Background

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Burrhus Frederic Skinner was born March 20, 1904, in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania. He recieved a BA in English at Hamilton College in New York. He originally wanted to be a writer, concentrating on labor issues. After many years of writing for newspapers, and traveling, he decided to attend further schooling Harvard. Skinner got his masters in psychology in 1930 and his doctorate in 1931, and stayed there to do research until 1936 and later returned in 1948 after stints at other universities. One of his most well known works is the book, Walden II, which is a fictional account of a community run by his behaviorist principles.

"B. F. Skinner’s entire system is based on operant conditioning." (Boeree) This method focused on a second class of behaviors called "operant" behaviors. To study operant conditioning Skinner constructed a wooden box commonly refered to as the "Skinner Box". Free roaming rats were used in the boxes. When they accidentally pressed a bar they were rewarded with a small pellet of food. As time goes on the rat presses the bar more frequently to recieve the reward. Skinner was interested in the rate of responding; when responses are reinforced, their rates of occurrence increases.

More General information:

Application in classroom and Similar Settings

Skinner believed that teachers should supply immediate feedback to students- ie. not allow students to complete a complete worksheet before giving feedback The teacher should work with students on one questionat a time, not allowing students to continually make the same mistakes repeatedly . He developed this idea after seeing his daughter's fourth grade teacher "make every mistake a teacher could make" while teaching math. He proposed a method that was a step-by-step method that provided help (scaffolding) for students until they learned the concept and could apply it.

B.F. Skinner's theories of reinforcement and punishment within operant conditioning is a major topic of classroom management. Teachers and school districts determine classroom rules and what are the punishments and reinforcements that go along with breaking or obeying those rules.

A positive reinforcement is "a stimuli following an event that causes this event to occur again or speed up." (Wolfgang 272) This is where if a student does something that is pleasant, that student recieves a reward. Examples of this is where a student is given praise or a piece of candy for turning in their project on time as asked.

A negative reinforcement is "contingency removal of aversive stimuli." (Wolfgang 271) A common misconception of negative reinforcement is the same as punishment. However, negative reinforcement is where a student has something that is unpleasant, taken away from them for doing something good. Examples of this would be to give the student a "no homework" pass or take away a day of a week long detention for good behavior.

A punishment is "a consequence following a behavior that decreases the likelihood of the behavior occuring again." (Wolfgang 272) This occurs when a student has done something bad like break a classroom rule or social standard. Thus one of two things can happen. Either an unpleasant stimuli is given to the student such as an extra essay assignment, or a pleasant stimuli is taken away from a student such as taking away Preferred Activity Time or removing their chair.

It is up to much debate among the methods of classroom management on which should be given. It is ultimately up to the teacher and the situation to choose what outcome will work best to improve the student's behavior and make sure the class can run as an efficient learning environment.

Critics and Their Rationale

A major complaint of many critics is that all of Skinner's experiments were done on animals and allow no room for independent decision making, that all men are equal in their ability to think and to respond. Critica also contend that when a stimulus is discontinued that old behaviors will occur. No change really takes place.

B.F. Skinner and Ayn Rand

Signed Life Experiences, Testimonies, and Stories

I don't understand where thinking for ones self fits into Skinner's theories. All people do not respond to the same situation in similar ways. We all, simply, do not like the same things or react the same way . If Skinner's ideas work , every teacher could have a perfect classroom where unlimited learning takes place. Not going to happen.-N. Meeker

If any psychologist's ideas worked every time for every person, there would be a perfect classroom all of the time. Every answer about ourselves would be answered. However, that is not the case. Psychology is not about strong beliefs but ideas. They can build upon each other or negate each other. Skinner's ideas could work for some but not others. Same can be said about any other psychologist. This is why we learn the different theories. - John Nicholas Janowiak

Skinner's ideas provide a good basis on how the human mind works. Humans react a certain way to different stimuli. Our brains learn through experience and observation. We eventually learn to seek and explore certain things due to our positive experiences because they have been reinforced. We stray away and avoid other things because we have had negative experiences and have been punished for them. The school setting trains us in that it mimics real life. Society has its rewards and punishments. They are based by rules and common sense in order to help every common man. School prepares students to this type of system so they can adapt to this type of society. - John N. Janowiak

References and Other Links of Interest

Boeree, C. G. Personality Theories - B.F. Skinner. 1998. http://www.ship.edu/~cgboeree/skinner.html

Wolfgang, Charles H. Behavioral Analysis Model (Glossary definitions). Solving Discipline and Classroom Management Problems, 5th edition. p.21-49. Wiley/ Jossey-Bass Education, 2001.