,
government, religion, and culture. Skinner advocated the principle of positive reinforce-
ment and argued against the use of punishment. He noted how governments and other
social agencies often resort to punishment for behavior control. Although punishment
works in the short run, he noted that it has many negative side effects. Positive reinforce-
ment, Skinner believed, is a more effective means of behavior change—people act well
and are happy when behavior is maintained by positive reinforcement.
People have misunderstood many of the things that Skinner has said and done (Cata-
nia€& Harnard, 1988). One popular misconception is that he raised his children in an exper-
imental chamber—the so-called “baby in a box.” Some critics claimed that Skinner used
his daughter as an experimental subject to test his theories. A€popular myth was that this
experience drove his child crazy. His daughter, Julie, was confronted with this myth and
recalls the following:
I took a class called “Theories of Learning” taught by a nice elderly gentleman. He started
with Hull and Spence, and then reached Skinner. At that time I€had read little of Skinner,
and I€could not judge the accuracy of what was being said about Skinner’s theories. But
when a student asked whether Skinner had any children, the professor thought Skinner
had children. “Did he condition his children?” asked another student. “I€heard that one
of the children was crazy.” “What happened to his children?” The questions came thick
and fast.
What was I€to do? I€had a friend in the class, and she looked over at me, clearly expect-
ing action. I€did not want to demolish the professor’s confidence by telling who I€was, but
I€couldn’t just sit there. Finally, I€raised my hand and stood up. “Dr. Skinner has two daugh-
ters and I€believe they turned out relatively normal,” I€said, and sat down.
(Vargas, 1990, pp. 8–9)
In truth, the “box” that Skinner designed for his children had nothing to do with an
experiment. The air crib is an enclosed bed that allows air temperature to be controlled.
Because of this feature no blankets are needed, so the baby is free to move and there is
no danger of suffocating. The air crib was designed to keep the child warm, dry, and safe.
Most importantly, the infant spent no more time in the air crib than other children do in
ordinary beds (Skinner, 1945).
Although Skinner did not experiment with his children, he was always interested in
the application of conditioning principles to human issues. His writings on applied behav-
ioral technology led to the field of applied behavior analysis, ABA (see Rutherford, 2009
who provides an historical account of the transition from Skinner’s work in the laboratory
to applications of behavior principles in everyday life). Applied behavior analysis is con-
cerned with the extension of behavior principles to socially important problems. In the
first issue of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, Baer, Wolf, and Risley (1968) out-
lined a program of research based on Skinner’s views:
A Science of Behavior╇╇ 15
The statement [of behavior principles] establishes the possibility of their application to problem
behavior. A€society willing to consider a technology of its own behavior apparently is likely to
support that application when it deals with socially important behaviors, such as retardation,
crime, mental illness, or education. Better applications, it is hoped, will lead to a better state
of society, to whatever extent the behavior of its members can contribute to the goodness of a
society. The differences between applied and basic research are not differences between that
which “discovers” and that which merely “applies” what is already known. Both endeavors ask
what controls the behavior under study.€.€.€.€[Basic] research is likely to look at any behavior,
and at any variable which may conceivably relate to it. Applied research is constrained to look
at variables which can be effective in improving the behavior under study.
(Baer, Wolf,€& Risley, 1968, p. 91)
One area of application that Skinner wrote about extensively was teaching and learn-
ing. Although Skinner recognized the importance of behavior principles for teaching
people with learning disabilities, he claimed that the same technology could be used to
improve our general educational system. In his book The Technology of Teaching, Skinner
(1968) offered a personalized system of positive reinforcement for the academic perfor-
mance of students. In this system, teaching involves arranging materials, designing the
classroom, and programming lessons to shape and maintain the performance of students.
Learning is defined objectively in terms of answering questions, solving problems, using
grammatically correct forms of the language, and writing about the subject matter.
A less well-known aspect of Skinner’s history is his humor and rejection of formal titles.
