Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
B.F. Skinner was a well-known and influential researcher who articulated many of the theoretical constructs of reinforcement and behaviorism. Skinner defined reinforcers according to the change in response strength (response rate) rather than to more subjective criteria, such as what is pleasurable or valuable to someone.
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]
Skinner said little about the causes and types of behavior variation, believing it to be random. [13] On the other hand, Zener, Liddell and others [14] [15] argue that the variation in behaviors that psychological reinforcement acts on is not random. For example, it is different for food than for sex or a social reward.
The effect of environment on behavior can be proximal, here-and-now, or distal, through memory and personality. [2] Thus, biology provides the mechanism, learning and environment provide the content of behavior and personality. Creative behavior is explained by novel combinations of behaviors elicited by new, complex environmental situations.
Reinforcing consequences increase the likelihood of a behavior occurring in the future; it is further divided into positive and negative reinforcement. Punishing consequences decrease the likelihood of a behavior occurring in the future; like reinforcement, it is divided into positive and negative punishment. An example of punishment may ...
Skinner described operant conditioning as strengthening behaviour through reinforcement. Reinforcement can consist of positive reinforcement, in which a desirable stimulus is added; negative reinforcement, in which an undesirable stimulus is taken away; positive punishment, in which an undesirable stimulus is added; and negative punishment, in which a desirable stimulus is taken away. [7]
Punishment is any change in a human or animal's surroundings which, occurring after a given behavior or response, reduces the likelihood of that behavior occurring again in the future. Reinforcement , referring to any behavior that increases the likelihood that a response will occurs, plays a large role in punishment.
Behavioral momentum is a theory in quantitative analysis of behavior and is a behavioral metaphor based on physical momentum.It describes the general relation between resistance to change (persistence of behavior) and the rate of reinforcement obtained in a given situation.