Reading Activity Week #9 (due Monday)

3.5

Three things I will remember from the chapter…

1. I will remember Skinner’s invention, the operant chamber. This invention really interested me and I thought it was an interesting concept, but really made a lot of sense. It also was a great way to show and understand how we can elicit a behavior from the animal and even see how it goes through en extinction burst.

2. I will remember the classical conditioning can also occur in an operant chamber. This didn’t make sense to me the first time I read it. I actually had to go back and make sure I had read it correctly. However, it really did make a lot of sense when I read the example. The light would eventually become more than enough to create the “freezing” response from the rat.

3. I will remember what the book Walden Two was about. After reading about the book in this section, I’m very interested in the response I would emit after reading it. I would like to hear more about his ideas of a utopia and how our society would be better off if we thought about the community before the individual and how that would better or worsen individual happiness.

One thing I liked about the chapter…

1. I liked the references made to the current government and our society today. It always makes everything that we learn in class seem much more relevant and important when we have to think about it in a modern and day to day way. Especially today, with the elections and all the “problems” in our world, thinking about behavior modification in a societally relevant way is a great way to elicit me to know the information.

One thing I disliked about the chapter…

1. Although it was a good example, I didn’t like reading about the “Air Bed” again. We’ve learned about it once and I’ve learned about it many times before. I’m sure I will read about it many more times, and it is a great and interesting invention. I just wasn’t fond of reading about it again when we just learned about it very recently.

Historical Figures…

Of the four historical figured we read about I personally like Pavlov the best. In my experiences with psychology classes, we learn about the same thing way more than once. That being said, I have always been interested in hearing about his behavior studies. I think he had some great ideas and really researched and proved his ideas in a very understandable way.

I believe that Skinner has made the most important contributions. I think his work was the most controversial considering he marketed his idea and even used his own daughter in his studies. I think that was a risky thing to do and I applaud his confidence in his own ideas.

I would like to find out more about Watson. I think his Little Albert Study was very interesting and I would love to learn more about it. I think that it would be beneficial to also understand his theory that he could take any child and raise them to be whatever he wanted, whether it be a thief or a bank manager. I would love to hear more about his reasoning on that claim.

Terms: emit, elicit, extinct, operant chamber, extinction burst

The term manipulanda, which refered to the lever inside the skinner box, because the rat manipulated it. Succesive approximation, because i have never heard this term, meaning doing something closley related to the reinforced target behavior. And, i didn't know he elicited beliefs of using social engineering to form these better societies, need to learn about Walden Two, to get a better concept of this theory.

I liked/disliked Skinner, like Watson, he truly believed that behvaiorism could be used to form a person into a nobel human speciman. I also disliked it because it's a bit narrow minded. Environment plays a role, but what about inherient traits? I know there time didn't really support this, but I believe there is more to a persons behavior than just environmental stimuli.

Skinner, because he was the most influental researcher in the introduction to the world of behaviorism, he took Watson's theories to the next level, giving it validity for a number of years. When you think of behvaiorism now days, Skinner comes to mind, Watson is primarly known for his 'little Albert' experiment, Skinner is known for more, thus I believe more influential in mainstreaming behvaiorism.

Behaviorism, Manipulanda, Successive Approximation, reinforced, target behavior, social engenneering, stimuli

Section 3.5 – B.F. Skinner
Before reading this chapter on B.F. Skinner, I thought about Little Albert and wondered about the ethical responsibilities of research psychologists.
The three things I will remember about B.F. Skinner:
He called his work social engineering, meaning that by creating the right environment , we can predict and control behavior.
The difference between Classical Conditioning is that the stimulus comes before the reflexive response and in Operant Conditioning the stimulus follows a more voluntary response.
Skinner’s air bed which allows infants to stay uncovered but comfortable.
I liked the discussion of Beyond Freedom and Dignity because it raises issues of personal liberty as opposed to community goals like helping poor people. I agree with people who think freedom and dignity are more important to our future than engineering society to control behavior.
I am still confused about the discussion of Classical and Operant Conditioning, since if the response comes before the stimulus, it does not seem that behavior could be modified.

