Skinner & Thorndike

Presented by: Peyton Andres & Brittney Snodgrass

Skinner & Thorndike

Burrus Frederic Skinner

Edward Thorndike

- Born in 1904 in a small town where he grew up.

- His father was a lawyer & mother stayed home.

- Always interested in building and playing with different gadgets.

- Wanted to study writing, but studied psychology at Harvard.

- At Harvard, developed "The Skinner Box"

- Theory based on the work of Edward Thorndike

- Born in 1874 in Massachusetts where he grew up.

- Father was a Minister.

- Successful student but didn't like his first psychology course.

- Graduated with a Bachelors of Science degree. Went back to school to study English & French Literature, but this time a course in Psychology changed his mind.

Characteristics of Learning Theory

Operant Conditioning:

Behavioral Theory

Classroom Examples

• Similar to Skinner but minus the repeated reinforcement
• Tendency to modify our behavior due to the consequences that follow

• Based on belief that reinforced behaviors will continue and punished behaviors will eventually end.

• Individuals make associations between their behaviors and rewards/punishments

• Voluntary responses are followed by reinforcing stimulus

• Focuses on the external reasoning behind behavior and not the internal thoughts or reasoning

Classroom Examples

1. Teachers need to know what motivates the students in order to get them interested and excited in school

The Law of Exercise

The Law of Readiness

The Law of Effect

The Skinner Box

- Implies a degree of concentration & eagerness.

- Learn best when they are physically, mentally, and emotionally ready to learn. They do not learn well if they see no reason for learning.

1. When parents give rewards or treats for good grades at school. Such as putting the test on the fridge or going out for ice cream.

2. When teachers give extra attention or rewards to students who listen well in class or pay attention. Such as candy or a toy bucket the kids can pick from.

3. When teachers give out detention or take away treats from students who are not behaving as they should be. Such as taking away recess (controversial).

- Added to the Law of Exercise.

- Emerged from his research on how cats learn to escape from puzzle boxes.

- Has two parts:

a. The Law of Use

b. The Law of disuse

- States that connections grow stronger with use, and grow weaker when not used.

Could study an animal interacting with its environment. First, using rats, he observed how the rodents discovered and used a level in the box, which dispensed food at varying intervals.

Example: When a child sees an attractive object at the distance, his neurons may be said to prepare for the whole series of fixating it with the eyes, running towards it, seeing it within reach, grasping, feeling it in his hand, and curiously manipulating it.

- According to the law, responses that are immediately followed by a satisfactory outcome are more likely to occur again in the future.

- Responses followed by negative outcomes are less likely to reoccur in the future.

- Based on the emotional reaction of the student

Later, he used experimented with pigeons using the box. The pigeons pecked at a disc to gain access to food.

Skinner concluded that some form of reinforcement was crucial in learning new behaviors.

- "Drill and practice"

- Example: Multiplication facts

2. Make sure students eat breakfast

3. Hands on Learning, Experiments, Games, Brain Breaks.

Sources

http://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html

http://psychology.about.com/od/profilesmz/p/edward-thorndike.htm