...As a result may have developed different beliefs and values. One thing that is for curtained is all people have some sort a personality. Personality tells a story of what to expect from a person. Some theories just as people produce different beliefs. Sigmund Freud approach to personality focus on the unconscious mind. He believes that personality is developing by internal factors. On the other hand B.F. Skinner believes that personality id developed by external environment ("Sigmund Freud Life Work and Theories", 2006). Sigmund Freud, an Austrian physician developed psychoanalytic theory in the early 1900s. They believe that ones conscious experience contributes only a small portion to his or her psychological makeup and experience. Sigmund Freud argument is that individual’s behavior is motivated by the unconscious, the unconscious functions from an area of personality that contains memories, knowledge, beliefs, feelings urges, drives, and instincts which the individual is not aware ("Sigmund Freud Life Work and Theories", 2006). Freud maintained that to understand personality, it is necessary to expose what is in the unconscious. According to Freud personality is determined by unconsciousness. For example according to the text “some of the unconscious is made up of the preconscious, which contains material that is not threading and is easily brought to mind, such as the knowledge that 2+2=4 ("Sigmund Freud Life Work and Theories", 2006). B.F. Skinner is learning from focus...
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...Tony E. McCaffity PSY390 Learning and Cognition Individual Programmatic Assessment: Operant Conditioning October 27, 2014 Describe the theory of Operant Conditioning The theory of Operant Conditioning is developed the behaviorist B. F. Skinner. Operant Conditioning according to Skinner is based on the observing the causes of the action and its consequences. Skinner’s used this approach to study observable behavior instead of the internal mental activity. Though his study Skinner, found that behavior reinforced usually becomes repeated, and reinforced behavior will often extinguishes. Skinner believed that learning is a function of overt behavior and changes in an individual’s behavior is a result of events that occur in the individual’s environment (Morris &Maisto, 2005). B.F. Skinner focused on the observable behavior and how that act related to experimental conditions. From his studies Skinner developed several theories relating to operant conditioning. The changing of a behavior by-way of certain types of reinforcements after a response is achieved is referred to as operant conditioning. “In operant conditioning, the emphasis is on behavior and its consequences; with operant conditioning, the organism must respond in such a way as to produce the reinforcing stimulus. The principles of operant conditioning apply to a variety of situations (Olson &Hergenhahn, 2009, p. 76). According to Olson &Hergenhahn...
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...psychology, also known as behaviorism, is a perspective that became dominant during the early half of the 20th century thanks to prominent thinkers such as B.F. Skinner, and John B. Watson. The basis of behavioral psychology suggests that all behaviors are learned. Conditioning is the process of learning to react to the environment. Many theorists contributed to the theories of classical and operant conditioning, some theorists being Skinner, Watson, and Tolman. Each theorist contributed their own theories proven to impact a part of psychology. Many behaviors have been previously conditioned in the human species by the environment. Skinner, Watson, and Tolman all made their contributions to psychology with theories and proven statistics. John B. Watson John Watson proposed the idea of an objective psychology of behavior called "behaviorism." He saw psychology as the study of people's actions with the ability to predict and control those actions. His idea became known as “the behaviorists” theory (Goodwin. 2008). Theorists such as Skinner, Watson, and Tolman all had one common idea; that psychology was defined as the natural science of behavior, objective in its study, and was a pattern of adjustment functionally dependent upon stimulus conditions in the environment, and was emphasized in theory and research. Watson also used animal subjects to study behavior. Later he turned to the study of human behaviors and emotions. He wanted to develop techniques...
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...Tony E. McCaffity PSY390 Learning and Cognition Individual Programmatic Assessment: Operant Conditioning October 27, 2014 Describe the theory of Operant Conditioning The theory of Operant Conditioning is developed the behaviorist B. F. Skinner. Operant Conditioning according to Skinner is based on the observing the causes of the action and its consequences. Skinner’s used this approach to study observable behavior instead of the internal mental activity. Though his study Skinner, found that behavior reinforced usually becomes repeated, and reinforced behavior will often extinguishes. Skinner believed that learning is a function of overt behavior and changes in an individual’s behavior is a result of events that occur in the individual’s environment (Morris &Maisto, 2005). B.F. Skinner focused on the observable behavior and how that act related to experimental conditions. From his studies Skinner developed several theories relating to operant conditioning. The changing of a behavior by-way of certain types of reinforcements after a response is achieved is referred to as operant conditioning. “In operant conditioning, the emphasis is on behavior and its consequences; with operant conditioning, the organism must respond in such a way as to produce the reinforcing stimulus. The principles of operant conditioning apply to a variety of situations (Olson &Hergenhahn, 2009, p. 76). According to Olson &Hergenhahn 2009, behavior can be...
