...Psychology Paper One of the most influential, yet controversial psychologists in the 20th Century was B.F. Skinner. Skinner was born on March 20, 1904 in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania. As a young boy, he spent his time inventing. A well-known invention from his childhood was used for a door to door business selling elderberries; he built a flotation system which could separate ripe from green berries. His inventions continued on to his high school years when he made a contraption used to spread “green dust” that helped the broom to pick up dirt. Skinner went on to further his education at Hamilton College. There, Skinner decided he would pursue a career in writing. After college, he lacked inspiration for writing and his only works consisted of a few newspaper articles. Instead of writing, he worked as a bookstore clerk where he became enthralled when reading about Pavlov and Watson. Skinner then enrolled in the Psychology Department of Harvard University. Thus began Skinner’s journey into the world of Psychology. While in college, Skinner experimented and uncovered new findings that Pavlov and Watson had missed. Skinner designed an operant chamber, known as a Skinner box. The box has a bar that an animal presses to release a reward of food or water. Inside the box is a device that records these responses. Skinner used the process of shaping during his experiments. Shaping is a procedure in which rewards, such as food, gradually guide the subject’s action towards a certain behavior...
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... | | History of B.F Skinner "The consequences of behavior determine the probability That the behavior will occur again"- B.F. Skinner Burrhus Frederick Skinner is one of the most important person's in the history of psychology. He was very popular and well known by seeing humans as no different to animals. He was also well known by his unique and well expressed quotes and by operant conditioning and schedules of reinforcement theories. Burrhus was a young boy that was interested and attracted in observing and spotting the world. To begin with, Skinner was born on March 20, 1904 in small town in the hills of Pennsylvania. At that time his father was prestigious lawyer and his mother was a housewife. Skinner grew up in a peaceful home with a warm and stable family. He had one younger brother that died when he was 16 years old from cerebral aneurism, and he had no sisters. During his childhood, he took pleasure of building and experimenting things, an ability and talent he would shortly use in his own psychological experiments in his career path. As a young boy, he build things like roller scooters and steerable wagons that worked backwards. Corrales 2 At later years, Burrhus decided to attend Hamilton College in New York, where he soon graduated with a BA degree in English. His passion was to become a writer, but later he noticed it wasn't working for him. After some ventures and some traveling, he decided to go back to school. Skinner enrolled in the Psychology...
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...Learning from B.F Skinner and Jean Piaget The psychological studies of B.F Skinner and Jean Piaget in the field of learning revolutionized the understanding of learning processes, and undoubtedly paved the way for future psychologists. The findings of B.F Skinner and his theory on operant learning expanded the horizons of his generation. Jean Piaget also constructed the basis by which we evaluate the logical capabilities of youth, and he developed a theory of schemas. Both of these eminent psychologists have left a mark on the field of learning, and while both are dissimilar, they have common themes and continuities that cannot be overlooked. Burrhus Frederic Skinner was born on March 20, 1904, to William Arthur Skinner (a lawyer) and Grace Madge Burrhus, born with an aptitude for mechanical toys and gadgets. In his adolescence he showed interest in works by Charles Darwin and Francis Bacon. In his early adult life he attended Hamilton College in Clinton, New York where he studied English language and Literature, during his time at University he was heavily engaged in the campus magazine, and was known for his hand in pranks. After graduation he was exposed to Behaviorism by the literary magazine Dial, and read further into Conditioned Reflexes by Ivan Pavlov, he soon realized that he was interested in human behavior and was convinced by a close friend that science was the next big thing, he decided to engage in work in psychology. He enrolled at Harvard in 1928, and began...
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...B. F. Skinner An Inspiration in Psychology Kimberly Whitmore PSY3421, Psychology of Learning and Motivation Abstract Burrhus Fredrick Skinner, a son, literary writer, husband, father and most important an inspiration in the psychology world. B.F. Skinner born March 20, 1904, in a small railroad town in Pennsylvania, was a creative child who liked to think out side the box. Skinner was a behaviorist, which means he seeks out the explanation to human behavior not in the mind but outside within the environment that collectively determines behavior. In the opinion of his professional peers, he was the most influential psychologist in the country. Over his career in Psychology, Skinner also faced criticisms, especially when it came to the Air Crib. Skinner was a revolution to the times in psychology, with his research, his workings with the military, experiments on dogs, pigeons and rodents to his observational findings. His philosophies of behaviorism still play a major part in the psychology world today. Skinner is the most important American psychologist of the twentieth century, and arguably the most important world psychologist. No issue seemed too large or too small for his observant eye and his analytic insights. 1. A Skinner Family Background. 2. How did Skinner make his way in to Psychology? 3. What is the cumulative recorder? 4. What is the operant conditioning chamber; also know as Skinner’s Box? 5. What is operant behavior? 6. The Air...
