ABSTRACT
For B. F. Skinner, the goal of psychology is the prediction and control of behaviour. Even if we accept Skinner's goal of prediction and control, objections to the Skinnerian approach can be mounted. By a reinforcement of gradual approximations towards the desired response, the child learns to emit that response (tightening the laces) in a relatively short period of time. And similarly, the same technique is used for the subsequent training of all the preceding elements, such that the end result is that the child can tie his shoelaces. In 1966, Sternberg carried out a simple experiment concerning short-term memory comparisons. Over a period of what is now almost 50 years, Sternberg and a variety of other investigators have carried out a large number of further experiments with a variety of interpretations being offered for a growing body of data.
