B.F. Skinner
BEHAVIORIST
Who was B.F. Skinner?
Burrhus Frederic Skinner (1904-1990) was an American psychologist, behaviorist, and social philosopher, best known for developing the theory of operant conditioning. His work fundamentally shaped the field of behaviorism and influenced both psychology and education.
B.F. Skinner was born in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, in 1904. He grew up in a supportive and encouraging family environment, developing an early interest in building and tinkering with mechanical objects. Initially pursuing a career as a writer, he later shifted his focus to psychology after being inspired by the works of Ivan Pavlov and John B. Watson.
Skinner earned his bachelor's degree in English from Hamilton College but later pursued psychology at Harvard University, where he earned his Ph.D. in 1931. He remained at Harvard for much of his career, conducting groundbreaking research that would revolutionize the understanding of behavior.
"I did not direct my life. I didn't design it. I never made decisions. Things always came up and made them for me. That's what life is."
"In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing."
Professional Development
Skinner's research focused on observable behavior and the ways in which environmental factors influence actions. He rejected the notion of inner mental states and instead emphasized the role of external stimuli and reinforcement in shaping behavior. His work built upon the foundation of classical conditioning but introduced new concepts, such as operant conditioning, which emphasizes voluntary behavior controlled by consequences.
Throughout his career, Skinner developed experimental devices such as the Skinner Box, a controlled environment used to study behavior in animals, particularly rats and pigeons. His experiments demonstrated how behavior could be shaped and maintained through reinforcement schedules.
Later Life Challenges
Despite criticism of his deterministic views on human behavior, Skinner remained an influential figure in psychology and education. He advocated for the application of behavioral principles in everyday life, including parenting, education, and social policies.
Skinner continued writing and lecturing until his death in 1990, leaving behind a legacy that continues to impact the world of psychology.
Major Theoretical Contributions:
Skinner's most significant contributions include:
Themes of Behaviorism
The 3 Learning Principles
1. Habituation
Habituation occurs when an organism gradually becomes less responsive to a repeated, harmless stimuli. A decline in the tendency to respond to familiar events due to repeated exposure. In other words, an organism reacts less to a trigger that doesn't pose a threat or cause major modifications the more times it is exposed to it.
For example, we might react strongly to something that we experienced for the first time, but if we experienced over and over again, we'll react less strongly.
Habituation is very important because it’s an adaptive mechanism to keep us focusing on new objects, events.
2. Classical Conditioning
Classical conditioning is a type of learning in which an organism learns to associate one stimulus with another and it was famously studied by Ivan Pavlov (1897).
In his experiment, Ivan Pavlov came to notice that the dog would produce saliva in response to the food that was expected. But he observed that the dog would also start to produce saliva when a person carrying the food walked into the room and when the dog saw the dish. Later on, to explore this, Pavlov would ring a bell and then get the dog the food. After repeated pairings of this sort bell, food, bell, food, bell, food, the dog will start to salivate at the sound of the bell.
Sensitivity to a cue for an upcoming event allows you to prepare for that moment.
💡 The dog food in Pavlov’s experiment is called the unconditional stimulus (US) because it elicits an unconditional response (UR). That is, without any kind of “training” or “teaching,” the stimulus produces a natural or instinctual reaction. In Pavlov’s case, the food (US) automatically makes the dog drool (UR).
💡 On the other hand, a conditioned stimulus produces a conditioned response. A conditional stimulus (CS) is a signal that has no importance to the organism until it is paired with something that does have importance. For example, in Pavlov’s experiment, the bell is the conditioned stimulus. Before the dog has learned to associate the bell (CS) with the presence of food (US), hearing the bell means nothing to the dog. However, after multiple pairings of the bell with the presentation of food, the dog starts to drool at the sound of the bell. This drooling in response to the bell is the conditional response (CR).
For example, a final effect of classical cues is that they motivate ongoing operant behavior. For example, if a rat has learned via operant conditioning that pressing a lever will give it food, in the presence of cues that signal the “food is coming soon” (like the sound of the lever squeaking), the rat will work harder to press the lever.
3. Instrumental Conditioning/ Operant Conditioning
This is learning the relationship between actions and rewards and punishment. It's for learning what works and what doesn't. It's learning which of your actions lead to positive results and which don't.
