BF Skinner

Donte Gilbert

Early Life Born Burrhus Federic Skinner on

March 20, 1904 in Susquehanna,PA to Grace and William Skinner.

He lived with his younger brother Edward and parents.

His brother died at the age of 16 from cerebral hemorrage.

College Life Attended Hamilton College in

New York with dreams of being a writer he earned a BA in English Literature in 1926.

At the age of 24 Skinner enrolled in the Psychology Department at Harvard University.

There he teamed up with William Crozier to study the behavior of the “animal as a whole.”

Skinner invented the cumulative recorder, a mechanical device that recorded every response as an upward movement of a horizontally moving line.

THEORY B. F. Skinner's system is based on

operant conditioning.  The organism, while going about it's everyday activities, is in the process of “operating” on the environment.  In the course of its activities, the organism encounters a special kind of stimulus, called a reinforcing stimulus, or simply a reinforcer. 

Operant Conditioning  a model which states that when a

response is followed by a reinforcer, the result will be an increase in the probability that this response will occur again under similar conditions. 

Reinforcement Positive- a

reinforcement of the behavior that increases the chances of it happening again.

Example- Every time the class makes an A average on the test 10 more minutes is added to recess.

Negative- a reinforcement that strengthens a desired behavior by removing an undesirable one.

Example- The class as a whole does poorly on the test so recess time is shortened, and more time is added to lecturing.

Punishment A type of reinforcment which suppresses

or reduces the probability of the response it follows.

Example- A student steals from a classmate, and gets caught. The student is suspended from school for this action. The likelihood of it happening again is reduced because of the suspension.

Real World Application You have a student who struggles with reading large

passages, but is very good at reading simple sentences. One should praise the student, and let them know that the one big passage is just a lot of simple sentences put together. Through this positive reinforcement you eventually gain positive results from the student.

Focus on what they do well, and let it be the building blocks to what they are not as comfortable with.

Pros VS ConsPRO CON

Behavior modification techniques have been shown over and over to be highly effective when properly applied.

The main focus is what is done well by the student.

Behavior modification techniques must be extremely consistent for the treatment to work.

The lack of room for outside influences. (Environment and Culture)

Videos http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-

63ysqT5nu0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOyzKwYkn0U