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...Hannah Kratzke PSY 260 Information research essay B.F. SKINNER - Bio and basic info on the theorist Burrhas Fredric Skinner was born on March 20, 1904 in a small town of Susquehanna Pennsylvania. When Skinner was a freshman in college his brother passed away from a cerebral aneurism. Skinner was really involved in his religion during his early life, He attended bible classes and embraced a number of traditional religious beliefs but in his adolescent years he chose to abandon his religious beliefs and never returned to them. Skinner parents raised him to very high strict standards and only ever physically punished once by his mother who washed his mouth out with soap for stating a bad word. In high school Skinner earned money by playing the saxophone in jazz band and also with an orchestra. Skinner graduated college in 1926 from Hamilton College with a degree in English literature. For his postgraduate year he immediately tried to become a writer, it was a time of failure and frustration he soon realized that he had nothing of significance to say. He left college with a large desire to be a writer; He later on earned his MA within two years, earned his PhD in three years and then continued to go to school at Harvard for the next five years as a postdoctoral student. He chose to then teach at the university of Minnesota for 10 years and during that time he established himself as a nationally prominent experimental psychologist and published his now famous book (The...
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...Skinner Article BEH/225 3/20/2013 David Stephensen (Instructor) Axia College of University of Phoenix B.F Skinner, theorist and psychologist. He was born in 1904 in a small town in Pennsylvania, breakthrough research in the field of psychology. Skinner was a famous controversial behavioral scientist who longed to be a writer as a young man. His main aim was to focus on operant conditioning. Operant Conditioning is a type of learning where behaviors are repeated to earn rewards, or avoid punishment (Morris & Maisto 2010). Operant conditioning is when we use consequences to transform or shape behavior, either to increase or decrease a voluntary behavior. According to J. Dinsmoor, “Skinner suggested that it is punishment that people find objectionable and against which they rebel, rather than simply, the fact that our behavior is under external control. Positive reinforcement leads to voluntary cooperation. Hostile reactions to Skinner's message may reflect confusion of his opposition to autonomous action as a scientific concept with opposition to behavior described as autonomous. Negative reactions toward science, psychology, and the use of "lower" animals to understand human behavior may also have played a role. Properly understood, Skinner was much closer to the libertarian than to the totalitarian end of the political spectrum.” You will notice his many contributions that will be brought to your attention so that he can receive the recognition as one of the most...
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...2013 Carl Grossen The field of modern psychology would be a very different place if not for the behaviorist John Watson, the Radical Behaviorist B.F. Skinner and the Cognitive Behaviorist Edward Tolman. Each of these men created theories that involved the field of behaviorism and each man has shaped the way we see and understand our fellow man. Each of these men created theories that are still used as founding principles in their respective fields of psychology. The Birth of Behaviorism and John B. Watson The school of thought known now as behaviorism would not exist today without the birth of John Watson in 1878. John Watson was a highly intelligent man able to attend college at only sixteen years old. John Watson graduated with masters before his twenty second birthday. After graduating at only twenty one years old John Watson became a school principal. His career as a school principle was short lived; John Watson left his job to attend the University of Chicago. John Watson studied philosophy under John Dewey. Finding he was unsatisfied with John Dewy’s teaching John Watson chose two different professors, first the functionalist psychologist James Rowland Angell and second the physiologist Henry Donaldson. Using what he was able to learn from Angell and Donaldson, John Watson started to form his own ideas and theories about human behavior. John Watson’s teachings and theory’s would come to be known as "behaviorism". According to the American Psychological Association...
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...society today. Behaviorism is a learning theory based on the thought that all behavior attain when conditioned is considered behaviorism. Also, behaviorism is the scientific study of observable behavior. Behaviorism is more interested with behavior than with feeling or knowing. The main focus is the objective and observable components of behavior. The behaviorist theories all share some version of stimulus-response mechanisms for learning. Behaviorism originated with the work of John B. Watson, an American psychologist. Watson held the view that psychology should only concern itself with the study of behavior, and he was not concerned with the mind or with human consciousness. This paper will discuss the history behind behaviorism, the components of the theory, and how behaviorism develops new behavior. Behaviorism is conducted by stimuli and it decides to select one response instead of another due to the conditioning. It assume that the learner is passive and starts off with a clean slate. The behavior then goes threw and positive and negative reinforcement. Behaviorists study stimulus events that cause behavior to occur, stop occurring, or change in some way as a function of antecedents or consequences to behavior. Behavioral scientists recognize, however, that environmental events that affect behavior as antecedents or consequences often vary from person to person. John B. Watson and B.F Skinner originated the behaviorist approaches to learning...
