Biography

• 1904 - 1990

• Skinner’s life

  • Predetermined, lawful, and orderly

  • A product of past reinforcements

• 1925: Hamilton College (NY): degree in English, no courses in Psychology

• Read about Pavlov’s and Watson’s experimental work

• 1931: PhD from Harvard

• Dealt only with observable behavior

• The task of scientific inquiry: to establish functional relationships between experimenter-controlled stimulus and organism’s response

• No presumptions about internal entities – the “empty organism” approach

Operant Conditioning

• Operant Behavior

  • Occurs without an observable external stimulus

  • Operates on the organism’s environment

  • The behavior is instrumental in securing and stimulus more representative of everyday learning

Skinner’s Theory

All we need to know in order to describe and explain behavior is this: actions followed by good outcomes are likely to recur, and actions followed by bad outcomes are less likely to recur.

Law of Effect

Skinner’s Rats

• Skinner tested out the theory of operant conditioning on rats

• Rats were placed in metal cages with a number of levels. At first the rat would nose around the cage and accidentally press the levers, an action that would cause food or water to drop into a dish. After repeating the action, the rats saw that they could receive food and water by pressing the lever. (learned this behavior)

• So, when the rats were rewarded they were conditioned to repeat this positive action to continue being rewarded

Personality from an Operant Analysis Approach

• Personality: study of unique learning history and unique genetic make-up (assuming that the person is not an identical twin) of the individual

• Operant Conditioning: establishment of the linkage or association between a behavior and its consequences

• Operant Analysis: study of the ways in which behavior is acquired, maintained, or modified by its reinforcing or punishing consequences

Operant Conditioning Techniques

• Positive Reinforcement: increasing a behavior by administering a reward

• Negative Reinforcement: increasing a behavior by removing an aversive stimulus when a behavior occurs

• Punishment: decreasing behavior by administering an aversive stimulus following a behavior (+) or by removing a positive stimulus (-)

Operant Conditioning

• Contingency:

  • Relationship between a behavior and its consequences

  • 3 Term Contingency: this kind of contingency has 3 parts:

    • The events that precede the behavior

    • The behavior itself

    • The consequences that follow the behavior

• Discrimination: responding differently in the presence of different situational events

• Components of Operant Conditioning

  • Generalization: learned response is made to a wide range of stimuli

  • Extinction*:* reduction in behavior that occurs as a result of the failure to reinforce previously reinforced behavior

  • Shaping: teaching a new behavior by reinforcing responses that successfully approximate it

Schedules of Reinforcement

• Reinforcement is necessary in operant behavior

• Interval Schedule:

  • Reinforcement occurs after a certain amount of time has passed

  • Fixed Interval: reinforcement is presented after a fixed amount of time

  • Variable Interval: reinforcement is delivered on a random or variable time schedule

• Ratio Schedule:

  • Reinforcement occurs after a certain number of responses

  • Fixed Ratio: reinforcement presented after a fixed number of responses

  • Variable Ratio: reinforcement delivery is variable but based on an overall average number of responses

Limited Effects of Punishment

• Punishment does not teach appropriate behaviors

• Must be delivery immediately and consistently

• May result in negative side effects

• Undesirable behaviors may be learned through modelling (aggression)

• May create negative emotions (anxiety and fear)

How Complex Behaviors are Learned

• Successive Approximation or Shaping

  • Reinforcing behaviors as they come to approximate the desired behavior

• Superstitious Behavior

  • When persistent behaviors are reinforced coincidentally rather than functionally

• Self-Control of Behavior

  • Stimulus avoidance

  • Self-administered satiation

  • Aversive stimulation

  • Self-reinforcement

Why is it Important to the Social Sciences?

• Knowing how people learn behavior is a necessity to our society so that we can control and promote the good behavior, which will benefit society as a whole

• The theory of operant conditioning helps us to be a great influence on behavior

• Helps us to understand how to improve behaviors (people with problem behaviors and criminal histories)

Behavior Modification

• Used in a variety of applied settings

• Reinforce desired behavior and extinguish undesired behavior

• Punishment is not used

Contributions of Skinner’s Behaviorism

• Shaped American Psychology for 30 years

• Goal: the improvement of society

• Strength and ramifications of his radical behaviorism