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B.F skinner theory of personality
B. F. Skinner
b.f skinner contribution to psychology
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I decided to write my essay on B.F. Skinner, whose full first name is Burrhus Frederic. Skinner was born on March 20, 1904 and past away on August 18, 1990. He is considered an influential psychologist, who is known as an advocate to behaviorism. Skinner became interested in the field of psychology through the work of Ivan Pavlov on conditioned response, articles on behaviorism by Bertrand Russell, and ideas of John B. Watson, the founder of behaviorism (“World of Biology,” 2006). Skinner believed that people tend to work harder and learn quicker when they are rewarded for doing something right than when they are punished for doing wrong. In other words, he felt that humans learn behaviors through either positive or negative reinforcement. Skinner labeled this theory, Operant Conditioning.
Beginning in the 1930’s, B.F. Skinner began to develop techniques, terminology, and principles of learning by reinforcement (Terry, 89). According to Skinner, behavior that is reinforced will be strengthened; however, behavior that is not reinforced will weakened. Skinner defined a reinforcer as being whatever works to increase the frequency of an operant response (Terry, 101). He conducted studies on Operant Conditioning using rats and pigeons that he would place in chamber, which was called the “Skinner box”. The Skinner box consisted of either a lever or a key, which a pigeon or rat could operate to obtain food or water as an reinforcer. This chamber was connected to electronic equipment that helped to record the animal’s key pecking or lever pressing to determine how behavior is established and maintained. According to the text, Skinner coined the label operant response, a contrast to the Pavlovian conditioned response, to indicate that t...
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...inforcement and punishment in their everyday lives. Parents are always utilizing Skinners techniques when it comes to persuading their children, and teaching them right from wrong. In addition, pet owners also use his concepts when trying to teach their animals how to behave or a new trick. Teachers also utilize his concepts when they are trying to instill good behavior in their students. As long as children are born, pets are bought, and teachers are employed, Skinner’s techniques will be used. His concepts will also be used in other situations as well. If it were not for his studies and dedication to behaviorism, we, as people, would have probably had a difficult time learning how to shape and mold good behavior in an individual. I can think of many scenarios where I have used Skinner’s techniques, and I believe that I will continue to do so throughout my lifetime.
Skinner, B.F. A Brief Survey of Operant Behavior. Cambridge, MA: B. F. Skinner Foundation. 1938
B.F Skinner developed operant conditioning. It’s the theory that one’s behavior is influenced by the actions that follow afterward. If the actions that follow afterward are consequences, then the behavior according to the theory will fade away. If the actions afterward is a positive action like a reward the behavior will continue on.
F. Skinner focuses on behaviorism which primarily deals with what can be observed and measured. B.F. Skinner believes through operant conditioning you can create desired (or undesired) behaviors in anyone. Operant conditioning is changing behavior through the use of reinforcement after the desired action is given; a behavior that is rewarded positively is more likely to continue and a behavior that is rewarded negatively would likely stop occurring (Santrock,2014). In addition to reinforcement, Skinner also talks about punishment. Reinforcement increases the probability an action or behavior will be repeated, while punishment is intended to decrease a behavior (McLeod, 2015). When Laurie was younger, she thought she was being sent to school every day to socialize with her friends and that learning was a secondary, unintentional happenstance. In third grade, compared to the other students in her class, she was falling short in reading and math. She couldn’t pay attention and often disrupted the class by talking with the people around her. Laurie’s third grade teacher got fed up with her behavior, so she placed Laurie’s desk next to her own in front of the class and then slapped Laurie’s desk with the ruler every time she caught her not paying attention. After a couple months, Laurie no longer required a slap on the desk to pay attention. According to Skinner, this behavior modification is punishment, not reinforcement, as the teacher was trying to decrease Laurie’s preference for daydreaming. However, as a result of not daydreaming, Laurie’s grades improved. Her parent’s began to reward her with $3 for every A she earned, using positive reinforcement to get Laurie to continue performing well. Due to operant conditioning, Laurie passed third grade and remained a top student the rest of her life, graduating from college with honors. If you ask Laurie to
John B. Skinner, known as B.F. Skinner, was born in Pennsylvania in March 20, 1904. His father was a lawyer and his mother stayed home. As a boy, he enjoyed building gadgets. He attended Hamilton College to pursue his passion in writing; however, he had no success. He later attended Harvard University to pursue another passion, human psychology. He studied operant conditioning using a box, also known as Skinner box. He studied the behavior of rats and pigeons and how they respond to their environment. He was the chair of psychology in Indiana College, but he later became a Harvard professor. He later published the book The Behavior of Organisms based
At Harvard, B.F. Skinner looked for a more objective and restrained way to study behavior. Most of his theories were based on self-observation, which influenced him to become a enthusiast for behaviorism. Much of his “self-observed” theories stemmed from Thorndike’s Puzzle Box, a direct antecedent to Skinner’s Box. He developed an “operant conditioning apparatus” to do this, which is also known as the Skinner box. The Skinner box also had a device that recorded each response provided by the animal as well as the unique schedule of reinforcement that the animal was assigned. The design of Skinner boxes can vary ...
