Behavioral Model Of Human Behavior

According to Kail and Cavanaugh the theory established by Skinner known as operant conditioning is a “learning paradigm in which the consequences of a behavior determine whether a behavior is repeated in the future” (p. 13). This theory to an extent, parallels the previous theory of operant conditioning but is also important in trying to understand why one makes the decisions they do as well as how often they partake in certain behaviors. Through his theory Skinner displayed that there are two types of consequences, reinforcement and punishment, in which one increases the chances of repeated behavior and the other vice versa. Reinforcement is the component that increases the likeliness of repeated behavior and includes two divisions, negative and positive. Negative reinforcement is that in which a person’s

Skinner created the theory of Operant Conditioning as he believed that all behaviour can be controlled by rewards or reinforcement. This is very different from Pavlovs theory of Classical Conditioning as Skinner is trying to control voluntary behaviour. This is done by giving the subject a positive or negative reaction to an action with the theory that a negative response will discourage the subject to repeat the action. A good example of this is house training a dog, as the dogs natural reaction is to relieve itself, however it must be taught to wait until it is outside. The more the dog waits until he is outside, the more praise he receives therefore it is less likely to wish to instigate a negative reaction by relieving himself inside the house.

Skinner’s reinforcement experiments conducted on rats showed the principles of operant conditioning. While working with rats, Skinner would place them in a Skinner box with a lever attached to a feeding tube. After multiple trials, rats learned the connection between the lever and food, and started to spend more time in the box procuring food than performing any other action. He used positive reinforcement, and negative reinforcement to produce or inhibit specific target behaviors. Therefore, if a specific behavior is reinforced then the probability of that behavior occurring again is increased. Based on Skinner’s view, this theory can be applied to learning because learning is nothing more than a change in behavior. Operant conditioning encourages positive reinforcement, which can be applied in the classroom environment to get the good behavior you want and need from students. One of the ways of reinforcing a student’s behavior is through praise. Also teachers can build operant conditioning techniques into their lesson plans to teach children possible skills as well as good behaviors. For example: to give a smiley face, or motivational stamps to encourage children to perform correctly and encourage them to repeat such action again.

Skinner believed that behaviour is shaped and maintained by a reinforcing stimulus and that schedules of reinforcement are important factors in the learning process. There are many situations in the classroom where a behaviourist approach is likely to work well. For example, when I teach, I have started to pick out students who are making the right choices throughout the lesson. I call attention to the student who is doing the right thing and use verbal praise, which is quite an effective way to let other students realise what the expected learning behaviour is. The Year 6 students in the class are aware of the school’s reward system; ten credits lead to one merit, which is recorded in their merit book. They are also aware that bad behaviour in the class or on the playground will be followed by negative consequences. To warn against unwanted behaviour, I have seen teachers use negative reinforcers such as verbal warnings, timeouts and losing privileges.

Skinner’s theory of operant conditioning (McLeod, 2016). B.F. Skinner’s theory of operant conditioning hypothesized that behavior was a result of reinforcement (Hutchison, 2008). If the child received rewards as a result of the behavior, the child became more likely to repeat the behavior (McLeod, 2016). Reinforcements can be external or internal, and positive or negative (McLeod, 2016). An example of operant conditioning from The Taming of the Shrew was how Katherine learned that arguing with Petruchio meant that he would mistreat her.

BF Skinner places heavy emphasis on the use of multiple reinforcements to control the responses of individuals in certain situations. He notes that the responses of individuals to particular stimuli are contingent upon positive or negative reinforcements. This concept is known as operant conditioning. This ideology poses several limitations. Radical behaviorism does not take into account internal processes. To be more concise, Skinner does not view a person’s mental processes (i.e. thoughts and feelings as contributing factors of behavior). By not evaluating a person’s mental state, thoughts, or feelings, this theory assumes the idea that everyone will have the same response to the same situation as long as the same form of reinforcement is

The behaviourist approach to social psychology focuses primarily on how the behaviours of an individual have been learned. Skinner (1938) carried out research into operant conditioning. This research aimed to find out the effects of both positive and negative reinforcement on behaviour.

