How Did Bf Skinner Use Operant Conditioning

Slater describes how Skinner expanded on Pavlov’s findings about classical conditioning, which showed how a reflex could be conditioned to happen in response to a different stimulus (Slater 10). Skinner felt that it wasn’t just reflexes that could be conditioned but other behaviors as well. He studied animal’s behaviors after they were given a reward or consequence. His famous box studies involved him training rats to be rewarded with food in fixed-ratio schedules,

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.

Psychologist, born in Susquhanna, Pa. He studied at Harvard, teaching there (1931-6, 1947-74). A leading behaviorist, he is a proponent of operant conditioning, and the inventor of the Skinner box for facilitating experimental observations.

Skinner (1948) was also influenced by Thorndike’s (1898) operant conditioning of cats and went on to use similar techniques to study conditioning in rats. Skinner studied how behaviour that is rewarded will be repeated, unlike behaviour that has a negative consequence. Skinner (1948) placed hungry rats in a ‘skinner box’ with a lever, when the lever was pressed, food was released and the rats soon learned that when they pressed the lever they would be rewarded. Skinner (1948) then placed rats in another box and administered them with an electric current. If the rats pressed the lever in this box it would stop the discomfort of the current. After repeating the rats quickly learnt to press the lever. Skinner (1948) argued that all human behaviour can be learned through operant conditioning (McLeod 2015).

B.F. Skinner, born on March 20th 1904, was an American behavioural psychologist who carried who carried out many experiments based on how behaviour is shaped and that all humans will regurgitate the things they enjoy doing and avoid those they dislike. He understood that creative people will be rewarded positively in order for that person to take an interest in that particular activity and develop further. He based his theories on self-observation,

B.F. Skinner, the man who set the gold standard for shaping in behavioral anyalisis, known for his animal experiments using boxes built his way into becoming America’s leading neo-behaviorist. Skinner entered into the experimental world almost unintentionally, starting out life to become a novelist then completely switching gears on a whim of curiosity. Skinner didn’t start with a plan, he just had a question, he wanted to understand the behavior of living things. Thus, forming his infamous boxes, not knowing where it would lead him, but wanting to see it something was going to come from it.

One of the most prominent and influential psychologists of the twentieth century, B.F. Skinner was known as a behavioral psychologist, philosopher of science, and an educational innovator. Throughout his life he did experimental work with animals to discover how patterns of behavior are learned. His initial work was primarily conducted with animals, and later in life he started to work with humans and apply his learning from his pigeon studies to human behavior. He focused on the individual and wrote about how to restructure social systems to improve the quality of life.

B.F. Skinner (1904–1990) is often referred to as the father of operant conditioning. Like John Watson, Skinner was a behaviorist. According to Crain

In 1945 Skinner get a job at Indiana University as a leader of psychology Department. But he stayed over here for only two years and then he left and come back to Harvard University as a lecturer. In 1948 skinner became a professor and in this time he interested in education. Skinner he interested in children and he developed a machine to study in children. This is how he began to learn about children and he does a lot of research about children and he also published a lot of theories about child development. By the way B.F Skinner also He explored behaviorism in relation to society in later books, including Beyond Freedom and Human Dignity (1971) (Biography.com Editors, October 9, 2017).

In 1931, Skinner received his Ph.D. and continued to work at Harvard for the next five years. In 1936, he married Yvonne Blue and started at a teaching position at the University of Minnesota. During the height of World War II, Skinner desired to help in the war effort and received funding from the Office of Scientific Research and Development for a project that would train pigeons to direct armed missiles. The project, known as "Project Pigeon", placed pigeons at the nose cone of a missile, and were trained to peck at the center of a target. The missile's guidance system was controlled by impulses generated by the pecking of the pigeons. The plan was never fully implemented, however Skinner managed to successfully condition and train

According to Gewirtz and Peláez-Nogueras (1992), “B. F. Skinner contributed a great deal to advancing an understanding of basic psychological processes and to the applications of science-based interventions to problems of individual and social importance.” He contributed to “human and nonhuman behavior, including human behavioral development, and to various segments of the life span, including human infancy” (p. 1411). One of Skinner's greatest scientific discoveries was “single reinforcement” which became sufficient for “operant conditioning, the role of extinction in the discovery of intermittent schedules, the development of the method of shaping by successive approximation, and Skinner's break with and rejection of stimulus-response

Psychology was formed with the help of philosophers and psychologists. One philosopher who had a great impact on psychology was Burrhus Frederic Skinner. Skinner was born in a small town in Pennsylvania to a lawyer and stay at home mom. He loved school and did quite well at it. He got his BA in English in New York at Hamilton College. Skinner worked after school for a while, and he then returned to school. He received his masters, in 1930, and his doctorate, in 1931, in psychology, from Harvard. Skinner did research at Harvard for five years after. Skinner taught at the University of Minnesota, Indiana University, and at Harvard. B.F. Skinner’s theory is founded on operant conditioning. “The organism is in the process of ‘operating’ on the environment, which means it is bouncing around its world, doing what it does. During this

Skinner used operant conditioning on pigeons or sometimes mice receiving food. He sought to measure how the animals would want to be rewarded. He did this by using an invention he called the “Skinner Box”. By pressing certain buttons the animals would either receive a lot of food and have to wait longer, or a smaller amount in shorter time. This was used to test how operant conditioning, being rewarded or punished, would affect what button the pigeon would press.

He also read about animals. He collected toads, lizards, and snakes. He trained pigeons to do tricks after he saw them performing one year at a fair. Training the pigeons probably was where he got his ideas of operant conditioning. He attended Susquehanna High School just like his mother and father. In his graduating class there were only eight people including him. He was a very intellectual person. He reported that he really enjoyed school. Over the four years in high school Skinner became good at math and reading Latin, but was no good at science. He was always performing physical and chemical experiments while he was at home. His father was a book collector. Skinner always had a good library of books around his house. Skinner recalled the little collection of applied psychology journals that his father had bought. Those books could have been the starting point in his psychology career. Skinner grew up in a very religious family.

Burrhus Frederic Skinner was born on March 20, 1904 in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania. Skinner was an American psychologist, behaviorist, author, inventor, and a social philosopher. Skinner is known for his discovery of the theory of operant conditioning (Wikipedia). Skinner was a graduate from Harvard University. Although he understood the importance of classical conditioning, he noted that, “principles of classical conditioning account for only a small portion of learned behaviors” (Woolfolk 250). Skinner expressed that through operant conditioning, behavior is strengthened or weakened by antecedents or consequences. Both theorists’ work have a major influence on learning/behavioral concepts.