The Choice Is Ours Page #2

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(Journalist) Why not just use firing squads?

- Aim!

(Narrator) We often hear

that human nature is fixed...

It's only human nature!

...and our worst qualities are inborn.

- How are they gonna stop being criminals?

- Oh, nonsense!

They were born that way and

there is no use trying to change them.

THE DETERMINANTS OF BEHAVIOR

[Henry Schlinger Jr., PhD] I think it's

difficult to talk about a specific human nature

like we talk about fixed or modal

action patterns in nonhuman species.

But clearly in humans,

learning plays the major role.

In fact, I refer to humans

as 'the learning animal',

because humans learn more than any other animal.

(Narrator) And yet,

considering our history of aggression,

warlike tendencies,

jealousies and hatred...

(US soldier) Keep shootin'

(Narrator) ...we still have much to learn.

One would think it impossible to simply overlook

the conditions we're immersed in.

(Jacque) The culture doesn't know any better.

They don't know what forces

are involved in shaping human behavior.

Therefore, they invent their own concept

and project their own values into human behavior

and say that's human nature.

That's where they're wrong.

(Henry) Right now we have an explosion

of technologies in our culture.

I think many people think that

technology is going to save us.

Certainly technology has made our lives

easier in many respects.

- Find parking space.

- Parking space found.

Sometimes it's good; sometimes it's not so good.

(Journalist) Drones armed with Hellfire missiles...

How would you like to get paid

to spy on your neighbors?

There's one technology that we don't have,

that we sorely need

if we're going to really change,

and that's the technology of behavior.

The science of behavior needs to be

applied like the sciences of physics,

chemistry, and biology have been.

That's that one missing ingredient in our culture.

And that's the toughest one because

it opposes the way that

most people think about themselves.

(Narrator) Examining human behavior

in the same manner

as any other physical phenomenon

will enable us to understand

the factors responsible for shaping

our attitudes and our conduct.

(Henry) All natural scientists

assume that their subject matters

are lawful and orderly.

If they're not, then you can't do science.

Behavioral scientists assume

that human behavior and

the behavior of other organisms

is also lawful and orderly.

To not assume that means that you accept that

human behavior is somehow separate

from the rest of nature.

We don't make that assumption.

We make the assumption

that human behavior is part of nature.

(Narrator) Human behavior

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