Burrhus Frederic Skinner in APA Style - Essay Example

Burrhus Frederic Skinner in APA Style Burrhus Frederic Skinner (B.F. Skinner) is one of the most recognized personalities in the field of behavioral psychology or behaviorism. Compared to other areas in psychology, behaviorism has been formulated under four assumptions: the proper concern of psychological science should be the study of observable behavior and responses; people are born as blank slates and whatever they learn to do depends on their interactions and experiences with the environment; behavior that is followed by satisfying consequences will be more likely to be repeated and behavior that is followed by unsatisfying consequences will be less likely to be repeated; and changes in behavior and learning can occur automatically as people discover contingency relationships (Major Behavioral Psychology Theories n.d.). Even though Skinner originally dreamed of being writer, his works has the greatest impact in the science of psychology which has been widely applied in the American society. It should be noted that “his work has influenced how information is organized and presented in textbooks for elementary school through college, as well as how many computer tutorial programs are written” (Major Behavioral Psychology Theories n.d.). B. F. Skinner’s main contribution in the field of behavioral psychology is his pioneering work on understanding behavior as a function of environmental histories of reinforcing consequences. He has capitalized on E. L. Thorndike’s theory which posits learning as a function of behavior and consequences. BF Skinner has been widely regarded for his discovery of operant conditioning or the “use of consequences to modify the occurrence and form of behavior” (Operant Conditioning 2007). He believes that the development of our individual personality is largely due to how respond to the external situations around us. As stated above, this finding has become one of the basic assumptions held in the field of behavioral psychology, that is, behavior is created through reinforcement and punishment. The contributions of Skinner to psychology can be created to his invention of the operant conditioning chamber which he uses to measure organism’s responses and their interaction with the environment. His study focused mainly on how rats are conditioned in order to come up with the desired behavior. According to B. F. Skinner, there are four types of operant conditioning namely, positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishment, and extinction. Through positive reinforcement, a particular behavior is strengthened by the consequence of experiencing a positive condition. In negative reinforcement, a particular behavior is strengthened by the consequence of stopping or avoiding a negative condition. On the other hand, punishment occurs when a behavior is followed by an aversive stimulus. Lastly, extinction refers to the weakening of an established behavior because of lack of positive or negative reinforcement (Operant Conditioning Basics 2007). Through these responses of other people around an individual, he is able to establish a unique personality. It becomes notable that Skinner equates personality with behavior and “behavior is determined by principles of operant conditioning which focuses on the relationship of behavior to the environment” (Walsh n.d.). This, of course is void of the individual’s thoughts, emotions, and even freedom of choice. For Skinner, mental processes and structures plays no important role in finding the link between behavior and the external environment. Also, freedom of choice is non-existent; stressing that it is solely the environmental stimuli which determine the behavior of an individual. Thus, B. F. Skinner strongly asserts that “the consistency observed in the behavior of individuals is the result of the development of stable response tendencies (Walsh n.d.).” He also recognized that these tendencies may change over time as environmental stimuli changes but they are stable enough to instill consistency in an individual. Summing up, B. F. Skinner’s view of personality is a set of response tendencies which are derived from various stimulus situations. As stated above, Skinner has not originally planned to embark on the field of psychology. After graduating from college with a Bachelor’s degree in English, he decided to become a writer moving back in his hometown where he wrote articles for newspaper. The major turnaround happened when working as a bookstore clerk in New York City when he stumbled upon the work of Watson and Pavlov. This stirred his interest in psychology and thus, at the age of 24, he enrolled in the psychology department of the Harvard University (Vargas n.d.). One of the major influences in the works of B. F. Skinner is his mentor, William Crozier who was a chair of the new department in Physiology. During that time, Crozier was fervently adhering to a program which studies the behavior of “the animal as a whole.” In contrast to what the psychologists were doing, this program neglects the processes going inside the organism by focusing only on the external environment. The student has been inspired to conduct an experiment supporting this program. It should be noted that B.F. Skinner has gone beyond the traditional beliefs of psychology in positing that behavior is purely acquired from external stimuli (Vargas n.d.). The ideas put forward by B. F. Skinner are widely utilized by business organizations in order to boost employee efficiency and motivation. In order to encourage and create pleasing behavior in employees, companies use positive reinforcement by rewarding workers according to their contribution in the business organization. Positive reinforcements are considered to be powerful motivators in the workplace. Managers are encouraged to use this technique by simply saying “Thank you,” informing the employees of their accomplishments, monetary and non-monetary rewards, and others. Positive reinforcement boosts morale and creates a sense of satisfaction in workers. A good example of company which utilizes this approach is the Lincoln Ohio Company which pays employees according to what he produces and the company’s profits. Thus, whatever output and profit the human resource produce and create is reflected on the amount salary that they will be paid. References “Major Behavioral Theories” 2007, Retrieved 11 July 2007, from http://web.umr.edu/~pfyc212b/behaviorism.htm “Operant Conditioning” 2007, Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 11 July 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operant_conditioning “Operant Conditioning Basics” 1999, Maricopa Center for Learning and Instructions. Retrieved 11 July 2007, from http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/proj/nru/opcond.html Vargas, J. n.d. “Brief Biography of B. F. Skinner.” BF Skinner.org. Retrieved 11 July 2007, from http://www.bfskinner.org/briefbio.html Walsh, A. n.d., “B. F. Skinner and Behaviorism’s Take on Personality.” Retrieved 11 July 2007, from http://www.northampton.edu/NR/rdonlyres/A115490F-2A3E-4197-95E1-1079719BF779/0/skinner.pdf Read More