Today in neuropsychology we spoke of substance abuse, a field that has always fascinated me greatly.
Did you know that rats will self-administer cocaine til death?
What I didn't know was that all lever presses have a 'breaking point,' where its not worse the number of presses to get the reward.
With most substances of abuse the number eddied out at about 300.
It made me wonder what my breaking point was.
How much work and pain will I go through to get that one scrap of paper in my hands??
Way more than this, I'd wager.
The reinforcement stakes are so great that I'd probably work myself silly to get what I want... is this what life is?
One giant delayed-reinforcement paradigm?
I think Skinner may have had it more right than you think when he hit upon the fact that all human nature is essentially created. We may have a biological predisposition towards certain characterisitcs, but the enviornment all but molds them for us.
This is what Phil Zimbardo speaks of in his book "The Lucifer Effect," when he speaks of situational morality and its effects on others. Did Jim Jones really intend for the People's Temple to fall? Was he a doomed man or did his situation corrupt him beyond measure?
I suppose we shall never really know, but its questions like these that make psychology worth studying for me.
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