He preferred to be called “Fred” rather than Burrhus, and the only person who called him
Burrhus was his close friend and colleague Fred Keller, who felt he had prior claims on the
name Fred from being a few years older than Skinner. One of Skinner’s earliest collabora-
tors, C.â•›B. Ferster, tells about a time early in his acquaintance when Skinner tried to get Fer-
ster to call him “Fred.” The story goes (Ferster, personal communication to Paul Brandon)
that one day Ferster walked into the living room of Skinner’s house to see Skinner seated
on the sofa with a large sign around his neck saying “FRED.”
In the later part of his life, Skinner worked with Margaret Vaughan (Skinner€& Vaughan,
1983) on positive approaches to the problems of old age. Their book Enjoy Old Age: A€Pro-
gram of Self-Management is written for the elderly reader and provides practical advice
on how to deal with daily life. For example, the names of people are easy to forget, and
even more so in old age. Skinner and Vaughan suggest you can improve your chances of
recalling a name by reading a list of people you are likely to meet before going to an
important occasion. If all else fails “you can always appeal to your age. You can please the
friend whose name you have momentarily forgotten by saying that the names you forget
are always the names you most want to remember” (Skinner€& Vaughan, 1983, p. 52).
Skinner, who held the Edgar Pierce Chair in Psychology, officially retired from Harvard
University in 1974. Following his retirement, he continued an active program of research
and writing. Each day he walked two miles to William James Hall, where he lectured, su-
pervised graduate students, and conducted experiments. Eight days before his death on
August€18, 1990, B.╛F. Skinner received the first (and only) Citation for Outstanding Lifetime
Contribution to Psychology from the American Psychological Association (Schlinger, 2011).
The citation for the award, published in the American Psychologist, read “Few individuals
have had such a dynamic and far-reaching impact on the discipline” (1990, p. 1205). In a
study of renowned psychologists by Haggbloom (2002), Skinner ranked as the most emi-
nent psychologist of the 20th century. Skinner’s contributions to psychology and a science
16╇╇ A Science of Behavior
of behavior are documented in the film B.╛F. Skinner: A€Fresh Appraisal (1999). Murray
Sidman, a distinguished researcher in the experimental analysis of behavior, narrated the
film (available from the bookstore of the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies, www.
behavior.org).
"I'll thank you to look at it different, Jerry," said Jane sharply. "If I hate
a man, for very good reasons, then you ought to do the same. I can see into
things a lot deeper than what you can, as you've always granted, and I can
see into Maynard. He's the silent, shifty sort, deep as a well—and I won't
have you sticking up for him against me, so now then."
Jerry whistled.
"I've nothing for, or against him," he answered slowly. "I scarcely know
the man, but there's my father and others speak well of him; and I'm always
wishful to think well of everybody, unless there's a reason against."
"I'm the reason against then," she declared, "and you've got to put me
and my opinions first, I should hope. I'm a kindly creature enough, God
knows, and ban't quick to think evil."
"But I look to you to pay me the respect due," she continued, "and if I
tell you a man's doubtful, then 'tis for you to believe me and act according."
"I will," he promised. "We'm all doubtful for that matter. Us will speak
and think of the man as we find him. We needn't go out of the way to make
trouble."
"I ban't one to make trouble," she retorted; "but, next to you, John's
more to me than anybody, and I won't stand by and see him wronged by that
hateful woman, nor yet by that man, if I can stop it."
Jerry felt this attitude unreasonable, but decided the subject had better
be dropped.
"If wrong's done, I'll help to right it, that I'll swear," he promised.
"I'd right it myself," she said. "If I could prove the man had stole her
from my brother, I'd lie behind a hedge for him!"
"Do shut up and stop telling such dreadful things," he answered roughly.
"'Tis hateful to hear such words from your mouth—Sunday and all. I won't
have it, Jane. What the hell's the matter with you?"
They were silent for a time; then having reached Hazel Tor, Jerry helped
his sweetheart to climb the great rocks. Soon they were perched high on the
granite, and Jane opened a white and blue parasol, while he stretched his
vast limbs at her feet and smoked his pipe. His elephantine playfulness and
ideas on the tobacco shop won Jane's smiles presently, and at heart Jerry
regretted the moment when his future brother-in-law ascended through the
pine-trees from the river and joined them.
