Slide 1

B.F. SKINNER Heather Blake and Madelyn Harriger Slide 2 ABOUT B.F. SKINNER Burrhus Frederic Skinner Born March 20, 1904 in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania Hamilton College and Harvard University Married Yvonne Blue and had two daughters University of Minnesota, Indiana University and Harvard University Died August 18, 1990 Slide 3 OPERANT CONDITIONING Define: changing of behavior by the use of reinforcement which is given after the desired response; looking at actions and consequences Stemmed from Thorndikes Law of Effect Skinner Box Slide 4 SKINNER BOX Slide 5 EXAMPLES Working hard and getting a promotion increases the behavior of working hard because people want more chances of promotions When someone has the window open and hears the traffic so they turn on the radio and dont have to listen to the noise outside Parents give you $20 for every A you receive as a final grade so you continue to work hard and get straight As Slide 6 REINFORCERS Responses from the environment that increase the probability of a behavior being repeated Terminal behavior is the desired behavior at the end of a planned reinforcement Slide 7 TYPES OF REINFORCERS Primary (Natural):Unconditioned; learned naturally without learning Secondary: associated with primary; direct desire Positive: Associated with rewards Negative: Associated with avoidance and elimination Slide 8 POSITIVE REINFORCEMENTS Strengthens behavior by providing a consequence an individuals finds rewarding Ideally more preferred and effective Examples: Dress nice and a cute guy compliments More likely to dress nice Get good grades and parents give you money Keeps getting good grades Little kid is behaves in public and gets candy Will behave more often Slide 9 NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENTS When a particular behavior is strengthened by the removal of an adverse stimulus; avoiding and eliminating A process not an action More common than positive Example: You clean up your room so your parents will not nag you about it It rains and you get wet, next time you bring an umbrella when it rains (Religious) To avoid Hell we are taught to be live a Christ-driven life Slide 10 PUNISHMENT Weakens or eliminates a response Removes a positive reinforcer or introduces a negative reinforcer Example: Get bad grades and phone is taken away Misbehave and get spanked Slide 11 COMPARING Slide 12 VIDEO Operant Conditioning Operant Conditioning Slide 13 EDUCATION APPLICATION Discuss with partner how you can use positive reinforcements in the classroom Slide 14 POSITIVE EDUCATION APPLICATION Lunch with the teacher Treasure box Bonus points Pizza/Movie day Slide 15 EDUCATION APPLICATION Discuss with your partner how you can use negative reinforcements in the classroom Slide 16 NEGATIVE EDUCATION APPLICATION The students take a quiz at the end of every week and they are told that if all assigned homework is turned in then there will be no quiz. The behavior to complete homework is strengthened to avoid the quiz Pop quizzes if students are not paying attention or are talking during the lesson. If they pay attention and ask questions then there is no pop quiz Slide 17 WHAT DID WE LEARN? B.F. Skinner Operant Conditioning Skinner Box Positive vs Negative Reinforcement Negative Reinforcement vs Punishment Slide 18 Slide 19 REFERENCES Skinner, B. F. (2011). B.f. skinner foundation: A survey of operant behavior. Retrieved from http://www.bfskinner.org/bfskinner/SurveyOperantBehavior.html Conversation with B.F. Skinner. (1973). Organizational Dynamics, 1(3), 31-40. Elias, J. L. (1974). B F Skinner and religious education. Religious Education, 69(5), 558-567. McLeod, S. (2007). Simply psychology: Skinner-operant conditioning. Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html Moore, J. J. (2011). BEHAVIORISM. Psychological Record, 61(3), 449-465.