The Child Rearing, Education And Other Fields

One famous behaviourist was Skinner (1904-1990) who was an American psychologist and believed in the role of reinforcement. There are two types of reinforcement: positive and negative. Positive reinforcement occurs when a particular behaviour is followed by a consequence that is desired such as receiving food, money or verbal praise. Whereas negative reinforcement takes place when a particular behaviour removes something unpleasant. Skinner used both positive and negative reinforcement in his experiment where he worked with rats and pigeons. He used a “Skinner box” to investigate the key values of learning new and challenging behaviours. Skinner used the theory of operant conditioning and would place the rat or pigeon into the “Skinner Box” the animal would then be curious and sniff and run around the box until eventually it would press the lever, which would release a food pellet. After a while the animal would carry out this behaviour many times, as it has learnt that after pressing the lever it will receive a food pellet as a consequence. As the pellet is experienced as reinforcing and something that the animal desires, this increases the chance of the behaviour being repeated. This is called

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,

B.F Skinner was an American Psychologist who invented the operant conditioning chamber. The chamber he set up had rats in it and a lever, once the rats pulled the lever they were given a piece of food. After this happened the rate of bar pressing would increase dramatically and remain high until the rat was no longer hungry. He was a firm believer of the idea that human free will was actually an illusion and any human

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.

In the first chapter of her novel, Opening Skinner’s Box, Lauren Slater introduces B.F. Skinner, a neo-behaviorist who believed heavily in the power of reinforcement. He is most famous for his “Skinner boxes”, in which he would reward a rat with food whenever they accidentally pressed down on a lever. After a while, the rats would intentionally step of the levers, yet Skinner would alter the rate in which they received a reward for it, sometimes removing the incentives altogether. Skinner’s most significant discovery came from “variable schedules of reinforcement”, in which he intermittently rewarded the rats, where they would press the level but often walk away with nothing. By doing this, Skinner

Burrhus Frederic Skinner was an upcoming behaviorist in the 1920’s. Skinner and many other behaviorists at the time were revolutionizing the field of psychology by deviating away from common practices and methods. Skinner was the most influential behaviorist during this time period as he contributed the greatest by developing a new way of studying behavior, which came to be known as operant conditioning. Before the development of operant conditioning psychologists mainly focused on classical conditioning; a much simpler method for explaining the process of behavior.

This chapter is centered on researcher B.F Skinner, who was known for highlighting rewards and reinforcements through animal experiments. He also demonstrated operant conditioning through positive reinforcements. Today, many individuals possess both a negative and a positive view of Skinner and his experiments (ranging from evil to highest esteem respectively). This may be due to the difficulty of “separating content from controversy”(8). Skinner was born in 1904 and can be identified for many quirks such as working only on a cluttered desk. He went onto go and study psychology at Harvard in 1928, rather than taking up his desire of becoming a novelist. Despite initially avoiding the softer psychology fields, Skinner came across a psychology workshop

B. F. Skinner was another influential psychologist who developed the theory of operant conditioning. Unlike Pavlov, Skinner thought that behaviour was determined by the consequences or rewards generated after the response, he called this operant conditioning, (Cherry, K 2005). Skinner invented a device which contained a button which an animal could press in order to gain food, water or some other form of reinforcement. Using this box he discovered two forms of reinforcement, positive (which resulted in a favourable outcome), and negative (which resulted in removal of unfavourable outcomes).

Skinner conducted a series of research experiments with rats and pigeons under controlled laboratory conditions using a specially designed cage. By doing so he sought to demonstrate that behaviour can be created and reinforced by external factors. The puzzle box he created for his experiments has become so widely used that it is now known as the “Skinner box”. Animals would be placed in a cage which had a bar lever mechanism used to dispense food; Skinner would measure the frequency of the bar pressing and introduce different variables into the experiments. This led to his discovery of 'partial reinforcement' and its correlation to the slower extinction of shaped behaviour. When food pellets would only be dispensed once in a while (as opposed to every pressing) Skinner noticed that it took longer for the learnt behaviour to become extinct. The powerful phenomenon of partial reinforcement can be noticed in gambling establishments; a player on a slot machine is more likely to keep up their behaviour of playing if the rewards are unpredictable and occasional. The player becomes more persistent in their gambling in the hope that the next coin will be the winner (Hunt, 1993).

When Skinner first began his experiments, he had the rats press a lever, and in turn, were rewarded with food. Then, since he realized that the rats could accidentally step on the lever and release a food pellet, he set the lever to a fixed-ratio schedule. This meant that the food would come out, for example, on every fifth press of the lever. He even took the experiment farther, and set the lever to what he called variable schedules of reinforcements, which meant the food would come out at random intervals, such as the fiftieth or sixtieth press of the lever. The experiments that he performed on the rats led him to wonder what was truly possible for animals to do, such as play ping pong or even bowl.

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

Over the past years, parents have been rewarding their child for good behavior. This can be seen when parents give their child responsibilities and rewarding them for acceding their accomplishment. Sometimes, parents even show gratitude by telling them how proud they are of them. However, there are many parents who forget to show affection and fail to make a positive impact on their child. There are several effective ways to raise children.

One of Skinner’s most noteable inventions is the operant conditioning chamber, which is also known as the “Skinner Box”. Skinner’s

Burrhus F. Skinner or more commonly known as B. F. Skinner is regarded as one of the most influential psychologists in the world by his peers. In comparison to other behaviorist Skinners approach was referred to as radical behaviorism. Behaviorist search to find answers to how humans behave through observations in the environment not in the mind ("Conversation" 1973). Specifically, B. F. Skinner was not interested in theories that involve speculation, but more importantly theories that could be proven with explicit definitions and findings. His operant conditioning approach controlled behavior. B. F. Skinner 's operant conditioning approach includes but is not limited to shaping, reinforcements, and punishments. One subject that is intertwined in all areas of study and everyday life is mathematics. Often times, math is one of the hardest concepts for people to grasp. In regards to B. F. Skinner 's operant conditioning theory, mathematics can be learned in the classroom through shaping, reinforcement, and punishment.

Hence, in his experiment, Skinner placed rats in the Skinner box and observed its’ behaviors. Initially, these rats would be randomly moving around exploring, and would usually press the bar accidently. At this point, a food pellet would drop into the tray. He observed that if a hungry rat receives a pellet of