Skinner Operant Conditioning

Skinner Operant Conditioning. BF Skinner is the founder of operant conditioning building his theory on the premise that external stimuli affects or controls our behavior He believed observable behavior was an effective signifier of observable consequences Skinner developed the ‘Skinner Box’ or the ‘operant conditioning chamber’ where he studied the controlled behaviors of rats and pigeons.

IntroductionPunishmentReinforcementSchedules of ReinforcementOperant conditioning is a learning process that influences a person’s behavior In the concept of operant conditioning behavior can be modified by reinforcement and punishment With operant conditioning it is assumed that behavior is a conscious decision It is the act of behaving in response to stimuli in the environment The theory of operant conditioning reflects on the concepts of the law of effect The law of effect was developed by E L Thorndike a fellow psychologist In the law of effect Thorndike identifies that behaviors with positive outcomes are more likely to be repeated and behaviors with negative outcomes are not likely to be repeated Skinner used the law of effect to inspire his studies on operant conditioning Through his research Skinner discovered that forms of reinforcement will increase the likelihood that a favorable behavior will continue On the other hand forms of punishment will reduce the likelihood that an unfavorable behavior will continue Sk Punishment is reacting to an unfavorable behavior with an unfavorable stimulus It is intended to not reinforce unfavorable behaviors making them less likely to happen Punishments do not extinguish unfavorable behaviors What they do is make a person less inclined to repeat unfavorable behaviors to avoid unpleasant stimuli in response Punishments do not stop unfavorable behaviors from happening They may repress unwanted behaviors from recurring temporarily but the behaviors do not typically stay repressed Eventually the person will return to the unpleasant behavior They will likely wait until there is a smaller chance of punishment to reengage in the unfavorable behavior Skinner agreed with EL Thorndike who believed that punishments alone do not extinguish unwanted behaviors A combination of punishments and reinforcers is needed to change a behavior A combination of both will facilitate longterm change in behaviors This is particularly true in cases of childrearing Reinforcement is defined as a response that encourages favorable behavior It is a response that increases the chances of a favorable behavior continuing to occur Reinforcement strengthens favorable behaviors by rewarding the person who performed the favorable behavior This strengthens the person’s confidence in the behavior In return the confidence increases the chances of the behavior recurring Reinforcement is often mistaken for reward While reward can be a reinforcer reinforcement and reward are not the same The difference between reinforcement and reward is as follows Reinforcement is an environmental reaction to a person’s behavior that is favorable to the person Reward is a reaction that is interesting or uplifting It is given in response for something that the person did that is considered “good An example would be an accomplishment or successfully following instructions or rules According to Skinner there are two main types of reinforcement Skinner found reinforcement to be an important part of promoting positive behaviors in people He noted in his research that in order for reinforcement to be effective it must have varying degrees of predictability Skinner noted that when a subject is conditioned to always expect a reward when completing a behavior they will stop the behavior when they stop being reinforced with a stimulus This is why Skinner created the schedules of reinforcement The schedules of reinforcement create varying schedules when a subject can expect a reinforcement for favorable behavior The predictability encouraged the favorable behavior even though it did not get reinforced every time the behavior was performed The 5 main schedules of reinforcement include.

B. F. Skinner – Operant Conditioning PsychPoint

The term operant conditioning 1 was coined by B F Skinner in 1937 in the context of reflex physiology to differentiate what he was interested in—behavior that affects the environment—from the reflexrelated subject matter of the Pavlovians The term was novel but its referent was not entirely new.

Operant Conditioning (B.F. Skinner) Simply Psychology

Operant conditioning is a method of learning that occurs through rewards and punishments for behavior Through operant conditioning an individual makes an association between a particular behavior and a consequence BF Skinner is regarded as the father of operant conditioning and introduced a new term to behavioral psychology reinforcement.