The fret and sting of his hopeless quest had marked John Bamsey, and
now he was come to the knowledge that no hope remained. His dream
dissolved. Until now he had defied reason and lived on shadows spun of
desire. He had sunk beneath his old pride and returned to Dinah's hand. He
had not grovelled; but he assumed an attitude, after the passing of the first
storm, that astonished his family. And Dinah it astonished also, filling her
with fresh pain. He had hung on; he had asked her to forgive his words
upon the bridge; he had returned into the atmosphere of her and gone and
come from home as before. Dominated by his own passion, he had endured
even the wonder in his mother's eyes, the doubt in Jane's. Dinah could not
be explicit to him, since he had been careful not to give her any opportunity
for the present. But, under his humility, he had bullied her. The very
humility was a sort of bullying, and she felt first distracted and then
indignant that he should persist. To him she could not speak, but to Faith
Bamsey and Jane she could speak; and to the former she did.
Mrs. Bamsey therefore knew that Dinah was not going to marry John,
and in her heart she was thankful for it; while none the less indignant that
John's perfections should have failed of fruition for Dinah. She resented
Dinah's blindness and obstinacy, and felt thankful, for John's sake, that the
girl would never be his wife. As for Jane she had never shared her brother's
whispered hope that Dinah would return to him. She hated Dinah, and while
hot with sympathy for her brother, rejoiced that, sooner or later, her father's
foster-daughter must disappear and never be linked to a Bamsey.
Johnny's present attitude, however, she did not know; and it was left for
this hour amid the tree girt rocks of Hazel Tor to teach her. She longed to
learn what he would say if any other man were hinted of in connection with
Dinah. She much wanted Johnny to share her opinion of Dinah, and now,
ripened for mischief by the recent sight of Maynard, she prepared to sound
Johnny. Jerry suspected what was in her mind and hoped that she would
change it. They spoke first of their own secret, and informed John, after
exacting from him promises of silence.
He was moody and his expression had changed. Care had come into his
face and its confidence had abated. He had always liked to talk, and
possessed with his own wrongs, of late, began to weary other ears. To his
few intimate friends he had already spoken unwisely and salved the wounds
of pride by assuring them that the rupture was not permanent. He had even
hinted that he was responsible for it—to give the woman he designed to
wed a lesson. He had affected confidence in the future; and now this was
not the least of his annoyances, that when the truth came in sight, certain
people would laugh behind his back. Upon such a temper it was easy to see
how any mention of another man in connection with Dinah must fall; and
had Jane really known all that was tormenting her brother's mind, at the
moment when it began to feel the truth, even she might have hesitated; but
she did not.
"You forget his feeling for me, Johnny," explained his sister. "It
wouldn't be natural to him I grant; but there's me; and what's my good be
Jerry's good when we'm married."
"You ought to think of his good, too, however. I shouldn't hide this up.
You'd do well to talk to mother before you do anything."
"You don't think father will change about the five hundred pound?"
asked Jane. "'Twas fear of that kept us quiet."
"And so you will have," she said. "'Tis only a question of time."
"You'll get one as feels for you, same as Jane feels for me, presently,"
ventured Jerry.
"And Dinah Waycott will get hell," added Jane; "and I dare say it may
happen to her afore so mighty long, for that matter."
"Nothing, Johnny; only I've got eyes. I ban't one to think evil; but I can't
help being pretty quick where you are concerned. You're next to Jerry, and I
shan't be a happy woman till you're a happy man, and you know it."
"We met Lawrence Maynard walking down the road a bit ago."
"I suppose you haven't ever heard his name along with hers?"
To hear him swear made Jerry wonder, for John had never sworn in the
past. The woodman, regarding him very anxiously, now perceived how his
face and the tone of his voice had altered. That such phenomena were
visible to Jerry's intelligence argued their magnitude.
"She went for a long walk with him a few weeks back," said Jane. "She
made no secret about it. He took her to see a stone out Hey Tor way."
"I was going to; but I waited to see if there was more to tell. There is no
more than that—not yet."
