B.f. Skinner Essay

One famous behaviourist was Skinner (1904-1990) who was an American psychologist and believed in the role of reinforcement. There are two types of reinforcement: positive and negative. Positive reinforcement occurs when a particular behaviour is followed by a consequence that is desired such as receiving food, money or verbal praise. Whereas negative reinforcement takes place when a particular behaviour removes something unpleasant. Skinner used both positive and negative reinforcement in his experiment where he worked with rats and pigeons. He used a “Skinner box” to investigate the key values of learning new and challenging behaviours. Skinner used the theory of operant conditioning and would place the rat or pigeon into the “Skinner Box” the animal would then be curious and sniff and run around the box until eventually it would press the lever, which would release a food pellet. After a while the animal would carry out this behaviour many times, as it has learnt that after pressing the lever it will receive a food pellet as a consequence. As the pellet is experienced as reinforcing and something that the animal desires, this increases the chance of the behaviour being repeated. This is called

1. Skinners theory is based on the idea that learning is a function of change in overt behaviour.

Operant Conditioning Theory by B.F. Skinner is a psychological manipulation using rewards and punishments to enforce positive behavior. It uses an individual person’s response to events or stimulus. When a particular Stimulus-Response pattern is rewarded, the individual is conditioned to respond. The distinctive characteristic of operant conditioning is related to previous forms of behaviorism. The Operant Conditioning theory comprises of neutral operants, positive/negative reinforcers, and positive/negative punishers. Through these factors, we get the desired behavior of our subject because they do not want to be punished for under performing so they do what they’re told to or do more of what they were assigned to to receive positive stimulus

A fundamental tenet of Skinner's radical behaviorism is that the probability of a behavior is related directly to the nature of the environmental consequences that follow performance of that behavior. From this basic tenet he derived a set of procedures for modifying behavior by a method called operant conditioning. Specifically, behavior is strengthened, or increased in frequency, when followed by either a positive consequence (positive reinforcement) or removal of a negative consequence (negative reinforcement). Behavior is weakened, or decreased

Chapter 1 of Opening Skinners Box portrays the life and experiments of one B.F. Skinner. The way this one man researched and spent so many years of his life dedicated to his findings is not only crazy and committed, but encouraging, motivational, and stimulating. Skinner was a neo-behaviorist well-known and notorious for his findings about the behavior animals have when using positive reinforcement and what you can teach them to do with these findings.

Meet the Skinners! This is a traditional American family trying to provide a life for themselves, as well as their children. As with any family they have some day to day issues that they would like plausible solutions for to help run daily operations more efficiently. Taking a look in to the people that make up this family I will start with the head of the household.

Skinner (1948) was also influenced by Thorndike’s (1898) operant conditioning of cats and went on to use similar techniques to study conditioning in rats. Skinner studied how behaviour that is rewarded will be repeated, unlike behaviour that has a negative consequence. Skinner (1948) placed hungry rats in a ‘skinner box’ with a lever, when the lever was pressed, food was released and the rats soon learned that when they pressed the lever they would be rewarded. Skinner (1948) then placed rats in another box and administered them with an electric current. If the rats pressed the lever in this box it would stop the discomfort of the current. After repeating the rats quickly learnt to press the lever. Skinner (1948) argued that all human behaviour can be learned through operant conditioning (McLeod 2015).

Operant conditioning is a theory that was pioneered by Skinner, and it is a theory that is based on the type of consequence that is given following a particular behaviour. Skinner divided the consequences of actions into three groups, positive rein forcers, negative reinforcers and punishers. Skinner looked at what would happen to behaviour if giving positive reinforcers at different intervals. Most professionals and practitioners will use this theory in one way or another such as giving rewards for good behaviour or sanctions for bad behaviour so the theory is well used in today’s frameworks and practices.

Behaviorism is a theory that human or animal psychology can be studied through examination of observable behavioral events. Behavior is a subject matter in its own right; it is also the functioning of an organism that entails communication or exchanges with its environmental settings (Moore, 2011). it is also the functioning of an organism. One way Skinner influenced the field of psychology was by building a conditioning chamber or known to society today as the Skinner Box. A rat was placed into the Skinner Box which had a lever and a food tray. If the rat were to hit the lever, food would drop out onto the tray. After the rat hit the bar on accident and a food pellet would drop, Skinner observed that the rate the bar was hit increased and remained high until the rat was no longer hungry (Schacter, Gilbert, Wegner, Nock, 2014, 18-19). Skinner assumed that the best way to understand behavior is to look at the reasons of an action and its result. He called this method operant conditioning which expanded the field of psychology. Operant conditioning is changing the behavior of an organism or being by reinforcement (Mcleod,

Just as Freud is known as the father of Psychoanalysis, B.F. Skinner is often referred to ask the “the father of operant conditioning.” B.F. Skinner is also known for major contributions to the field of psychology (About B.F. Skinner, Sept, 2012). Skinner was a prolific author, publishing nearly 200 articles and more than 20 books. Skinner was most known for his work in behavior psychology. Behavioral psychology is the psychological practice that focuses on learning new behaviors and how to modify our existing behavior and how that takes place (About B.F. Skinner, Sept, 2012). One of his major contributions was his theory of operant conditioning. Operant conditioning means roughly, the changing of behavior by the use of reinforcement, either positive or negative, and which these reinforcements are given after the desired response (About B.F. Skinner, Sept, 2012). Skinner identified three types of responses or operant that can follow behavior.

Skinner and his colleagues (Gass & Larry, 2008), learning or a change of behaviour on the part of the learner, is brought about by a process known as 'operant conditioning' which is the result of repeated training. Operant means 'voluntary behaviour' which is the result of learner's own free-will and is not forced by any outsider or thing (Ortega, 2009). The learner will demonstrate the new behaviour first as a response to a system of a reward or punishment, and finally it will become an automatic response.

According to Gewirtz and Peláez-Nogueras (1992), “B. F. Skinner contributed a great deal to advancing an understanding of basic psychological processes and to the applications of science-based interventions to problems of individual and social importance.” He contributed to “human and nonhuman behavior, including human behavioral development, and to various segments of the life span, including human infancy” (p. 1411). One of Skinner's greatest scientific discoveries was “single reinforcement” which became sufficient for “operant conditioning, the role of extinction in the discovery of intermittent schedules, the development of the method of shaping by successive approximation, and Skinner's break with and rejection of stimulus-response

Operant conditioning developed by Skinner is one of the learning methods according to which the likelihood of behavior is increased or decreased by the use of reinforcement or punishment. In case of positive reinforcement a certain behavior becomes stronger by the effect of experiencing some positive condition. In case of negative reinforcement a certain behavior becomes stronger by the outcome of stopping or staying away from some negative condition. In case of extinction a certain behavior is becomes weaker by the outcome of avoiding to experiencing some positive condition or stopping some negative condition.

     B.F. Skinner was one of the most influential theorists in modern psychology. His work was very important and has been studied by many for years. Skinner was a very straightforward man and a very educated man. His theories have helped mankind in many ways. He has studied the behavior patterns of many living organisms. Skinner was a well-published writer. His work has been published in many journals. He also has written many books on behaviorism. His most important work was the study of behaviorism.

Skinner is the reason we train or try to train I should say your pets. Without knowing it, I was skinnerizing while I taught my dog to potty train. Skinners study are very important to this day in my opinion as we do it with out knowing especially with children. The choice you make to reward over punishment to teach a new skill. Skinners view on self control is also a key message, how much do you really control yourself, or is everything a action to things that come before you in life, school, work, family, choices everyday causes you to do something whether you plan it of not. He realized that long before you and I ever