God – The Perfect Behavior Analyst (PART TWO)
PART ONE examined the proactive strategies of God. Let’s look at how he acts in response to our free will.
Positive Reinforcement
It’s an odd concept to consider that God reinforces some of our behaviors, meaning that He acts in our lives in such a way that we are more likely to do certain actions. I think what makes it more palatable is when we realize that he never reinforces to the point of us being “reinforcer dependent” which would be a violation of our freedom. Reinforcer dependency would be needing His blessings, which sometimes follow our actions, in order to act rightly beyond the grace he freely gives (discussed in PART ONE).
As soon as we say “God arranged the context and the contingencies in such a way that I would surely do the right thing,” then we implicitly admit that our free will has been violated or that we do not have free will. God never forces us to do the right thing, even when He sometimes sends blessings, encouragement, and consolations afterward as positive reinforcers (addition of something after behaviors and the behavior increases over time). Yet, how often do we plead for our context to change so that our free will comes sailing along without any effort or to have a big “payoff” afterward? I often wish for the “thorn in the flesh“ to be taken away, but God tells me, “my grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor 12:7-10). Similarly, St. Ignatius of Loyola gives the following prayer, which my Youth Apostle brothers and I pray during our Annual Retreat, in order to encourage us in the times that God spaces out the experiential helps on the journey:
Dearest Lord, teach me to be generous.
Teach me to serve you as you deserve
To give and not to count the cost
To fight and not to heed the wound
To toil and not to seek for rest
To labor and not to ask for reward
Save that of knowing I am doing your will.
In some ways, anyone in a profession which directly affects human behavior can participate in God’s methods of positive reinforcement, albeit in a limited way. Using our behavioral science, informed by faith and reason, we can:
Encourage with social praise, such as high-fives, behavior-specific praise, smiles, and pats on the back
Teach how certain people, places, things, and activities are more accessible after target behaviors while respecting that some of those people, places, things, and activities should not be contingent on any target behaviors (see PART ONE for “God’s Proactive Strategies”)
Give something that can be exchanged for something else that is reinforcing (i.e., using token boards, sticker charts, or even money – what do you think a paycheck is? Yes, a paycheck is justice, but we cannot deny that it impacts the future probability of you showing up to work.)
Helping a person identify their own behaviors which serve their personal values so that the behaviors themselves become motivating without someone else necessarily “mediating” (giving) the reinforcers. There is some baggage with the term “values” in different Catholic circles, but here it is presumed that personal values are grounded in objective truth.
There is a lot of responsibility that comes with taking on the role of the person who reinforces behavior because we have an obligation to minimize the probability that a person will become dependent on us or things to do what is objectively good for themselves, for others, and for their relationship with God. That is why the last bullet point above is so important – we are made to act in freedom for the good – for (quite literally) goodness’ sake!
When we examine reinforcement thinning, we will discuss another positive reinforcer from God – His consolation.
Negative Reinforcement
Sometimes, the process of reinforcement occurs as a negative reinforcement (removal of something after a behavior and then the behavior increases over time). What would God help remove in order to increase our behavior, and what would that behavior even be? The prime example is the removal of moral guilt after we repent. When we sin, we hurt ourselves and others. Our affection for God weakens, our will is less free, and our minds are darkened. Yet in all of this, we feel most acutely the sting of conscience, the healthy moral guilt that spurs us to seek out forgiveness and mercy. Healthy guilt does not mean shame which (in the conventional understanding of the word) equates the self to the evil that is done. Our culture does a fairly good job at combating the lie of “I am evil,” but we also need to freely admit, “I have done evil” and take responsibility for our actions. Jesus desires to forgive us and to extend His mercy. This reinforces the behavior of repenting of our sins because we experience the removal of not only shame (which is not what God wants us to experience), but also of the guilt which we rightly experience after sinning.
Reinforcement Thinning (Protecting Us From Reinforcer Dependency)
This is a challenging concept to attribute to how God works with our behavior. Yet most new Christians can point to a moment when they felt great peace and consolation when they initially gave their lives to Jesus, and now they experience something less “intense” even within a healthy relationship with Him. I remember this particularly in my own life — I was raised Catholic, yet struggled to believe in the existence of Jesus in any capacity early on in high school. Then, God allowed for His presence to be powerfully felt through the graces of Confession and the silent beauty of Adoration. Undoubtedly, he reached me through the witness of certain individuals in my life for whom I am forever grateful. Over time, experiences similar to this initial one have been few and far between, but I reflect on this first moment, and the many other moments as core, defining memories. Amazingly, these memories can shed light on the ordinary moments, and even the darkest moments.
Our relationship needs to be based on more than the experience of God’s presence, it also needs to be based on the experience of his absence – in the waiting, and the yearning for his presence. This is when our faith is strengthened, our hope is called to task, and our love is tested.
