https://padlet.com/natspruce/42fui2s1u7oa Nathan Spruce (Student ID: 1280372) en-us 2017-01-05 01:55:01 UTC 2023-03-03 17:45:44 UTC hello@padlet.com natspruce https://padlet.com/natspruce/42fui2s1u7oa/wish/145404822

Contributing theories and experiments for over fifty years, being deemed one of the most influential Behaviorists of his time and influencing the ways in we perceive our actions today- it is fair to say Burrhus Frederic Skinner (1904-1990) has lived an interesting life. During childhood, he grew up in a pleasant, middle class and happy family, concerning academia, he pursued interest in animal and human behavior and went on to study at Harvard University in 1930 (O'Donohue and Ferguson, 2001). 

Analysis of his character describes him as an eccentric and extroverted academic, who utilized works from Thorndike, Pavlov and Watson to contribute to psychology, however, unlike Watson, Skinner did not refuse the concept of the mind, but as it cannot be physically observed and scientifically analysed, his work focused upon behavior, of which will be demonstrated in this academic poster (O'Donohue and Ferguson, 2001).           

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While Skinner utilized Pavlov's logic of stimulus' and responses that govern behavior, he focused his studies on reinforcement (both good and bad) that influence a response from an individual, this of course, being coined Operant Conditioning (Donohue and Ferguson, 2001). He tested this notion of reinforcement on rats, who he would place in a box with a lever, which when pressed would provide food pellets, after a few occasions of knocking the lever, the rat would learn and repeat the action to be given a food pellet. The rat would then be subject to an electric shock when it presses a lever, after a few shocks, the rat would then avoid the lever- hence, it's behavior has been governed by a stimulus and response relationship (Donohue and Ferguson, 2001). 

During World War Two, Skinner was requested to apply such knowledge to the war effort, whereby he aimed to try condition pigeons to seek enemy missiles using the same logic whereby pigeons would peck at a screen inside a missile in the direction of the enemy's, however, this study was discontinued soon after (Koren, 2013).

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Skinner's animal experiments cause the issue of extrapolation, which discusses as to whether the logic from observing their behavior can be applied to humans, as we s humans, have countless greater capacities than our animal friends, such as the ability to apply logic and contemplation to situations. To state that Behaviorist logic does not apply to humans would have huge ramifications for their theory as a whole, due to their dependence upon animals to demonstrate many of their ideas (Naik, 2008). However, in a 1988 interview, Skinner stated how he aimed to fill the gap of human and animal behavior in his book, "Verbal Behavior" (Masterson, 1988) 

An advocating argument in favor of Skinner is that his work on behavioral modification is still being used today in cases of schizophrenia, shyness and addiction and many more whereby an unwanted behavior is removed and replaced by a more desirable and positively reinforced behavior (Skinner, 1990). 

In "Walden Two, Skinner portrayed a world in which people are living in such a world that he theorises in his experiments, whereby people have no free will and are determined by environmental factors and cues (Altus, 2004). Skinner's work upon determinism have also been involved in criminal psychology, as it raises questions such as, are we responsible for our own actions if we are merely a puppet of external factors and reinforcements?  (Walller, 1929). 

]]> 2017-01-05 02:14:25 UTC https://padlet.com/natspruce/42fui2s1u7oa/wish/145405395 natspruce https://padlet.com/natspruce/42fui2s1u7oa/wish/145405407 B.F Skinner has contributed a great deal of insight into rationales of behavior that have been applied to psychological areas of addiction and mental illness treatment. However, there is a great deal of unanswered questions and strong criticisms of his work that he did not address in his life, or of which he did with an unsubstantial answers, for example, Skinner's Operational Conditioning logic is still not proved applicable to human memory or language, which leaves a large hole in Skinner's theory, big enough for many to dismiss him due to the absence of a valid rebuttal. 

• It is clear that Skinner as well as Watson, Pavlov and Thorndike have invested much insight into psychology. But, psychology is the study of the mind and body, and to solely study behavior appears to omit half of psychology's nature and the study of it. In doing so, it could be said that Skinner misses out one important factor in in study of behavior and that is the autonomous and conscious being that can decide if and how to act. 
• In conclusion, it could be said that Skinner has given psychology a great amount of contribution in aid of understanding our thinking and behavior. While some of his ideas may be out dates or refused by other theories, it is fair to say that Skinner has given a foundation of work of which psychologists can further in the future. .Issac Newton attributed his great academic success to standing on the shoulders of those before him, perhaps psychologists in the future will stand on the shoulders of Burrhus Frederic Skinner. 

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Altus, D.E., Morris, E.K. (2004). B. F. Skinner's Utopian Vision: Behind and Beyond Walden Two. Oxford, Taylor and Francis. 

Koren, M. [2013]. B.F. Skinner: The Man Who Taught Pigeons to Play Ping-Pong and Rats to Pull Levers: One of behavioral psychology's most famous scientists was also one of the quirkiest. Retrieved 25th December 2016 from http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/bf-skinner-the-man-who-taught-pigeons-to-play-ping-pong-and-rats-to-pull-levers-5363946/

Masterson, J. [1988] Interview with B F Skinner. Retrieved 2nd January 2017 from http://origins.bps.org.uk/im/content/zxb6pja.pdf

McLeod, S. [2015] Skinner Operational Conditioning. Retrieved 2nd January 2017 from http://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html

Naik, P. [2001]. Behaviorism as a Theory of Personality: A Critical Look. Retrieved 26th December 2016 from http://www.personalityresearch.org/papers/naik.html

O'Donohue, W., Ferguson, K.E. (2001). The Psychology of B F Skinner. London, SAGE. 

Skinner, B.F. (1990) The Behavior of Organisms: An Experimental Analysis. Cambridge, The B.F. Skinner Foundation. 

Waller, W. (1929) Deterministic View of Criminal Responsibility, A . Volume 20. Pages 89-92

]]> 2017-01-05 02:15:00 UTC https://padlet.com/natspruce/42fui2s1u7oa/wish/145405414 natspruce https://padlet.com/natspruce/42fui2s1u7oa/wish/145687863 (Faria, 2013)]]> 2017-01-06 14:25:37 UTC https://padlet.com/natspruce/42fui2s1u7oa/wish/145687863 natspruce https://padlet.com/natspruce/42fui2s1u7oa/wish/145789429 In this image, it shows the conditions for Skinner's experiments with rats. Below demonstrates how the rat would eventually press the lever numerous times due to the predicted positive outcome of food pellets that is to follow (McLeod, 2015). ]]> 2017-01-06 21:19:22 UTC https://padlet.com/natspruce/42fui2s1u7oa/wish/145789429