Skinner - Operant Conditioning
By the 1920s
John B. Watson had left academic psychology and other behaviorists were becoming influential, proposing new forms of
learning other than classical conditioning.
Perhaps the
most important of these was Burrhus Frederic Skinner. Although, for
obvious reasons he is more commonly known as B.F. Skinner.
Skinner's
views were slightly less extreme than those of Watson. Skinner believed
that we do have such a thing as a mind, but that it is simply more productive
to study observable behavior rather than internal mental events.
Skinner believed that the best way to
understand behavior is to look at the causes of an action and its consequences.
He called this approach operant conditioning.
Skinner's
theory of operant conditioning was based on the work of Thorndike (1905). Edward Thorndike studied
learning in animals using a puzzle box to propose the theory known as the 'Law
of Effect'.
BF Skinner: Operant Conditioning
Skinner is
regarded as the father of Operant Conditioning, but 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 repeated (i.e.
strengthened); behavior which is not reinforced tends to die out-or be
extinguished (i.e. weakened).
Skinner
(1948) studied operant conditioning by conducting experiments using animals
which he placed in a “Skinner Box” which was similar to Thorndike’s
puzzle box.
B.F. Skinner
(1938)coined the term operant conditioning; it means roughly changing of
behavior by the use of reinforcement which is given after the desired response.
Skinner identified three types of responses or operant that can follow
behavior.
Skinner
coined the term operant conditioning; it means roughly changing of behavior by
the use of reinforcement which is given after the desired response. Skinner
identified three types of responses or operant that can follow behavior.
• 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:
Response from the environment that decrease the likelihood of a behavior being
repeated. Punishment weakens behavior.
We can all
think of examples of how our own behavior has been affected by reinforcers and
punishers. As a child you probably tried out a number of behaviors and learnt
from their consequences.
For example,
if when you were younger you tried smoking at school, and the chief consequence
was that you got in with the crowd you always wanted to hang out with, you
would have been positively reinforced (i.e. rewarded) and would be likely to
repeat the behavior. If, however, the main consequence was that you were
caught, caned, suspended from school and your parents became involved you would
most certainly have been punished, and you would consequently be much less
likely to smoke now.
Reinforcement (strengthens behavior)
Skinner
showed how positive reinforcement worked by placing a hungry rat in his
Skinner box. The box contained a lever in the side and as the rat moved about
the box it would accidentally knock the lever. Immediately it did so a food
pellet would drop into a container next to the lever. The rats quickly learned
to go straight to the lever after a few times of being put in the box. The
consequence of receiving food if they pressed the lever ensured that they would
repeat the action again and again.
Positive
reinforcement strengthens a behavior by providing a consequence an
individual finds rewarding. For example, if your teacher gives you £5 each time
you complete your homework (i.e. a reward) you are more likely to repeat this
behavior in the future, thus strengthening the behavior of completing your
homework.
The removal
of an unpleasant reinforcer can also strengthen behavior. This is known as Negative
Reinforcement because it is the removal of an adverse stimulus which
is ‘rewarding’ to the animal. Negative reinforcement strengthens behavior
because it stops or removes an unpleasant experience.
For example,
if you do not complete your homework you give your teacher £5. You will
complete your homework to avoid paying £5, thus strengthening the behavior of
completing your homework.
Skinner showed how negative
reinforcement worked by placing a rat in his Skinner box and then subjecting it to
an unpleasant electric current which caused it some discomfort. As the rat
moved about the box it would accidentally knock the lever. Immediately it did
so the electric current would be switched off. The rats quickly learned to go
straight to the lever after a few times of being put in the box. The
consequence of escaping the electric current ensured that they would
repeat the action again and again.
In fact
Skinner even taught the rats to avoid the electric current by turning on
a light just before the electric current came on. The rats soon learned to
press the lever when the light came on because they knew that this would stop
the electric current being switched on.
These two
learned responses are known as Escape Learning and Avoidance Learning.
Punishment (weakens behavior)
Punishment
is defined as the opposite of reinforcement since it is designed to weaken or
eliminate a response rather than increase it. Like reinforcement, punishment
can work either by directly applying an unpleasant stimulus like a shock after
a response or by removing a potentially rewarding stimulus, for instance,
deducting someone’s pocket money to punish undesirable behavior.
Note: It is not always easy to
distinguish between punishment and negative reinforcement.
Operant Conditioning Summary
Looking at Skinner's
classic studies on pigeons’ behavior we can identify some of the major
assumptions of behaviorists approach.
• Psychology
should be seen as a science, to be studied in a scientific manner.
Skinner's study of behavior in rats was conducted under carefully controlled
laboratory conditions.
•
behaviorism is primarily concerned with observable behavior, as opposed
to internal events like thinking and emotion. Note that Skinner did not say
that the rats learnt to press a lever because they wanted food. He instead
concentrated on describing the easily observed behavior that the rats acquired.
• The major
influence on human behavior is learning from our environment. In the
Skinner study, because food followed a particular behavior the rats learned to
repeat that behavior, e.g. classical and operant conditioning.
• There is little
difference between the learning that takes place in humans and that in other
animals. Therefore research (e.g. classical conditioning) can be carried
out on animals (Pavlov’s dogs) as well as on humans (Little Albert). Skinner
proposed that the way humans learn behavior is much the same as the way the
rats learned to press a lever.
So, if your
layperson's idea of psychology has always been of people in laboratories
wearing white coats and watching hapless rats try to negotiate mazes in order
to get to their dinner, then you are probably thinking of behavioral
psychology.
Behaviorism and its offshoots tend to be among the most
scientific of the psychological perspectives. The emphasis of behavioral
psychology is on how we learn to behave in certain ways. We are all constantly
learning new behaviors and how to modify our existing behavior. Behavioral
psychology is the psychological approach that focuses on how this learning
takes place.
References
Skinner, B.
F. (1938). The behavior of Organisms: An Experimental Analysis. New
York: Appleton-Century
Skinner, B.
F. (1948). 'Superstition' in the pigeon.
Journal of Experimental Psychology, 38, 168-172.
Thorndike,
E. L. (1905). The elements of psychology. New York: A. G. Seiler.
How to cite this article:
McLeod, S.
A. (2007). B.F. Skinner | Operant Conditioning.Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html
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