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...particularly in America. In addition, this paper also explains the main components of behaviorism, which are classical conditioning and operant conditioning, connectionism, and the contiguity theory. It moves forward to explain four experiments that are popular through the study of behaviorism: the reason behind conditioned salivation in Ivan Pavlov’s dogs, conditioned responses in humans through Watson’s little Albert experiment, Thorndike’s research with cats and a puzzle box to demonstrate the law of effect through the use of reinforcements, and B.F. Skinner’s experiment with rats to prove how an organism learns through operant conditioning. Finally, this paper examines how, according to behaviorists, there are three principles of learning new and intricate behaviors, known as shaping, chaining, and fading. Behaviorism and Its Effect on the Understanding of Learning Behaviorism suggests that an organism learns from its environment. It is the result of the association between a stimulus and a response. An organism learns new behavior through classical or operant conditioning. It is a theory that does not base its ideals on emotions or prior knowledge. Some say behaviorism came about accidentally, specifically within the works of Ivan Pavlov and his experiment with dogs. Watson, known as the father of behaviorism, used Pavlov’s experiment as an opportunity to launch this theory forward. After Watson, many psychologists contributed to the indication of what behaviorism would become today...
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...Management in Human and Social Development - MGMT 8010 June 28, 2014 Understanding Burrhus Frederic Skinner B. F. Skinner was one of the most influential of American psychologists. A radical behaviorist, he developed the theory of operant conditioning, the idea that behavior is determined by its consequences, be they reinforcements or punishments, which make it more or unlikely that the behavior will be repeated again, (NNDB, 2014). His principles are still incorporated within treatments of phobias, addictive behaviors, and in the enhancement of classroom performance as well as in computer-based self-instruction, (NNDB, 2014). Skinner believed that the only scientific approach to psychology was one that studied behaviors, not internal (subjective) mental processes, (NNDB, 2014). He denied the existence of a mind as a thing separate from the body, but he did not deny the existence of thoughts, which he regarded simply as private behaviors to be analyzed according to the same principle as publicly observed behaviors, (NNDB, 2014). According to Michael (2013) Burrhus Frederic Skinner is very famous for developing his own philosophical studies around animal and human behavior. Once I had realized that this Theorist had caught my attention, I really became very excited about this research project so I started finding information about the man called B.F. Skinner, (NNDB, 2014). I am not sure if you’ve heard of him before but he is one of the most famous psychologists...
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...February 1, 2015 Abstract The theory of behaviorism is that human and animal behavior can be explained in terms of conditioning without any preconceived thought, but it can be defined by observable behavior that is researched. Behaviorism projects that individuals are products of their experiences and have become who they are because of conditioning. John Watson, who is credited with Behaviorism, made the comment that he could take “twelve healthy infants and take any one of them and mold them into any given occupation regardless of genetics, race, talents and/or abilities.”(Jenson, 2014) Watson felt that conditioning was a crucial part of behaviorism, as it was an extension of Pavlov’s discovery and his studies of stimulus-response reflexive relationships. In this paper the founding of behaviorism, the main components of the behaviorism theory, a brief description of 3 behaviorist experiments, and how behaviorism develops new behaviors will be discussed. Behaviorism and its effect on the learning process The founder of behaviorism is credited to John B. Watson. According to Watson, behavior was a subject matter in its own right, to be studied by the observational methods common to all sciences. This field of study and learning was founded in 1912, and it was formed as a reaction to the current focus on psychology at the time. In order to form this theory, John Watson studied the research of Ivan Pavlov. Watson felt that “psychology must have an empirical, objective...
