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Discussion of observational learning. essay
Compare and contrast classical and operant conditioning and observational learning
Compare and contrast classical and operant conditioning and observational learning
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During the 1920s, Many psychologist and behaviorists started coming up with new ways of learning excluding classical conditioning. One of the most well known of this time was Burrhus Frederic Skinner, better known as B.F. Skinner. Though, some behaviorist, such as John B. Watson who performed the Baby Albert experiment, were a bit more extreme than B.F. Skinner, mostly because Skinner performed his experiments using rats rather than babies. Skinner’s belief was that it is much more simple and that it is easier to study observable behaviors versus internal ones. Skinner also believed that classical conditioning was not complex enough to explain something as complex and intricate as humans are. He is credited for what was a new form of learning,
In Chapter 4, In the Unlikely Event of a Water Landing, the author Lauren Slater starts the chapter off telling the true story of how a young woman, Kitty Genovese, was brutally murdered and raped outside of her apartment complex. What was most shocking in the aftermath is there were a total of 38 witnesses and not a single person did anything to help her. This raised many concerns as to why the witnesses did nothing. When they were being interviewed by the cops, they stated that they just did not want to get involved(p.94), thus “diffusing responsibility”, this is a term used by two psychologists John Darley and Bibb Latane, who were very concerned with and wanted to understand why nothing was done to aid young Kitty Genovese as she was being stabbed and raped.
B.F. Skinner’s Walden Two is the fictitious account of an eclectic group’s visit to a modern utopian community started by psychologist T.E. Frazier. Authors often depict “perfect societies” in novels, as the subject holds wide appeal and great creative opportunity. Aldous Huxley envisioned a Brave New World; Lois Lowry wove the tale of The Giver. What sets Walden Two apart from such books? Simply stated, Skinner’s work truly does not seem as if it belongs in the fantasy or fiction genre, as the others do. The novel reads as an actual experiment, albeit one performed in a text-only version of the world. The author perfectly follows the steps of a scientific investigation throughout the plot, meeting nearly all goals of the scientific enterprise. This approach leaves readers practically incapable of brushing the novel’s bold statements off as fiction: to do so feels equivalent to denying a proven reality.
B.F. Skinner was a empiricist in my opinion he believed that only basically after experience one can formulate a theory. Another reason why I believe Skinner was a empiricist do to his book published in 1957 "Verbal Behavior. Which, had set the way for behaviorism which means basically it's like a child born with a blank slate feeling them up with knowledge that is obtained through experience so in actuality this is related to empiricist. Empiricist is a "Philosophy. the doctrine that all knowledge isderived from sense experience." (Dictionary.com) Skinner was already relating to empiricist when he created this book in 1957 and making it clear what is view on life was. Furthermore Skinner is know for his famous quote "Education is what survives
Joey 's program will be based in Applied Behavior Analysis which was first introduced in 1913, when John Watson started a movement towards behaviorism with his article “Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It” (Miltenberger, 2012). Based on Pavlov 's observations of classical conditioning, Watson suggested that human behavior could also be explained by the same means and that the process of classical conditioning was proper subject matter for psychology. He believed all human behavior were responses to external stimuli and environmental events (Miltenberger, 2012). B. F. Skinner took Watson 's theory of classical conditioning further to include operant conditioning. The highlight of Skinner 's theory is identifying what a behavior achieves through observing the behavior. It is only after the function of behavior is identified that we can alter the consequences to increase the probability of the desired behavior 's occurrence (Miltenberger, 2012). In operant conditioning behavior is changed through the manipulation of contingencies or the use of reinforcement or punishment after the desired or undesired response occurs (Miltenberger, 2012). Skinner was able to prove through his
B.F. Skinner was an early psychologist that invented the operant conditioning chamber, also known as the Skinner Box . The information gathered from the experiment conducted with Skinner’s Box, “Functional analysis of behavior-environment interchange has facilitated the analysis of infants learning and development” (B.F. Skinner, Toward a Unified Theory of Development: Connectionism and Dynamic Systems Theory Re-Consider. ). This means that the action that is taking will be reproduced over and over again because of the reward. This strategy is used in teaching children how to read, write and speak. This is applied later in life when a person gets a job. The harder a person works, the more they are usually paid. The next psychologists work was set up into distinctive sections of development.
