Yolanda Skinner Case Study

Skinner’s theory claims that our behavior is motivated by positive rewards or outcomes, whereas the behavior that brings negative outcomes are not reinforced. Skinner’s theory is focused on external motivation, the action between individual and the environment. The inner sensation is overlooked in his theory. In the case of Yolanda, positive comments from teachers and parents and good grades motivated her to excel at school work. Compliments from parents and teachers increased her self-esteem and therefore she was positively reinforced to study hard and make her parents proud. She continued to repeat getting good GPAs, because she was constantly noticed by her teachers for being a high achiever.
Yolanda was not successful in college where she did not get the attention from teachers or communications with teachers that she used to get in her early years. She wasn’t also getting personal comments about her progress in college because there were so many other students other than

After she dropped out of college, she was having unpleasant outcomes such as low pay, disrespectful customers and embarrassment that come from telling her friends that she dropped out of college. There was also removal of pleasant consequences, because she was not being a role model of African Americans any more.
Yolanda could do well the second time when she went back to college and in graduate school because her studying behavior could be positively reinforced again. Attending small college gave her opportunities to receive remarks from professors and she could feel more important there. Her parents noticed her doing well and praised her, which further motivated her to do well. In graduate school, her advisors acted as another reinforcer, suggesting her to do research and to stand out from