Three things that this section will elicit me to remember are the operant chamber, successive approximation in operant conditioning, and The air crib. Skinner invented the operant chamber to be used in operant conditioning of animals like rats and pigeons. The operant chamber is a secured chamber where a laboratory animal is placed to study reinforcement and punishment. Some main features in this chamber are a light, speaker, water spout, food hopper, and a bar when using lever pressing. The speaker and light function as stimuluses while the food chamber and water spout allow the delivery of a reinforcer. Successive approximation is gradually training an organism to perform a specific response by reinforcing any responses that comes close to the desired response. When utilizing an operant chamber for putting a rat on a schedule of reinforcement, one can gradually reinforce the rat to press a lever. This can start out by reinforcing a looking behavior at the lever and the work up to the desired schedule of reinforcement. Skinner’s air bed is a climate controlled, enclosed environment for infants. Skinner invented this to diminish the burdens associated with child care, and to help contribute to the child’s development. Many have concerns with this form of child rearing, but Skinner even raised one of his own daughters in this crib, and she even feels like it was acceptable.

One thing that I really enjoyed when I emitted a reading behavior on this chapter was Skinner’s Walden Two. Skinner believed that all human behavior was determined by the environment. This book described a utopian community that was based on behavioral principles. People used these principles to guide their every behavior, and Skinner called this social engineering. Also, children are raised separate from their parents, and all behaviors were directed to benefit the community and not themselves.

One thing that I disliked in this chapter was also Skinner’s book. Even though I found his ideas about the perfect society to be interesting, I didn’t find them ideal. Skinner felt that freedom and dignity stood in the way of advancing our society, but I think that they are what make our country what it is. The United States was formed off of the idea of freedom, and that is why many immigrate here today.

Out of the four figures that I have read about, Pavlov, has sparked my interest the most. I has previously learned about Pavlov’s Dogs, but I now know what a great contribution Pavlov has made the the field of psychology. Pavlov was interested in studying the digestive system when he noticed that the dogs he was working with would drool without any food in sight. He discovered that the dogs were reacting to lab coats. This is because, every time the dogs were served food, the person who served the food was wearing a lab coat. So when someone entered the room wearing a lab coat, the dogs reacted as if food was on its way. In a series of experiments, Pavlov then tried to figure out how these phenomena were linked. He then discovered the process of classical conditioning. I think this is important, because it can help explain many of our daily behaviors. For example, you may flinch every time your roommate enters your room, because they have been greeted you with a punch on the arm when they arrive. I would like to find out more information about Thorndike, because this class was the only class I have taken that talked about him. His work with animal is interesting, and I wouldn’t mind learning more about his experiments.

Terms: Elicit, emit, classical conditioning, skinner box, operant chamber, operant conditioning, reinforcement, punishment, stimulus, reinforcer, schedule of reinforcement, social engineering, behavior.

Section 3.5

One thing I will remember this chapter is Shaping. Shaping is really the act of modifying our behavior. I will remember the term successive approximation which is closely related. This says that when someone does a behavior close to the target behavior they get reinforced. I will remember these two terms because they help to create and modify the behavior a person will emit. They elicit a behavior from the subject. I will also remember the species specific response. Although it was hard to come up with examples, many animals are scared of other animals, or as a species respond to things in a similar way. It was just interesting to learn the term.

I really like going more in depth with Skinner. I liked learning more about all his inventions and how they function and relate to behavior.

I didn't like coming up with examples dealing with the government and taxes. I don't know much yet about taxes, so I felt like this activity didn't really pertain or relate to me as much as it could have. If I was a little older and more knowledgeable about taxes than it would have worked.

Historical Figures

Skinner was my favorite because my high school psychology teacher spent a lot of time on him, so I learned a lot then. We learned a lot about Walden II and that has interested me. I think Skinner did a lot for the field of psychology and I has made lots of inventions and developments such as the Skinner box with the pigeons and now I've learned about the air bed as well. He got me interested in behavioral psychology, so he's my favorite.

I would say that Pavlov has probably made the most important contribution. Without classical conditioning who knows if there would be operant conditioning. Classical conditioning is the bases of behavioral psychology, so I think his contribution overall was the most important.

