Page 32 - History of Psychology

Behaviorism

Skinner

Burrhus Frederic Skinner (1904–1990) was born in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania,
into a warm, stable, middle-class family. Skinner earned his doctorate in
psychology from Harvard in 1931, having previously been interested in literature.
In addition to his prolific research notes and influence on neobehavioral studies,
Skinner also popularized behavioristic principles through novels and various
studies. Behavior for Skinner is the subject of environmental determination. If the
environment is controlled, then behavior is also controlled. Skinner's research
base is operant behavior. Skinner clearly demonstrated the power of
reinforcement by showing that the average level of characteristic response was
obtained from a particular schedule of reinforcement.

Operant Behavior
Skinner called operant behavior because it operates in such an environment to
produce consequences. Unlike respondent behavior, which is elicited by known
stimuli, operant behavior is emitted only by the organism. It's not that operant
behavior isn't caused but that the cause isn't important. An important aspect of
operant behavior is that it is controlled by its consequences. The Skinner
procedure is to allow animals to respond freely in the experimental chamber
(called the Skinner box) and to record the effect of reinforcement on response
rates. For example, the lever-push response may occur only 2 or 3 times per
minute before reinforcement and 30 or 40 times per minute when gain is
generated. Response rate, then, is Skinner's main dependent variable. Based on
this work, several reinforcement schedules were identified. This includes variable
interval schedules, such as a teacher calling students in class. Not knowing when
they will be called (variable interval), students must keep working on assignments
in order to get reinforcement. Conversely, there are also fixed interval schedules,
such as how students behave towards the end of a class period. Have you ever
noticed that in a class that always runs until the end of the period students close

their books and start to get nervous before being dismissed? After a period of no
opportunity for reinforcement, behavioral confusion comes just before and at
fixed intervals. Apart from time intervals, schedules can be understood as the
ratio of behavior to reinforcement. For example, when you use a vending machine,
you know how many quarters to spend before you get your food—that is, the ratio
between behavior (putting a quarter) and getting your reward is fixed, so you're
less likely to do it. below or above the response. And finally, there are variable
ratios—like slot machines. In this case, you don't know how many quarters you
need to enter before payment, and such behavior will be repeated frequently.

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