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...PSY410 B.F. Skinner used operant conditioning in order to describe development. He believed that behavior was learned and reinforced through the environment. The Skinner box is what he designed and created to test his theory. In the Skinner box, there was a rat, a lever, button and other tool in it that was connected to a food source. When the box’s lever was triggered, food would come out and the rat could eat. The rat soon learned that through positive reinforcement, by pushing the lever meant that he could have food. Skinner also found that different sequences made the learning more reliable. If food only came out every other time the rat pushed the lever, the rat would be more persistent with the behavior than if it came out every time. Skinner later found that there was also recovery for lost behaviors. If the rat was out of the Skinner box for a while and then was returned to the box with the same lever they originally had, the rat would start pushing the lever for food again. This process is known as spontaneous recovery. Skinner took it a step further into development by adding shaping to his theory for complex behaviors. Shaping is when reinforced steps are used to teach a creature something. An example of this would be teaching a child to sound out a word. This is done by first teaching the child how to sing the alphabet and is encouraged to remember and sing the song. Then the child is taught how to recognize the individual letters from the alphabet...
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...Nature Vs Nurture Karen Quave PSY 330 G May 6, 2013 According to the article this study aimed at investigating the contribution of polymorphisms shown to moderate transcription of two genes involved in serotonergic neurotransmission to the development of violence and to test for gene-environment interaction relating to adverse childhood environment. (Reif, Roster, Freitag, Scheider, Eujen, Kissling, & Retz 2007) Each person was assigned to either a violent group or a nonviolent group. High environmental adversity during childhood was associated scientifically with violent behavior while 45% were violent and 30% were nonviolent people that carried the low-activity, short MAOA allele. (Reif, Roster, Freitag, Scheider, Eujen, Kissling, & Retz 2007) Violent behavior was somewhat less common in older subject years and people with a history of drug abuse were more violent compared to those without a history of drug abuse. . (Reif, Roster, Freitag, Scheider, Eujen, Kissling, & Retz 2007) The major findings of the present study are MAOA genotype and adverse childhood environment independently of each other increased the risk for later-life violent behavior and the 5HTT polymorphism was associated with violence in a gene-environment-dependent manner. . (Reif, Roster, Freitag, Scheider, Eujen, Kissling, & Retz 2007) Violent behavior observed...
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...OPERANT CONDITIONING, A THEORY DEVELOPED BY B.F. SKINNER Dating back to the 1800’s, many theories have developed in reference to Child Development. There have been theories that have become classics and those that continue to cause controversy. Doing research on these theories one of them really stood out to me and that is the one of B.F. Skinner. Skinner believed that the best way to understand behavior is to look at the causes of an action and its consequences. He called this approach operant conditioning. The main principles of operant conditioning, as defined by Skinner, are reinforcement, punishment, shaping, extinction, discrimination, and generalization. Reinforcement is the key element in Skinner's theory. A reinforcement is any characteristic in the environment that serves to increase the probability that a person will repeat a behavior in the future. It could be verbal praise, a good grade or a feeling of increased accomplishment or satisfaction (Cook). An example of a positive reinforcement is a child receives their report card and brings it home to mom and dad. The child received four “A’s” and one “B”. For every “A” received the parents reinforce that child with money. In middle school “A’s” are worth twenty dollars each but moving into high school they are worth fifty dollars each. This child will be highly motivated to bring home as many “A’s” as they can! What happens when that reinforcer does not work? That is when the next element in Skinner’s theory comes...
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...Management in Human and Social Development - MGMT 8010 June 28, 2014 Understanding Burrhus Frederic Skinner B. F. Skinner was one of the most influential of American psychologists. A radical behaviorist, he developed the theory of operant conditioning, the idea that behavior is determined by its consequences, be they reinforcements or punishments, which make it more or unlikely that the behavior will be repeated again, (NNDB, 2014). His principles are still incorporated within treatments of phobias, addictive behaviors, and in the enhancement of classroom performance as well as in computer-based self-instruction, (NNDB, 2014). Skinner believed that the only scientific approach to psychology was one that studied behaviors, not internal (subjective) mental processes, (NNDB, 2014). He denied the existence of a mind as a thing separate from the body, but he did not deny the existence of thoughts, which he regarded simply as private behaviors to be analyzed according to the same principle as publicly observed behaviors, (NNDB, 2014). According to Michael (2013) Burrhus Frederic Skinner is very famous for developing his own philosophical studies around animal and human behavior. Once I had realized that this Theorist had caught my attention, I really became very excited about this research project so I started finding information about the man called B.F. Skinner, (NNDB, 2014). I am not sure if you’ve heard of him before but he is one of the most famous psychologists...
