Monday, February 23, 2015

DAY 11, 12 The Skinner Box and "Operant Conditioning"

Today we got into the idea of Skinner's Theory of Operant Conditioning (Presentation) .  During this presentation we covered many aspects of his theory including:


Rewards and Punishments to alter behaviours.

There are Positive and Negative Rewards.

And there are Positive and Negative Punishments.

In this context, "Positive" means that something is added to the situation, e.g. a candy reward, a "thank you", an electric shock into the Skinner box (probably seen as a positive punishment), etc.

In this context, "Negative" means that something is removed from the situation, e.g. getting grounded (your right to go out has been removed), the annoying electric jolts in the Skinner box are shut off, etc.

A quick video on the Skinner Box.

Here's a video on some work done on "Baby Albert" showing how conditioning of someone's responses to various things can actually work.  It has come out recently that little Baby Albert was, in fact, probably developmentally challenged.  It should also be noted that such experiments on children or babies in modern times would be considered child abuse, so do not attempt this at home!

Here is a Youtube video on Skinner's ideas and how they can translate to other areas of Psychological concern, especially the Superstitions that People have.

Here's another clip on Operant Conditioning from The Big Bang Theory.

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