When1: 1938
When2: 1974
Who: Burrhus Fredric Skinner [Skinner, Burrhus Fredric]
What: psychologist
Where: USA
works\ Behavior of Organisms: An Experimental Analysis [1938]; Walden II [1948]; Science and Human Behavior [1953]; Verbal Behavior [1957]; Cumulative Record [1961]; Contingencies of Reinforcement [1969]; Beyond Freedom and Dignity [1971]; About Behaviorism [1974]
Detail: He lived 1904 to 1990. He studied operant conditioning or instrumental responses as explanations for internal and external behavior. Most behaviors involve voluntary movements {operant conditioning, Skinner}, rather than reflexes {classical conditioning, Skinner}. Current behavior depends on rewards or punishments experienced after previous behavior. Rewards can be food or pleasure {positive reinforcement, Skinner} or can be punishment reduction {negative reinforcement, Skinner}. Punishment can decrease behavior. Low reward can decrease behavior {extinction, Skinner}. People have private stimuli and responses. People learn to be self-aware by verbal reports. Only stimulus-response conditioning frequencies determine behavior {radical behaviorism}.
Experimental chambers {Skinner box} allow stimulus delivery and response measurement. Skinner boxes can be enclosed cribs {air-crib} for human infants.
Social Sciences>Psychology>History>Behavior
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Date Modified: 2022.0224