by: alisha mccormack

 March 20, 1904 – August 18, 1990  American psychology behaviorist  Author, inventor, social philosopher  Lifetime achievement award by the American Psychological Association

 Believed that we do have free will, but that it is more productive to study observable behavior rather than internal mental events, this is what he called operant conditioning.

 Father of Operant Conditioning  His work was based on Thorndike’s Law of Effect.  Skinner introduced a new term into the Law of Effect - Reinforcement.  Behavior which is reinforced tends to be strengthened  Behavior which is not reinforced tends to die out or weaken.  Studied operant conditioning by conducting experiments using animals which he placed in a Skinner Box which was similar to Thorndike’s puzzle box.

 Neutral operants: responses from the environment that neither increase nor decrease the probability of a behavior being repeated.  Reinforcers: Responses from the environment that increase the probability of a behavior being repeated. Reinforcers can be either positive or negative.  Punishers: Responses from the environment that decrease the likelihood of a behavior being repeated. The behavior is being weakened.

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1. Hungry rats accidently hit the lever. 2. Food drops into a container beside the lever. 3. After a few times in the box, rats immediately go toward the lever.

1.Rats in box with electrical current. 2.Accidently hit lever, which turned off current. 3.Quickly, rats learned to go straight to lever when placed in box.

1.View questions one at a time through a small window. 2.Answer on paper strip. 3.If you get the answer correct, you get a reward.

 Used educational behaviorism, particularly with student who have learning difficulties.  Also used in classroom management.

 Corporal Punishment  “Pulling cards” or losing points  Not maintaining a high GPA – kicked off team.

 Compliments  Approval  Encouragement  Affirmation  Five compliments for every one criticism.  Most teachers use this theory whether they know it or not.

 Positive reinforcement by encouraging the students to solve it in their own way.  Both students answered correctly in the end, so they would be rewarded.  Go at their own pace.  Learn by doing.

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