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...Hannah Kratzke PSY 260 Information research essay B.F. SKINNER - Bio and basic info on the theorist Burrhas Fredric Skinner was born on March 20, 1904 in a small town of Susquehanna Pennsylvania. When Skinner was a freshman in college his brother passed away from a cerebral aneurism. Skinner was really involved in his religion during his early life, He attended bible classes and embraced a number of traditional religious beliefs but in his adolescent years he chose to abandon his religious beliefs and never returned to them. Skinner parents raised him to very high strict standards and only ever physically punished once by his mother who washed his mouth out with soap for stating a bad word. In high school Skinner earned money by playing the saxophone in jazz band and also with an orchestra. Skinner graduated college in 1926 from Hamilton College with a degree in English literature. For his postgraduate year he immediately tried to become a writer, it was a time of failure and frustration he soon realized that he had nothing of significance to say. He left college with a large desire to be a writer; He later on earned his MA within two years, earned his PhD in three years and then continued to go to school at Harvard for the next five years as a postdoctoral student. He chose to then teach at the university of Minnesota for 10 years and during that time he established himself as a nationally prominent experimental psychologist and published his now famous book (The...
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...Madeline Clausell ABA "The consequences of behavior determine the probability that the behavior will occur again" --B. F. Skinner. B. F. Skinner was born March 20, 1904. B.F. Skinner described his Pennsylvania childhood as "warm and stable." As a boy, he enjoyed building and inventing things; a skill he would later use in his own psychological experiments. Skinner married Yvonne Blue in 1936, and the couple went on to have two daughters, Julie and Deborah. Burrhus Frederic (B.F.) Skinner majored in literature at Hamilton College in New York. He went to New York City in the late 1920s to become a writer, but he wasn't very successful. So he decided to go back to school, and went to Harvard to study psychology, since he had always enjoyed observing animal and human behavior. For the most part, the psychology department there was immersed in introspective psychology, and Skinner found himself more and more a behaviorist. He worked in the lab of an experimental biologist, however, and developed behavioral studies of rats. He had always been a tinkerer, and loved building Rube Goldberg contraptions as a kid; he put that skill to use by designing boxes to automatically reward behavior, such as depressing a lever, pushing a button, and so on. His devices were such an improvement on the existing equipment; they've come to be known as Skinner boxes. Skinner received his PhD in 1931. In 1936 he took an academic position at the University of Minnesota where he wrote The Behavior of Organisms...
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...important of these was Burrhus Frederic Skinner. Although, for obvious reasons he is more commonly known as B.F. Skinner. Skinner's views were slightly less extreme than those of Watson (1913). Skinner believed that we do have such a thing as a mind, but that it is simply more productive to study observable behavior rather than internal mental events. The work of Skinner was rooted in a view that classical conditioning was far too simplistic to be a complete explanation of complex human behavior. He believed that the best way to understand behavior is to look at the causes of an action and its consequences. He called this approach operant conditioning. Operant Conditioning deals with operants - intentional actions that have an effect on the surrounding environment. Skinner set out to identify the processes which made certain operant behaviours more or less likely to occur. Skinner's theory of operant conditioning was based on the work of Thorndike (1905). Edward Thorndike studied learning in animals using a puzzle box to propose the theory known as the 'Law of Effect'. BF Skinner: Operant Conditioning Skinner is regarded as the father of Operant Conditioning, but his work was based on Thorndike’s law of effect. Skinner introduced a new term into the Law of Effect - Reinforcement. Behavior which is reinforced tends to be repeated (i.e. strengthened); behavior which is not reinforced tends to die out-or be extinguished (i.e. weakened). Skinner (1948) studied operant conditioning...