I still want to find out more about Skinner. I would like to read more about his inventions and would like to read more on Walden II. All his theories interest me. I've always preferred nurture over nature, and so I like reading about his discoveries.

Terms: Elicit, Emit, target behavior, shaping, successive approximation, reinforcement, species specific response, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, skinner box, air bed

After emitting the behavior of reading this section the first thing I will remember from it will be the difference between Type S conditioning and Type R conditioning. Type S conditioning is classical conditioning where the stimulus comes before the response. Type R conditioning is operant conditioning where the response comes before the stuimulus. The second thing I will remember will be that shaping is used to train rats to to press levers which involves successive approximation where the rat is reinforced each time it does something close to the target behavior. The third thing I will remember from this section will be that species specific responses are those particular to a given animal.
One thing I really liked about this chapter was that it went into a lot of detail about Skinner and his accomplishments. I liked this because I enjoy seeing what different psychologist come up with that adds to the overall field of psychology. One thing I didn't like about this section was some of the questions. They were more opinionated and seemed kind of redundant.
Of all the psychologist we learned about so far I think I like Skinner the best. I like him because he came up with many interesting inventions and he tested these on animals. I think experiments on animals are particularly interesting because I am always intrigued about what goes on in their heads. I also like Skinner because I think he has made the most important contributions in the form of his behavioral studies and techniques on behavior modification. However, I would like to find out more information on Watson because he is sort of the founder of the behaviorist side of psychology. I would like to know more about his work and contributions to the field.

Terms: Emit, Type S conditioning, Type R conditioning, Classical Conditioning, Operant Conditioning, Shaping, Successive approximation, reinforced, target behavior,
species specific response,

3.5

Three things I will remember from this chapter include the following:

1)Shaping: This behavior modification technique was very interesting to learn about. This technique is one that our parents have used on us multiple times growing up and have paired it with reinforcement in order to elicit desirable behaviors from us. As read about in the chapter, this technique can be used to shape behaviors in humans as well as animals.

2)Differential Reinforcement: The use of reinforcement under certain circumstances, but not the other is an effective way in shaping the participant under stimulus control to elicit the desirable behaviors on cue with the exact stimulus intended.

3)Species Specific Responding: This particular response was fascinating to learn about. It has always been the type of response that I have noticed, but never paired it with a form of behavior modification. It was neat to think about the other species specific responses that occur without people thinking much about how they link to and influence behavior modification.

One thing I really liked about this chapter was learning about the species specific responding. For instance, the example of how the rat was conditioned to freeze up in the event of an aversive stimulus such as the electric shock was something that interested me and caused me to think further about how much of this type of responding really occurs without us paying too much attention.

After reading this chapter, I don’t feel like there is anything that I disliked about this chapter. Once again, this chapter kept me thinking and I feel like I finished it learning another new and interesting concept of behavior modification.

The historical figure that I like the best would have to be Pavlov. I find the research he did with the dogs and the salivation very interesting. It can be applied to some aspects of human life as well. Pavlov’s use of geometric shapes as a form of classical conditioning really shows how you can put an animal or human under stimulus control in order to elicit particular behaviors when the reinforcer used to elicit the behavior is desirable enough to the organism. It truly shows how important the reinforcer used as reinforcement is in the success of modifying behaviors.

Out of the four historical figures that we have learned about, I feel as if Watson had an important contribution to the field of psychology with his study of Little Albert. This particular study taught a lot about how innate reflexes such as fear can be shaped to elicit other reflexes or emotions through conditioning. For example, a stimulus can shape an unconditioned response into a conditioned response through conditioning. Watson showed how the reflexes and responses that we are born with are not concrete, and that even a child’s behaviors can be modified. Watson’s studies taught a lot about humans in particular by using a human baby instead of experimenting on an animal and predicting the same would exist in humans, not to say that animal subjects are not effective in understanding human behaviors.

Out of the four figures, I would like to learn more about Thorndike, because his research and background is fairly new to me compared to the other figures. Throughout other psychology courses I have learned a lot about Watson, Pavlov, and Skinner; therefore, learning more about Thorndike would help me to understand the complete impact that he had on the field of psychology and behavior modification as a whole.

