B.F. Skinner (1904-1990) focused on observable behavior and developed the principles of operant conditioning, emphasizing reinforcement's role in increasing behavior likelihood. He posited that behavior is shaped by environmental contingencies, while inner states like drives do not determine behavior. Skinner's work underscored that human behavior is complex but can be understood and modified through controlled reinforcement methods.

2. B.F. Skinner
(1904-1990)
Predetermined, lawful, and
orderly . A product of past
reinforcements.
•1925: Hamilton College.
•NY: degree in English, no
courses in psychology
Read about Pavlov’s and
Watson’s experimental work
•1931: Ph.D. from Harvard.

3. Dealt only with observable behavior
The task of scientific inquiry:
• avoids speculations about hypothetical
constructs and concentrates almost
exclusively on observable behavior.
• psychology must deal with the control and
prediction of behavior and that behavior-not
introspection, consciousness, or the mind-is
the basic data of scientific psychology.

4. Scientific Behaviorism
 Philosophy of Science
Skinner believed that, because the purpose of
science is to predict and control, psychologists
should be concerned with determining the
conditions under which human behavior
occurs so that they can predict and control it.

5.  Characteristics of Science
Skinner held that science has three principle
characteristics:
 (1) its findings are cumulative,
 (2) it rests on an attitude that values empirical
observation, and
(3) it searchers for order and lawful
relationships.

6.  A. Classical Conditionin
 a neutral (conditioned) stimulus is paired
with an unconditioned stimulus until it is
capable of bringing about a previously
unconditioned response, now called the
conditioned response.

7. B. F. Skinner - Operant conditioning
Watson, Pavlov - Respondent behavior: elicited by
specific observable stimulus

8.  reinforcement is used to increase the
probability that a given behavior will recur.
Three factors are essential in operant
conditioning: (1) the antecedent, or
environment in which behavior takes place;
 (2) the behavior, or response; and
 (3) the consequence that follows the behavior.

9.  Generalization
 Discrimination

10.  Reinforcers
 Non-reinforcers
 Positive reinforcements
 Negative reinforcements
 Primary reinforcements
 Secondary Reinforcements

11. (1) fixed-ratio, on which the organism is
reinforced intermittently according to the
number of responses it makes;
(2) (2) variable-ratio, on which the organism is
reinforced after an average of a predetermined
number of responses;

12.  (3) fixed-interval, on which the organism is
reinforced for the first response following a
designated period of time; and
 (4) variable interval, on which the organism is
reinforced after the lapse of varied periods of
time

13.  Punishment does not teach appropriate
behaviors
 Must be delivered immediately &
consistently
 May result in negative side effects
 Undesirable behaviors may be learned
through modeling (aggression)
 May create negative emotions (anxiety &
fear)

14.  A. Natural Selection
As a species, our behavior is shaped by the
contingencies of survival; that is, those
behaviors (e.g., sex and aggression) that were
beneficial to the human species tended to
survive, whereas those that did not tended to
drop out.

15.  Cultural Evolution
Those societies that evolved certain cultural
practices (e.g. tool making and language)
tended to survive.

16.  Cultural Evolution
 Those societies that evolved certain cultural
practices (e.g. tool making and language)
tended to survive.

17.  Inner States
Skinner recognized the existence of such inner
states as drives and self-awareness, but he
rejected the notion that they can explain
behavior. To Skinner, drives refer to the effects
of deprivation and satiation and thus are
related to the probability of certain behaviors,
but they are not the causes of behavior.

18.  Complex Behavior
Human behavior is subject to the same
principles of operant conditioning as simple
animal behavior, but it is much more complex
and difficult to predict or control.

19.  Control of Human Behavior
Ultimately, all of a person's behavior is
controlled by the environment. Societies
exercise control over their members through
laws, rules, and customs that transcend any
one person's means of countercontrol.

20.  (1) operant conditioning, including positive
and negative reinforcement and punishment;
(2) describing contingencies, or using language
to inform people of the consequence of their
behaviors; (3) deprivation and satiation,
techniques that increase the likelihood that
people will behave in a certain way; and (4)
physical restraint, including the jailing of
criminals.

21.  (1) physical restraint,
 (2) physical aids, such as tools;
 (3) changing environmental stimuli;
 (4) arranging the environment to allow escape
from aversive stimuli;
 (5) drugs; and
 (6) doing something else.

22.  A. Counteracting Strategies
People can counteract excessive social control
by (1) escaping from it,
(2) revolting against it, or (3) passively resisting
it.

23.  B. Inappropriate Behaviors
Inappropriate behaviors follow from self-
defeating techniques of counteracting social
control or from unsuccessful attempts at self-
control.

24.  operant conditioning principles to shape
behavior in a therapeutic setting. Behavior
therapists play an active role in the treatment
process, using behavior modification
techniques and pointing out the positive
consequences of some behaviors and the
aversive effects of others.


25. “All we need to know in order to
describe and explain behavior
is this: actions followed by
good outcomes are likely to
recur , and actions followed by
bad outcomes are less likely to
recur.” (Skinner, 1953)

26.  Successive approximation/shaping = reinforcing
behaviors as they come to approximate the desired
behavior
 Superstitious Behavior = when persistent
behaviors are reinforced coincidentally rather
than functionally
 Self-control of behavior
 Stimulus avoidance
 Self-administered satiation
 Aversive stimulation
 Self-reinforcement