On a smaller scale: when behavior analysts are trying to jump-start language for a learner who does not speak yet, the plan might start off with giving a huge payoff for very little effort. For example, saying “iPad” might earn one minute of YouTube. However, it is important to systematically stretch that “perseverance muscle” in the child by shortening the amount of time with the video; expecting the child to say “watch YouTube” or “watch YouTube please;” or sometimes saying “wait “or “no “in response, so that the child learns to wait and to do other activities beforehand. These strategies are examples of thinning the schedule of reinforcement, as well as some other strategies which we won’t dive into here. Are you not testing the “faith” and trust of the child? Are you not testing their hope for a future in which they will receive what matters to them? Are you not provoking a longing in their desires so that they can experience yearning? We may take it for granted, but sometimes I have worked with children who do not seem to be motivated by much – for whatever reason, their yearning and motivation are noticeably lower, or at least difficult to pinpoint and reach.
Reinforcement thinning is the process of systematically:
Reducing the quality or quantity of reinforcement for expected responses
(simultaneously) Increasing the number of expected responses in order to get reinforcers
Making the schedule of reinforcement less predictable
Returning now to our relationship with God, we can see how reinforcement thinning is at work for our good. How often does our relationship with God involve this? He withholds experience of His love in order to build up our resiliency under trials and to yearn for Him all the more.
This reinforcement thinning is different from extinction – the total removal of reinforcers following a behavior – which results in the eradication of that behavior. Rather, this is a matter of strengthening a person's grit and commitment.
St. Ignatius of Loyola, sometimes regarded as a precursor to psychology, had some timeless insights into how God draws our hearts forward in pining for Him. He wrote the “Spiritual Exercises” which are a series of meditations and rules for prayer and discernment by which someone can “exercise” the soul in pursuit of the greatest goal: “to praise, reverence, and serve God our Lord, and by this means save [our] soul” (Ignatius, 1524, #23). This is our principle and foundation.
Ignatius also described the ups and downs of the spiritual life as consolation and desolation. Simply put, consolation is the experience of God’s loving presence. Desolation is the absence of that experience, though not an absence of God since He never abandons us. Ignatius describes both how and why these experiences arise, as well as what to do when experiencing either of them. In consolation, we should sprint and make good use of the gift God has given. In desolation, we should not make any big decisions, but rather persevere in patience, and to “insist more upon prayer, upon meditations, and on much examination of ourselves” and “to find strength in [our] Creator and Lord” (Ignatius, 1524/1951, #319, 324).
There is much which could be discussed regarding the wisdom of Ignatius, but in relation to God’s reinforcement thinning, there are three particular causes of desolation to which we should turn our attention to better understand the movements of our hearts:
The principal reasons why we suffer from desolation are three:
The first is because we have been tepid and slothful or negligent in our exercises of piety, and so through our own fault spiritual consolation has been taken away from us.
The second reason is because God wishes to try us, to see… how much we will advance in His service and praise when left without the generous reward of consolations and signal favors.
The third reason is because God wishes to give us a true knowledge and understanding of ourselves, so that we may have an intimate perception of the fact that it is not within our power to acquire and attain great devotion, intense love, tears, or any other spiritual consolation; But that all this is the gift and grace of God our Lord.
— St. Ignatius of Loyola (1524), Spiritual Exercises #322
We experience a lack of the spiritual consolation of God (1) because of our sins, (2) because God wants to strengthen our wills, and (3) because God wants to help us be humble. In particular, we have been focused on this second cause in regards to reinforcement thinning, but I would say it is often accompanied by the third cause.
Think of the example of St. “Mother Teresa” of Calcutta who was deprived of the experience of God’s consolation for decades. Think of how strong her heart must have been to be tested so much in this extended desolation. I shudder at the thought of being deprived of consolations from God for that long, but I have found practicing gratitude as key to weathering these times of desolation. Indeed, gratitude is the key to happiness (in the philosophical sense), as Dietrich von Hildebrand told his wife, Alice, before he died.
We are called to love God for His own sake – to love the God of consolation, not the consolation of God. This is because true love is personal. How often do parents and direct care staff wish that the child would love them for their own sake rather than for what they give? How often does God the Father wish the same for us in relation to Him. We are all invited to move beyond love of experiences to love of persons.
Lastly, consider the following story from The Flowers of Francis, in which one of the friars, Brother John of Alverna, was brought to such a state of desolation by Christ our Lord, that “in his anguish and torment he went through the woods, running here and there, anxiously seeking and calling aloud with tears and sighs for his dear Friend [Jesus] who had recently abandoned him and hidden …” (pg. 156) Jesus appeared to him in the woods yet did not say anything to him. Brother John begged with a long plea for the Lord to speak to him, and the Lord responded by walking away. Brother John attempted again with a shorter, simpler plea for Him to respond. Again, the Lord continued on His way. It was not until the third attempt of Brother John in which there were no words and he merely wept “like a baby following its mother or a boy his father or a humble pupil his kind teacher” that, “the Blessed Christ turned toward him and looked at him with a joyful and loving expression on His face, and He held out and opened His holy and merciful arms” (Brother Ugolino, 1390/1958, pg. 158). Oh, that the final reinforcer and ultimate desire of our heart would truly be the one Person Who matters most, Jesus Christ.
