Final Exam

• Key Points in Skinner’s Life

  • Strict Parenting Environment: fear of punishment (God, law, other’s opinions)
  • Interest In Machinery
  • Had many pets
  • Identity Crisis: lost in love and career; devoted to science
  • Pioneer in school of behaviorism
• (Skinner) Overview of Behaviorism

  Driving force: the environment (internal forces cannot be measured)

  • respondent or operants
  • reinforcement or punishment
• Respondent Learning


  Reflexes (S-R)

  Pavlovian (S-S)

  Extinction (unlearning)
• Operant Learning 


  Active learning (R-S)
• Reinforcement 


  promoting behavior
• punishment 


  discouraging behavior
• positive reciprocation


  ADDING to organism to promote or reduce behavior

  • + reinforcement: reward training, doggy treats
  • + punishment: yelling from coach -> running faster
• negative reciprocation


  REMOVING from organism

  • — reinforcement: spanking, spray bottle
  • — punishment: taking away privileges
• Primary reinforcer


  biologically driven (food, pain); very effective, but loses effect overtime
• Secondary reinforcer


  psychologically driven (money, praise); weaker, but can be used more ovvertime
• Shaping


  Gradual reinforcement to gain a desired behavior;

  • works on method of successive approximations
  • reinforcement for subtle changes
  • reinforcement only to desired behavior once achieved
  • takes great deal of skill and patience
• 4 scheduling of reinforcement

  • Fixed-ratio: set # of stimuli
  • Variable-ratio: changing # of stimuli (slot machines)
  • Fixed-interval: set time interval; linked with personality theory that shows inconsistent behaviors (‘Christmas bonuses’)
  • Variable-interval: changing time interval; linked most to consistent patterns of behavior
• Skinner’s Stance on Human Nature

  • DETERMINISM over free will
  • NURTURE over nature
  • UNIQUENESS over universality
  • OPTIMISM over pessimism
• Assessment of Skinner


  • functional analysis (ABCs)
  • antecedent (A)
  • behavior (B)
  • consequence (C)
  • Techniques
  • direct observation (most used)
  • self-report
  • sign (label how one describes oneself; “I’m shy.”) vs sample (example of label; “when I go to a party, I hide in a corner or go home.”)
  • physiological correlates
  • neurological correlates (post-Skinner)
  • Preferred single-subject
  • used reversal experimental design
• Skinner and Personality


  Behavioral Characteristics

  • superstition
  • creativity
  • neuroticism
  • learned helplessness

  Behavioral Modification

  • self-control
  • stimulus avoidance
  • self-administered satiation
  • aversive stimulation techniques
  • self-reinforcements
  • control of others
  • applied behavioral analysis
  • token economy
• Cognitive-Behaviorism

  • Two opposing forces: cognition (rational) & behavioral (empirical)
  • Strengths
  • broader learning theory
  • direct (trial & error)
  • respondent & operant
  • indirect
  • conscious awareness
  • observational/vicarious learning
• Social Cognitive Learning


  Change in behavior in observer due to the experience of observing a model; indirect
• Work of Bandura


  • classic experiment: Bobo study
  • verbal modeling of children
  • disinhibition studies: one can’t control themselves when observing others w/ no impulse control
  • generalized behaviors (physical, verbal, emotional)
• Factors of Observational Learning

  Characteristics of models

  • similarity w/ model
  • status
  • attractiveness

  Characteristics of observers

  • personal states
  • developmental stage
  • prior experiences

  Characteristics of Behaviors

  • consequences
  • task complexity
• Venus effect


  model being too attractive; observer fixated on model not behavior of model
• 4 Process of Observational Learning

  • attentional: paying attention to model to observe and learn
  • retention: recalling learned activity for later:
  • productional: performing produced action
  • motivational: motivating learners to repeat observational learning
• 2 developed traits of self

  • self-reinforcement: “I can do it.”
  • self-efficacy: “I am good at it.”
• Developmental Stages of Self-Efficacy

  • Childhood - parents
  • adolescense - peers & social media
  • Adulthood
  • young adulthood - peers & social media
  • middle years - parenthood & social media
  • Old age
• Common Sources of Behavior Modification

  • Anxiety disorders in personality
  • etiologies & treatments (participant modeling to lower anxiety
  • Examples: phobias, panic disorders, “common anxieties”
• Bandura‘s Stance on Human Nature

  • NURTURE over nature
  • UNIQUENESS over universality
  • GROWTH over equilibrium
  • OPTIMISM over pessimism
• Assessment of Bandura

  • Like skinner ( must be measurable)
  • overt behaviors
  • physiological behaviors
  • self-reports
  • Unlike skinner
  • used personality inventories
• Empirical Support of Bandura‘s Theory

  Self-efficacy factors

  • gender
  • age
  • physical appearance
  • academic performance
  • vocational performance
  • physical health
  • mental health

  Collective efficacy
• Personality & Forensic Psychology

  Criminal profiling

  • two major methods: retroactive & proactive
• Personality & I/O Psychology

  Industrial psychology: “employees should fit like a glove.”

  • interviews, standardized inventories, performance-based test

  Organzizational psychology: “making a better business”

  • theory X & theory Y leadership, leadership management, service leadership, path-goal leadership, transactional & transformational
• Chaining


  Multiple series of behaviors become functional units
• Reflexes (S-R)

  • Habituation lowers reinforcement w/ repeated S
  • Sensitization strengthens reinforcement
• Pavlovian (S-S)


  paring response to certain stimuli “CS-US” (e.g baby albert)
• Skinner’s Stance on Human Nature

  • DETERMINISM over free will
  • NURTURE over nature
  • UNIQUENESS over universality
  • OPTIMISM over pessimism