Johnny fell silent. His mind moved quickly. Love had already begun to
suffer a change, half chemical, half psychological, that would presently
poison it. Such passion as he had endured for Dinah would not fade and
suffer extinction in Johnny's order of mind. He came to the ordeal untried
and untested. He had till now been a thief of virtue, in the sense that he was
good and orderly, peace-loving and obedient by native bent and instinct. He
fitted into the order of things as they were and approved them. Nothing had
ever happened to make him unrestful, to incite class prejudice, or to foment
discontent with his station. He had looked without sympathy on the struggle
for better industrial conditions; he had despised doubt in the matter of
religion. He was born good: his mother had said the Old Adam must surely
be left out of him. But now came the shock, and pride prevented John from
admitting his failure to anybody else; pride, indeed, had assured him that
such a man as he must have his own way in the end.
He debated the past, and his self-respect tottered before his thoughts, as
a stout boulder shakes upon its foundations at the impact of a flood. He
stared at Jane and Jerry unseeing, and they marked the blood leap up into
his face and his eyes grow bright. This idea was new to him. What Jane said
acted perilously, for it excused to himself his gathering temper under defeat
and justified his wrath in his own sight.
"Be careful," he said. "D'you know all it means you'm saying, Jane?"
"For God's sake, unsay it, Jenny," urged her sweetheart. "You can't
know—nobody can know."
Jerry Withycombe declared great alarm; Jane only felt the deepest
interest.
"So much the better," she answered. "It was bound to come. I'm glad."
"No, I wouldn't say time drags," declared the sick man. "Time don't run
more than sixty minutes to the hour with me, though I can't say it runs less,
like it does for the young and hale and hearty people. Give me a new book
and life don't drag. And there's always memory. I've got a very good
memory—better than many who come to see me I reckon. My mind keeps
clear, and I still have the power to go over my great runs with hounds. And
I don't mix 'em. I can keep 'em separate and all the little things that
happened. You'd think they'd get muddled up; but they do not."
"Yes, I can shut my eyes and get in a comfortable position and bring it
all afore me and feel my horse pulling and my feet in the stirrups. And once
or twice of late I've dreamed dreams; and that's even better, because for the
moment, you're in the saddle again—living—living! When I wake up from
a dream like that, I make a point of thanking God for it, Maynard. I'd sooner
have a dream like that than anything man can give me now."
"They're terrible queer things—dreams," declared the younger. "I've had
a few of late. They take hold of you when your mind's more than common
full, I reckon."
"Or your stomach—so doctor says. But that's not right. I've stuffed once
or twice—greedy like—just for the hope that when I went to sleep I'd be
hunting, but it never did anything but keep me awake. No, dreams hang on
something we can't understand I reckon; and why the mind won't lie down
and sleep with the body, sometimes, but must be off on its own, we can't
tell. But there's things said about dreams that ban't true, Lawrence. I read
somewhere that you never see the faces of the dead in dreams. That's false.
You do see 'em. I saw my brother none so long ago—not as he was when he
died, but as a little boy. And dreams be very reasonable in their unreason,
you must know, for I was a little boy too. I saw his young face and flaxen
hair, and heard him laugh, and we was busy as bees climbing up a fir-tree to
a squirrel's dray in a wood. A thing, no doubt, we'd done in life together
often enough, sixty years agone; and 'twas put into my dream, and I woke
all the better for it."
"They come too. They leave you a bit down-daunted, I grant. And some
be lost, because you can't call 'em home when you wake up. You'll dream a
proper masterpiece sometimes and wake full of it; and yet, for some
mysterious working of the brain, 'tis gone, and you try to stretch after it, but
never can catch it again. I woke in tears—fancy! Yes, in tears I woke once,
long ago now; and for the life of me I didn't know what fetched 'em out of
my eyes."
"Perhaps you'd had a cruel bout of pain while you was asleep?"
"No, no; pain don't get tear or groan out of me. I'll never know what it
was."
He broke off suddenly, for a previous speech of his visitor gave him the
opening he desired.
"You said just now you'd been dreaming, along of your mind, that was
more than common full. Was it anything interesting in particular on your
mind, or just life in general?"
"You be looking ahead, as you've the right to do. You're a man a thought
out of the common in your understanding. You don't want to work for
another all your life, do you?"
"I never look much ahead. Sometimes the past blocks the future, and a
man's often less ambitious at thirty than he was ten years before. I don't
particular want a home of my own. A home means a lot of things I've got no
use for."
