Commentary On Opening Skinner's Box By Lauren Slater

In the book “Opening Skinner’s Box”, Lauren Slater discusses many complicated ideas relating to certain experiments of recent times. In every chapter, she focuses on one specific experiment and poses many controversial thoughts. One of the chapters I found most interesting was the second chapter titled “Obscura”. In it she walks readers through the experiments of Stanley Milgram and questions the purpose, results, usefulness, and morality of the experiments.

Skinners experiment was based on operant conditioning, using the concept of discrimination learning, he carried out experiments on animals with the idea that their behaviour is predetermined by their environment and using a well controlled environment would allow him to in turn control their behaviours using a range of triggers. Using reinforcement and expectancy, the animal associates acting out certain behaviours with rewards. (Toates, F., 2010, pp. 165-167) After performing a number of experiments on rats using mazes, he subsequently designed the Skinner box. This was a box designed to hold animals and giving the animal contained access to food after carrying out a certain response. Using this procedure of reinforcement the animal learned to perform the response to get food as it associates this required behaviour with the reward of food. (Toates, F., 2010, p. 164) This principle can be applied to strengthen any behaviours whether it be positive or negative, and this research is an efficient technique used widely by many

In Lauren Slater book “Opening Skinner’s Box” her main argument is about who Skinner was and what he did. Some might ask why do we need to know about Skinner if we have never heard of someone with that name? Basically why was he important or what he did was important? Slater mentions that skinner had a daughter was he using her to help him find out new experiments?

Socio-behaviorists often study how children 's experiences model their behaviors (Nolan & Raban, 2015). Behaviorism believes that what matters is not the development itself, but the external factors that shape children 's behaviors (Nolan & Raban, 2015). This theory demonstrates that teachers and mentors dominate and instruct child-related activities, and they decide what children should learn and how to learn (Nolan & Raban, 2015). Reinforcement, which is an essential factor that helps children to learn particular behaviors, generally refers to rewards and punishments (Nolan & Raban, 2015). Children are more likely to repeat actions that result in receiving praise; in contrast, they may ignore or abandon behaviors that make them get punishment. Nevertheless, Skinner points out that children learn nothing from the punishment. Instead, they may start to work out how to avoid it (Nolan & Raban, 2015). Another concept is classical conditioning (classical behaviorism) that emphasizes on the relation between stimuli and response. This concept embodies in a famous experiment, in which the food is presented to the dog when the bell rings, and the bell becomes a conditioned stimulus for the dog (Nolan & Raban, 2015). Likewise, if children receive toys in the condition that they behave well, then they will probably repeat this behavior to get the toys. Nevertheless, Pavlov 's theory of classical conditioning is somehow extreme, as it reduces

Skinner mastered. Some think that using Operant conditioning with positive and negative punishment and negative reinforcement works better than positive reinforcement. The positive reinforcement has consequences and comes with a rewarding outlook. This is a consequence that causes a behavior to increase. It would work out better if the adult explains to the child what was done and how to fix it than to punish with negative reinforcement. Whether you’re applying positive punishment and removing negative reinforcement, these two methods do not last very long and don’t benefit the child in any way. Behavior has consequences and consequences influence behavior. This is a voluntary response strengthened by positive reinforcement to increase and strengthen behavior. This type of response is more likely to happen. If you want the right thing to happen, reward it with positive measures. Repetition with positive rewards always makes out to be a better influence for a child’s upbringing and how they react to the set goal. I would like to say that Operant Conditioning is a better form of learning because it is strengthened by positive consequences or weakened by a negative consequence. You reward to improve behavior, or you take away or time-out to give them time to think about what they did wrong. Classical Conditioning is a learned conditioning stimulus, like conditioning yourself to study for exams in advance to pass classes. Effective planning for study time results in passing grades and passing your classes. The example taken from our textbook, where the dog is salivating and wagging his tail when he hears the bell, associating the bell to meal time mentioned in our psychology textbook (Feldman, R., 2015). Another good example would be to take a child, and present a bowl filled with grapes. The child gets excited because he knows what’s about to happen. The

In “Beyond Freedom and Dignity,” B. F. Skinner argues that human behavior is determined by environment and biology. Perhaps the strongest argument that Skinner gives for this claim relies on the claim that free will and moral autonomy do not exist. In this paper, I will argue that this argument is correct because free will and moral autonomy do not exist and are harmful to the building of a happier and more stable society.

