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Elements of Applied Behavior Analysis
Elements of Applied Behavior Analysis
B. F. Skinner theory (1904 - 1990) operant conditioning
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American Psychologist Burrhus Frederic Skinner, or B.F Skinner, contributed greatly to and influenced the field of Behavior Psychology through his experiments, some being controversial, and his literary works. Influenced by many behaviorists and their works, Skinner sought to more thoroughly explain behavior by going deeper into their theories and applying his beliefs, creating his own theories. Skinner was a prolific author because of his education in English literature and authored over 20 books and 180 articles. B.F. Skinner was one of the most important modern psychologists and is considered a pioneer in behaviorism. Skinner was born in the small town of Susquehanna, Pennsylvania on March 20, 1904 to a lawyer father William and his wife, …show more content…
Applied behavior analysis is also based off of operant conditioning. Applied behavior analysis is using what we know about behavior and applying to different contexts, such as individual, social, and cultural. Today’s behavior analysis is split into two types of behavior analysis. One is experimental behavior analysis, which is analyzing experiments that are used to learn more about the body and its behaviors, and the other is applied behavior analysis, as previously mentioned. Applied behavior analysis stresses applying behaviors to situations in the real world. Behavior analysis can be used in three ways. One way that it can be used is through experiments that examine the behavior. A second way that it can be used is by applying behavior analysis. A third way to use behavior analysis is through analyzing the concepts of behavior. This method has implications for the philosophical, historical, theoretical and methodological aspects of behavior analysis. Behavior analysis, coupled with behavioral techniques, is used widely today by psychotherapists, counselors, and more professions. Also, applied behaviorism analysis is used today to help children and adults with disabilities learn abilities that will help them operate in their everyday
In Chapter 4, In the Unlikely Event of a Water Landing, the author Lauren Slater starts the chapter off telling the true story of how a young woman, Kitty Genovese, was brutally murdered and raped outside of her apartment complex. What was most shocking in the aftermath is there were a total of 38 witnesses and not a single person did anything to help her. This raised many concerns as to why the witnesses did nothing. When they were being interviewed by the cops, they stated that they just did not want to get involved(p.94), thus “diffusing responsibility”, this is a term used by two psychologists John Darley and Bibb Latane, who were very concerned with and wanted to understand why nothing was done to aid young Kitty Genovese as she was being stabbed and raped.
The best way to describe Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is to understand human behavior, what causes the behavior and how to use evidence-based techniques to shape the individual’s behavior. I also view ABA as therapy for individuals who struggle with behavioral issues, finding ways to replace problem behaviors and reinforcing the participant’s appropriate behaviors in specific settings.
B.F. Skinner’s Walden Two is the fictitious account of an eclectic group’s visit to a modern utopian community started by psychologist T.E. Frazier. Authors often depict “perfect societies” in novels, as the subject holds wide appeal and great creative opportunity. Aldous Huxley envisioned a Brave New World; Lois Lowry wove the tale of The Giver. What sets Walden Two apart from such books? Simply stated, Skinner’s work truly does not seem as if it belongs in the fantasy or fiction genre, as the others do. The novel reads as an actual experiment, albeit one performed in a text-only version of the world. The author perfectly follows the steps of a scientific investigation throughout the plot, meeting nearly all goals of the scientific enterprise. This approach leaves readers practically incapable of brushing the novel’s bold statements off as fiction: to do so feels equivalent to denying a proven reality.
Baer, Wolf, and Risley wrote a great informative article. It taught much about the seven dimensions of applied behavior analysis, which are applied, behavioral, analytic, technological, conceptually systematic, effective, and generality. They went in depth and explained each dimension allowing the reader to really understand applied behavior analysis. The breakdown of these seven dimensions will allow readers to be informed and know what applied behavior analysis consist of.
The core principles of Applied Behavior Analysis were seen in several of this weeks required readings, appearing in all or multiple sources. Their definitions varied in each reading, all providing more clarification upon the previous. The first term, applied, refers to the "commitment to affecting improvements" in the field. (Cooper 16) Baer, Wolf and Risley said that whether or not something is applied is determined "by the interest which society shows in the problems being studied." (Baer 92) Both sets of authors emphasize that importance of the practitioner taking ownership in dictating how important it is to change the designated behavior. Also, the importance the behavior holds in society, because many of them represent the clients
Joey 's program will be based in Applied Behavior Analysis which was first introduced in 1913, when John Watson started a movement towards behaviorism with his article “Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It” (Miltenberger, 2012). Based on Pavlov 's observations of classical conditioning, Watson suggested that human behavior could also be explained by the same means and that the process of classical conditioning was proper subject matter for psychology. He believed all human behavior were responses to external stimuli and environmental events (Miltenberger, 2012). B. F. Skinner took Watson 's theory of classical conditioning further to include operant conditioning. The highlight of Skinner 's theory is identifying what a behavior achieves through observing the behavior. It is only after the function of behavior is identified that we can alter the consequences to increase the probability of the desired behavior 's occurrence (Miltenberger, 2012). In operant conditioning behavior is changed through the manipulation of contingencies or the use of reinforcement or punishment after the desired or undesired response occurs (Miltenberger, 2012). Skinner was able to prove through his
In my Behavioral Analysis class this semester, we were required to read several research articles detailing various studies conducted within the field of behavior analysis. As this is my major field of interest, I thought it both wise and prudent to share two of the more fascinating studies on my website. Behavior analysis is most commonly associated amongst the general public with rats and a laboratory setting. Pavlov’s conditioning and his dog salivating at the sound of a bell or rats being trained to press levers for food reinforcers most frequently come to mind when asked to give an example of behavior analysis’s capabilities. The field, however, is also extremely capable of creating lasting and effective treatments for people with developmental disorders and addiction.
