There is no questioning that B.F Skinner’s work in psychology is influencing the world including the way schools, prisons, and mental institutions are directed. One of Skinner’s most popular, as well as most controversial, ideas was the development of operant conditioning. Like psychologist before him such as Sigmund Freud and Philip Zimbardo, Skinner’s theories and work were deemed immoral by the public for various reasons. The controversy over his theories developed when Skinner attempted to connect his research, primarily done on animals, to humans. Public audiences began to disagree with the morals of his research. The questions of “Should human’s behavior be controlled?” and “Do animals have the same complexity in behavior as humans?” …show more content…
Those in support of him describe Skinner’s work as impactful in helping people through curing phobias, depression, and anxiety disorders (Dvorsky), while those who disagree with Skinner see his work as inhumane based on the principle that humans should not be controlled. The sources focusing on the right, or morally correct, side of quality of Skinner are the articles written by Martin Lalumiére and George Dvorsky. Lalumiére states that the reason the public disagrees with Skinner’s morality is that they misinterpret the purpose of his research. Specifically, the misconception that humans have a more complex behavioral system than animals, therefore, Skinner would be reproducing inhumane experiments on the public (Lalumiére). The misconception was both proven correct and incorrect as the use of Skinner’s theories were later put into development. The incorrect use was discussed in George Dvorsky’s article; he writes about Skinner’s theories being used to cure autism and homosexuality through harming individuals with shock therapy and restraints. On the other hand, he also discusses the positive effects Skinner’s research served through developing a treatment for phobias, depression, and anxiety disorders (Dvorsky). Underneath the question of if the treatments developed were right or wrong, Laurence Smith discusses if the idea of attempting to control humans at all was morally correct. Considering the state of the country going through World War I while Skinner was developing his ideas, the emotional reaction of society over the founding’s of Skinner was substantial even getting him a spot in Life Magazine for his development of operant conditioning and the Skinner Box (Smith 130). Because of the amount of controversy surrounding Skinner’s work, his specific inventions including the Skinner Box was never widely used, but his theories and research have been
In Lauren Slater’s book Opening Skinner’s Box, the second chapter “Obscura” discusses Stanley Milgram, one of the most influential social psychologists. Milgram created an experiment which would show just how far one would go when obeying instructions from an authoritative figure, even if it meant harming another person while doing so. The purpose of this experiment was to find justifications for what the Nazi’s did during the Holocaust. However, the experiment showed much more than the sociological reasoning behind the acts of genocide. It showed just how much we humans are capable of.
Skinner, B.F. A Brief Survey of Operant Behavior. Cambridge, MA: B. F. Skinner Foundation. 1938
Burrhus Frederic Skinner was born in a small town called Susquehanna, Pennsylvania on March 20, 1904. His dad was a lawyer and his mom was a house wife. Skinner was the typical boy, he enjoyed playing outside and to build things. He created many inventions as a kid. He and a friend made a cabin in the woods and Skinner created a cart with backwards steering. When working for a shoe store he thought of and invention that helped the broom pick up dust. Skinner also invented a flotation system for a door to door business that would sell berries. The flotation system separated the ripe berries from the bad. Skinner also enjoyed school very much. He even dedicated a book later in life to his English teacher Miss Graves. Skinner did not have a tragic childhood it was fairly easy. The only tragedy was that younger brother died at sixteen from a cerebral aneurysm.
B. F. Skinner revolutionized the field of psychology through his numerous writings on behaviorism. However, he began his collegiate life as an English major, and his education in literary techniques and devices clearly shows through in the manipulation of metaphor in his famous novel Walden Two. Although Skinner rarely diverges from the incessant description of behavioral engineering through his mouthpiece in the novel, Frazier, he occasionally digresses from the theory and application of scientific experimentation to the literary elements that are essential to any novel. One of these elements, the metaphor of the sheep that appears at the beginning and end of the book, clearly embodies three principles of Skinner’s behaviorist rationale: the superiority of positive reinforcement over negative reinforcement, the necessity for humans to accept their roles, and the function of the Walden Code to the members of Walden Two.
Skinners studies included the study of pigeons that helped develop the idea of operant conditioning and shaping of behavior. His study entailed making goals for pigeons, if the goal for the pigeon is to turn to the left, a reward is given for any movement to the left, the rewards are supposed to encourage the left turn. Skinner believed complicated tasks could be broken down in this way and taught until mastered. The main belief of Skinner is everything we do is because of punishment and reward (B.F. Skinner).
down the Susquehanna River when he was only 13 years old. He was a natural
Skinner designed an experiment to test operant conditioning, known as a ‘Skinner box’ (Gross 2005). In the box, animals, such as rats, would be conditioned into certain behaviour. For example, by pressing a lever to receive food (Gross 2005).
Goddard, M. J. (2012). ON CERTAIN SIMILARITIES BETWEEN MAINSTREAM PSYCHOLOGY AND THE WRITINGS OF B. F. SKINNER. The Psychological Record, 62(3), 563-575. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1030424426?accountid=458
According to numerous references in the field of Psychology, a cognitive psychologist is an individual that studies topics such as thinking, problem-solving, learning, attention, memory, forgetting, and language acquisition, among several others. Cognitive psychology is the branch of psychology that studies mental processes, and its core focus is on how people acquire, process, and store information. While great research has been done within the field of psychology, there are individuals such as B.F. Skinner who criticize its strides, purposes, and research methods.
When Skinner turned 24, he attended graduate school at Harvard University. As a Psychology student, he teamed up with Physiology Professor, William Crozier. Together, they began to study the relationship between behavior and experimental conditions. During his time at Harvard, Skinner conducted many experiments using rats (B.F.Skinner Foundation, 2002). Skinner’s findings made him “the most influential psychologist of the 20th century” (Roblyer,2003, p.57).
Burrhus Frederic (B.F.) Skinner, an American behavioral psychologist, is best known for his experiments on changing behavior. With behavioral psychologists Pavlov and Watson as his inspiration, Skinner formulated his theory of operational conditioning. His idea of “shaping” behavior is prevalent in the parenting and teaching techniques of children and students.
Carrera, F. ., & Adams, P. L. (January 01, 1970). An ethical perspective on operant conditioning. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 9, 4, 607-23.
In my reaction paper I will discuss B.F. Skinners theory operant conditioning and the ways he tested it out on animals, how it relates to humans, and how I can relate operant conditioning to my own personal life.
There are five main contributors to behaviorism. They are Ivan Pavlov, John Watson, B.F. Skinner, Albert Bandura, and Joseph Wolpe. The beh...
...culture when he himself is conditioned by one? D. Logical fallacies: Reductionism. Whatever the theory doesn't account for does not exist. "Whatever my net can't catch ain't fish." Since Skinner cannot "catch" freedom or dignity, mind, morals, reasoned thought, or God, he insists that none of these things exist. E. There is no place for a rebel in Skinner's ideal society. But rebels are what bring about the intellectual and moral growth of a society. F. Ideas from modern physics and parapsychology seem to stand in opposition to Skinner's theories. IV. SUMMARY The teachings of behavioral technology are a useful educational tool but must not become a tool of manipulation. We find fault with Skinner's starting point, i.e., his assumptions about God, man and his environment. Skinner is a good technician, but a poor philosopher. Skinner asks us to replace the myth of freedom and dignity for the myth of scientism (naturalism). V.