Terms Used: Reinforcement, elicit, shaping, stimulus, stimulus control, response, behavior modification, conditioned, aversive, classical conditioning, and reinforcer.

Three things that I will remember:
1) Shaping is the technique used to shape an organism to emit a desired behavior. In order for shaping to be successful successive approximation needs to take place. Successive approximation is reinforcing a behavior that is close to the desired behavior. I will remember this because I picture a person putting rose petals from their front door (where their spouse is entering the home) all the way up to the bedroom (the desired behavior). It displays successive approximation because the woman is reinforced with rose petals which are close to the desired behavior.

2) Species specific responding is the different/unique ways particular organisms respond to certain situations. A dog putting their tail between their legs when in fear is an example of species specific response.

3) Skinners book Walden two sounds like something that might be worth reading. He writes about a community whose members use behavioral principles to guide their behaviors. Everything is done for the good of society rather than the individual. I would be one of the people who were “troubled” by Skinner’s view that dignity and freedom prevent a society from advancing. I believe that an individual’s freedom and dignity allows them to make personal strides that in turn help to advance society.

I liked that this chapter talked about the baby box/air bed. I remember reading about it for a previous blog and it surprised me that baby boxes aren’t used more often.

Out of the four historical figures that I have read about I would say that I like Watson the best. The main reason is because of his statement that he could raise any baby into whatever type of specialist he wanted. He believed that parents can shape the behaviors of their children because most behaviors are learned.

I think that Pavlov made the most important contributions. He started classical conditioning which is a huge part of behavior modification.
I would like to find out more information about Skinner and in particular the effectiveness of the baby box. If more research is done on the baby boxes they may become more prevalent and parents along with infants can experience its advantages over a normal crib.

Terms: Shaping, successive approximation, classical conditioning, desired behavior, emit, Species specific responding, reinforcing

Section 3.5

The first thing that I will remember from emitting to read the section is Skinner's Baby Air Bed. Why I will remember it is because I still don't like the idea of putting a baby in a chamber.

The second thing I will remember from this section is that Skinner not only used classical conditioning in his work, but he also used operant conditioning. It was something that interested me and that is why I will remember it.

The third thing I will remember from this section is species specific responding. It was a concept which I had never heard nor have I ever thought about. In the field of behavior modification, people have used animals to use behavior modification techniques to shape and modify an animals behavior. But to set up an experiment to determine if a particular technique works, you have to figure out the animals response to certain stimulus. I found thinking about this to be quite interesting.

The one thing I liked about this chapter was learning more about Skinner's experiments with the pigeons and the rats. It was kind of nice to know about it in more detail like how a fixed ratio reinforcement schedule was used and how they used that to shape the behavior of either the pigeon or the rat.

The one thing I found to be aversive about this
section was the part about the Skinner's baby chamber. After reading about it for the assignment, I found this to have less detail and it probably would not have interested me as much as it did.

Of the four historical figures, the one I liked the most was B.F. Skinner. Although I am not a fan of this baby chamber, I find the idea interesting that someone would use their own kid for an experiment such as that one. I also liked how Skinner had the idea that the environment elicits behaviors and we emit to those behaviors. Yes, it is hard for people then and even for people now to find his ideas to be possible, I find that that concept really is fascinating (especially when I read the examples in the text).

I personally think that Thorndike contributed the most to behavior modification. He was the first, or the original, who started the path to modify behaviors. He did this with not only his research with the cats, but his trial and error learning, but also with this three laws (Law of Effect, Law of Exercise and Law of Recency). I think if it was not for him and his research, others like Watson, Skinner and Pavlov may not have accomplished all they did in the field of behavior modification.

Although I find think that Thorndike was the one that contributed the most, I would still like to learn more about him. Although I did learn more from reading the section on him, I find that there is still more to Thorndike and his contributions to psychology.

Terms Used: emitting, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, species specific responding, shape, modify, behavior modification, fixed ratio reinforcement schedule, aversive,elicits, emit, trial and error, Law of Effect, Law of Exercise, Law of Recency.