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

Operant conditioning states that you must look at the consequences and causes of an idea or action in order to understand behavior (McLeod, 2007). The ideology behind the Skinner Box was to place his test subjects, usually rodents, inside of the box in order to watch the response of the test subject when subjected to certain environments (Cherry, 2016). Not only was Skinner able to decipher the reaction to different environments, but he was also able to observe positive and negative reinforcement, reactions to punishment, and different behaviorial studies that were beneficial to his work.

Operant conditioning, introduced by Skinner, focuses on rewarding or punishing consequences to increase or decrease behaviors. Through classical conditioning, there is a belief that behaviors are responses to environmental stimulation. Operant conditioning challenged this thought. Skinner believed that the consequences should be focused on more so than the stimuli. The idea was that consequences controlled actions; therefore behaviors will increase when consequences are rewarded and decrease the likelihood of the behavior through nonrewarding consequences. The intent of punishment is to decrease the behavior from happening again by presenting an unpleasant condition or by eliminating a positive reinforcer. The focus of positive and negative

The article talks about three theorists and their theories. These theorists include Skinner, Kantor, and Michael. Skinner is known for his reinforcement theory, however, he had writings of the environmental settings under which behavior may occur. Differential reinforcement of responding in the presence of discriminative stimuli is how Skinner believed stimulus control over behavior is developed. Discrimination describes a certain functional relationship between antecedent events, behavior, and consequences that deliveries to a variety of circumstances. With this said, variables that are separate from the accessibility of reinforcement may also affect the probability that behavior will happen. Skinner offered several processes to

John B. Watson left academic psychology in the early 20th century creating the place for other behaviorists (McLeod, 2015). These behaviorists started influencing the world of psychology by coming up with forms of learning in addition to classical conditioning. One of the most important behaviorists of that time was Burrhus Fredric Skinner commonly referred to as B. F. Skinner. Contrastingly to Watson’s views, Skinner's aspects seemed less extreme. One of the most important opinions of Skinner was the believing in the existence of mind. Even with the existence of mind, there is still need to learn the observable human behavior in addition to internal mental events.

Operant conditioning that introduce by B.F.Skinner refers to a systematic program consist of rewards and punishments, which influence the behavior by the use of reinforcement. Operant conditioning known as instrumental conditioning which animals use its own behavior as an "instrument" to pursue some goals. An individual relates particular behavior and a consequence through operant conditioning. B.F.Skinner believed that external is more obvious to explain the behavior than internal thoughts. Besides, Skinner believed that behavior can be observe by the causes of an action and the consequences. Three types of responses that can trace behavior identified by Skinner which are Neutral operants, reinforcers and punishers. Positive reinforcement strengthens a behavior by rewarding an individual, as consequence in order to eliminate undesired behavior. Skinner proves that by remove an unpleasant reinforcement can also strengthen behavior because it removes an unwanted behavior. Punishment is design to eliminate undesirable behavior rather than increase. Punishment can categorize in two, which is positive punishment and negative punishment.

And with the use of operant learning an individual can make an association between a particular behavior and a consequence. For example, When a child is young they obviously do many things just to test your patience and to see what they can get away with. But if you discipline them, lets just say you put them in time out when they act out. If you continue to discipline them every time they act out they will eventually learn that whatever it was that they were doing to act out will not be tolerated and they will stop doing it. According to BF Skinner, whom is regarded as the father of operant conditioning, He concluded in his studies that behavior that is reinforced tends to be repeated and behavior which is not reinforced tends to die out or become extinguished. According to BF Skinner, the term operant conditioning means the rough changing of behavior by the use of reinforcement which is given after the desired response. So much like my example of the child getting disciplined, BF skinner had an experiment with a mouse in a case and whenever the mouse wanted food he had to press a lever when the light went off. If he did not he would be lightly shocked. After a few times the mouse learned that is he pressed the lever he would not be shocked and thus, he had the desired

Skinner  (2011), “It has long been known that behavior is affected by its consequences.  We reward and punish people, for example, so that they will behave in different ways” (para.1).