In the 1950's, psychologist B.F Skinner began researching the theory of operant conditioning (Boeree, 1998). This theory, also known as instrumental learning, is learning based on the consequences of responding (Coon & Mitterer, 2011, p. 259). The operant conditioning law of effect is the basic principle that "responses that lead to desirable effects are repeated while those that produce undesirable results are not" (Coon & Mitterer, 2011, p. 259). This principle directly influenced Skinner and his research. Perhaps his most well known experiment, Skinner placed a rat in what became known as the "Skinner box." In the box, there was a bar that when pushed would release pellets of food. The story goes that Skinner was running low on food during an experiment when he discovered the schedules of partial reinforcement. In order to save pellets, Skinner cut back on the amount and frequency that he fed the rats. Instead of the rats' operant behavior decreasing, it remained stable even with the change in feeding schedule (Boeree, 1998). This "accident" led Skinner to his discovery of the four schedules of partial reinforcement: fixed ratio (FR), variable ratio (VR), fixed interval (FI), and variable interval (VI). Skinner discovered that giving partial reinforcement with these schedules was actually more effective than giving continuous reinforcement. It is because of this discovery that psychologists are able to better predict and control behavior and learning. Today, these findings are especially helpful in understanding exercise.
Skinners studies included the study of pigeons that helped develop the idea of operant conditioning and shaping of behavior. His study entailed making goals for pigeons, if the goal for the pigeon is to turn to the left, a reward is given for any movement to the left, the rewards are supposed to encourage the left turn. Skinner believed complicated tasks could be broken down in this way and taught until mastered. The main belief of Skinner is everything we do is because of punishment and reward (B.F. Skinner).
...sciousness but he also thought that emotions and processes of the mind are just the consequence of the never ending sequence of stimulus and reaction which carry out no meaning (DISCovering Authors). Skinner also promoted the utilization of behavioral technology to improve society. He believed that the same method that effectively trained the animals he used in his laboratory study could be used to manage human's negative actions. He believe that in doing this, social troubles such as law-breaking, poverty, and warfare could be abolished (DISCovering Authors). Many of Skinners critics thought that his beliefs were a totalitarian hazard.
Behavior modification is based on the principles of operant conditioning, which were developed by American behaviorist B.F. Skinner. In his research, he put a rat in a cage later known as the Skinner Box, in which the rat could receive a food pellet by pressing on a bar. The food reward acted as a reinforcement by strengthening the rat's bar-pressing behavior. Skinner studied how the rat's behavior changed in response to differing patterns of reinforcement. By studying the way the rats operated on their environment, Skinner formulated the concept of operant conditioning, through which behavior could be shaped by reinforcement or lack of it. Skinner considered his discovery applicable to a wide range of both human and animal behaviors(“Behavior,” 2001).
Skinner designed an experiment to test operant conditioning, known as a ‘Skinner box’ (Gross 2005). In the box, animals, such as rats, would be conditioned into certain behaviour. For example, by pressing a lever to receive food (Gross 2005).
Many psychologists performed many experiments that involved shaping and changing behavior. There is one influential thinker that made a remarkable discovery that one can change another’s behavior by providing or establishing a reward based systems based upon their behavior. B.F. Skinner uncovered the idea that one change or shape another’s behavior by establishing a system based upon rewards that can change another’s behavior.
Skinner’s theory can be applied inside the classroom as well. A teacher can get her students to behave by positively reinforcing acceptable behavior and punishing or negatively reinforcing poor behavior. A teacher can also get her student to work hard in her class by doing the same thing.
Burrhus Frederic (B.F.) Skinner, an American behavioral psychologist, is best known for his experiments on changing behavior. With behavioral psychologists Pavlov and Watson as his inspiration, Skinner formulated his theory of operational conditioning. His idea of “shaping” behavior is prevalent in the parenting and teaching techniques of children and students.
Skinner’s theory operant conditioning is a theory that I feel most can say they agree with or they like the way he thinks. Speaking for myself I think his theory of operant conditioning is right on point. Although as I said in my discussion last week a lot of his theories and experiments were done on animals and not a lot done on humans and I think that plays a big part in his theory of why I agree and disagree with it. I only disagree because of the simple fact that humans are completely different from animals, obviously. What I do agree with in his theory are the positive and negative reinforcements, and the positive and negative punishments because although those were tested on animals as well a lot of that can relate to humans and how we act as far as our behavior. In my own opinion of his theory I feel like his operant conditioning would work rather well on children. I know for instance as positive reinforcement for my son I will give him a snack that he loves if he doesn’t act like a wild monkey in the store. Therefore, I see it working better on children rather than adults. In the video I watched from week 5 of operant conditioning in the first video he talks about how the bird received a reward every time the bird pecked or turned but he also says that this worked very well with the bird because every time he pecked and turn he didn’t get a reward each time only
B.F. Skinner is a major contributor to the Behavioral Theory of personality, a theory that states that our learning is shaped by positive and negative reinforcement, punishment, modeling, and observation. An individual acts in a certain way, a.k.a. gives a response, and then something happens after the response. In order for an action to be repeated in the future, what happens after the response either encourages the response by offering a reward that brings pleasure or allows an escape from a negative situation. The former is known as positive reinforcement, the latter known as negative reinforcement (Sincero, 2012). A teenager who received money for getting an “A” is being positively reinforced, while an individual who skips a class presentation is being negatively reinforced by escaping from the intense fear and anxiety that would have occurred during the presentation.