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...“Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten” -B.F. Skinner Behaviorism is described as a developmental theory that measures observable behaviors produced by a learner’s response to stimuli. Responses to stimuli can be reinforced with positive or negative feedback to condition desired behaviors. Punishment is sometimes used in eliminating or reducing incorrect actions, followed by clarifying desired actions. Educational effects of behaviorism are key in developing basic skills and foundations of understanding in all subject areas and in classroom management. According to behaviorism, knowing is giving the correct response when exposed to a particular stimulus. The behaviorist is not concerned with how or why knowledge is obtained, but rather if the correct response is given. Yu Ching Chen’s web site on behaviorism states that, “Learning is defined as nothing more than the acquisition of new behavior”. In terms of the concept of learning, the process tends to be passive with regard to the behaviorist theory. The learner uses low level processing skills to understand material and the material is often isolated from real-world contexts or situations. Little responsibility is placed on the learner concerning his/her own education. Typical classroom instruction consistent with the behaviorist theory includes; classroom management, rote memorization, and drill and practice. Several examples of behaviorism used in classroom management...
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...Albert Bandura and B.F Skinner. Bandura has become the most influential theorist of learning and development. He believes that a significant amount of learning is described by social cognitive learning. “Learning would be exceedingly laborious, not to mention hazardous, if people had to rely solely on the effect of their own actions to inform them what to do. Fortunately, most human behavior is learned observationally through modeling: from observing others one forms an idea of how new behaviors are performed, and on later occasions this coded information serves as a guide for action (Bandura 1977).” We don’t have to go through an experience ourselves to learn from it, it is learned primarily through observation and not through trail and area, as it is with operant condition. B.F Skinner theory of operant is a form of how we response to life situation whether positive or negative. As an example of this conditioning, my mother was the dominant one in the household. If my brothers, sisters and I did something wrong, she would physically punish us. Skinner has three types of reinforcement: primary reinforcement- instinctive behaviors lead to satisfaction of basic survival needs such as food, water, sex and shelter. Secondary reinforcement – is not reinforcing by itself, but becomes reinforcing when paired with a primary reinforce. Lastly, generalized reinforcement- stimuli become reinforcing through repeated pairing with primary or secondary reinforcement (Skinner 1904-1990). Freud’s...
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...Burruhus Frederic Skinner, also known as B.F. Skinner is an American behaviorist, author, inventor, social philosopher and poet. Skinner has conducted numerous researches and has contributed to psychology (Wikipedia). B.F. Skinner created the operant conditioning chamber, better known as Skinner box. Skinner had innovated his own philosophy of science called radical behaviorism and founded his own school of experimental research psychology. The purpose of the Skinner box was to measure the reactions of organisms and their interactions with the environment. Skinner concluded his own results when an organism helped him realize how they react in certain situations. He put a rat in Skinner box and the rat would pull the lever, which in result the rat would receive food. The rat then realized that each time it pulled the lever; food will come out so it constantly kept pulling the lever (Wikipedia). Skinner's theory on punishment is that a positive reinforcement is more effective in changing and developing behavior than by using any form of punishment. Skinner believed that the main thing to learn from being punished is to avoid punishment altogether. Reinforcement is a concept in behaviorism and a common confusion is that negative reinforcement is synonymous with punishment. Positive reinforcement is strengthening the behavior while negative reinforcement is strengthening of behavior by removal of avoidance of an aversive event (Wikipedia). Although both types of reinforcement strengthen...
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...Born March 20th 1909, B.F Skinner had what he called a “warm and stable” childhood in Pennsylvania. According to Cherry (2013) “As a boy, he enjoyed building and inventing things; a skill he would later use in his own psychological experiments.” After earning his B.A. in English literature in 1926 from Hamilton College, Skinner spent time as a writer. After discovering the writings of Pavlov and Watson, Skinner was inspired to return to school to study psychology. Skinner received his graduate degree from Harvard University. In 1936, Skinner was married to Yvonne Blue and later had two daughters, Julie and Deborah. A crib Skinner designed for his daughter Deborah and named the air bed or the Skinner tender that was intended to help his wife ease some of the parenting duties such as waking in the middle of the night to add blankets to a cold baby, later sparked a backlash of criticism of Skinners work and false rumors about Deborah committing suicide. According to “B.F. Skinner Foundation” (2013) In 1938, Skinner wrote The Behavior of Organisms which “summarizes nearly ten years of research, spanning the years of Skinner's graduate school days at Harvard through his three years as a member of the Society of Fellows.” In 1945, Skinner became the Psychology Department Chair at the University of Indiana. Three years later he joined the psychology department at Harvard University where he remained for the duration of his life. It was at Harvard where Skinner’s inventions helped...
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