Burrhus Frederic Skinner

Born in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania as Burrhus Frederic Skinner on March 20, 1904. Died on August 18, 1990 in Cambridge, Massachusetts

 

Notable professional dates for the psychologist:

• 1931- earned his PhD in Psychology

• 1990- received Lifetime Achievement Award from American Psychology Association

• 1991- Outstanding member and Distinguished Professional Achievement Award from the Society for Performance Improvement

• 1997- receives Scholar Hall of Fame Award from Academy of Research and Development

Description of the socio/politico backdrop of the time period:

      During his time of great strides the country was in a great depression. In the time people were unhappy, Skinner’s research strode towards an increase in happiness and positive reinforcement. He caused great debate over how parents should punish their children and how the treatment of inmates. Skinner had a totalitarian outlook on government.

Major contributions of research/experimentation:

• conducted extensive research into reinforcement as a method of teaching

• invented the “Skinner Box” a device designed to employ the manipulation of behaviors through reinforcement

• invented the “Air- Crib” designed to support child rearing

• conducted that variable- ratio schedules tend to produce the most compliance, particularly when rewards occur frequently

Key terms/concepts associated with psychologist:

• Behaviorism- A theoretical orientation based on the premise that scientific psychology should study only observable behavior.

• Operant conditioning- A form of learning in which voluntary responses come to be controlled by their consequences.

• Neutral operants- responses from the environment that neither increase nor decrease the probability of a behavior being repeated

• Observable behavior- behavior or actions that can be empirically studied

• Reinforcement-An event following a response that strengthens the tendency to make that response.

• Punishment- An event that follows a response that weakens or supresses the tendency to make the response.

School of Thought/Perspective:

     B.F. Skinner’s school of thought was behaviorism. He studied the effects of environment on the overt behavior of humans and animals and believed that only observable events can and should be studied scientifically.

Stance on nature vs. nurture:

   B.F. Skinner advocated for the nurture perspective since he thought that we were humans that could be controlled or conditioned into doing what someone wanted them to do with through operant conditioning, and other various type of trials

Unit most likely to cover his/her contributions:

    The unit that will most likely cover his contributions is unit 1, "History and Approaches of Psychology (Chapter 1 in Wayne Weiten textbook)".