An ardent student of Pavlov, B. F. Skinner became interested in behaviors that were not simply elicited reflexes, such as the salivation response to the food, but those that operated on the environment to produce consequences. For educators, it was the next logical progression to the Stimulus-Response process. Through OPERANT CONDITIONING, learning occurs as the result of consequences. The components of learning expand to include a key characteristic: REINFORCEMENT. The new equation for learning now looks like this: Stimulus-Response-Reinforcement.
According to the Behavioral view, consequences determine to a great extent whether a person will repeat the behavior. Consequences that tend to strengthen the recurrence of a particular behavior is called reinforcement. Any action that decreases the behavior is PUNISHMENT.
Reinforcement. While reinforcement is commonly understood to mean "reward," this term for the Behaviorist takes on a particular meaning. A REINFORCER is anything that strengthens a behavior in either frequency or duration. The reinforcement process can be diagrammed as follows:
For Skinner, there were two types of reinforcement. The first, called POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT, is defined as the presentation of a Stimulus that, when added to a situation, increases the probability of a response. You are hot and thirsty (Stimulus). You find a soda machine and drop in your quarters (Response). The can of soda that you receive in return for your money is an example of Positive Reinforcement.
NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT occurs when the termination of an unpleasant Stimulus, when taken away from the situation, also increases the probability of a recurring response. As teachers, any time we try to motivate by threat, we are using negative reinforcement. A child becomes sick (Response) just as the teacher hands out an examination (Stimulus). The student is permitted to go to the nurse's station. The response of getting sick has been followed by discontinuance of the test (Negative Reinforcer). The teacher might well expect the "sickness" behavior to increase in frequency in similar future test situations.
Punishment. While the ultimate goal of reinforcers are to increase the behavior, the purpose of punishment is to decrease its recurrence. A behavior that is followed by punishment is less likely to be repeated. The process of punishment is diagrammed below:
Like reinforcement, punishment may also take on two forms. The first has been called TYPE I PUNISHMENT. It occurs when the consequences following a stimulus suppresses or decreases the behavior. When teachers assign demerits, extra work, or running laps, they are using this type of punishment. TYPE II PUNISHMENT is often called REMOVAL PUNISHMENT because it involves removing a stimulus. When parents take away privileges for inappropriate behavior, they are applying this type of punishment. With both types of punishment, the effect is to decrease the behavior that led to the punishment.
Negative Reinforcement and Punishment are often confused. It may help you to remember that negative reinforcement is always associated with increases in behavior; punishment always involves decreasing or suppressing behavior.
Reinforcement Schedules. Skinner spent considerable time and effort exploring the processes of reinforcement and punishment. For example, when people are learning a new behavior, they will learn it faster if they are reinforced for every correct response. This process was given the term CONTINUOUS REINFORCEMENT SCHEDULE. Once new behavior has been mastered, it is best maintained by an INTERMITTENT REINFORCEMENT SCHEDULE.
There are two basic types of intermittent reinforcement schedules: the INTERVAL Schedule (Based on the amount of time that passes between reinforces) and the RATIO Schedule (Based on the number of responses learners give between reinforcers. Interval and Ratio Schedules may be either FIXED (Predictable) or VARIABLE (Unpredictable). The following Table summarizes the possible reinforcement schedules:
A Fixed Interval Schedule provides reinforcement for a correct response only after a certain period of time has passed. Classrooms are full of fixed interval schedules: the weekly spelling test on Friday, the semester unit test every nine weeks, your report cards. The length of a fixed interval can be relatively brief or long and still yield the desired response rate.
A Variable Interval Schedule yields a more uniform rate of response than the previous fixed schedule. If a weekly math quiz were changed to be given on a more unpredictable schedule, students would study more each day rather than cramming the day before a known assessment. Pop quizzes are a much more effective reinforcement schedule to foster classroom learning.
The Fixed Ratio Schedule provides reinforcement for a consistent number of responses regardless of how long it takes to produce these responses. A student working on a computer program knows that five correct responses are required before advancing to a new screen. However, this schedule often results in an uneven rate of response. As soon as the reinforcement is delivered, the learner takes a break because the next reinforcement is predictably several responses away.
A Variable Ratio Schedule provides reinforcement after a varying number of desired responses are produced. The reinforcement is contingent on the number of responses rather than on the time interval. The strongest of the reinforcement schedules, many games of chance are visible examples of variable ratio. The more times you play a slot machine, the more likely you are to win. As a result, the rate of response for casino players is the most consistent of the behavioral techniques. Can you think of ways to use the variable ratio schedule to increase desired behavior in your classroom?
Extinction. It is possible to weaken behavior by removing the reinforcing events that maintain the behavior. In Skinner's Operant Conditioning, a subject will not persist in certain behavior if the usual reinforcer is withheld. Removal of reinforcement altogether leads to EXTINCTION.
Skinner became famous as the advocate of Behaviorism in education; maybe "infamous" is more the correct term. His notoriety began when the "Baby Tender" he invented to hold his baby daughter was publicized as the evil contrivance of a warped psychologist. Years later, when asked about the consequences of his device on his daughter, he reassured his advocates by introducing a well-grounded, academically and professionally successful woman - who also chose psychology for her life's work. You can see the Baby Tender in the photo below.
Another of his famous contributions to behavioral psychology was the "Skinner Box," a device used to control the stimulus --> response --> reinforcement construction of operant conditioning experiments. One of those boxes is shown below:
Finally, Skinner was one of the first psychologists who applied his theory of operant conditioning to the broader aspects of human learning. Skinner's "Teaching Machines" were the precursor to today's computer-assisted instruction. Take a look at a drawing depicting the use of a teaching machine in the earlier days of behaviorism.
You can learn more about B.F. Skinner and his theory of Operant Conditioning at the following Web Sites:
