Morgan Hamill. Educ 2120. Dalton State College. March 23,

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

Operant Conditioning Theory by B.F. Skinner is a psychological manipulation using rewards and punishments to enforce positive behavior. It uses an individual person’s response to events or stimulus. When a particular Stimulus-Response pattern is rewarded, the individual is conditioned to respond. The distinctive characteristic of operant conditioning is related to previous forms of behaviorism. The Operant Conditioning theory comprises of neutral operants, positive/negative reinforcers, and positive/negative punishers. Through these factors, we get the desired behavior of our subject because they do not want to be punished for under performing so they do what they’re told to or do more of what they were assigned to to receive positive stimulus

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.

In the middle of the 20th century, B.F. Skinner dominated the field of psychology with his theory of behaviorism and it has an extension; the Radical Behaviorism. His theory of behaviorism is the science of human behavior. B.F. Skinner wasn’t the founder of Behaviorism; it was originally founded by John B. Watson in 1913. Skinner just did the extension of Behaviorism; the Radical Behaviorism. Early 20th-century psychologist John Watson developed behaviorism as a psychological theory. John B. Watson wanted to eliminate the internal mental states of human such as the consciousness. He proposed to replace the "science of the mind" with the "science of human behavior."

Many ideas were shared between Watson, Tolman, and Skinner who all played a role in the forming of behaviorism. They did, however, differ on some of their beliefs as well as their methods of study. At this time, methods of studying psychology as well as psychology in general were in the developing stages. Watson was largely credited with the foundation of behaviorism, however, he was by no means the only one to make contributions. There has been some debate as to whether Watson’s contributions were enough to make him the “founder of behaviorism.” It is important to examine contributions from several of the early

In behavioral theory, the founder of psychological behaviorism, John Watson believed that internal thinking process could not be observed; therefore, psychologists should not focus on it. An American psychologist, Burrhus Fredric Skinner social philosopher behaviorist, inventor, and author, developed the theory of Operant conditioning believed we learn new behavior through traditional or operant conditioning and all behavior is learnt from the environment.

John B Watson created the theory of Behaviorism. (Culatta, 2015) Behaviorism has a major impact on my learning style. The instructor dictated how I will learn with the assignments that are given to me. By the instructor grading the paper, I am writing, as an A through F, positive or negative, will change by behavior to adapt to the circumstances of the class and what the instructor wants

Running head: B.F. Skinner and His Influence in Psychology B.F. Skinner and His Influence in Psychology Abstract B.F. Skinner was one of the most influential theorists in modern psychology. His work was very important and has been studied by many for years. Skinner was a very straightforward man and a very educated man. His theories have helped mankind in many ways. He has studied the behavior patterns of many living organisms. Skinner was a well-published writer. His work has been published in many journals. He also has written many books on behaviorism. His most important work was the study of behaviorism. First began by John B. Watson, behaviorism is one of the most widely studied theories today. B.F. Skinner and His

He believed that behavior was influenced by what came directly after it rather than before it (Capuzzi & Stauffer 2016). Skinner proposed that operant conditioning behaviour is operated by either positive or negative reinforcement (Cayoun 2015). Skinner experimented with a rat in a container and found that if food was displayed every time the rat pushed a pedal, it will frequently push that same pedal to get more food. The act of pushing the pedal, the desired behavior, has been reinforced with food.

Operant conditioning in which an operant response is brought under stimulus control by virtue of presenting reinforcement contingent upon the occurrence of the operant response. B.F Skinner the more radical behaviorist coined the operant conditioning theory. He believed that through series of reinforcement a behavior will increase or a series of punishment a behavior will decrease. There are two types of reinforcement and two types of punishment.

Research that B.F. Skinner dabbled in was called operant conditioning. Most of the topics that he focused on were with animals particularly rats and squirrels. His theory was that if you reward an animal or a human with something positive they will continue to do what you are guiding them to do. For instance with rats he guided them on how to tap on a button or lever if they did it correctly

Two incredibly innovative behavior theorists during their time were, John B. Watson, and B. F. Skinner. The spark of the behaviorism movement began after Watson published the classic article Psychology as the behaviorist views it in 1913 (McLeod, 2004).

Behaviorist theory was developed by John Watson in the early 1900s. This theory was considered very radical at the time if its inception, as the field of psychology was focused on the study of the mind and consciousness (“Behaviorism Theory Overview,” n.d.). Watson based much of his theory on Pavlov’s classical conditioning, and as a result believed that nurture was the cause of human differences (“John B. Watson,” n.d.).

Operant conditioning was a method developed by B.F. Skinner in 1938. (121) Prior to this year, Skinner became very interested in analyzing the behavior of laboratory animals. He put the animal(s) in a small enclosure, free to do whatever they wanted. Within the small enclosure, there was a device, such as a light switch, that the animal could operate by turning it on and off. Every time the animal turned the light switch on or off, an item that would reinforce the behavior of turning the light switch on or off, such as a piece of food, would become available to the animal. Skinner believed that by providing a reinforcing item to the animal every time it displayed the desired behavior of turning the light switch on an off, the animal would continuously display the target behavior.