BEHAVIORISM: B.F. SKINNER Richard Allen & Rick Munoz

The Life and Times of B.F. Skinner  Born on March 20, 1904 in Susquehanna, PA  Received BA in English from Hamilton College  Received Masters and Doctorate in Psychology at Harvard

Behaviorism  Focuses on observable behavior  Behavior is explained by “stimulus response”, not on internal mental states or consciousness  Two types of conditioning: Classical and Behavioral/Operant

 Radical Behaviorism  Operant Conditioning Chamber  Verbal Behavior Skinner’s Contributions

A New Way of Thinking Radical Behaviorism

 “Radical” because of the differences between his ideas and other behaviorists  Can only scientifically study behavior, not mental processes  Didn’t take into account hypotheses  Behavior is not a result of private events, emotions or inner thoughts

Operant Conditioning  Voluntary behaviors are modified because of consequences  Behaviors are maintained  Learning occurs as the result of selection by consequences of behavior

Tools of Operant Conditioning Reinforcement; Both positive and negative. Increase the probability that the antecedent behavior will happen again. Punishment; Both positive and negative. Decreases the likelihood that the antecedent behavior will happen again. Extinction; Lack of a consequence following a behavior. Will cause the behavior to decline, eventually ending it.

Skinner Box Operant Conditioning Chamber

What is it?  Used animals (pigeons and rats)  Subject presses a bar or key which leads to the presentation of food or water (reinforcement), or shocks on the ground (punishment)  Used different schedules of reinforcement

What is the purpose?  Study of behavior in a controlled environment  How schedule of reinforcement affects responses

Video Time!!! 

Constructing Linguistic Stimuli Verbal Behavior

 Published in 1957  Extended operant conditioning to verbal behavior  Basic foundation of teaching verbal behavior as part of an Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) program

Verbal Behavior  Helps disabled children develop language through the use of  Reinforcement Imitation (Echoic) repertoire  A ‘mand’ (request for what is desired), is reinforced

Of Skinner’s Behaviorism Strengths & Weaknesses

Behaviorism  Ideas are still widely used today  Changed the way people look at things that are observable  Helpful in controlling behavior (parents and teachers)  Uses assumptions  Treat people like controllable objects  Doesn’t always work StrengthsWeaknesses

Classroom Instruction

Classroom environment/how instruction looks  The environment is very important to Skinner. So students should be arranged close to each other and there should be affective stimuli for students to use.

Target Grade Level  Radical behaviorism can be used at any grade level but is geared for use at early on in school life especially in the elementary years.

Goals for Instruction  The goals for Radical Behaviorism in use in the classroom is that it is designed to reinforce a desired behavior among students or a student in the classroom environment.

What does the Technology look like?  The technology for radical behaviorism can be very simple, e.g. just a teacher  It can be very complex, a teacher could use computers and other devices, methods to manipulate a behavior.

Simple Example  Let’s say there’s a kid named John, he is a behavior issue in the class and often makes fun of the teacher causing a massive uproar among fellow students. This makes the class unruly and difficult to teach. The teacher must act fast to correct this behavior issue.

 She can use two forms of punishment, be they positive or negative. Positive punishment, she could tell the student not to do it again, and negative punishment, she could take away the kid’s recess for like 2 weeks to correct the behavior. Thus this should stop Jon from repeating the behavior.

Bibliography    sm.html sm.html  nology.com/teachers/methods/theories/ nology.com/teachers/methods/theories/  glossary/punishment.html glossary/punishment.html  html html

Bibliography  Websites:  behaviorist/201002/the-radical-in-radical-behaviorism  Video: 