Download BF Skinner Behaviorism

Burrhus Frederic Skinner was born on March 20, 1904, in the
small Pennsylvania town of Susquehanna. His father was a
lawyer, and his mother a strong and intelligent housewife.
 Burrhus was an active, out-going boy who loved the
outdoors and building things, and actually enjoyed
school. His life was not without its tragedies, however. In
particular, his brother died at the age of 16 of a cerebral
aneurysm.
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Burrhus received his BA in English from Hamilton College in
upstate New York. He didn’t fit in very well, and that’s why he
couldn’t enjoy the parties or football games. He wrote
school papers, including articles critical of the school, the
faculty, and even Phi Beta Kappa! To top it off, he was an
atheist -- in a school that required daily chapel attendance.
He first wanted to be a writer and he did try it, he wrote some
poems and short stories. When he graduated, he built a
study in his parents’ attic to concentrate, but it just wasn’t
working for him.
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Also in that year, he moved
to Minneapolis to teach at
the University of
Minnesota. There he met
and soon married Yvonne
Blue. They had two
daughters, the second of
which became famous as
the first infant to be raised in
one of Skinner’s inventions,
the air crib. Although it was
nothing more than
a combination crib and
playpen with glass sides and
air conditioning, it looked
too much like keeping a
baby in an aquarium to
catch on.
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In 1945, he became the chairman of the psychology
department at Indiana University. In 1948, he was invited to
come to Harvard, where he remained for the rest of his
life. He was a very active man, doing research and guiding
hundreds of doctoral candidates as well as writing many
books. While not successful as a writer of fiction and poetry,
he became one of our best psychology writers, including the
book Walden II, which is a fictional account of a community
run by his behaviorist principles.
August 18, 1990, B. F. Skinner died of leukemia after
becoming perhaps the most celebrated psychologist since
Sigmund Freud.
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“When we decided to have another child, my wife and I felt
that it was time to apply a little labor-saving invention and
design to the problems of the nursery. We began by going
over the disheartening schedule of the young mother, step
by step. We asked only one question: Is this practice
important for the physical and psychological health of the
baby? When it was not, we marked it for elimination. Then the
"gadgeteering" began.” (Skinner)
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Skinner build the air crib
for his second child that
was named Deborah. It
was made of safety
front glass counterheight crib/changing
table, and climate- and
humidity-control, the
Baby Tender itself was
awesome. The idea was
a crib that wasn't a
cage, but a baby-sized
room.
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Charles Darwin was an English naturalist who realized that all
species of life have evolved over time from common
ancestors, and published compelling evidence to that effect.
He proposed that this branching pattern of evolution resulted
from a process that he called natural selection.
Ivan Pavlov was a Russian, and later Soviet, physiologist,
psychologist, and physician. Pavlov is widely known for first
describing the phenomenon of classical conditioning.
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John Watson was an American psychologist who established the
psychological school of behaviorism, after doing research on animal
behavior. He also conducted the controversial "Little Albert" experiment.
Later he went on from psychology to become a popular author on childrearing, and an acclaimed contributor to the advertising industry.
Edward Lee Thorndike was an American psychologist who spent nearly his
entire career at Teachers College, Columbia University. His work on animal
behavior and the learning process led to the theory of connectionism and
helped lay the scientific foundation for modern educational psychology. He
also worked on solving industrial problems, such as employee exams and
testing. He was a member of the board of the Psychological Corporation,
and served as president of the American Psychological Association in 1912.
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Is the assumption that humans and animals can be
determine by reinforcement. They can acquire
new skills by classical or operant conditioning
depending of each specie. If the action has a
positive outcome the organism will continue to
repeat this behavior. If it is a negative outcome the
organism will less repeat the behavior.
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It describes the effect of the consequences of a
particular behavior on the future occurrence of
that behavior.
There are four types of Operant Conditioning:
Positive Reinforcement, Negative Reinforcement,
Punishment, and Extinction. Both Positive and
Negative Reinforcement strengthen behavior while
both Punishment and Extinction weaken behavior.
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Is a particular behavior is strengthened by the
consequence of experiencing a positive condition.
