B. F. Skinner: Behavioral Analysis

Comprehensive vocabulary-style flashcards covering B.F. Skinner's Behavioral Analysis and Albert Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory based on the provided lecture notes.

John Watson and Ivan Pavlov

The two theorists whose works urged Skinner to enter the field of psychology.

Skinner Box

The experimental apparatus Skinner used in his study of rats.

Reinforcement

A term coined by Skinner that refers to the basis of developing and strengthening behavior.

Edward Thorndike

A behaviorist and learning theorist who was a major precursor to Skinner.

Law of Effect

Thorndike's concept involving behaviors followed by consequences that influence future responses.

John B. Watson

A behaviorist who argued that behaviors are learned and that those providing reinforcement control that learning.

Internal, subjective states

Psychological elements that Skinner avoided because they are unobservable and immeasurable.

Little Albert

A baby in Ivan Watson's experiment who was conditioned to fear hairy animals using a strange sound.

Hairy animals (white rat)

The stimulus paired with a strange sound to instill fear in Little Albert.

Pigeons and rats

The animals Skinner primarily used for his laboratory experiments.

Psychotherapy

A therapeutic application of Skinner's concepts used to modify behavior.

CBT and RBT

Therapeutic techniques (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Rational Behavior Therapy) that change irrational behaviors into rational ones.

Behavior

As defined by Skinner, this can be controlled by its consequences or what follows it.

Respondent Behavior

A response that is made to or elicited by a specific stimulus.

Reflexive Behavior

Types of behavior considered unlearned, occurring automatically and involuntarily.

Conditioning

A higher level of respondent behavior that is learned and involves substituting one stimulus for another.

Ivan Pavlov

The scientist associated with Classical Conditioning and the study of involuntary salivation in dogs.

Classical Conditioning

A learning process involving the pairing of a meaningful stimulus with a previously neutral stimulus.

Neutral Stimulus

A stimulus that initially has no meaning but gains meaning through pairing, such as Pavlov's bell.

Salivation

The dog's response in Pavlov's study that shifted from food to the sound of a bell.

Extinction

The process of eliminating a behavior by withholding the reinforcement that maintains it.

Operant Behavior

Behavior that is emitted spontaneously or voluntarily and operates on the environment to change it.

Nurture Side

The side of the nature-nurture debate to which Skinner primarily belonged.

Pellet Holder

The component in a Skinner Box that provides food rewards to the subject.

Lever

The object a rat must press in the Skinner Box to receive a pellet or avoid a shock.

Electric Grid

The source of the shock generator located in the ground of the Skinner Box.

Positive Reinforcement

The addition of a reinforcing stimulus following a behavior to make it more likely to occur again.

Negative Reinforcement

The strengthening of a response by removing an aversive or undesirable stimulus.

Aversive Stimulus

An undesirable thing or stimulus that is removed in negative reinforcement to reach a positive goal.

Punishment

The infliction of pain or negative consequences with the goal of preventing undesirable behavior.

Retaliation

A potential negative outcome of using punishment as a indicator of disciplining children.

Personality (Skinner's View)

Conceived as a pattern or collection of operant behaviors.

Neurotic or Abnormal Behavior

To Skinner, this was nothing more than the continued performance of undesirable behaviors that were reinforced.

Schedules of Reinforcement

Patterns or rates of providing or withholding reinforcers.

Fixed-ratio

A schedule where reinforcement is provided after a specific, set number of responses.

Variable-ratio

A schedule where reinforcement occurs after an unpredictable number of responses, typical of gambling casinos.

Fixed-Interval

A schedule where a response is rewarded only after an allotted, specific period of time has passed.

Variable-Interval

A schedule where reinforcement occurs after an unpredictable or varying amount of time.

Successive Approximation

A shaping method that reinforces responses similar to the desired behavior through trial and error.

Self-control

The ability to exert control over the variables that determine one's own behavior.

Superstitious Behavior

Behavior resulting from the accidental reinforcement of an action, leading the organism to repeat it.

Stimulus-Avoidance

A technique of self-control where a person removes themselves from an undesirable environment.

Self-administered satiation

A technique for controlling vices where one overdoes an activity until they are satisfied and used to it.

Aversive stimulation technique

A self-control method involving unpleasant or repugnant consequences.

Self-Reinforcement

The technique of providing a reward to oneself to encourage self-control.

Behavior Modification Technique

A therapy form applying reinforcement principles to bring about desired behavioral changes.

Token Economy

A system where tokens are earned for good behavior and then exchanged for valued objects.

Environment

The external factor that helps an individual identify whether to imitate a behavior based on outcomes.

Rational Thinking

A capacity possessed by human beings that makes reinforcement control applicable to them differently than animals.

Unpredictable amount of time

The defining characteristic of a Variable-Interval reinforcement schedule.

Fixed-ratio schedule example

A rat getting food pellets only after pushing a lever exactly three times.

Variable-ratio schedule example

A rat pressing a lever several times with food administered at random.

Variable-interval schedule example

A rewards given at $15$, then $20$, then $40$ second intervals.

Shaping

Another term for successive approximation used to develop operant behavior.

Unlearned behavior trait

Behavior that happens automatically and involuntarily, like a reflex.

Conditioned Response

A learned response to a stimulus that was previously neutral.

Reinforcing a response

The act of strengthening a behavior to increase the likelihood of it being repeated.

High and stable response rates

The specific behavioral outcome found by Skinner when using a variable-ratio schedule.

Gambling casinos

Commercial entities that make use of the variable-ratio schedule of reinforcement.

Frequency of response (Fixed-Interval)

This is higher when the interval between presentations of the reinforcer is shorter.

Decline in response rate

The result observed when the interval between reinforcements in a fixed-interval schedule lengthens.

Self-control variable

The ability to exert control over the factors that determine one's behavior.

Repugnant consequences

Unpleasant outcomes used in the aversive stimulation technique of self-control.

Modifying undesirable behaviors

The primary goal of behavior modification techniques like token economies.

Rational vs. Irrational

The conversion target of behaviors in therapeutic techniques like CBT and RBT.

Signal light and speaker

Two secondary components of the Skinner Box used to provide stimuli to the subject.

Substitution of one stimulus for another

The fundamental mechanism involved in the learning higher-level respondent behavior.