Social-Behavioristic Perspective:

B.F.Skinner
• Respondent behavior
• Involves a response made to or elicited by a
stimulus
• Unlearned
• At higher level – conditioning
• Reinforcement
• A conditioned response cannot be established
in the absence of reinforcement

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 Operant behavior
• Much of behavior appears spontaneous
• To be emitted rather than elicited by a
stimulus
• The nature & freq of operant behavior will be
determined by the reinforcement that follows it
• Operant conditioning
• A change in the consequences of a response
will affect the rate at w/h the response occurs
• Skinner box
• Behaviors are emitted, not elicited

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 Schedules of Reinforcement
• Fixed-interval
• The reinforcer is presented at
fixed time intervals
• Fixed-ratio
• The reinforcer is presented only
after the organism has made a
specific number of responses

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• Variable-interval
• The reinforcer might appear after two
hours in the first instance, after an
hour & a half the next time, after 2
hours & 2 minutes the third time
• Variable-ratio
• Based on an average number of
responses between reinforcers but
there is great variability around that
average
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The Shaping of Behavior

• Behaviors are
reinforced only as
they come to
approximate or
approach the final
desired behavior
• Successive
approximation

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 Superstitious Behavior
• Persistent behavior that
have a coincidental &
not a functional
relationship to the
reinforcement received

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The self-control of behavior
• The ability to exert control over the
variables that determine our behavior
• Our control of the external variables
that determine our behavior
• Self-administered satiation
• Unpleasant/aversive stimulation
• Self reinforcement

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Applications of operant conditioning
• Behavior modification
• A form of therapy that applies the
principles of reinforcement to bring
about desired behavioral changes
• Token economy
• Tokens which can be exchanged for
valued objects are awarded for
desirable behaviors

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• Negative
reinforcement
• The strengthening of
a response by the
removal of an
aversive stimulus

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