1. B.F. Skinner: The Behavioral Approach

2. Basic Premise  Behavior can be controlled by consequences- type of reinforcement following the behavior

3. Kinds of Behavior : Respondent and Operant  Respondent behavior: responses made to/elicited by specific environmental stimuli  Ex: Reflexes (knee jerk)  Depends on reinforcement, directly related to physical stimulus  Conditioning: Higher level respondent behavior  Learning to substitute one stimulus for another

4. Respondent Behavior and Conditioning  Ivan Pavlov: Classical conditioning  Dogs salivate to neutral stimulus (sound of owner’s feet) when previously only salivated to sight of food  Began sounding bell before and after feeding dogs  Eventually began to salivate to sound of bell  Demonstrates new meaning to previously neutral stimulus (sound of bell)

5. Conditioned Responses  Reinforcement (consequences of behavior)  Dogs learn to respond to bell because reward follows (food)  Strengthens response, increases likelihood of repeating response in future  Extinction  Reinforcement is no longer given following the conditioned stimulus  Dogs not given food after sound of bell, salivation response eventually stops

6. Kinds of Behavior: Operant Behavior  Not all behavior is a direct response to environmental stimuli (respondent beh.)  Nature and frequency of behavior determined by reinforcement following behavior  Behavior that operates on the environment and changes it

7. Operant Conditioning  Change in consequences of response will affect the rate at which the response occurs  Most of human behavior learned this way  Behaviors that work are frequently displayed; ineffective behaviors are not repeated  Personality

8. Schedules of Reinforcement  Patterns of rates of providing or withholding reinforcers  In everyday life, behavior is rarely reinforced every time it occurs

9. Successive Approximation  Acquiring complex behaviors  Reinforce as behavior comes closer to resembling the desired final behavior  Ex: Child learning to speak

10. Self-Control of Behavior  Behavior is controlled/modified by external sources  Nothing inside us (no internal processes) determines behavior  We can alter the impact of external events through self-control

11. Self-Control Strategies  Stimulus avoidance: Stay away from certain external stimuli  Self-administered satiation: Cure bad habits by overdoing the behavior  Aversive stimulation: Unpleasant consequences  Self-reinforcement: Reward ourselves

12. Applying Operant Conditioning: Behavior Modification  Behavior modification: apply principles of reinforcement to bring about behavioral changes  Token economy: tokens given as reinforcement for positive behaviors, later redeem tokens for rewards

13. Positive Reinforcement, Negative Reinforcement and Punishment  Positive reinforcement: Strengthen response by providing desirable rewards  Ex: Token economy  Negative reinforcement: Strengthen response by removing aversive stimuli  Ex: Prisoners-early release for good behavior  Punishment: Use aversive stimulus following response to decrease likelihood of behavior in the future

14. Assessment in Skinner’s Theory  Functional Analysis  Frequency of behavior  Situation in which behavior occurs  Reinforcement for behavior  Must be evaluated to implement behavior modification plan

15. Direct Observation of Behavior  Direct observation  Self-reports: interviews and questionnaires  Physiological measurement: heart rate, muscle tension, brain waves  See effects of various stimuli on the body

16. Research: Reversal Experimental Design  Baseline: Subject’s normal behavior before beginning experiment  Conditioning: IV introduced- should produce a change from baseline behavior  Reversal: Remove IV influence to determine if IV is responsible for change from baseline behavior  Reconditioning: Reintroduce IV provided it is responsible for change from baseline behavior

17. Criticisms of Skinner  Behavior is more than stimulus-response (Bandura- mediating thoughts)  Behavior is not totally determined by externals  Overly simplistic explanation for human behavior

18. Contributions of Skinner  Emphasis on measuring observable behaviors, instead of unobservable constructs (unconscious)  Role of reinforcement in shaping behavior  Practical usage of theory  Considerable research support