B F Skinner's Reinforcement Theory Paper

Waketa Robinson

B.F. Skinner’s Reinforcement Theory

Team Project

James Jones

December 1, 2015

Introduction

As the 1920s came to an end John B. Watson had departed academic psychology bringing about the innovative theories of other behaviorists that had become influential as well and brought forth new methods of learning other than conventional conditioning. One of the most significant of these was Burrhus Frederic Skinner whose views were marginally less extreme than those of Watson. Skinner understood that we do have such a thing as a mind, but that it is merely more fruitful to study observable behavior rather than internal mental measures. The work of Skinner was deep-rooted in a view that conventional conditioning was far

He called this method operant conditioning. Operant Conditioning deals with operants - intentional actions that have an effect on the surrounding environment (McCleod, 2007). Skinners objective was to ascertain the processes which made certain operant behaviors more or less likely to transpire. In a team setting if action is based on reward it provides motivation for a team to work well and complete tasks more efficiently. If team members are aware that inappropriate behavior garnered consequence Skinners theory suggests that would be the less likely action for fear of consequence.

References

Managementstudyguide.com,. (2015). Reinforcement Theory of Motivation. Retrieved 2 December 2015, from http://www.managementstudyguide.com/reinforcement-theory-motivation.htm

McLeod, S. (2015). B.F. Skinner | Operant Conditioning | Simply Psychology. Simplypsychology.org. Retrieved 2 December 2015, from http://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html

Thompson, L. (2000). Making the team. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

YouTube,. (2015). Big Bang Theory-operant conditioning. Retrieved 2 December 2015, from