Logical Consequences
We have logical consequences for our actions, meaning anything that would logically follow from those actions either directly or indirectly. This can be a messy and complex topic – once we delve into the problem of evil, questions such as “why do good behaviors get punished?” and “why do bad things happen to good people” soon follow. For this article’s purpose, I would like to focus on sin.
Sin is acting against one’s own nature and which ruptures our relationship with God, with others, and ourselves. Sin is insane. It is “sin-sane.” Like a bird refusing to fly south for the winter or a rabbit hopping around a fox’s den, we sometimes act toward our own detriment. It is no wonder that we experience so much suffering through our own faults and through the faults of others. Yet God is merciful and patient with us. St. Paul reminds us that where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more (Rm 5:20). Every breath we take is a gift of His mercy.
More often, we are preparing our clients for real world contingencies within the safety of monitored programming. How much more humane is it to teach a teenager to drive in an empty parking lot first before going onto the highway? With younger children, how much kinder is it to teach them to clean up a mess they made as a consequence for throwing things so that the behavior does not persist into adulthood? Hopefully, these are more clear-cut cases on which we can mostly agree, but the judgment calls can be difficult to make with more nuanced situations (i.e., safety, developmental level and considering developmental sequence; history of the client; values of the family, etc.).
Teaching and positive reinforcement are preferable to the use of any aversive strategies, but what world are we preparing children to enter when we do not accompany them in the difficulties which would naturally occur should they make a poor choice. This is contrasted with trying to eradicate aversive stimuli completely rather than presenting them methodically at a lower dose. Noise sensitivities are a classic example. If we only teach escape-avoidance skills, or worse yet, only allow them in environments absent those noises, they miss out on also being taught acceptance-approach skills (and miss out on the opportunities afforded in that environment to do something potentially enjoyable). The truth is, we all need both skills — to have the choice to “run away” and also to “run toward” in the appropriate contexts.
As already mentioned in Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises, one of the causes of desolation is our own sinfulness, particularly inaction and failing to progress forward in fervor. The implication is that there are logical consequences for not only our sins, but also our failure to progress in virtue. When greater and greater obstacles appear in life, we find ourselves ill-prepared to march onward in commitment and love enduring. Think of how the rich young man responded to the invitation of Jesus (Lk 18:18-30). As Pope Benedict XVI reminded us, “The world offers you comfort, but you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness.” A pithier phrase (but great for T-shirts) is “Get Holy or Die Trying.” The logical consequence for sloth, or even minimalism (i.e., “at least I didn’t sin”), in our relationship with Jesus is that our capacity to love will be diminished, our capacity to reason will darken, and our capacity to freely act will become limp. Muscles atrophy without movement and exercise; the same is true of the capacities of our soul.
What Does This Mean for Christians in Behavior Analysis?
If God is the perfect behavior analyst, then those who work in the field of applied behavior analysis are called to share in his Divine ministry. Here’s a hot take: God wants us, as behavior analysts, to share in His healing, in His accompaniment, and in His delight in the unique personhood of each human being we serve. In our limited knowledge, we are invited to dive into the mystery of each person. It goes beyond analysis of behavior. We are called to journey with and become awestruck by the image and likeness of the Divine present in each client.
Fellow behavior analysts: we are not doctors and we do not diagnose or cure, but I believe this advice from a father to a son can also refer to us in the following Scripture – I have substituted the word “doctor.”
Make friends with the [behavior analyst], for he is essential to you;
God has also established him in his profession.
From God the [behavior analyst] has wisdom,
And from the king he receives sustenance.
My son, when you are ill, do not delay,
but pray to God, for it is he who heals.
Flee wickedness and purify your hands;
Cleanse your heart of every sin.
Offer your sweet-smelling oblation and memorial,
A generous offering according to your means.
Then give the [behavior analyst] his place
Lest he leave; you need him too,
For there are times when recovery is in his hands.
He too prays to God
That his diagnosis may be correct
And his treatment bring about a cure.
– Sir 38:1-2, 9-14
In our participation in the healing work of God, we pray that our assessments and our interventions come directly from His healing hands so that our hypotheses may be correct and our treatment bring about growth and healing.
May God bless you for reading (or even skimming!) this far.
Sincerely,
The Catholic Behavior Analyst
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Bio & Disclaimer:
Joseph (Joey) Clem is a Catholic licensed behavior analyst in Virginia. He is a husband, father, and lifetime full member in Youth Apostles. He works primarily with children diagnosed with Autism and volunteers in youth ministry. This article does not constitute professional advice or services. All opinions and commentary of the author are his own and are not endorsed by any governing bodies, licensing or certifying boards, companies, or any third-party.
REFERENCES
Brother Ugolino (1958). The Little Flowers of Saint Francis. Translated by Brown, R.. New York: Doubleday [Originally composed c. 1390]
Ignatius of Loyola (1951). Spiritual Exercises. Translated by Puhl, L.J [Based on studies in the language of the autograph]. Chicago: Loyola University Press [Originally composed 1522-1524]