Section 3.5

Three things that I will remember from this chapter are:

1. An operant chamber, also called a Skinner Box, is a secured chamber where lab animals are placed to study reinforcement and punishment in animals. The operant chamber has a speaker, light, water spout, food hopper, and a bar for lever pressing. When Skinner used pigeons, the chamber had a series of disks that the birds could press. The speaker and the light provide a stimulus for the animal to discriminate when it is going to be reinforced or punished depending on what procedure being looked at. The water spout and food hopper allow the reinforce (food or water) to be delivered. The lever is also called the manipulanda because it is the object that the animal is manipulating. The last part of the operant chamber is the bars on the floor. The bars are there for the animals’ feces and urine to be removed, but the bars can also be a punisher. Electrical current can be administered through the bars and be a punisher for the animal.

2. Not all conditioning that happens in an operant chamber is operant conditioning. There is also some classical conditioning that occurs. Operant chambers can be used to learn about conditioned emotional response. An example is using an electric shock from the bars on the floor. Rats freeze up when they are scared. This means that we can evaluate how scared a rat is by how much or how often it freezes up. This is called a species specific response.

3. Skinner invented an air bed instead of a crib. He used the air bed to keep the baby warm without the risk of the baby getting tangled in blankets or clothes. Clothing and bedding were also removed so that the baby could exercise and change position during sleep.

I liked this chapter because I find Skinner to be very interesting. I also liked that the chapter was mostly reading and not too many boxes to be filled in with examples.

What I didn’t like about this chapter was learning about the air bed again. I feel as though we have gone over it, and it was basically the same information.

Of the historical figures that we learned about, I found that I liked Pavlov the best. Maybe it’s because he is the one that I have heard of most before this class, or maybe it’s because I’m a dog person, who knows. I think that he had a great contribution to conditioning with his experiments . I do also think that Skinner made a lot of contributions as well. Skinner is known to have laid the foundation for modern behaviorism and behavior modification as we know it. I would like to learn more about Thorndike, because he is the one I had not heard of before this class.

3.5
One thing I will remember from this reading is where it discussed Skinner's role in determining Type S and Type R conditioning. Type S is classical conditioning, and the stimulus comes before the response. In contrast, Type R is operant conditioning, where the response precedes the stimulus.
Secondly, I will remember Skinner's operant chamber, and all the components of it. What makes up the operant chamber is something that functions as a discriminative stimulus, something that dispenses the reinforcers, something to manipulate, and something that delivers the punishers. The example the reading used was a rat in the operant chamber. The discriminative stimulus was a tone coming from a speaker, and a light. The water spout and food hopper were the reinforcement dispensers. The lever that the rat must hit is what manipulates, and the metal bars on the bottom of the cage are what delivers the punisher: shock.
Thirdly, I will remember the reinforcement schedules that were discussed in dealing with the rat in the operant chamber. Initially, the rat was reinforced continuously every time he hit the lever. Eventually it was replaced with intermittent reinforcement, and then on to the desired schedule. It was discussed that you can't go from a continuous reinforcement to something like a FR25 schedule. You have to go in shorter intervals to get better results.

One thing I liked about this section was the helpful pictures, and the length. I think I've said this about many sections, but I love when the sections are really interesting, but not extremely long to the point where I lose interest. This reading was decently short, and kept me focused in on it for its entirety. I really liked the examples and the section of the reading on the baby box.

I didn't find anything aversive about this reading, once again. If I were to find anything I disliked about it, it would be that there were quite a few vocabulary words introduced that were easy to get confused.

Out of all of the historical figures we have read about, I really enjoyed learning about Skinner the most. I like him best because I think the Skinner Box changed history forever, in dealing with operant conditioning and how to set up and test it. When it comes to who has made the most important contributions, it is absolutely impossible to determine that. All of their experiments and findings have been influential to behavior modification history, and are equally important. I would like to find out more information about Watson, because I believe the types of experiments he did were very interesting, possibly unethical, but yet a huge contribution.

terms used: aversive, behavior modification, operant conditioning, operant chamber, classical conditioning, stimulus, discriminative stimulus, manipulate, reinforcers, punishers, reinforcement schedules, continuous reinforcement, intermittent reinforcement

After emitting a reading behavior of the chapter I will remember the baby boxes because we explored those in more detail in an other assignment and because they are a controversial use of behavior modification. I will remember successive approximation because it is necessary in conditioning to lead the subject to the proper response in small steps, and buy reinforcing a behavior similar to the target behavior this is done. I will also remember how the ratios of reinforcement must be lengthened slowly so as to not cause ratio strain and possible extinction of the target behavior.

