Theorist Skinner - Research Paper Example

Theorist Skinner Burrhus Frederic Skinner was an American behaviourist, author, psychologist, social philosopher, and inventor. He taught at Havard University as the Edgar Pierce Professor until he retired in 1974. He forms the main basis for this study that aims at discussing the personal bibliography and background of Skinner, an overview of his behavioural theory, practical applications/implications of his theory, current trends in the theory, and personal reflections on Skinner and his theory. This study will aid in developing an in-depth understanding of the theorist and present an in-depth knowledge on the impact he had on behavioural psychology. Personal biography and background of the theorist According to Bjork (1993), B.F. Skinner was brought up in Susquehanna, a small railroad town in Pennsylvania and would later grow to establish behavioural analysis and reinforcement through his Skinner box experiments. Skinner’s father, William Skinner, was a lawyer while his mother, Grace Skinner was open minded, always insisting on Skinner the need to be attentive to other people’s thoughts. Skinner was prosperous in school, as depicted by his debate with his teachers on academic matters. His success allowed him to join Hamilton College for BA in English in New York but would be faced with numerous challenges over there for lack of associations and athletic skills in the first year. Some of the challenges included being an atheist in a school that required chapel attendance, writing for the school paper and criticising the school, Phi Beta Kappa, and the faculty. There was a change in the second year when he joined a social group at Hamilton that revered intellectual values and artistry forming the platform for Skinner to create short stories that were received by the intellectual community with much praise. Skinner graduated from Hamilton in 1926 and focussed on writing for a year despite opposition from his parents and relocated to Scranton, where his parents lived but realised he had nothing to write about. He lived in Greenwich Village for a while writing newspaper articles on labour problems but after reading Behaviourism by John B. Watson, he decided to study psychology at Harvard graduating in 1930 and stayed until 1936 at Harvard doing research. He moved to the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, as a teacher where he met and married Yvonne Blue and had two daughters. The second daughter became famous for being the first child to be raised in the air crib, Skinner’s invention consisting of crib and playpen having glass sides and was air conditioned. Skinner became chairman of the department of psychology at Indiana University in 1945 but three years later was invited to Harvard where he stayed until his death on August 18, 1990 from leukemia. Skinner did research, guided the hundreds of doctorate students and wrote a lot of books going on to be the best psychology writer of his time. General overview of the theory The main assumption in Skinner’s theory is the following of laws by human behaviour and that the environment causes human behaviour. Skinner’s operant conditioning theory states that a behaviour proceeded by a positive reinforcing agent has more likelihood of being repeated while a behaviour proceeded by a negative reinforcing agent has less likelihood of being repeated. Skinner used the Skinner box to conduct experiments on animals to have a better understanding of their behaviour, and he anchored his work on Thorndike’s law effect. According to Skinner (1953), three response categories exist after a certain behaviour to which he referred to as reinforcers, punishers, and neutral operants. Neutral operants are environmental responses that have no effect on the repetition of behaviour. Reinforcers are environmental responses that augment behaviour repetition and can be negative or positive. Punishers are environmental responses limiting the possibility of behaviour repetition. Skinner used the example of a hungry rat in a Skinner box accidently knocking the lever resulting in dropping off a food pellet in the container next to the lever (Goodwin, 2008). The rats would quickly learn to knock the lever repeatedly to receive food pellets depicting positive reinforcement for their food reward. Negative reinforcement shows that removing unpleasant stimuli reinforce strengthens behaviour and was demonstrated by Skinner through subjecting a rat in the Skinner box to an electric current. The rat would have to knock the lever, and the electric current would be switched off resulting in their learning to knock the lever repeatedly to switch off the current depicting that negative reinforcement increases chances of repeating behaviour. Skinner further demonstrated through switching on the light before turning on the current, and the rats learned to press the lever after light is switched on to avoid the electric current turning on. Punishment involves reducing the possibility or repeating behaviour and can be done through application of the unpleasant stimulus or removing rewarding stimulus (Mischel, 1993). Skinner proved that punishment deterred behaviour quickly when he replaced receipt of food pellets by rats upon pushing the lever with electric shock resulting in their immediate stop of lever pushing (Goodwin, 2008). Through the experiments on rats and pigeons, Skinner was able to explain the operant conditioning theory that would later be used in varied applications and form the basis for further behavioural theory studies as depicted in the proceeding part of the study. Practical implications/applications of the theory The work of Skinner resulted in his consideration together with John B. Watson and Ivan Pavlov as the pioneers of modern behaviourism. The reason for this is their high influence on the development and the current understanding of the concept of behaviourism in psychology. Skinner’s positive reinforcement can be applied to teaching where students are offered a reward for completing their homework and ensure they repeatedly complete their homework or perform better to earn rewards. Negative reinforcement can be evidenced where students are made to pay a certain amount when they have not completed their homework and to avoid such a payment the students will ensure they have completed their homework. Another application of Skinner’s work is in clinical work focussing on chronic, severe psychiatric disorders in United States in psychotic behaviour and autism (Rachman, 1997). There are a number of applications that Skinner’s positive reinforcement has been applied including animal husbandry and training, counselling, business and industry, behavioural pharmacology, and special education. The result has been a positive impact on education and business setting among other areas of its application. Current trends or findings related to the theory According to Shwartz (1982), the same behaviours evidenced by Skinner’s experiments on rats can be reproduced in children using the reward and punishment techniques. Skinner advocated positive reinforcement rather than punishment in behaviour modification that have formed the basis for the development of behaviour analysis as a discipline. Skinner’s studies were very influential in the development of cognitive psychology and modern behaviourism, which are the current trends in the behaviourism field that was the main focus of Skinner’s work. Skinner’s behaviourist approach has been very important in the creation and development of child development theories. The trends recently have been a shift from behavioural psychology to cognitive psychology, but it is an agreed fact that behaviourism still plays a monumental role in psychology owing to the use of behaviourist methods by cognitive psychologists. Summary & personal reflections To conclude, Skinner’s operant conditioning theory formed the main basis for the understanding of human behaviour and aided in explaining learning and other human behaviour. Skinner’s influence in psychology is profound as evidenced by the application of his theory ion human learning and medical practice among other areas in psychology, as well as a basis for current psychology development. Skinner is well known for the operant conditioning theory but his studies are not limited to this theory as he wrote widely and conducted different research and experiments in the behaviourism field that were eye openers and allowed him to be one of the most revered psychologists. Having published 21 books and 180 articles that are still influential and relevant to the field of behaviourism and psychology in general, I believe Burrhus Frederic Skinner ranks as the most influential psychologist of his time. Skinner remains the most celebrated psychologist after Sigmund Freud owing to the large impact he had on psychology and especially behaviourism. References Bjork, D. (1993). B. F. Skinner: A life. New York: Basic Books. Goodwin, J. C. (2008). A History of modern psychology (3rd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons. Schwartz, B. (1982). Behaviorism, science, and human nature. New York: Norton. Mischel, W. (1993). Introduction to personality. New York: Harcourt Brace. Rachman, S. (1997). The evolution of cognitive behaviour therapy. In Science and practice of cognitive behaviour therapy (pp. 1-26). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Skinner, B. (1953). Some contributions of an experimental analysis of behavior to psychology as a whole. American Psychologist, 69-78. Read More