Learning enables you as an individual, to gain more knowledge about something which you have never learned about. Learning also has to do with past experiences which are influenced by behavioural changes (Weiten, 2016). There are different types of ways to learn; through, classical conditioning, operant conditioning and observational learning which will be discussed and analysed in the essay.

The aim of Watson and Rayner was to condition a phobia in an emotionally stable child.[1] For this study they chose a nine-month old infant from a hospital referred to as "Albert" for the experiment.[2] Watson followed the procedures which Pavlov had used in his experiments with dogs.[3]

When first reading this chapter Skinner seemed ruthless, disgusting, and manipulative. How can a father put his own daughter into a box? Did he have feelings? He seemed to love his work more than his own family. Why was a man so worried about the minds of others that he would risk the life of his own child? After reading the interview with one of his daughters my mind began to alter and side with Skinner. His own daughter seemed to love him and appreciate all of his hard work. If his own daughters loved him, maybe the world did not truly understand him. A man so smart was hated by so many, but yet, he changed the way we think about psychology today. If a rat with the mind of a bean can be trained, what else is this world capable of? Even further,

In the first chapter of her book, Lauren Slater mentioned about the strange rumor of B. F. Skinner: Skinner tried to bring up his daughter like an experimental animal in a “skinner’s box” which is known for his notable discoveries about operant conditioning for animals (7-8). Of course, this is not truth, and his experiment for his daughter was quite loving one which could even assist her growth. Then Lauren decided to apply his method of operant conditioning to her baby to make her not crying during midnight. Even though operant conditioning could help children’s growth like Skinner’s or Lauren’s cases, is it really safe enough not to give them some trauma?

In total, Skinner published nearly two hundred articles and over twenty books. Skinner continued to write about his life and theories until he was diagnosed with leukemia in 1989. Today Skinner's preferred field of behaviorism is no longer a dominant school of thought, but his developments in operant conditioning continues to be used by mental health professionals who use reinforcement and punishment to alter behavior in the classroom and even by animal trainers.

Discuss the methodological and ethical issues which are apparent in this study. How have the findings impacted the psychological field?

In psychology, the term reinforce refers to the strengthening of a specific stimuli. In other words, it means to increase the chance of invoking a specific response. There are several strategies that can be used when attempting to influence someone’s behaviour. Strategies such as positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishments, and rewards. While varying in tactics these strategies all attempt to do the same thing, invoke a specific response. The metaphor of the carrot and the stick, signify both reward and punishment. This metaphor is explained through a situation; where a farmer dangles a carrot in front of a mule as a reward and hits it from behind with a stick as punishment. When trying to motivate someone both tactics are commonly

One of the most infamous experiments conducted in the history of psychology was the Stanford Prison Experiment. The main objective of this experiment was to see what effects would occur when a psychological experiment into human nature was performed. As I read through the material provided, I noticed that my thoughts on the matter were similar to many; that it was a complete failure as a scientific research project. However, his findings did provide us with something much more important that is still being talked about today; insight into human psychology and social behavior.

To start with, here is the analysis of the cultural background of the theorists. For operant conditioning theory, the major pioneers of the theory are B.F. Skinner and Edward Thorndike. Edward Thorndike proposed the Law of Effect in 1905, it states that actions which are followed by desirable outcomes are more likely to be repeated and vice versa. This law influenced Skinner’s investigation to a great extent and in this essay, I will take B.F. Skinner as the major pioneer of operant conditioning for further elaboration. Skinner is a behaviorist, he believes that classical conditioning cannot explain complex human behavior and the best way to understand behavior is to look at the cause and consequence of event and there are four contingencies in the theory. Bandura is the pioneer of observational theory, he believes that learning is not always measured by behaviors and can be done by observing others, self-efficacy, beliefs and desires of an