Classic Behavioristic Principles of Psychology Developed by B.F. Skinner

Slater describes how Skinner expanded on Pavlov’s findings about classical conditioning, which showed how a reflex could be conditioned to happen in response to a different stimulus (Slater 10). Skinner felt that it wasn’t just reflexes that could be conditioned but other behaviors as well. He studied animal’s behaviors after they were given a reward or consequence. His famous box studies involved him training rats to be rewarded with food in fixed-ratio schedules,

Behaviourists like Skinner believed that the principles involved in these learning processes were applicable to people and underpin complex human behaviour. Skinner proposed that behaviour changes as a result of its consequences and that behaviour is also reinforced by reward. Behaviour that is reinforced will also increase in frequency Skinner suggested. Similarly, he argued, negative reinforcement works in the same way as positive re inforcement. For example, if a loud noise is made every time a rat pokes its nose through its cage, the rat would stop doing it. He promoted the idea that as humans are just another species, giving praise for desirable behaviour in a child would reinforce that behaviour in the same way that getting food by pressing a lever in a box would reinforce behaviour in a rat.

According to Kail and Cavanaugh the theory established by Skinner known as operant conditioning is a “learning paradigm in which the consequences of a behavior determine whether a behavior is repeated in the future” (p. 13). This theory to an extent, parallels the previous theory of operant conditioning but is also important in trying to understand why one makes the decisions they do as well as how often they partake in certain behaviors. Through his theory Skinner displayed that there are two types of consequences, reinforcement and punishment, in which one increases the chances of repeated behavior and the other vice versa. Reinforcement is the component that increases the likeliness of repeated behavior and includes two divisions, negative and positive. Negative reinforcement is that in which a person’s

Thereby, Skinner produced experiments whereby rats would navigate through mazes to achieve the goal of a box containing food. His interest was the behaviour of the rat, taking the right turn to achieve the desired result, food. To begin with the rats would take the wrong turn but with experience, they became more skilful. The rats learning behaviour was measured in two ways, firstly the length of time it took from start to end and secondly, the reduction in errors. This was a lengthy experiment which led Skinner to produce ‘the Skinner box’. Whereby, rats learnt to press a lever and pigeons learnt to peck a key in order to attain food, also known as behaviour shaping. This experiment lacks ecological validity as the animals are kept in a controlled environment which is dissimilar to their natural habitat. However, the results which were attained could not have been possible in natural circumstances. Skinner wanted to observe if behaviour could be learned through reaching a desired outcome such as positive reinforcement which needed to be

Background (key works): Reinforcement theory is rooted in theory of operant conditioning based primarily on the work of the American behavior scientist B.F. Skinner (Borkowski, 2011). In contrast to Ivan Pavlov’ respondent conditioning controlled by

B.F. Skinner’s theory of Operant Conditioning has at its foundation a desire to demonstrate a “cause and

A researcher named Burrhus Frederic Skinner thought he would develop the idea of operant conditioning. He suggested than we act in regard to consequences (reward or punishment) in which we actively learn. He suggested there are 3 types of these consequences of behavior; positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement and punishment. Positive reinforcement is receiving a reward for acting in a certain way. An example of this could be getting a school prize for performing well in your exams, because of the reinforcement of the prize, the student will try to perform well every time. Negative reinforcement occurs when we act in a way that avoids an unpleasant consequence (e.g. not being late to a meeting because you do not want to be perceived as rude). Punishment is an unpleasant consequence that comes from the way we act. For example, gaining a detention for arriving late to lessons. Punishment decreases like probability that behaviour is likely to be repeated. Whereas, in positive and negative reinforcement the chances are you will repeat the behaviour. Skinner’s conducted research in the form of a lab experiment. He used a hungry rat that was placed in a cage that had been especially developed for the purpose of the study and was named Skinner’s box. In the cage was a button and a food dispenser. When the rat pressed the button food would appear in the dispenser. The animal soon learned that

