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The machine embodies key elements of Skinner's theory of learning and had important implications for education in general and classroom instruction in particular. [45] In one incarnation, the machine was a box that housed a list of questions that could be viewed one at a time through a small window. (see picture.)
Operant conditioning originated with Edward Thorndike, whose law of effect theorised that behaviors arise as a result of consequences as satisfying or discomforting. In the 20th century, operant conditioning was studied by behavioral psychologists, who believed that much of mind and behaviour is explained through environmental conditioning.
B. F. Skinner was responsible for a different type of machine which used his ideas on how learning should be directed with positive reinforcement. [8] Skinner advocated the use of teaching machines for a broad range of students (e.g., preschool aged to adult) and instructional purposes (e.g., reading and music).
Skinner made some very effective criticisms of traditional teaching methods. [23] His scheme of programmed instruction was to present the material as part of a "schedule of reinforcement" in typical behaviourist manner. The programmed text of Skinner's theory of behaviorism is the most complete example of his ideas in action. [24]
Skinner found that the environment influenced behavior and when that environment is manipulated, behaviour will change. From this, developmental psychologists proposed theories on operant learning in children. That research was applied to education and the treatment of illness in young children. [10]
Shaping sometimes fails. An oft-cited example is an attempt by Marian and Keller Breland (students of B.F. Skinner) to shape a pig and a raccoon to deposit a coin in a piggy bank, using food as the reinforcer. Instead of learning to deposit the coin, the pig began to root it into the ground, and the raccoon "washed" and rubbed the coins together.
After World War II, two major learning theories became prominent.One was behaviorism, which stemmed from the work of B. F. Skinner and others. [1] [8] Skinner viewed human behavior as determined by an individual's interactions with one's environment. [1]
Radical behaviorism is a "philosophy of the science of behavior" developed by B. F. Skinner. [1] It refers to the philosophy behind behavior analysis, and is to be distinguished from methodological behaviorism—which has an intense emphasis on observable behaviors—by its inclusion of thinking, feeling, and other private events in the analysis of human and animal psychology. [2]