I found reading about Skinner's books and ideas on social engineering pleasurable because they were interesting. I would like to read about how he intended to solve social issues, he thought he could solve.

I found it aversive to think of how people are manipulated by the government, but think they are not. It's not the actual manipulation, its the lack of awareness. A lot of tax conditioned are discriminate stimulus to elicit certain behaviors.

I found Skinner to be the most interesting. This is probably because we went into a bit more detail on him with the baby boxes, and although it was just an overview it seems like he had a variety of ideas.

I think the one who contributed the most was Pavlov, because his classical conditioning work kind of got the whole ball rolling. His work lead to a lot of subsequent work and experimenting that probably influenced the other psychologists.

I would like to know about either pavlov or skinner. Pavlov, because it was mentioned that there was a lot more work than the dogs, and I am curious. More about Skinner because of his many ideas and inventions. I'm also interesting in his book about social engineering, if for no other reason than because it is controversial. Also because I initially don't agree with his statements about conditioning people into certain roles, so I would like to know more and see if he is right. Or if eh seems wrong than I can more acuratly argue against him.

emit, reinforce, target behavior, successive approximation, ratio strain, pleasurable,aversive, descriminate stimulus, elicit, classicle conditioning

Section 3.5

One thing I remember from this section is the term manipulanda that was present in Skinner's operant chamber as is called such because the animal would manipulate it. Successive approximation is another term that has elicited a remembrance response in me. It was easy to understand this concept and this is why the target behavior (of remembering things from the section) occurred. The third thing I will remember from this section is the idea of shaping, modifying out behavior, because this concept interests me.

One thing I liked about this chapter was the depth to which it covered B.F. Skinner. The thing I found aversive about this chapter was the example of the air bed. I have had this drilled into my head in other classes and I found it almost irritating to read about it again.

Historical Figures
I liked reading about Watson the best because this theory of fear really interests me. I also think that the Little Albert study, while morally unethical, was a brilliant idea.

I think Pavlov made the most significant contributions through his experiments. Though his work was not used as he intended it, it still had major effects on the emergence and development of psychology. He was responsible for the basic concepts in classical conditioning.

I would like to find out more information about both Watson and Pavlov because both interest me greatly. I want to find out more about what other things these psychologists were interested in and studying.

Terms: elicit, Shaping, Classical Conditioning, Operant Chamber, Successive Approximation, Target Behavior, Remembrance Response, manipulanda

Sec. 3.5

Three things that I will remember from this section are; the concept of shaping, Skinner’s air bed invention, and Skinner’s idea of social engineering.

Shaping is a technique developed by Skinner. Shaping is used to “shape” the desired behavior of an organism. When using shaping, the technique of successive approximations is used as well. Successive approximation means that when the organism does something that is close to the target behavior, it gets reinforced. For example, at first a rat may be reinforced with a food pellet for just looking at the lever located in the operant chamber. But as shaping progresses, the organism is only reinforced for behaviors that are more closely related to the target behavior. For example, the rat will no longer be reinforced for just looking at the lever; it will only be reinforced when it approaches the lever. Shaping continues in this way until eventually the rat is only reinforced for emitting the target behavior. Shaping is used to teach a complex task to animals using small steps that are aimed at leading to the complex behavior. At first continuous reinforcement is used so that the animal learns that it will be reinforced for emitting the target behavior. But after the animal has been emitting the behavior for a period of time, you can switch to a form of intermittent reinforcement. This technique elicits a remembering response because I have had this term in my abnormal psychology course. We were tested over this concept so I learned it quite well before this. By reading this section I was just reminded of what I had learned previously.

The second thing that I will remember from this section is Skinner’s air bed. Skinner’s air bed is like a crib in which a baby spends a large majority of its life. The crib has a heating system as well as lighting. Skinner raised his second daughter in one of these and insisted that it was a great idea. The Skinner air bed elicited a remembering response because of the blog post we wrote about this invention. Having to read about this invention in detail and then write about what we thought about really got me thinking about the pros and cons of the air bed. After writing that blog I do not think I will ever forget about Skinner’s air bed invention. I also found it very interesting which grabbed my attention that too will help me remember it.