B.F. Skinner and his theories on learning and

Operant conditioning is a theory put forward by Thorndike. This theory waits for a desired behaviour to occur and then rewards it. It builds somewhat on the work done by Watson regarding trial and error learning. Perhaps the most prominent or influential behaviourist work is that done by Skinner. Skinner adopted an operant approach to behaviourism and famously conducted experiment using rats in specially designed boxes. Skinner’s ideas revolved around the presence of a reinforcer to cause a desired behaviour to be repeated. This could be in the form of a primary reinforcer (a basic need like food) or a secondary reinforcer (such as money or praise). In the case of his rats, Skinner effectively trained them to pull certain levers to release food. Initially, the release was accidental but after a while, the rats learned to associate the arrival of food with the pressing of a lever. Skinners work revolved heavily around the need for reinforcement, reward, punishment and feedback. The scheduling and delivery of these things was also important to Skinner who suggested the timing of something like a reward was paramount to its success at brining about long term changes in behaviour. Similarly, he suggested giving punishment should occur immediately after the event in question and in a consistent manner. Also, it was skinner who introduced the concept of successive approximations – small

This chapter is centered on researcher B.F Skinner, who was known for highlighting rewards and reinforcements through animal experiments. He also demonstrated operant conditioning through positive reinforcements. Today, many individuals possess both a negative and a positive view of Skinner and his experiments (ranging from evil to highest esteem respectively). This may be due to the difficulty of “separating content from controversy”(8). Skinner was born in 1904 and can be identified for many quirks such as working only on a cluttered desk. He went onto go and study psychology at Harvard in 1928, rather than taking up his desire of becoming a novelist. Despite initially avoiding the softer psychology fields, Skinner came across a psychology workshop

Skinner taught a rat to spend money in the form of glass marbles. The rat: pulled a chain to get a marble, picked up the marble, carried the marble to a tube, dropped the marble in the tube, and lastly was rewarded with food. The pigeons will then peck at the disc to get access to the food. “From these studies, Skinner concluded that some form of reinforcement was crucial in learning new behaviors.” This is saying that there is some type of influence on behaviors from your environment and “not involuntary responses to stimuli.” Skinner was often portrayed in a negative light. For example, a myth that he raised one of his daughters in a Skinner Box and performed experiments on her gained traction. The truth was that Skinner, who loved inventing gadgets, had designed a warm, enclosed, temperature-controlled bed/playpen for his daughter to sleep and play in without the need for clothes or blankets – it may not have been how everyone would raise a baby, but it

The idea behind reinforcement is that and action can be influenced by either a punishment or a reward. In the case of the Skinner box, the rat would do and action (press a lever) and would receive a reward (food) for performing the action. He got bolder with the idea. Skinner began to bring his findings into a classroom setting. He demonstrated that children would have more incentive to progress when they had a positive note when they got a question correct. It started with easier problems that they could already answer and moved to more difficult ones. The children started to show more growth in learning then they ever had before. Reinforcement is commonly used in schools today as a way to benefit

Skinner was born in a Susquehanna, Pennsylvania and from an early age he showed interest for building things (Biography.com Editors, n.d.). Skinner attend Hamilton College in New York where he got a BA in English and upon graduating he study in his parent basement for a while sending off writings (C., 2006). After writing and traveling Skinner made a choice to attend school again, but this time at Harvard where he got his masters and doctorate in psychology (C., 2006).

There was never a man more influential to Behavioral psychology than B.F. Skinner. He was well-acknowledged for his theories in behaviorism and remains as one of the best and most controversial figures in the world of psychology. Most of his work throughout his lifetime dealt with both positive and negative reinforcements and the after-effects it had on behavior. B.F. Skinner understood that as humans, everything that we do or become is through the methods of rewards and punishments. Though his time has long since passed, his ideology and his written works such as Walden II and About Behaviorism have applied behavioral theories to society and are still studied today.

Human behavior has been an important topic and has been studied by many psychologists for many years now. B.F. Skinner was known as one of the most controversial intellectual figures of the late twentieth century who introduced behavior analysis and the idea of reinforcement (Myers, 2010). Skinner developed much of his work based from the law of effect by Edward Thorndike, who was also known as a philosopher. This research paper will focus on B.F. Skinner and his contribution on behaviorism and operant conditioning. This paper will provide an in-depth explanation on the concept and development of behavior analysis,