Transcript Document
Greg and the Empty Toilet Paper Roll
Mary Cover Jones: Counterconditioning
A Trip to Duke to Hear B. F. Skinner
Walden II: A Utopian Novel
Beyond Freedom and Dignity: Skinner’s plan for
improving society
Operant Conditioning
First Generation Artificial Environment
Unidirectional Communication
Second Generation Artificial Environment
Bidirectional communication
Third Generation Artificial Environment
Synthetic environment is an identical
representation of the actual environment
Fourth Generation Artificial Environment
Synthetic environment is indistinguishable from the actual
environment and the individual is unaware that they have
entered a synthetic environment
Operant Conditioning: Shaping
Reinforcing successive approximations of the
desired response.
John Watson and the “Little Albert” Study
John Watson and the “Little Albert” Study
Procedure of the “Little Albert Study
• Albert initially showed no fear of the
white rat
• The white rat was paired with a loud
noise
• The white rat (CS) came to elicit a fear
response (CR)
• Fear generalized to similar objects such a
a fur coat
• Pavlovian conditioning may underlie
some phobias