The third thing that I will remember about this section is Skinner’s idea of social engineering. Skinner believed that by creating the right environment, we can predict and control behavior to the benefit of society. He thought that he could use behaviorism to engineer a better society. Although I find this idea very interesting, I am not sure how accurate it is. I believe that you can control people’s behaviors to a certain extent but not completely just by manipulating the environment. The concept elicited a remembering response because I found the idea very interesting and it got me thinking about my own thoughts and ideas about the topic. By considering what I thought about social engineering, I was better able to understand and remember the concept of interest.

One thing that I really liked about this section was the examples. I found them very interesting and I really learned a lot more about the concepts by completing them.

There was nothing that I disliked about this chapter. I found it very interesting and it was not too long so as to bore me.

Historical Figures

Of the four historical figures I read about, I liked B.F. Skinner the best. Although many of his ideas were very controversial, I found them very interesting to read about and I also thought that his air bed invention was a creative invention. Although I do not completely agree with his idea of social engineering, I understand his thinking of the importance of environment in manipulating behaviors. Also, after doing the blog assignment about Skinner’s baby box, I became very interested in the effects that it has on children and did a little research on my own. I enjoyed learning more about this creative invention. I also like Skinner best because of his process of successive approximation. I think that this process is very critical in teaching animals to perform complex behaviors and from this we can learn a lot about the manipulation of human behaviors as well.

I believe that John Watson made the most important contributions to psychology and specifically to behaviorism. The Little Albert study that he conducted really blazed a trail in the understanding of classical conditioning. I know that he did not originally come up with this idea, which was done by Pavlov, but I feel that Watson really popularized it and made it more understandable. This study concentrated on what a conditioned stimulus and response are as well as what an unconditioned stimulus and response do. It did so in a way that people not familiar with psychology could understand. Without this very important study, I do not think that classical conditioning would have become so important in behaviorism.

I would like to learn a little bit more about Edward Thorndike. I thought that his puzzle box invention was very interesting and I would like to learn more about this. Also, we briefly covered the Law of Effect but I would be interested in learning more about this as well. I think his inventions were very important to psychology as well and I would just like to spend a little more time on him and his ideas.

Terms: Shaping, Air Bed (Baby Box), Social Engineering, Desired, Behavior, Successive Approximation, Target Behavior, Reinforced, Operant Chamber, Emitting, Continuous Reinforcement, Intermittent Reinforcement, Elicits, Response, Behaviorism, Manipulating, B.F. Skinner, John Watson, Little Albert Study, Classical Conditioning, Pavlov, Conditioned Stimulus, Conditioned Response, Unconditioned Stimulus, Unconditioned Response, Edward Thorndike, Puzzle Box, Law or Effect

3.5 was pretty much all about BF Skinner. I gathered some pretty interesting information from the chapter. Apparently Skinner was an avid inventor who is credited with the invention of the operant chamber in which punishment and reinforcement are studied by observing animals press levers as well as the cumulative recorder that graphs each time the lever is pressed.
I learned that the lever is called the manipulanda because it is the object that the animal manipulates.
In an operant chamber, shaping is used in order to get the animal on the desired reinforcement schedule. Successive approximation is also used in shaping behavior by reinforcing behaviors that are close to the desired behavior. So if we want a rat to press a lever, we must first reinforce the rat's looking at the lever. Then we reinforce when the rat is close to the lever. We do this all the way up until the point that the rat is reinforced after emitting the desired behavior.
I also read about a species specific response which is a unique response emitted by a specific species. The book uses a freezing response by rats as a specific response. Another example might be the response that earthworms emit in response to alcohol.
I liked how much information the chapter had on Skinner it really painted a clear picture of him.
Some of the examples in this chapter were difficult to understand. I was not sure what was expected as far as an answer.
I think Skinner is the answer to all of the questions. While Thorndike had an influence on education, Skinner's influence was much more pronounced as well as his influence on the field of psychology and on behaviorism. I lost some respect for him when I found out he was in a fraternity but he was a crazy cool inventor, writer, and award-winner.
While I'd like to learn more about Skinner, I think learning some more about Watson would be cool too. He cheated on his wife and he was super successful in advertising. That info makes him seem like kind of a bad ass.