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...Perspectives Cathy Lint PSY/310 February 6, 2012 Katrina Ramos John B. Watson (1878-1958) John B. Watson was born in 1878 just outside Greenville, South Carolina, in what would be known today as a dysfunctional family because of the alcoholism, fighting, and extra-martial affairs. Watson had many behavioral problems due to his upbringing that caused Watson to have contact with the law at an early age. Watson went on to Furman University and graduated at the young age of 16 in 1900 with a master's degree. Watson was influenced by one of his professors at Furman when Watson decided to enter the University of Chicago where Watson was to study philosophy and psychology. Watson studied comparative psychology Comparative psychology is the branch of psychology concerned with the study of animal behavior (Call, 2010). Watson felt more comfortable studying animals than he did humans and began his study in cortical development while using white rats. Although many other physiologists did not believe rats were capable of "associative learning" due to a rats brain development Watson thought otherwise. During Watson's experiments with the white rats could show that minimal learning was achieved during, the first week and that during the fourth week the white rats could form associations in the rats cortical development (Goodwin, 2008). Watson was able to have this study published that led to Watson's doctorate and his stay at the University of Chicago. During Watson's time at the...
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...Operant Conditioning B.F Skinner based his work on the work of Edward Thorndike who developed the law of effect theory (Olson & Hergenhahn, 2013). Through his work Skinner went on to identify fundamental principles of learning, based on experiments with pigeons and rats. From these experiments, Skinner developed an explanation as for how humans learn behaviors or change behaviors, and went on to infer that patterns of reinforcement shape behavior, which is operant conditioning. Comparing and contrasting positive and negative reinforcement in operant conditioning gives an understanding of how both are a necessity in operant conditioning. Both positive and negative reinforcement are a necessity in operant conditioning; one form of reinforcement is more effective than the other. Several reasons exist to why one form of reinforcement is more effective than the other. A given scenario can show how to apply operant conditioning to shape behavior and how the creation of a reinforcement schedule can apply to a certain selected behavior. B. F. Skinner developed the “term” operant conditioning in 1937 (Staddon& Cerutti, 2003). Skinner's theory of operant conditioning explains how organisms acquire learned behaviors that they exhibit. The main focus of operant conditioning is to use reinforcement as a reward or punishment to increase or decrease the likelihood of behavior (Staddon & Cerutti, 2003). Operant conditioning is a means or method of learning, which occurs through...
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...Learning from B.F Skinner and Jean Piaget The psychological studies of B.F Skinner and Jean Piaget in the field of learning revolutionized the understanding of learning processes, and undoubtedly paved the way for future psychologists. The findings of B.F Skinner and his theory on operant learning expanded the horizons of his generation. Jean Piaget also constructed the basis by which we evaluate the logical capabilities of youth, and he developed a theory of schemas. Both of these eminent psychologists have left a mark on the field of learning, and while both are dissimilar, they have common themes and continuities that cannot be overlooked. Burrhus Frederic Skinner was born on March 20, 1904, to William Arthur Skinner (a lawyer) and Grace Madge Burrhus, born with an aptitude for mechanical toys and gadgets. In his adolescence he showed interest in works by Charles Darwin and Francis Bacon. In his early adult life he attended Hamilton College in Clinton, New York where he studied English language and Literature, during his time at University he was heavily engaged in the campus magazine, and was known for his hand in pranks. After graduation he was exposed to Behaviorism by the literary magazine Dial, and read further into Conditioned Reflexes by Ivan Pavlov, he soon realized that he was interested in human behavior and was convinced by a close friend that science was the next big thing, he decided to engage in work in psychology. He enrolled at Harvard in 1928, and began...
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...“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space lies our freedom and power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and freedom.” Viktor Emil Frankl, M.D., Ph.D (Man's Search for Meaning; 1946 ) Everyone of us, Human or animal alike, have been living in this world since the primordial time. Coping with every change that had happened and developing new routine in everyday life. Routines that may soon be etch with in our system. That will eventually turn out to be a habit. A habit that will consume our senses until it will all become our Behavior. As to Psychologists, Behaviorism is more concerned with behavior than with thinking, feeling, or knowing. It focuses on the objective and observable components of behavior. Behaviorism focus on behaviors that can be observed only. Behaviorism deals with the consequences of behavior and those behaviors can be rewarded or punished. (Huitt, W., & Hummel, J. (2006). An overview of the behavioral perspective. Educational Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University. ) HISTORY Behaviourism is derived from the belief that free will is an illusion. According to a pure behaviourist, ( John B. Watson (1878-1958)) human beings are shaped entirely by their external environment. Alter a person's environment, and you will alter his or her thoughts, feelings, and behaviour. Provide positive reinforcement whenever someone perform a desired behaviour, and soon they will learn to perform the behaviour...
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