Transcript B.F. Skinner: The Behavioral Approach

B.F. Skinner: The
Behavioral Approach
Basic Premise
 Behavior can be controlled by
consequences- type of reinforcement
following the behavior
Kinds of Behavior :
Respondent and Operant
 Respondent behavior: responses made
to/elicited by specific environmental stimuli
 Ex: Reflexes (knee jerk)
 Depends on reinforcement, directly related to
physical stimulus
 Conditioning: Higher level respondent behavior
 Learning to substitute one stimulus for another
Respondent Behavior and
Conditioning
 Ivan Pavlov: Classical conditioning
 Dogs salivate to neutral stimulus (sound of
owner’s feet) when previously only salivated
to sight of food
 Began sounding bell before and after
feeding dogs
 Eventually began to salivate to sound of bell
 Demonstrates new meaning to previously neutral
stimulus (sound of bell)
Conditioned Responses
 Reinforcement (consequences of behavior)
 Dogs learn to respond to bell because reward
follows (food)
 Strengthens response, increases likelihood of
repeating response in future
 Extinction
 Reinforcement is no longer given following the
conditioned stimulus
 Dogs not given food after sound of bell, salivation
response eventually stops
Kinds of Behavior:
Operant Behavior
 Not all behavior is a direct response to
environmental stimuli (respondent beh.)
 Nature and frequency of behavior
determined by reinforcement following
behavior
 Behavior that operates on the
environment and changes it
Operant Conditioning
 Change in consequences of response
will affect the rate at which the response
occurs
 Most of human behavior learned this way
 Behaviors that work are frequently
displayed; ineffective behaviors are not
repeated
 Personality
Schedules of
Reinforcement
 Patterns of rates of providing or
withholding reinforcers
 In everyday life, behavior is rarely
reinforced every time it occurs
Successive Approximation
 Acquiring complex behaviors
 Reinforce as behavior comes closer to
resembling the desired final behavior
 Ex: Child learning to speak
Self-Control of Behavior
 Behavior is controlled/modified by
external sources
 Nothing inside us (no internal processes)
determines behavior
 We can alter the impact of external
events through self-control
Self-Control Strategies
 Stimulus avoidance: Stay away from
certain external stimuli
 Self-administered satiation: Cure bad
habits by overdoing the behavior
 Aversive stimulation: Unpleasant
consequences
 Self-reinforcement: Reward ourselves
Applying Operant
Conditioning: Behavior
Modification
 Behavior modification: apply principles of
reinforcement to bring about behavioral
changes
 Token economy: tokens given as
reinforcement for positive behaviors, later
redeem tokens for rewards
Positive Reinforcement,
Negative Reinforcement and
Punishment
 Positive reinforcement: Strengthen response
by providing desirable rewards
 Ex: Token economy
 Negative reinforcement: Strengthen response
by removing aversive stimuli
 Ex: Prisoners-early release for good behavior
 Punishment: Use aversive stimulus following
response to decrease likelihood of behavior in
the future
Assessment in Skinner’s
Theory
 Functional Analysis
 Frequency of behavior
 Situation in which behavior occurs
 Reinforcement for behavior
 Must be evaluated to implement behavior
modification plan
Direct Observation of
Behavior
 Direct observation
 Self-reports: interviews and
questionnaires
 Physiological measurement: heart rate,
muscle tension, brain waves
 See effects of various stimuli on the body
Research: Reversal
Experimental Design
 Baseline: Subject’s normal behavior before
beginning experiment
 Conditioning: IV introduced- should produce a
change from baseline behavior
 Reversal: Remove IV influence to determine if
IV is responsible for change from baseline
behavior
 Reconditioning: Reintroduce IV provided it is
responsible for change from baseline behavior
Criticisms of Skinner
 Behavior is more than stimulus-response
(Bandura- mediating thoughts)
 Behavior is not totally determined by
externals
 Overly simplistic explanation for human
behavior
Contributions of Skinner
 Emphasis on measuring observable
behaviors, instead of unobservable
constructs (unconscious)
 Role of reinforcement in shaping
behavior
 Practical usage of theory
 Considerable research support