Operant conditioning is a learning process through which behaviors are strengthened or weakened by reinforcement or punishment. Key components of operant conditioning include:
Positive Reinforcement: Adding a favorable stimulus to increase a desired behavior.
Negative Reinforcement: Removing an aversive stimulus to increase a desired behavior.
Positive Punishment: Introducing an unfavorable stimulus to decrease an undesired behavior.
Negative Punishment: Removing a favorable stimulus to decrease an undesired behavior.
Another thing to know about operant conditioning is that the response always requires choosing one behavior over others. The rat chooses to press the lever instead of sleeping or scratching its ear in the back of the box.
To investigate this idea, choice has been studied in the Skinner box by making two levers available for the rat (or two buttons available for the pigeon), each of which has its own reinforcement or payoff rate. The law shows the fact that the effects of reinforcing one behavior depend significantly on how much reinforcement is earned for the behavior’s alternatives. For example, if a pigeon learns that pecking one light will reward two food pellets, whereas the other light only rewards one, the pigeon will only peck the first light.
However what if it takes more effort to get to the first light than the second? Will the extra food make the effort worth it? If there are numerous alternative reinforcers in the environment, a particular reinforcer will be less reinforcing. If a person's surroundings are full of affection from family, then alcohol or drugs may be less effective stimulants.
For example, an experiment was putting a cat in a puzzle box. When he placed a cat in the puzzle box for the first time, Eduard Thorndike was unable to see any evidence of flashes of insight. A well-practiced cat quickly recalls the actions that help it escape to its reward of food. If an action brings a reward, Eduard Thorndike believed that that action becomes stamped into the mind. In his thesis, he explained further his ideas about learning, that behavior changes because of its consequences. He called this the Law of Effect. Which explained how even wild creatures develop new habits.
The Law of Effect
The Law of Effect is the tendency to perform an action is increased if rewarded, weakened if not and it leads animals gradually to come to the correct behavior in certain situations.
Modern research also indicates that reinforcers do more than merely strengthen or “stamp in” the behaviors they are a consequence of, as was Thorndike’s original view. Instead, animals learn about the specific consequences of each behavior, and will perform a behavior depending on how much they currently want—or “value”—its consequence. An experiment where a rat presses a lever to obtain a reward or a punishment can be used to demonstrates Thorndike's idea (see Skinner’s Box). When a food pellet is delivered after a rat presses a lever, the rat will press the lever multiple times. On the other hand, the rat will not press the lever again if doing so only results in an unpleasant electrical shock (this is known as the negative law of effect).
The Bobo Doll Experiment - 1961 (A Study of Aggresion)
- Researchers have conducted countless experiments designed to explore observational learning, the most famous of which is Albert Bandura’s “Bobo doll experiment.”
- In this experiment, Bandura had children individually observe an adult social model interact with a clown doll (“Bobo”).
- For one group of children, the adult interacted aggressively with Bobo: punching it, kicking it, throwing it, and even hitting it in the face with a toy mallet.
- Another group of children watched the adult interact with other toys, displaying no aggression toward Bobo.
- In both instances the adult left and the children were allowed to interact with Bobo on their own.
- Bandura found that children exposed to the aggressive social model were significantly more likely to behave aggressively toward Bobo, hitting and kicking him, compared to those exposed to the non-aggressive model.
- The researchers concluded that the children in the aggressive group used their observations of the adult social model’s behavior to determine that aggressive behavior toward Bobo was acceptable.
Behavioral Applications
Skinner's principles have been widely applied in various fields, including:
- Education: The development of programmed instruction and behavior management techniques in classrooms.
- Therapy: Behavior modification techniques used in treating phobias, addictions, and developmental disorders.
- Organizational Behavior: Employee motivation and productivity enhancement through reinforcement strategies.
Criticism and Controversy
B.F. Skinner's influence extends beyond psychology into areas such as education, business management, and social policy. His work laid the foundation for modern behavior analysis, and his legacy lives on through the continued use of behavioral techniques in therapy, education, and beyond.
Legacy and Influence
B.F. Skinner's influence extends beyond psychology into areas such as education, business management, and social policy. His work laid the foundation for modern behavior analysis, and his legacy lives on through the continued use of behavioral techniques in therapy, education, and beyond. He influenced:
- The education through programmed instruction
- The application of behaviorist principles in therapy and behavior modification
- The creation of the Skinner box for studying behavior in controlled environments
- The growth of cognitive science and neuroscience