What is operant conditioning? What uses have this theory in our lives? Since the beginning of time humans learned and taught each other in different manners. We always seek the best way to teach our children with efficacy and success. Skinner can help us understand some aspects of the learning behavior through the operant conditioning as reinforcements or punishments.
Burrhus Frederic Skinner, also known as B.F. Skinner, was born on March 20, 1904. He was born and raised in the small town of Susquehanna, Pennsylvania. As a student Skinner developed a passion for writing, he tried to become a professional writer but with little success. After that, he decided to study psychology at Harvard University. When studying at Harvard, he developed a …show more content…
His work of operant conditioning was based on the Thorndike law of effect, but he introduced a new term into this theory, which is reinforcement. The fundamental principle of operant conditioning is that if the consequences were favorable the frequency of behavior will increase. If the consequences were unfavorable the frequency of behavior will decrease.
For his studies, Skinner designed an operant chamber, also known as Skinner Box, which was similar to Thorndike box. The box has a bar that an animal, usually a rat or a pigeon, presses or pecks to release food or water as a reward. It has also a device that records those responses.
With this experiment he found out three types of responses that can follow behavior:
Neutral operants which is response from the environment that don influence the probability of a behavior being repeated.
Reinforcements which is any event that strengthens the behavior it follows.
Punishers which is an event that decreases the behavior it …show more content…
Punishment can be positive or negative too. People often confuse punishment with negative reinforcement. They are not positive and negative in the sense of good and bad, pleasant and unpleasant. They are positive and negative in terms of math, something gets added or taken away. Positive reinforcement rewards the individual by adding something; if your parents give you five dollars each time you complete your homework, you will be more likely to repeat this behavior in the future. Negative reinforcement also rewards the person, but by taking something away; taking pills to numb a back pain, or if you do not finish your homework you give five dollars to your parents. Consequently, you will complete your homework to avoid pay de five dollars. Positive Punishment delivers an adverse consequence by adding something unpleasant; approaching the thing you fear, makes your heart race and your body shake until you cannot stand it or if the rat gets out of the defined perimeter, he receives a shock. Negative punishment hurts you by taking something away; if your children break a plate they cannot use the computer for one week.
There are many problems in using punishment such as:
Punished behavior is not forgotten, its suppressed. The behavior can return when punishment is no longer available.
Punishment increase aggression, showing that aggression is a way to cope with problems.
Creates irrational fears that can generalize to undesirable behaviors.
Burrhus Frederic Skinner, also known as B.F. Skinner, was born on March 20, 1904. He was born and raised in the small town of Susquehanna, Pennsylvania. As a student Skinner developed a passion for writing, he tried to become a professional writer but with little success. After that, he decided to study psychology at Harvard University. When studying at Harvard, he developed a …show more content…
His work of operant conditioning was based on the Thorndike law of effect, but he introduced a new term into this theory, which is reinforcement. The fundamental principle of operant conditioning is that if the consequences were favorable the frequency of behavior will increase. If the consequences were unfavorable the frequency of behavior will decrease.
For his studies, Skinner designed an operant chamber, also known as Skinner Box, which was similar to Thorndike box. The box has a bar that an animal, usually a rat or a pigeon, presses or pecks to release food or water as a reward. It has also a device that records those responses.
With this experiment he found out three types of responses that can follow behavior:
Neutral operants which is response from the environment that don influence the probability of a behavior being repeated.
Reinforcements which is any event that strengthens the behavior it follows.
Punishers which is an event that decreases the behavior it …show more content…
Punishment can be positive or negative too. People often confuse punishment with negative reinforcement. They are not positive and negative in the sense of good and bad, pleasant and unpleasant. They are positive and negative in terms of math, something gets added or taken away. Positive reinforcement rewards the individual by adding something; if your parents give you five dollars each time you complete your homework, you will be more likely to repeat this behavior in the future. Negative reinforcement also rewards the person, but by taking something away; taking pills to numb a back pain, or if you do not finish your homework you give five dollars to your parents. Consequently, you will complete your homework to avoid pay de five dollars. Positive Punishment delivers an adverse consequence by adding something unpleasant; approaching the thing you fear, makes your heart race and your body shake until you cannot stand it or if the rat gets out of the defined perimeter, he receives a shock. Negative punishment hurts you by taking something away; if your children break a plate they cannot use the computer for one week.
There are many problems in using punishment such as:
Punished behavior is not forgotten, its suppressed. The behavior can return when punishment is no longer available.
Punishment increase aggression, showing that aggression is a way to cope with problems.
Creates irrational fears that can generalize to undesirable behaviors.