Emily F., Sydney, and Elena

Historical, Cultural, and Social Context  The laws of behavior consist of two main ideas: Operant Conditioning Classical Conditioning  This all started in the 1920’s, behaviorists became more influential and popular among society as their theories became more well known  One of the founders is John Watson His ideas about behaviorism would lead to others adding on

Historical, Cultural, and Social Context Continued  B.F Skinner was one of the men that added on to Watson’s ideas  Skinner’s theory of operant conditioning was based off of Thorndike’s experiment in 1905 Thorndike studied learning through animals using a puzzle box Skinner replicated this experiment, calling it “Skinner’s Box”

Skinner’s Box  A rat was placed in a box with a lever. The rat would run around the box, accidently hitting the lever causing a food pellet to drop. The rat would learn that if the lever was hit, he would receive food. ○ dc/B.%20F.%20SKINNER:%20A%20FRES H%20APPRAISAL%20(%20DAVIDSON%20FILM S%20) dc/B.%20F.%20SKINNER:%20A%20FRES H%20APPRAISAL%20(%20DAVIDSON%20FILM S%20)

Classical Conditioning  Classical conditioning refers to learning that occurs when an organism comes to associate stimuli.  Classical conditioning was introduced by a Russian physiologist named Ivan Pavlov  Pavlov did an experiment on dogs The dogs would salivate every time they heard the sound of a tuning fork

Example  Many psychologists believe that classical conditioning is the cause of phobias and post dramatic stress.  If someone learns to associate rats with the spread of infections disease and the death of a relative through classical conditioning they may develop the phobia of rats.  Similarly, if someone associates cliffs with falling and breaking their leg, they may develop post traumatic stress that is triggered when they see a cliff.

Operant Conditioning  Operant Conditioning: Behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher  A reinforcer usually increases the probability of a response recurring There are both positive and negative reinforcers  Some people believed that a person could predict and control an organism’s behavior by observing and measuring what is observable from the outside

Example  When infants learn new languages they associate their behavior with stimuli  If a infant babbles the word “book” and someone holds up a book and repeats the word back to them, they associate the book with the word they said  If this association happens multiple times, the infant will learn what the word “book” means.

Continuing Development  Operant conditioning is a continuing development theory.  Mainly infant through age 12.  Adults still make the connections.  So throughout your whole life the operant conditioning theory will be shaping how you choose to act.

Contributions and impacts on society  Operant conditioning theory is widely accepted throughout all people helping children learn.  Everyone responds to good behavior with reinforces and bad behavior with punishment.  If Skinner did not make this discovery children would learn what is acceptable in our society much more slowly.

Questions  What is operant conditioning always followed by?  In order to have classical conditioning, what is required?  Who did Skinner base his theory off of?  How are the Laws of Behavior relevant in our lives today?

Sources McLeod, S. A. "Skinner - Operant Conditioning." B.F. Skinner. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Sept Berk, Laura E. "Page 17." Infants, Children, and Adolescents. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, N. pag. Print. Law, Alan, Christos Halkiopoulos, and Christian Bryan- Zaykov. Psychology. New Jersey: Pearson Education, Print. IB Diploma. Bauer, Amy, and Christine Maracich. "Classical Conditioning." Classical Conditioning. Web. 15 Sept