Types of Behaviors By B.F Skinner

Types of Behaviors

Skinner distinguished between two different types of behaviors: respondent behaviors and operant behaviors. Respondent behaviors are those that occur automatically and reflexively, such as pulling your hand back from a hot stove or jerking your leg when the doctor taps on your knee.

 You don't have to learn these behaviors, they simply occur automatically and involuntarily.

Operant behavior, on the other hand, are those under our conscious control. Some may occur spontaneously and others purposely, but it is the consequences of these actions that then influence whether or not they occur again in the future. Our actions on the environment and the consequences of that action make up an important part of the learning process.

While classical conditioning could account for respondent behaviors, Skinner realized that it could not account for a great deal of learning. Instead, Skinner suggested that operant conditioning held far greater importance.

Skinner invented different devices during his boyhood and he put these skills to work during his studies on operant conditioning. He created a device known as an operant conditioning chamber, most often referred to today as a Skinner box. The chamber was essentially a box that could hold a small animal such as a rat or pigeon. The box also contained a bar or key that the animal could press in order to receive a reward.

In order to track responses, Skinner also developed a device known as a cumulative recorder. The device recorded responses as an upward movement of a line so that response rates could be read by looking at the slope of the line.

OPERANT CONDITIONING BY B.F SKINNER

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