Skinner Flashcards
What are the similarities between Skinner’s drive theory and Freud’s theory?
They’re deterministic
They focus on the unconscious
The ultimate goal is to reduce/satisfy drive
What, according to Skinner, is reinforcement?
Anything that will increase the frequency in behavior
What types of reinforcement are there?
Positive reinforcement: administering something
Negative reinforcement: taking away something
What is punishment?
The addition of a negative consequence to a behavior
True or false: Punishment only works if the punisher is present
True
Ex: If mom tells child to not reach into the cookie jar, he won’t as long as mom is there. If she leaves, he’ll likely reach in there
What is extinction?
It is used to enforce a punishment successfully; occurs when a previously reinforced response is no longer followed by the same reinforcer and the response eventually decreases in frequency.
Traits are formed by…
Reinforcing a child’s behavior
True or false: Behaviors that are ignored by the parent are going to continue.
False. They will fade away
What is shaping?
Creating a behavior that was not there before by reinforcing a selected behavior; a process by which natural variability in behavior is exploited so that a new behavior is acquired by reinforcing successive approximations to it.
Ex: A dog being trained to run in circles will often turn right and left in seemingly random fashion as it anxious waits to be fed
What is chaining?
Putting together shaped behaviors into a sequence
What is behaviorism?
A school of psychology for which the basic subject matter is “outside”’; it is overt (observable) behavior. A systematic approach to the understanding of human and animal behavior.
Skinner developed a broader point of ______ _______, which considers currently observable events and also potential future events that can observed and measured.
Radical behaviorism
What is a consequence, according to Skinner?
An event that occurs after a response has been performed and changes the probability that the response will occur again.
What does Skinner believe about the environment?
He believes that the environment selectively chooses certain desirable behaviors to allow living organisms to survive. He draws a parallel between his theory and Charles Darwin’s theory.
Ex: purple flowers growing on mountaintop. Hummingbirds with long beaks that can reach into the flowers for food are selectively chosen.
True or false: Skinner also believes that genetic input, determined by the environment through natural selection, predisposes individuals to certain behaviors rather than others.
True.
Ex: an individual born into a home where art is emphasized is likely to take up an interest in art as well.
