This was different from the Pavlovian theory since the rat's response was not a respondent behavior but an operant behavior.
Skinner does not reject that the subjects learn the behavior. In Skinner's box, rats learn that pressing the bar gets them food. However, this is different from Pavlov's classical conditioning where the dog salivates for food by associating the stimuli (the bell, the sight of food, or the sound of the attendant) with the actual eating. Skinner's operant conditioning occurs because rats are rewarded for pressing the bar. In Skinner's experiment, there is no stimulus associated with the bar in the box. The rat's behavior is spontaneous. By spontaneously pressing the bar and getting the food, however, the rat learns the consequences of it. In this experiment, the consequence is the delivery of food which serves as reinforcement. In Pavlov's theory, the external environment exerts little influence on the reflexive behavior of the dog's organism, whereas in Skinner's experiment, behavior is controlled by its consequences conditioned by the environment.
Skinner theorized that behaviors were controlled by consequences such as reinforcement and punishment. Both the reinforcement and punishment could be positive or negative. For instance, in Skinner's box, positive reinforcement would be giving something pleasant (e.g. food), while positive punishment would be giving something unpleasant (e.g. electrocuting the rat). Negative reinforcement would be taking away something unpleasant (stopping the electric shock), whereas the negative punishment would be taking away something pleasant (taking away food). However, Skinner had a negative view of the punishments. Punishments, he believed, could not yield lasting changes in unwanted behavior. They would lead to unwanted side effects such as anxiety and anger toward the punisher, or may lead to avoidant behavior such as lying. Skinner was in favor reinforcements. He believed that his own...
Yes, rote behavior might require direct reinforcement. But "stimuli play a cognitive role as signals to the organism, leading to the formation of "cognitive maps" and to "latent learning" in the absence of reinforcement." For example, a child may learn how to kick a ball and receive praise from a parent, but the child honing his or her skill later in life is not merely seeking praise, but has
Personality Theories in Psychology To the layperson, the term personality is a generic descriptor for an individual's traits. However, personality has a more specific meaning to psychologists. According to Dan McAdams, "Personality psychology is the scientific study of the whole person" (McAdams, 2006, p.12, para.1). While different psychologists and their theories have become well-known enough to be referenced in casual conversation, there is still some confusion among laypeople about personality
Tom Shulich ("Coltish Hum") A Critical Comparison of Behavior Therapy and Rational-Emotive Therapy In this paper, I consider the benefits and drawbacks of behavior therapy and the cognitive therapy. These are talking therapies that now have over a half-century of application in clinical settings and are still used today in conjunction with, or as an alternative to, drug treatments of psychological disorders. I conclude that these therapies are still useful, though each
. Theorist � B.F. Skinnera. OverviewTo begin, B.F. Skinner is one of my favorite theorists due to his notion of behaviorism. The theory of B.F. Skinner is based upon the idea that learning is a function of change in overt behavior. Changes in behavior are the result of an individual's response to events stimuli that occur in the environment. Essentially an individual can be conditioned based on patterns of reward
Generally, it works by either giving a reward for an encouraged behavior, or taking something away for an undesirable behavior. By doing this, the patient often increases the good behaviors and uses the bad behaviors less often, although this conditioning may take awhile if the rewards and removals are not sufficient to entice the patient into doing better. Existentialism is important to discuss here as well, and is often seen
As our research demonstrates, there is a close correlation between the presence of emotional disorder and the encounter of negative life circumstances. These are circumstances which can place an individual in a social work context, where he or she must address both personality disorder and practical living obstacles. Sensitivity to Cultural Differences: Cultural differences are also significant in the way that a social worker channels specific aspects of the treatment. For
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