"Pretty much what some of the maidens think," said Enoch with craft.
"For them a home means a man; and for us it means a woman, of course,
because we can't very well establish anything to be called home without
one. Orphan Dinah wants badly to be off, so Ben Bamsey, her foster-father,
tells me. And yet he's in a quandary; because he feels that if a happy home
were in sight for her, he'd far sooner she waited for it, a year or more, than
left him to go somewhere else."
"A very reasonable thought. But these things don't fall out as we want
'em to."
They fenced a little, but Lawrence was very guarded and committed
himself to no opinion of Dinah until Enoch, failing in strategy, tried a direct
question.
"I like her," answered the other frankly. "Since you ask, there's no harm
in saying I think she's a very fine character. She haven't shone much of late,
because there was a lot of feeling about what she done; and it's been made
the most of I can see by women, and some men. But she's made it clear to
me and to you, I hope, that she did right. She's built on a pretty big pattern
and she's had a lot to put up with, and she's been very patient about it."
"I may tell you, for your ear alone, Maynard, that she thinks very well
of you."
"No, no—don't you say that. She don't know me. I dare say, if she was
to, she'd feel different."
Enoch had said all he desired to say and learned all he wanted to learn.
"And quite right and proper," he answered. "These things are very safe
where they belong, and I wouldn't rush into a man's private affairs for
money."
They talked of Enoch's books and his master, who had lately been to see
him.
"There's one who fears not to look the truth in the face," said the
huntsman. "He told me things that only I say to myself, because the rest are
too tender to say them. Doctor looks them, but even he won't say them out.
But master could tell me I'd soon be gone. He believes in the next world,
and don't see no reason in the nature of things why there shouldn't be fox-
hunting there."
"If one's enough at a time, I'll be off," he said, "and fetch up again next
Sunday."
"I'm in good fettle, Arthur, and be very willing to make hay while the
sun shines."
"And you an undertaker! Mind you deal fair and square with me,
Chaffe; for death, or no death, 'tis as certain as life that I shall want some of
your best seasoned elm afore very long."
"You be quiet, Enoch," he said. "This is the Lord's Day and us didn't
ought to be joking, like as if 'twas Monday."
The hunter took up the challenge and they went at it again, in the best of
humour, till Melinda returned and gave the three men tea.
They spoke of Dinah and gave examples of her quality and difference
from other young women. Mrs. Honeysett tended rather to disparage her of
late, having been influenced thereto in certain quarters; but Arthur Chaffe
supported Dinah, and Lawrence listened.
"Long ago, before she had to break with poor Bamsey, I remember a
word she said to me," he remarked. "It showed she knew a bit about human
nature and was finding out that everybody couldn't be relied upon. She
asked me if I was faithful. It seemed a curious question at the time."
"The world goes round on trust," admitted Mr. Withycombe, "and the
more man can trust man, the easier we advance and the quicker. 'Faithful' be
the word used between us in business and it wasn't the one we fixed upon
for nothing. 'Yours faithfully' we say."
"Yes, oftener than we mean it, God forgive us," sighed Mr. Chaffe. "'Tis
often only a word and too few respect it. Us have all written so to people we
hate, and would like to think was going to be found dead in their beds to-
morrow. Such is the weakness of human nature."
"I wonder," mused Melinda. "It's a bit mean to hide our feelings so
much."
"Never criticised 'em. Such was his amazing skill that he let them live
their lives their own way, and treated 'em with just the same respect he
showed to everybody else."
Then he prepared to depart and Maynard left with him. In the high road
they, too, separated, for their ways were opposite.
"I laugh, but with sorrow in my heart," said Arthur, "for that dear man
be going down the hill terrible fast to the experienced eye. We shall miss
him—there's a lot of Christian charity to him, and I only wish to God he'd
got the true Light. That's all he wants. The heart be there and the ideas; but
his soul just misses the one thing needful."
"I hope not," said Maynard. "He's earned the best we can wish for."
"It may come yet," prophesied Arthur. "It may flash in upon him at the
last. Where there's life, there's hope of salvation. Us must never forget that
the prayers of a righteous man availeth much, Maynard."
"And the life of a righteous man availeth more, Mr. Chaffe," answered
Lawrence.
