Skinner

skinner theory on behaviourism
operant conditioning

3.  Operant Conditioning By 
B.F.Skinner
Arooba Asmat Dev
Speech-Language Pathologist

4. B.F. Skinner
•Burrhus Frederic Skinner (1904-1990) is
one of the most famous, influential, and
controversial figures in contemporary
American psychology.
•Skinner made numerous contributions
to the science of behavior. He strongly
influenced the area of learning that he
named operant conditioning. His Skinner
box is now a standard apparatus for the
experimental study of animal behavior.
Much of his work involved the study of
how reinforcement schedules influence
learning and behavior.

5. Skinner’s theory of Operant
Conditioning
•Conditioning- behaviours are repeated if
they are rewarded, and behaviours that are
punished will be avoided

6. Skinner’s Rats
•Skinner tested out the theory of operant
conditioning on rats
•Rats were placed in metal cages with a number
of levers. At first the rats would nose around the
cage and accidentally press the levers, an action
that would cause food or water to drop into a
dish. After repeating the action, the rats saw
that they could receive food and water by
pressing the lever. (Learned this behaviour)
•So, when the rats were rewarded they were
conditioned to repeat this positive action to
continue being rewarded

7. “Skinner Box”
.

8. Operant Conditioning
• Operant conditioning is a type of
learning where behavior is controlled
by consequences.

9. Key Concepts
•Key concepts in operant
conditioning are
positive reinforcement
 negative reinforcement
positive punishment
 negative punishment

10. Positive Reinforcement
•Positive reinforcement is giving something
pleasant after a behavior. This increases
the probability that the behavior will
continue.

11. Examples of positive reinforcement
Having a job and going to work every day to
receive a paycheck.
Receiving praise after a musical performance
would increase the amount that you perform.
A teacher complimenting students when they
answer correctly will increase that behavior.
In the Skinner Box experiment, a rat got food
as a reward for acceptable behavior, such as
pressing a lever.

12. Negative Reinforcement
•Negative reinforcement is taking away
something unpleasant as a result of the
behavior that is acceptable. This is also
meant to increase the behavior.

13. Examples of Negative
reinforcement
•It is very noisy outside so you turn on the television to mask the
noise. Turning on the radio decreased the unpleasant noise.
•A teacher exempts student from the final test if they have
perfect attendance. So, the teacher is taking away something
unpleasant to increase behavior.
•At a store, a child throws a tantrum because he did not get a
candy bar. Dad finally gets him one. He stopped the tantrum so
he took away something unpleasant and Dad’s behavior of
getting candy bars will increase.
•In the Skinner box experiment, a loud noise continuously
sounded inside the cage until the rat did what Skinner wanted
him to do. When he did, the noise stopped, so the unpleasant
noise was taken away.

14. Positive Punishment
•Positive punishment is used to decrease a
behavior and is presenting something
unpleasant after the behavior.

15. Examples of Positive Punishment
•An employee exhibits bad behavior at
work and the boss criticizes him. The
behavior will decrease because of the
boss’s criticism.
•When a student misbehaves in class, she
receives a time out.
•A child gets a spanking when he puts his
hand in the cookie jar.

16. Negative Punishment
•Negative punishment is also used to
decrease a behavior and is removing
something pleasant after the behavior.

17. Examples of Negative punishment
•A child doesn’t put his bike away so the parents lock it
up for a certain time. The parents took away
something pleasant to decrease behavior.
•Sana gets a Rs.500 fine and suspension of his driving
license for driving under the influence. Money and his
license were removed to decrease behavior.
•A family has a "swear jar." Every time someone swears,
they have to put a dollar in the jar. This is taking away
money, which is something pleasant, and decreases
the behavior of swearing.
•Ahmad trashes his sister’s room and Mom told him he
could not go camping with his friends.

18. Behavior modification Operant
Conditioning
•Behavior modification is the application of
operant conditioning techniques to modify
behavior.
• It is being used to help people with a wide
variety of everyday behavior problems,
including
oobesity
o smoking
o alcoholism
o aggression

19. Classical Conditioning vs Operant
Conditioning
•Acquisition
•Extinction
•Spontaneous recovery
•Stimulus
generalization
•Association between
stimuli and responses
•Based on involuntary
reflexive behavior
•Acquisition
•Extinction
•Spontaneous recovery
•Stimulus
generalization
•Reinforcement
•Based on voluntary
behavior

20. OPERANT CONDITIONING
TECHNIQUES
•POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT =
increasing a behavior by administering a
reward
•NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT =
increasing a behavior by removing an aversive
stimulus when a behavior occurs
•PUNISHMENT = decreasing a behavior by
removing a positive stimulus
•EXTINCTION = decreasing a behavior by
not rewarding it

21. LIMITED EFFECTS OF PUNISHMENT
•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)

22. Why is it important to the social
sciences?
•The theory of operant-conditioning helps us to
control the way humans learn behaviour and
how society can be a great influence on
behaviour.
•Helps us to understand how to improve
behaviours (people with problem behaviours
and criminal histories)