B.F. Skinner was considered the father of behavioral approach to psychology and a noticeable spokesperson for behaviorism. According to Corey (2013), he advocated radical behaviorism. In other words it placed a primary importance on the effects of environment on behavior. Skinner was a determinist; he did not consider that humans had free choices. He recognized the existence of feeling and thoughts, but disagreed about them causing humans action. In its place, he underlined the cause-and-effect links between objective, observable environmental conditions and behavior. Skinner claimed that more than enough attention had been given to the internal states of mind and motives, which cannot be observed and changed directly and not enough focus
Many psychologists performed many experiments that involved shaping and changing behavior. There is one influential thinker that made a remarkable discovery that one can change another’s behavior by providing or establishing a reward based systems based upon their behavior. B.F. Skinner uncovered the idea that one change or shape another’s behavior by establishing a system based upon rewards that can change another’s behavior.
I am drawn to the field of applied behavior analysis as it is a way of understanding that allows me to address the needs of my clients and determine how to help them beyond just the label of a diagnosis. Through using applied behavior analysis effectively the origin and meaning of a behavior can be highlighted. When a behavior occurs a detailed report is created to describe the situation prior, what the behavior was and the consequences of that behavior. Furthermore behaviors within some cases can be used as a form of communication when words are not available. For this reason the study of behavior allows me to help my clients and those around me in a way that is more definite and lasting.
Applied behavior Analysis (ABA) is the scientific application of set principals of operant behavior that branch off of the behaviorism philosophical approach of behavior. The core principals of Applied Behavior Analysis are to target an individual’s behavior for change that has a real life application for the individual. Moreover, of Applied Behavior Analysis seeks to discover the environmental variables that influence the individual behavior while simultaneously demonstrates a functional relationship between the manipulated environmental behavior and the target behavior.
Psychology covers a huge field and one interesting aspect of it is personality. Personality by itself involves various issues. Some aspects are Psychoanalytic, Ego, Biological, Behaviorist, Cognitive, Trait, and Humanistic. Different types of behaviors are amazing to learn about, mainly the behavior therapy, collective behavior, crime and punishment, and Social behavior and peer acceptance in children. I chose Behaviorism over the other aspects because I believe behavior determines human personality and is very interesting. You can tell what one is by his behavior, and one behaves according to what place he has in society. By doing this paper on Behavior, I hope to get a better understanding of, if behavior develops a personality or if personality guides behavior. I also see behaviorism helping me in the future with my personal and professional career by understanding human personality and behavior better than I do. No matter what your major is, if you can determine one's personality by his behavior you can really get your work done from that person and understand the better than you would otherwise. This person could be your employee or your employer. Behavior Therapy Behavior therapy is the application of experimentally derived principles of learning to the treatment of psychological disorders. The concept derives primarily from work of Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov. Behavior-therapy techniques differ from psychiatric methods, particularly psychoanalysis, in that they are predominately symptom (behavior) oriented and shows little or no concern for unconscious processes, achieving new insight, or effecting fundamental personality change. The U.S. psychologist B.F. Skinner, who worked with mental patients in a Massachusetts State hospital, popularized behavior therapy. From his work in animal learning, Skinner found that the establishment and extinction of responses can be determined by the way reinforces, or rewards, are given. The pattern of reward giving, both in time and frequency, is known as a schedule of reinforcement. The gradual change in behavior in approximation of the desired result is known as shaping. More recent developments in behavior therapy emphasize the adaptive nature of cognitive processes. Behavior-therapy techniques have been applied with some success to such disturbances as enuresis (bed-wetting), tics, phobias, stutteri...
Skinner is not a cognitive psychologist because he does not see evidence of an inner world of mental life that is relative to analyzing behavior nor to the physiology of the nervous system. In other words, he does not think the brain and its mental functions have proven enough evidence to verify their effectiveness in analyzing behavior within the field of psychology. Skinner has chosen not to be a cognitive psychology because of his belief that behavior cannot be changed by changing “the minds and heart of men”- yet that is the overarching purpose of cognitive psychology. Skinner believes that there is more to changing behavior such as the inclusion of altering the environments, both physical and social, in which we live. Without doing so, Skinner believes it is impossible to change
B.F. Skinner is a major contributor to the Behavioral Theory of personality, a theory that states that our learning is shaped by positive and negative reinforcement, punishment, modeling, and observation. An individual acts in a certain way, a.k.a. gives a response, and then something happens after the response. In order for an action to be repeated in the future, what happens after the response either encourages the response by offering a reward that brings pleasure or allows an escape from a negative situation. The former is known as positive reinforcement, the latter known as negative reinforcement (Sincero, 2012). A teenager who received money for getting an “A” is being positively reinforced, while an individual who skips a class presentation is being negatively reinforced by escaping from the intense fear and anxiety that would have occurred during the presentation.
There are three main behaviorist trends that are associated with Behaviorism and help us to understand human development. These are classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and social learning theory. They not only have historical value but also provide useful concepts to understanding human development.