Life and Works of Burrhus Frederic Skinner - Research Paper Example

?Life and Works of Burrhus Frederic Skinner Life Burrhus Frederic Skinner grew up in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania. He was born in March 20, 1904 (Bjork,2007). As a child, he was dynamic and enjoyed going outdoors. In addition, he also liked academic challenges. Together with his younger brother, their parents brought them up to be persistent. His father was a lawyer and his mother stayed at home. Perceptibly, he grew up in an intellectual and conventional household. As a youth, he was described to have difficulties in being socially accepted. One unfortunate event that happened in his life is when his brother died due to cerebral hemorrhage. Unlike any other usual adolescent, he did not actually like participating in the usual college social gatherings. Instead, he was more focused on critiquing authorities. He mainly did this through his journalism. Moreover, he proclaimed himself as a person who does not believe in God in spite of the fact that he was studying in a religiously devout school. After finishing his bachelor’s degree in English Literature, he decided that he would be a writer. He then worked for a newspaper in New York. He did not really become actualized in his first career. Skinner got inspired by the works of Ivan Pavlov and James Watson. Afterwards, he went back to school and got his masters and doctorate in psychology at Harvard. He got married with Yvonne Blue in 1936 and they had two daughters. He then worked at Indiana University’s psychology department. In 1948, his career went back to Harvard until his death in 1990. Works Skinner is known as a psychologist, author, educator, and philosopher. He published many books and journals regarding his theories. He devoted much of his life improving his researches. Lots of his experiments centered on measuring responses to various kinds of stimuli. Until his retirement, he worked on analyzing the human behavior. Skinner became famous for the air crib. It was also known as the baby tender. One of his daughters was raised using this invention. The contraption was made to alleviate Yvonne’s difficulties and worries in caring for their baby. It was fashioned with glass panels as well as with air conditioning. The air crib was invented with the aim to promote the general welfare of infants. In 1994, Skinner was inspired to make this invention when he found out that he would have a second child. In fact, the air crib was commercialized and marketed to around 300 families. It was found to be effective in soothing children and in manipulating the temperature especially during extreme weather. Furthermore, he became known for his book, Walden II. It is about a society run by behavioristic rules (Skinner, 1974). His book talks much about his theory which is called operant conditioning. This simply means that a behavior is affected by the response to that certain behavior. For instance, a child would tend to be obedient when his mother gives him candy as a reward. To concretely illustrate this concept, he devised an experiment. He utilized a special cage well-known as a “Skinner Box” (Shultz, 2012). It is otherwise called the operant conditioning box. The container has a lever that makes food pellet come out when pressed. The pellet acted as a reinforcing stimulus. When the rat accidentally pushed the bar and food came out, it repeated its behavior. Since the rat got rewarded for pressing the lever, he repeated the same action with the expectancy of having another positive feedback. After some time, the rat kept on pressing the lever until a number of pellets were piled. However, when no food pellet will come out, the rat will learn that its behavior does not result to a reward. Hence, it will learn to stop pushing the lever. Skinner termed this as extinction. Consequently, the rat’s first behavior will resurface if the reward would be returned. In addition, the schedules of reinforcement affect the learning of behavior. In his many experiments, the time and interval of giving rewards influence the rat’s performance. Skinner furthered that this expounds why certain people are into gambling. With fixed interval and variable schedules, individuals are supposing that there could be a reward next time around. In connection with the Skinner box, he also invented the cumulative recorder. This was consistent in graphically recording the rats’ responses. If rewards affect a person’s motivation, punishments are also significant in influencing behavior. Skinner termed this as aversive stimulus. For instance, the rat stopped pushing the lever after being electrocuted for it. Something that can be interpreted as unpleasant can function as a discouragement to accomplish a certain task. Negative reinforcement happens when an aversive stimulus is removed after a specific action. For example, a pain killer pill would act as a negative reinforce for someone experiencing a headache. Another concept that he introduced is called shaping (Wiener, 1996). This entails successively rewarding behaviors that are similar to the exact desired behavior. It is done in stages until the goal behavior is met. For instance, when teaching a person how to conquer his fear of dogs, he first gets rewarded for staring at a picture of a dog. Afterwards, he gets another reward for looking at a real dog. Next, he gets a reward for staying close to it. Finally, he gets reinforced when he can touch the object of his fear. Another technique that Skinner introduced in therapy is behavior modification (Moxley, 2006). It is simply done by replacing the undesirable behavior by extinguishing any reinforce that arises from it. Desirable behavior is then promoted by utilizing rewards. This system is usually done in dealing with a wide array of disorders and syndromes. A related technique is called token economy. It is commonly used in interventions in mental hospitals. Certain tokens such as cards and chips are used to reinforce positive behavior such as maintaining hygiene and docile behavior. The tokens are then exchanged for certain rewards that are effective in encouraging the maintenance of desirable behaviors. Regarding education, Skinner devised a teaching machine. The principle of the apparatus is quite similar with the Skinner box. The instrument contains some questions and is programmed to reward the learner every time he displays a correct response. In addition to facilitating learning facts, the machine can also aid in improving self-management by helping students to know how to react appropriately to the environment. His last work was on verbal behavior. He actually wrote a book about it that was first published in 1957. Unlike his past projects, this is more theoretical in nature (Skinner, 1992). The main view is that communication can be well studied through functional analysis. Skinner explained that verbal behavior is an operation of the speaker’s surroundings, experience, and inheritance. Indeed, Skinner has made a number of significant contributions. He led a colorful and productive life. His theories were greatly employed not only in psychotherapy but in education as well. His views have been studied and critiqued in different fields of expertise especially in behavioral psychology. As a behaviorist, he was successful in proving that science can account for human affairs. Reference List Bjork, D. (2007). B.f. skinner: A life. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association. Moxley, R. (2006). B.F. Skinner’s other positivistic book. Behavior and Philosophy, 34, 19-37. Skinner, B.F. (1974). About behaviourism. New York, N.Y.: Random House Inc. Schultz, D.P. (2012). Theories of personality. Stamford, C.U.: Wadsworth Publishing. Wiener, D. (1996). B.F. Skinner: Benign anarchist. New York, N.Y.: Allyn and Bacon. Read More