Download Burrhus Frederic Skinner - Bowmanville High School

Burrhus Frederic Skinner
The developer of radical behaviorism
By: Matt Miller & Alexander Skinner
• Radical Behaviorism is a philosophy developed by Skinner that underlies the
experimental analysis of behavior.
• 1. Everything that organisms do is behavior (including thinking)
• 2. All behavior is lawful, which allows itself to be experimentally studied.
"The consequences of behavior determine the probability that the
behavior will occur again" B. F. Skinner
• B.F Skinner was famous for his research on operant (behavior that
operates on the environment to produce rewarding and reinforcing
effects) conditioning (process of changing behavior by rewarding or
punishing a subjects action until associated with pleasure or distress)
Reinforcers
• Positive reinforcers are
events that reflect
positive behavior and are
strengthened by the
addition of something
such as a praise or reward.
• Negative reinforcers are
events that are considered
unpleasant and are
strengthened by the removal of
a praise or reward.
Stimuli
• A behavior followed by a reinforcing stimulus results in an increased probability of
that behavior occurring in the future.
• An aversive stimulus is the opposite of a reinforcing stimulus, something we might
find unpleasant or painful.
• A behavior followed by an aversive stimulus results in a decreased probability of the
behavior occurring in the future.
Inventions
• Skinner invented the cumulative recorder a mechanical device that recorded every
response as an upward movement of a horizontally moving line, the slope showed rate
of responding.
• In 1944 when WWII skinner sought funding for a project that involved pigeons
guiding bombs, he trained pigeons to keep pecking at a target that would hold a missile
onto target
Inventions Cont’d
• Skinner sat in on his daughters fourth grade math class one day and had a great idea,
he realized that some kids in the class were having no trouble going through everything
and some kids were struggling and that they wouldn’t get help till the next day when
the work was taken up.
• He invented a machine that would randomly present problems for students to do and
then give them feedback on their answers
Skinner Box
• Also called the operant chamber, this is a clear box with a response lever, electrified
grid, lights, loudspeaker, and a food dispenser
• Automatically detected the occurrence of behavioral response or action
• Often used for studying mice, when the mouse pushed on the response lever a food
pellet was dropped out of the dispenser, as the mouse learned of this it did it more and
more until the food was done and then it stopped