For example: A hungry rat presses a bar in its cage
and receives food. The food is a positive condition
for the hungry rat. The rat presses the bar again,
and again receives food. The rat's behavior of
pressing the bar is strengthened by the
consequence of receiving food.
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Is a particular behavior is strengthened by the consequence
of stopping or avoiding a negative condition.
For example: A rat is placed in a cage and immediately
receives a mild electrical shock on its feet. The shock is a
negative condition for the rat. The rat presses a bar and the
shock stops. The rat receives another shock, presses the bar
again, and again the shock stops. The rat's behavior of
pressing the bar is strengthened by the consequence of
stopping the shock.
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Is a particular behavior is weakened by the consequence of
not experiencing a positive condition or stopping a negative
condition.
For example: A rat presses a bar in its cage and nothing
happens. Neither a positive or a negative condition exists for
the rat. The rat presses the bar again and again nothing
happens. The rat's behavior of pressing the bar is weakened
by the consequence of not experiencing anything positive or
stopping anything negative.
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Is a particular behavior which is weakened by the
consequence of experiencing a negative condition.
For example: A rat presses a bar in its cage and receives a
mild electrical shock on its feet. The shock is a negative
condition for the rat. The rat presses the bar again and again
receives a shock. The rat's behavior of pressing the bar is
weakened by the consequence of receiving a shock.
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The following questions can help in determining whether
operant conditioning has occurred.
A. What behavior in the example was increased or decreased?
 B. Was the behavior increased (if yes, the process has the be either
positive or negative reinforcement), or decreased (if the behavior
was decreased the process is either response cost or punishment).
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C. What was the consequence / stimulus that
followed the behavior in the example?
D. Was the consequence / stimulus added or
removed? If added the process was either positive
reinforcement or punishment. If it was subtracted,
the process was either negative reinforcement or
response cost.
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Other types of response can be measured nose
poking at a moving panel, or hopping on a treadle
both often used when testing birds rather than rats.
And of course all kinds of discriminative stimuli may
be used.
http://www.vidoemo.com/yvideo.php?i=SV9jdEpxcWuRpamxySEE&operantconditioning
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A Skinner box typically contains one or more levers which an
animal can press, one or more stimulus lights and one or more
places in which reinforcers like food can be delivered. The
animal's presses, on the levers it can be detected and
recorded and a contingency between these presses, the
state of the stimulus lights and the delivery of reinforcement
can be set up, all automatically. It deliver punishers like
electric shock through the floor of the chamber.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cl7jr9EVcjI&featu
re=related
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The variables of which human behavior is a
function lie in the environment. We distinguish
between (1) the selective action of that
environment during the evolution of the species,
(2) its effect in shaping and maintaining the
repertoire of behavior which converts each
member of the species into a person, and (3) its
role as the occasion upon which behavior
occurs. Cognitive psychologists study these
relations between organism and environment,
but they seldom deal with them directly. Instead
they invent internal surrogates which become
the subject matter of their science.
I did not direct my life. I didn't design it. I never
made decisions. Things always came up and made
them for me. That's what life is.
Education is what survives when what has been
learned has been forgotten.
The real problem is not whether machines think but
whether men do.
Better contraceptives will control population only if
people will use them. A nuclear holocaust can be
prevented only if the conditions under which nations
make war can be changed. The environment will
continue to deteriorate until pollution practices are
abandoned. We need to make vast changes in
human behavior.
Skinner, Beyond Freedom and Dignity (1971)
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He emphasized that he had come to Watson through Russell, and he did not
read Russell’s sustained analysis of Watson’s behaviorism (1925) until early in
1928. Daniel Bjork, b.f. skinner, a life, p. 61.
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http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/skinner.html
http://www.vidoemo.com/yvideo.php?i=SV9jdEpxcWuRpamxySEE&oper
ant-conditioning
http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/behsys/operant.html
http://genetics.biozentrum.uniwuerzburg.de/behavior//learning/Skinner
Box.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cl7jr9EVcjI&feature=related
http://www3.niu.edu/acad/psych/Millis/History/2003/cogrev_skinner.htm
http://daddytypes.com/2006/07/25/the_aircrib_bf_skinners_babyinabox.
php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Thorndike
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_B._Watson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Pavlov
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Darwin
http://skeptically.org/skinner/id9.html