We shall consider Skinner’s Operant Conditioning theory as another type of example on Conceptual Critiques (Skinner, 1963). His theory states that the best way to understand a behavior is to look at the association made between the behavior and the consequence of that behavior. Although Skinner’s primary interest was in human behavior, most of his research was done on animals using laboratory apparatus well known as the Skinner box. Hence, in his experiment, Skinner placed rats in the Skinner box and observed its’ behaviors. Initially, these rats would be randomly moving around exploring, and would usually press the bar accidently. At this point, a food pellet would drop into the tray. He observed that if a hungry rat receives a pellet of food when it presses a lever after, maybe 2 minutes have elapsed since the last pellet, then its response rate increases with the passage of time. In other words, after the first incident of the food pellet dropping into the tray, the rate of the rats pressing the bar rises dramatically and remains high until the rats hunger were satisfied. Thus, this study showed a clear association made between the behavior and the consequence of that behavior. In this case, the consequence of a behavior encouraged the repetition of that behavior also known as positive reinforcement. On the other hand, Anderson, Bothell, Byrne, Douglass, and Lebiere (2004), commented that Skinner did not show interest on why the organism behaved in this way and instead he was satisfied with knowing what kind of behavior could be expected from various organisms including humans when given a fixed-interval schedule. This comment is a misleading distortion as it overlooks Skinner’s efforts to explain the gradual increase in res... ... middle of paper ... ...ard a richer view of the scientific method: The role of conceptual analysis. American Psychologist , 62 (7), 671. Maltby, J., Day, L., & Macaskill, A. (2010). Personality, individual differences and intelligence. Pearson Education. Piaget, J. (1964). Part I: Cognitive development in children: Piaget development and learning. Journal of research in science teaching , 2 (3), 176-186. Roy, B. (1993). Decision science or decision-aid science? European journal of operational research , 66 (2), 184-203. Siegel, L. (1982). The development of quantiy concepts: Perceptual and linguistic factors. Children's logical and mathematical cognition , 123-155. Skinner, B. F. (1963). Operant behavior. American Psychologist , 18 (8), 503. Spelke, E. (1991). Physical knowledge in infancy: Reflections on Piaget’s theory. he epigenesis of mind: Essays on biology and cognition.
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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 psychology” (Iversen, 1992, p. 1318).
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 ...
B. F. Skinner revolutionized the field of psychology through his numerous writings on behaviorism. However, he began his collegiate life as an English major, and his education in literary techniques and devices clearly shows through in the manipulation of metaphor in his famous novel Walden Two. Although Skinner rarely diverges from the incessant description of behavioral engineering through his mouthpiece in the novel, Frazier, he occasionally digresses from the theory and application of scientific experimentation to the literary elements that are essential to any novel. One of these elements, the metaphor of the sheep that appears at the beginning and end of the book, clearly embodies three principles of Skinner’s behaviorist rationale: the superiority of positive reinforcement over negative reinforcement, the necessity for humans to accept their roles, and the function of the Walden Code to the members of Walden Two.
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.
Methods and approaches to teaching have been greatly influenced by the research of Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky. Both have contributed to the field of education by offering explanations for children's cognitive learning styles and abilities. While Piaget and Vygotsky may differ on how they view cognitive development in children, both offer educators good suggestions on how to teach certain material in a developmentally appropriate manner.
clearly. Therefore, much about what experts know about mental and cognitive development is based on the careful observation of developmental theorists and their theories, such as Piaget's theory of cognitive development, which we discussed.
B.F. Skinner was born on March 20, 1904 in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, a small town where he spent his childhood. He was the first-born son of a lawyer father and homemaker mother who raised him and his younger brother. As a young boy, Skinner enjoyed building and used his imaginative mind to invent many different devices. He spent his college years at Hamilton College in New York to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in writing. Following his graduation in 1926, Skinner explored writings of Pavlov, Russell, and Watson, three influential men in the field of behavioral psychology. After two years as a failed writer, Skinner applied to Harvard University to earn his Ph.D. in psychology.
We used the Sniffy the virtual rat Pro Version 3.0 program by Wadsworth Cengage Learning. This program attempts to accurately simulate some of the psychological processes and behavioral phenomena found in rats. In this program, all of the subjects are always starved for food, regardless of how much it has eaten. This simplifies the process of operant conditioning by reducing the amount of time required to simply wait for the virtual rat to be hungry again.
Reinforcement, punishment, and extinction are three important concepts in Skinner’s theory. Primary reinforcement is the human's basic needs in order to survive. This is a natural and biological instinct in which forces us to search for these demands such as water, oxygen, food, and shelter. On the other hand, secondary reinforcement must be paired with primary reinforcement in order to occur. Therefore, a secondary reinforce is crea...
This is the beginning of a new star. It is a giant cloud of dust and gas that is mostly made up of hydrogen and helium. The creation of a Nebula is caused by a collapse of gas, also known as Interstellar Medium. A Nebula can live up to a million years old before they turn into a
The aim of the box was to teach the rat in the box to press the lever by giving him food when he did. After spending some time inside the box, the rat realized that pressing the lever would bring him food, the reinforcement Skinner used. This experiment revealed another type of learning called operant conditioning, in which behavior is acquired because of the desired (or despised) consequences of the action. Operant conditioning is another confirmation that our brain determines our actions rather than our conscious control because the learning happens only because the results are somewhat pushing one to do the
When Skinner turned 24, he attended graduate school at Harvard University. As a Psychology student, he teamed up with Physiology Professor, William Crozier. Together, they began to study the relationship between behavior and experimental conditions. During his time at Harvard, Skinner conducted many experiments using rats (B.F.Skinner Foundation, 2002). Skinner’s findings made him “the most influential psychologist of the 20th century” (Roblyer,2003, p.57).
Piaget’s Cognitive theory represents concepts that children learn from interactions within the world around them. He believed that children think and reason at different stages in their development. His stages of cognitive development outline the importance of the process rather the final product. The main concept of this theory reflects the view th...
Peter Sutherland (1992) ‘Cognitive Development Today-Piaget and His Critics’ Paul Chapman Publishing London. Smith et al, 1998, as cited in ‘Children’s Cognitive and Language Development, Gupta, P and Richardson, K (1995), Blackwell Publishers Ltd in association with the Open University. Vygotsky, L.S. (1988) ‘The genesis of higher mental functions’ in Richardson, K and Sheldon, S. (eds) Cognitive development to Adolescents, Hove, Erlbaum