"That we ain't told," replied the elder. "We can only leave the doubter to
the mercy of his Maker; and there's many and many got to be left like that,
for doubt's growing, worse luck. Us say 'sure and certain hope' over a lot of
mortal dust, when too well our intellects tell us the hope ban't so certain nor
yet sure as us would like to feel."
He perked away on his long, thin legs, like a friendly stork, and
Maynard set his face upward for his home.
CHAPTER XVII
DINAH
There had happened a precious wonder beyond all wonders, but Dinah
felt angry with herself that, under present conditions of stress and anxiety,
any loophole existed for such a selfish passion. It had come, however, and it
could not stand still; and selfish she had to be, since the good and glory of
the thing must be shared with none at present.
Silent, however, she could not be for long. There was one to whom she
never feared to talk and from whom she had no secrets. To him, her foster-
father, Dinah had taken every joy and sorrow, hope and fear since she could
talk. Only once, and that in the matter of his own son, John, had she hidden
her heart from Ben Bamsey, yet found it possible to show it to another.
She remembered that now; and it was that same 'other,' who, from the
first, had possessed a nameless quality to challenge and arrest Dinah.
Gradually he had occupied a larger and larger domain in her mind, until he
overwhelmed it and her gradual revelation was complete. For gradual it had
been. Together they walked once more at her wish, after their first long
tramp, while, agreeably to the invitation of Mr. Bamsey, Lawrence Maynard
again visited Green Hayes upon a Sunday afternoon. Then, indeed, under
the eyes of Jane and her mother, Dinah had hidden her heart very
effectually, and even made occasion to leave the house and go elsewhere
before Maynard's visit was ended; but she knew by signs in her body and
soul that she was in love. The amazing novelty of her thoughts, the
transfiguration they created in her outlook upon all things, the new colours
they imparted to any vision of the future, convinced her that there could be
no doubt. Against this reality, the past looked unreal; before this immensity,
the past appeared, dwarfed and futile. That cloudy thing, her whole
previous existence, was now reduced to a mere huddled background—its
only excuse the rainbow that had suddenly glowed out upon it.
She was honestly ashamed that love could have happened to her at this
moment and thrust so abruptly in upon her sad experience with Johnny. It
seemed, in some moods, callous and ungenerous to allow such wayward
delights and dreams to enter her heart while well she knew that his was
heavy. But, at other times, she would not blame herself, for her conscience
was clear. Maynard had meant nothing to her when she gave up her first
lover, and it was no thought of him, or any man, that had determined her to
do so.
Her love at least was pure as love well could be, for she did not know
that he returned it; sometimes, at first, she almost hoped he would not. But
that was only in the dim and glimmering dawn of it. Love cannot feed on
dreams alone. She put it from her at first, only to find it fly back. So she
nursed it secretly and waited and wondered, and, meantime, strove to find a
way to leave Green Hayes. But still Ben opposed her suggestions, and then
there came a time when, from the first immature fancy that to love him
secretly, herself unloved, would be enough, Dinah woke into a passionate
desire that he should love her back again. Now she was mature,
accomplished, awake and alert, lightning quick to read his mood, the
inflexion of every word he uttered when he was beside her, the faintest
brightening of his eyes, his dress, his walk, the inspiration of every
moment.
She could not help it. Often she returned dull and daunted, not with him
but herself; and as she began to know, from no sign of his but by her own
quickened sex endowment that he cared for her, she grew faint and ashamed
again. He had taught her a great deal. He seemed to be very wise and
patient, but not particularly happy—rather unfinished even on some sides of
his experience. There were a great many things he did not know, and he
seemed not nearly as interested in life as she was, or as desirous to have it
more abundantly. Johnny had evinced a much keener appetite for living and
far greater future ambitions than Maynard. Lawrence was, in fact, as
somebody had said, "a twilight sort of man." But it was a cool, clear, self-
contained twilight that he moved in, and he appeared to see distinctly
enough through it. Dinah thought it was twilight of morning rather than
night. She imagined him presently emerging into a wonderful dawn, and
dreamed of helping him to do so. She checked such fancies, yet they were
natural to her direct temperament, and they recurred with increasing force.
