THEORY OF LEARNING

B. F. Skinner
Psychologist Made by Rohini

What did Skinner study?

Findings about the ways animals discover and learn things Most actions (or behaviours) are basically learned, and can be unlearned and changed.

Personality is the result of measuring outside forces. Thus, how we think and act can be modified by manipulating our environment. (ABCs of the Human
Mind)

Operant Conditioning
Changes in behavior is the outcome of an individual responding to occurrences in the environment (stimuli) If the subject is correctly stimulated it will give the suitable response When a stimulus-response pattern is reinforced (rewarded), the individual is conditioned to respond in a certain manner E.g. A child that is rewarded for their good behaviour and efforts within school will tend to follow this pattern to continue to keep being rewarded. If they show bad behaviour or no effort in school, and they are punished for this (privileges taken away) they will realize they are not gaining anything from this type of behaviour and stop

Skinners 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

Learning Approach
Learning:
A relatively permanent change in behavior or knowledge due to experience.

Basic Premise
There is no such thing as personality.
Ego, archetype, self

What people call personality is merely how everyone would behave under a specified set of conditions

Habits, Drives, and the Learning Process

Emphasize the role of learning in personality and place less stress on personality structure
Habits learned association between a stimulus and response that make them occur together frequently Drives a strong stimulation that produces discomfort
Primary drives Secondary drives

A Simple Diagram of the Learning Process

Reinforcement
Continuous Reinforcement: Every time the rat does the appropriate behavior, he gets a pellet. Fixed ratio schedule: If the rat presses the pedal three times, he gets a pelletor five times, or twenty times, or x times. There is a fixed ratio between behaviors and reinforcers.

Fixed interval schedule: If the rat presses the bar at least once during a particular period of time, say 20 seconds, he gets a pellet. But whether he presses the bar once or a hundred times within that 20 seconds, he only receives one reinforcer. Variable ratio schedule: You change the x each time. First it takes 3 presses to get a pellet, then 10, then 4, etc.
Variable interval schedule: You keep changing the time period. First 10 seconds, then 35, then 5, then 40

Skinner Box

Pigeons
Along with the rats, Skinner conducted experiments on pigeons During World War II (1944) there were no missile guidance systems so Skinner decided to try and discover one. Skinner got funding for a top secret project to train pigeons to guide bombs. He trained pigeons to keep pecking a target that would hold a missile onto a target. The pigeons pecked reliably, even when falling rapidly and working with warlike noise all around them. (Learned behaviour) Skinner trained the pigeons to peck at a particular colored disk This is based on Skinners theory of Operant Conditioning- behaviours are repeated if they are rewarded, and behaviours that are punished will be avoided

Why is it important to the social sciences?

Knowing how people learn behaviour is a necessity to our society so that we can control and promote the good behaviour, which will benefit society as a whole. 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)

Interesting facts
Skinner tested his theory of Operantconditioning on his daughter, he tried to prove that environment affects behaviour (Rumor) " I can remember growing up a very happy child. I cant exactly pin point any times in

my young life that was traumatizing." (Cohen 1987)

"Education is what survives when what has

been learnt has been forgotten."

THANK YOU