Read the entire attached PowerPoint. Think and write your thoughts and feelings about the PowerPoint.  (MINIMUM OF 200 WORDS) 

B.F. Skinner’s
Operant
Conditioning

Biographical information
B.F.Skinner was born Mar. 20, 1904 and died Aug. 18, 1990.
Skinner originally wanted to be a writer, attending Hamilton College.
Skinner later would graduate with a doctorate from Harvard.

Skinner was mentored as a writer by the great American poet, Robert Frost.
When he decided that he had little talent as a writer, he enrolled in the psychology graduate program at Harvard University, from which he graduated in 1931 with a Ph.D.
He remained at Harvard for five more years in a fellowship program.
2

While at Harvard, Skinner became interested in studying human behavior in an objective way.
Influenced by E.L. Thorndike, Skinner believed that consequences of behavior influenced behavior.
This idea was first called “instrumental conditioning,” but later renamed “operant conditioning” by Skinner.
The premise of this is known as the Law of Effect, developed by Thorndike and expounded by Skinner.
Skinner did much of his initial research on animals, developing what is known as the “Skinner Box.”

Skinner took a teaching position at the University of Minnesota in 1936.
While there, he wrote a book entitled, “The Behavior of Organisms: An Experimental Analysis.”
This was Skinner’s foundational work on operant conditioning and its application to human and animal behavior.
Skinner believed that human and animal behavior could be operated upon by means of reward or punishment.
The theory can be described as the process by which an organism learns from its physical environment.
The Law of Effect can be described this way:
If a behavior is followed by a better or more satisfying state of affairs, the behavior is more likely to be done again later in a similar situation.
If a behavior is followed by a worse or lesser satisfying state of affairs, the behavior is less likely to be done again later.
An example of a “Skinner Box” is in the next slide.
3

If the rat touched the lever when the light was red, he received no food but was shocked by the electric grid.
If the rat touched the lever when the light was green, he received food but no shock.
If the rat touched the lever when a certain sound was emitted by the speaker, no
4

Operant conditioning has a unique terminology.
Reinforcement increases behavior and punishment decreases behavior.
Positive reinforcement is the encouragement of a behavior by receiving that which is wanted.
Negative reinforcement is encouragement of a behavior by the removal of something unwanted.
Extinction is withholding reinforcement of a previously reinforced response.
Positive punishment is when a behavior is followed by the delivery of a negative stimulus.
Negative punishment is when a behavior is followed by the removal of a positive stimulus.

An example of positive reinforcement is when your child is given praise because of him/her bringing home good grades.
If the child likes the praise, it increases the desire to continue bringing home good grades.
The praise stimulates the behavior of good studying.
An example of negative reinforcement is telling a student he will have no homework if he reads the first chapter of a book during class.
The homework is viewed as a negative by the student.
By reading the chapter, something negative is removed and the behavior of reading the chapter will be increased.
An example of extinction is not giving attention to a child when they throw a tantrum, after having given attention whenever a tantrum had previously received attention.
The child wants attention and feels the only way to get attention is to throw a tantrum because, previously, that is how attention was received.
When the attention is removed, it is less likely the behavior will be repeated and eventually it will become extinct.
An example of a positive punishment is when a hot stove is touched and pain is produced to punish that behavior.
The pain is added to the child, which is the idea of being positive.
The pain makes the likelihood of the child touching a hot stove again less likely.
An example of negative punishment is a child has his/her phone taken away because bad grades were brought home.
The phone is removed because of the bad grades being brought home.
If the child values the phone, this will increase the likelihood of study increasing in the future because the phone will not be taken away.
5

In education, the teacher has to determine what a student values or dislikes.
To increase the likelihood of behaviors that increase learning, what is valued can be rewarded or removed.
What is disliked can be added or removed also.
Operant conditioning is very valuable when it comes to behavior issues.
One method of addressing certain behaviors is shaping.

An example of operant conditioning being used in a classroom setting:
Points are given when work is completed or certain behaviors that are good are modeled.
The points add up over a certain time period (week, grading period, etc.).
At the end of the time period, those points can be redeemed for certain items (bookmarks, erasers, pencils, etc.).
Points can be removed when work is not finished, a bad grade is made, or behavior that is bad is modeled.
Shaping is the encouragement of certain behaviors by responding positively to the desired behavior by praise every time the behavior is used, then gradually decreasing the response as the desired behavior is exhibited more and more.
An example of shaping could be:
A teacher desires students to participate by answering questions out loud.
Every time a student attempts to answer a question, the student is praised.
Gradually, the teacher begins to only praise correct answers being given.
7

One of the biggest advantages of using Operant Conditioning is the immediate feedback students receive based on their behavior.
When a student has positive behavior immediately rewarded, the student is more likely to repeat the behavior and other students are encouraged to copy that behavior.
This immediate feedback is also useful in helping poor behave to happen less frequently.
A weakness of this in the classroom is that it relies on external motivation, which, in the long run, is less effective than internal motivation.