Her native freedom of mind broke down all barriers to private thinking, and
sometimes she longed for him; then she chastened herself and planned a
future without him and found it not worth remaining alive for. She began to
sleep ill, but hid the signs. She plotted to see Maynard and was also skilful
to conceal the fact that she did so. He always welcomed her, sometimes
with a merry word, sometimes with a sad one. The milch cows grazed upon
the moor now, and once or twice, sighting them a mile off upon her way
home, Dinah would creep near and wait for Lawrence and the sheep dog to
round them up and turn them to the valley for milking. She would hide in a
thicket, or behind a boulder, and if he came would get a few precious
words; but if Neddy Tutt appeared, as sometimes happened, then she would
lie hid and go her way when he was gone.
She knew now that Maynard cared for her; but she discounted his every
word and granted herself the very minimum. She was fearful of hoping too
much, yet could not, for love's sake, hope too little. She longed to set her
mind at rest upon the vital question; and at last did so. Making all
allowance, and striving to chill and belittle his every word, she still could
not longer doubt. He was often difficult to understand, yet some things she
did now clearly comprehend. She had already seen a man in love, and
though the love-making of Johnny differed very widely from that of
Lawrence, though indeed Lawrence never had made a shadow of love to
her, yet she knew at last, by mental and physical signs that curiously
repeated Johnny's, he did love her.
She hugged this to her heart and felt that nothing else mattered, or
would ever matter. For a time she even returned to her first dream and
assured herself that love was enough. He might tell her some day; he might
never tell her; but she knew it, and whether they came together, or lived
their lives apart, the great fact would remain. Yet there was no food in any
such conclusion, no life, no fertility, no peace.
She came to Ben Bamsey at this stage of her romance, for she hungered
and thirsted to tell it; and to her it seemed that her foster-father ought to
know. She came to him fresh from a meeting with Lawrence, for she had
been, at Mr. Bamsey's wish, with a message to Falcon Farm, and she had
met Maynard afterwards as she returned over the foothills of the Beacon.
The year was swinging round, and again the time had come for scything
the fern, that it might ripen presently for the cattle byres.
"Yes; it'll have to go in a sling for a bit. He thought it would mend and
didn't take no great count of it, and now it's festered and will be a fortnight
before it's all right."
"I wish I could help," she said. "If you was to do his work and Mr.
Stockman would let me come and milk the cows for a week——"
"No, no—no need for any help. Tom can do a lot. It's only his left hand
and master's turning to. He says if he can't do the work of Tom's left hand,
it's a shame to him."
"Did Mr. Palk get his rise he was after?"
"He did not, Dinah. But Mr. Stockman put it in a very nice way. He's
going to raise us both next year. And you? Nothing turned up?"
"A funny thing among 'em all they can't find just the right work. I wish
you was away from Green Hayes."
She had told him all about her difficulties and he appreciated them. He
thought a great deal about Dinah now, but still more about himself. He had
been considering her when she appeared; and for the moment he did not
want to see her. His mind ebbed and flowed, where Dinah was concerned,
and he was stubborn with himself and would not admit anything. He
persisted in this attitude, but now he began to perceive it was impossible
much longer to do so. If Dinah had read him, he also had read her, for she
was not difficult to read and lacked some of the ordinary armour of a
woman in love with a man. He knew time could not stand still for either of
them, yet strove to suspend it. Sometimes he was gentle and sometimes he
was abrupt and ungenial when they met. To-day he dismissed her.
"Don't you bide here now," he said. "I'm busy, Dinah, and I've got a
good bit on my mind too."
"I'm sorry then. You ask Soosie if I shall come and milk. That would
give you more time. Good morning, Lawrence."
"I wish I could think of a way out for you. Perhaps I shall. I do have it
on my mind," he said. "But there's difficulties in a small place like this. Pity
you ain't farther off, where you could breathe easier."
