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 into play, and that is punishment. Punishment is defined as the opposite of reinforcement since it is designed to weaken or eliminate a response rather than increase it. .
Like reinforcement, punishment can work either by directly applying an unpleasant stimulus like a shock after a response or by removing a potentially rewarding stimulus (McLeod). For instance, let's say that child who brought home "A's" is now driving.
Biography of B.F Skinner B.F Skinner was an American psychologist. ... B.F. ... B.F. Skinner's whole system or theory is based on operant conditioning. ... By his system or theory came out this invention of the Skinner box which the operant is the behavior just past to the reinforcer, which is the food. ...
B.F. ... Skinner's entire system is based on operant conditioning. ... With pigeons, he developed the ideas of operant conditioning and "shaping behavior" (R. ... Operant conditioning can be used to shape behavior. ... He tested his theory by inventing the Skinner Box and operant behavior. ...
B.F. Skinner came up with the theory that operant conditioning is a change or changes in behavior which are the result of an individual's response to events or stimuli that can occur in the environment. ... Reinforcement is the key element in Skinner's stimulus-response theory. ... Teaching children in the third grade brings many opportunities to use operant conditioning. ... Operant conditioning relies on the learner to actively participate in the process. ...
Here, Behaviorist B.F. ... As Skinner puts it, this theory of "Tabula Rasa" is the belief that people are a product of their environments. ... In addition to the "Tabula Rasa" theory another aspect of Determinism is Conditioning. ... The second type of Conditioning is Operant Conditioning; which deals with voluntary (controllable) behavior. The Skinner Box is a good representation of Operant Conditioning. ...
Operant Conditioning was the cornerstone of Skinnerian programmed instruction (Casas, 2002). B.F Skinner developed this idea that people acted the way they did because they had been reinforced for behaving in a certain manner. ... In Operant Conditioning there are two types of reinforcements: Positive Reinforcers and Negative Reinforcers. ... A German psychologist named Wolfgang Köhler in the early 1920's tested this theory. ... According to B.F Skinner, responses that produce desirable outcomes tend to be repeated, where behaviors that produce undesirable outcomes tend to occur less...
Skinner B. ... This process or arranging contingencies of reinforcement directly responsible for producing certain behavior he named "operant conditioning." ... Mice have been able to perform tricks, such as riding a unicycle, or squirrels operating a hang-glider contraption, this theory has many applications, both practical and impractical. ... Skinner's patriotism during World War II drove him to attempt the creation of a missile guidance system, using what else but pigeons and his operant conditioning for training. ... From an early age, members of Walden Two are conditioned ...
Later discovered by B.F. Skinner, operant conditioning is the second form of conditioning. ... Ivan Pavlov was the Russian born physiologist who developed the theory of classical conditioning. ... Operant conditioning relies on two main components punishment and reinforcement. ... Operant conditioning can be used to help people overcome many dilemmas in every day life. ...
In this essay, I will compare how Freud and Skinner's approaches toward human behavior helped to answer some of life's mind boggling questions as well as highlight some of the main ideas of their theories. ... Skinner's theory accounts for personality development by explaining how various response tendencies are acquired through learning (Weiten, 2001, p. 500). ... Skinner referred to this as operant conditioning. Operant conditions are simply environmental stimuli that have reinforcing or adverse effects on the individual's future behavior in the presence of those stimuli...
According to B.F. Skinner, operant conditioning is a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher. In my case, I chose the punishment aspect of Skinner's theory, which is a consequence that decreases a certain behavior. ... Negative punishment is an important concept in Skinner's operant conditioning. ... Positive reinforcement, another form of Skinner's operant conditioning, is another approach I could have taken in this experiment. ...
