Beyond Freedom and Dignity

Individual actions influence cultural changes. A technology of behavior could enhance this process by defining cultural issues and proposing effective solutions. Rising anxiety and depression in the US are cited as proof that behavioral science and intentional cultural design are critical. Behavioral contingencies are difficult to observe, partly because humans struggle to identify slow, long-term changes. This ability could be improved with a technology of behavior. Once behavior is better understood, the knowledge can be used to implement cultural changes.

Multiple institutions, like educational systems, already utilize behavioral technology and rely on the assumption that behaviors change when the functional conditions of behavior are changed. The process is morally neutral, and it may result in the loss of some personal reinforcers. Cultural design involves personal, group, and cultural values. It is difficult to predict the future of a culture, but some problems, like the consequences of pollution, are foreseeable. A functional culture will protect its members, promote their survival, provide stability, and last through generations.

Designing a culture is like designing an experiment. Examples of cultural design are found in utopian literature—a science-fiction subgenre featuring idyllic settings. Community, pro-sociality, and isolation from the past and the rest of the world are common features of utopias. Such literature cannot be directly applied to the world, but that should not stop people from trying to improve their cultures. Contingencies of reinforcement, rather than emotional or mental states, should be emphasized when designing cultures. For instance, to promote good behavior in schools, a culture should attach value to a good education. However, people must be willing to implement change.

Critics argue that experimental conditions are oversimplified and do not translate to the real world, but Skinner disagrees, suggesting the differences between artificial and natural conditions will decrease as behavioral science advances. A technology of human behavior is complicated by its relevance to humans; this makes preserving objectivity difficult, a challenge that demonstrates the importance of a scientific approach. Some hold that a scientific approach is doomed to fail, but such critics rarely supply proof of why. Skinner attributes this sense of doom to historic social failures. He also posits that unplanned cultural traits fail and notes that intentionally designed cultures still allow for unplanned developments.

Other critics suggest an intentionally designed culture would be aversive. Skinner refutes this, arguing that people would grow accustomed to designed cultures just as they are now accustomed to undesigned cultures. Still, others maintain that humans will not willingly agree to explicit behavioral control, which Skinner agrees may present an issue. Resistance to behavioral control is understandable when negative reinforcers or deceptive methods are utilized. Control is reciprocal, though not necessarily intentional in both science and cultural design. Countercontrol measures must be implemented to ensure the controller remains benevolent. Many institutions, like prisons or mental institutions, have poor countercontrol channels; this issue is particularly prevalent when organized agencies assume the controller role.

Intentional cultural design is also rejected as immoral. Ethical considerations generally mitigate long-term consequences and are implemented by controlling forces. Cultures, too, implement behavioral control to mitigate long-term consequences. Both biological and cultural evolution have a “natural morality.” Scientists do not have superior ethics but are kept in check by the scientific process. Ethics are not inherent but constructed via culture.

Behavioral science and cultural design are critical for the development of humanity. Over time, some behavioral traits become obsolete or detrimental. For instance, sexual reinforcement combined with longer lifespans leads to overpopulation, and rapid operant conditioning has resulted in superstition, as people often erroneously correlate simultaneous events. While leisure is associated with freedom, Skinner argues that humans evolved to experience only short bouts of leisure; as such, leisure has become a weak reinforcer, leading humans to turn to stronger sources of reinforcement, like drug use and gambling. Leisure is also associated with affluence and creativity, and it can result in positive, neutral, or negative behaviors. Skinner suggests that mitigating leisure will be critical in the cultural design process.

Intentionally designing culture is natural, Skinner asserts, because humans have evolved the capacity to do it. Designers of culture need to recognize the gravity of their social role. Uncontrolled cultural evolution may result in “a lethal cultural mutation” (181). Skinner argues that the United States has the financial and intellectual resources to intentionally design and spread its culture. He warns that if the US does not act, a different culture might become dominant.