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.
According to numerous references in the field of Psychology, a cognitive psychologist is an individual that studies topics such as thinking, problem-solving, learning, attention, memory, forgetting, and language acquisition, among several others. Cognitive psychology is the branch of psychology that studies mental processes, and its core focus is on how people acquire, process, and store information. While great research has been done within the field of psychology, there are individuals such as B.F. Skinner who criticize its strides, purposes, and research methods.
The Little Albert experiment has become a widely known case study that is continuously discussed by a large number of psychology professionals. In 1920, behaviorist John Watson and his assistant Rosalie Rayner began to conduct one of the first experiments done with a child. Stability played a major factor in choosing Albert for this case study, as Watson wanted to ensure that they would do as little harm as possible during the experiment. Watson’s method of choice for this experiment was to use principles of classic conditioning to create a stimulus in children that would result in fear. Since Watson wanted to condition Albert, a variety of objects were used that would otherwise not scare him. These objects included a white rat, blocks, a rabbit, a dog, a fur coat, wool, and a Santa Claus mask. Albert’s conditioning began with a series of emotional tests that became part of a routine in which Watson and Rayner were determining whether other stimuli’s could cause fear.
What is Skinner’s Operant Conditioning? Skinner was the first to discuss operant conditioning. McLead (2007) explained that an operant condition means that using reinforcements given after a desired response could change behavior. There were three types of responses that can follow the behavior. Neutral operants, reinforces, and punishers were the three types of responses. According to McLead (2007), Skinner invented a box with levers and lights to test his theory. He placed a hungry rat inside where the rat learned to press the levels for different responses. One level would give it a piece of food and the rat would not receive food when the light was off. This box demonstrated the shaping of behaviors through operant conditioning.
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).
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).
Operant conditioning, is a type of learning in which the behavior has consequences. Skinner was influenced a lot by Watson’s behavioristic theories, but Skinner believed that Watson's psychology proposed serious shortcomings (Sammons, p.1). Through the whole experiment with Little Albert since they had adverse effects long term for the infant. The way Skinner studied operant conditioning is by during experiments on animals which is called “Skinner Box” which studies animal behavior (McLeod, 2007). He believed that to change negative behavior reinforcement must be used. He identified three types of responses that follow the
B. F. Skinner, the most well-known American Psychologist who was the top exponent of the school of psychology that was known as behaviorism, preserved the impression that learning is an end result of change in evident behavior. The changes in behavior are determined by the way individuals reply to stimuli (events) in the environment. B.F. Skinner defined this phenomenon as operant conditioning. Operant conditioning means changing of behavior by the use of reinforcement which is given after the desired response (McLeod, 2007). This
There are two types of learning, one is operant conditioning, and the other is classical conditioning. Operant behaviour is behaviour that is controlled through consequences. Operant conditioning consists of a behaviour, consequence (reinforcement or punishment) and likelihood of (staddon & cerutti, 2003). Skinner, who came up with this theory based his ideologies on the work of Thorndike, who had studied learning on animals using a puzzle box. He proposed the theory known as ‘the law of effect’ (Catania, 1999). From this skinner developed operant conditioning as he had set out to identify the processes which made certain behaviours more or less likely to occur.
The two researchers that really shaped this belief are Ivan Pavlov and B.F. Skinner. Ivan Pavlov researched the digestive systems of dogs to discover the classical conditioning process, which demonstrated that this learning process could be used to make an association between an environmental stimulus and a naturally occurring stimulus. The two elements are then known as the conditioned stimulus and the conditioned response. B.F. Skinner came up with the concept of operant conditioning, which showed the effect of punishments and reinforcements on behavior. Through operant conditioning, a connection is made between a behavior and a consequence for that behavior. The basic principles of behaviorism are widely used today, in many situations ranging from parenting to education.