For some reason this remark cheered her. She left him without speaking
again and considered his saying all the way home. The interpretation she
put upon it was not wholly mistaken, yet it might have surprised the man,
for we often utter a thought impelled thereto by subconscious motives we
hardly feel ourselves. He did not for the moment associate himself, or his
interests, with the desire that Dinah should go away, yet such a desire really
existed in him, though, had he analysed it, he had been divided between two
reasons for such a desire. He might have asked himself whether he wished
her out of her present difficult environment in order that his own approach
to her should become easier and freer of doubtful interpretation in the
mouths of other people; or he might have considered whether, for his own
peace, he honestly wished to see Dinah so far away that reasonable excuses
should exist for dropping her acquaintance. Between these alternatives he
could hardly have decided at present. He lagged behind her, for love seldom
wakens simultaneously, or moves with equal pace on both sides. He might
continue to lag and fall farther behind, or he might catch her and pass her.
He was at a stage in their approach when he could still dispassionately
consider all that increase of friendship must imply. He hardly knew where
the friendship exactly stood at the moment. Actual irritation sometimes
intervened. He suffered fits of impatience both with himself and her. Yet he
knew, when cool again, that neither was to be blamed. If blame existed, it
was not Dinah's.
She went home now, and after dinner on that day, found opportunity to
speak with her foster-father. They were cutting oats and she descended to
the valley field beside Ben and made a clean breast of her secrets, only to
find they were not hidden from him. He treated her as one much younger
than she really was, and seeing that she was indeed younger than her age in
many particulars of mind, this process always satisfied Dinah and made her
feel happier with Ben Bamsey than his family, who made no such
concession, but, on the contrary, attributed qualities to Dinah she lacked.
"Foster-father," she said, "I'm wishful to have a tell and here's a good
chance. I be getting in a proper mizmaze I do assure 'e."
"I've been patient for six months, though it's more like six years since I
changed about poor Johnny. And other people, so well as I, do feel I'd be
better away."
"Have I ever said you wouldn't be better away, Dinah? I know only too
well how it is. But a father can look deeper into life than his child. I'm wide
awake—watching. I understand your troubles and try to lessen 'em where I
can."
"If you wasn't here, I'd have runned away long ago. For a little bit, after
that cruel come-along-of-it, I wouldn't have minded to die. Now that's
passed; but you, who never did such a thing, can't tell what it is to know
that you're fretting and galling two other women. And Mrs. Bamsey and
Jane have a right to be fretted and galled by me. I can well understand,
without their looks, how I must be to them; and 'tis a sharp thorn in your
flesh to be hated, and it's making me miserable."
He had not guessed she much felt this side of the position.
"You'm growing up, I see, like everybody else," he said. "I forget that I
can't have it both ways, and can't have you a loving, watchful daughter and
a child too. And if you can think for me, as you do so wonderful, then
you'm old enough to feel for yourself, of course. Still you'm so parlous
young in some ways, that it ain't strange I still think of you a child in
everyway. I suppose you must go and I mustn't find nothing against no
more. And yet——"
"Only this morning coming home from Falcon Farm I met Lawrence—
Lawrence Maynard and he—even he, an outsider so to say, said he thought
I'd be better far ways off. And I well know it. I didn't ought to be breathing
the same air as Johnny. It ain't fair to him, especially when you know he's
not taking it just like I meant it. And I wouldn't say it's right, foster-father."
He, however, was more concerned for the moment with the other man
than his own son.
"Johnny's beginning to understand. His good sense will come to help
him," he answered; "but when you say 'Lawrence Maynard,' Dinah—what
do you say? Why for has he troubled his head about your affairs?"
"Granted. And so do you seemingly. And how much do you like him?
Do you like him as much as I think you do, Dinah?"
"I'm glad you ask me that; but I hope Mrs. Bamsey and Jane——?"
"So do I. No, they haven't marked nothing; or if they have, they've hid it
from me very close. But Faith wouldn't hide nothing. Tell me."
She hesitated.
"Ah!"
"It sounds a fearful thing spoke out naked. But truth's truth, and I'm very
thankful to tell you. Don't you call it wicked nor nothing like that. It only
happened a very little while—not till long, long after I dropped Johnny. But
it has happened; and now I know I never loved dear Johnny a morsel."
He reflected.
"The man himself told you to go—Maynard, I mean? What was in his
mind when he said that?"
"I've been wondering. It ought to have made me sad; but it hasn't. Ought
it to have made me sad?"