Terms: Emit, Elicit, Operant Chamber, Punishment, Reinforcement, Cumulative Recorder, Reinforcement Schedule, Manipulanda, Shaping, Reinforcement Schedule, Successive Approximation, Species Specific Response

Three things I learned in this section
1. The first thing I learned in this section a technique called successive approximation. This was used in the section as when a rat does something close to the behavior that is getting reinforced. The rat needs to get reinforced by pressing the lever, but it needs to get to the point of pressing the lever. If the rat just looks at the lever it will get reinforced to get the lever into the rats head. Also when the food gets dropped into the hopper it makes a noise, and the rat will associate the food with the sound the dispenser makes.

2. The second term that I learned that will elicit a learning behavior with me is species specific response. In the section we were talking about rats, and when rats get scared they will freeze up, that behavior is specific to the rat. Many other animals emit similar behaviors. Some examples that were in the section already where a snail going back into their shells when frightened, and raccoons washing their food. Some examples that I thought of on my own would be a turtle going back into his shell, or a possum playing dead when they feel threatened.

3. The last concept that I learned in this chapter was how much the government reinforces and punishes people on a daily basis and how it manipulates us always. This was all brought into perspective in Skinners’ social engineering. The government will tax many items that are really bad for us. An example would be like the ‘sin tax’ on items such as cigarettes and alcohol. They will also tax candy and soda pop because they are also unhealthy for us. Some items will have tax credits on them such as buying a energy efficient car that will be good for the environment and the earth.

One thing that I really liked in this section was learning about the species specific responses. It made me think how I never have realized that each individual species of animal does something that is completely its own. It was just very interesting to me.

One thing that I really didn’t enjoy from this section was the baby box. I just think that it is really weird.

My favorite historical figure is Watson. I really liked learning about behaviorism and it was always been extremely interesting to me. Structuralists and functionalists were something I was drawn to because they are very different but also similar in being part of behaviorism. I liked the little Albert study and I think that was a big break through. I thought it was interesting that people can be conditioned.

I think the most influential of these historical figure would be skinner. He has done many different things that have effected behavior modification and changed it forever. He invented many things that are still in use today like the skinner box, which is the actual operant chamber. He started the box with having an animal in it such as a rat or a pigeon which has developed into many larger things.

I would like to learn more about is Thorndike. I know of things that he has done because of this class such as the Law of Effect and puzzle boxes, but I would like to know and be able to emit a remembering behavior for him.

successive approximation. Reinforced, species specific response, associate, manipulates, punishes, baby box, behaviorism, Structuralists and functionalists, conditioned, behavior modification, operant chamber, Law of Effect and puzzle boxes

Section 3.5 Reading
B.F. Skinner

Three things that I will remember from this section of reading are as follows.
1. First of all, I will remember Skinners’ inventions and ideas. Skinners’ “air crib” or better known as the “Skinner box” will go down in history in my mind. It is a very well-known invention of Skinner’s and he had good intentions, but I believe that a child should not be raised in such an environment. Of course we couldn’t forget his operant conditioning chamber either. His theory of teaching pigeons and rats to do certain things for food will be forever taught in many psychology classes.
2. The second thing that I will definitely remember from this section of reading is shaping and continuous reinforcement. I will remember shaping because I feel that it is very important in training the pigeons to emit certain behaviors. Shaping is where the rate or pigeon is reinforced each time it does something close to the desired response. I will remember continuous reinforcement for the same reasoning. Continuous reinforcement is where the reinforcement is eventually replaced with intermittent reinforcement and gradually leaned out to the desired schedule.
3. Lastly, a third thing that I will remember for sure is stimulus control. I will remember this because stimulus control is very important when it comes to classical conditioning. Stimulus control occurs in situations when the rat learns to emit the proper behavior under the proper circumstances. This was a very easy thing to understand and learn about.
One thing that I really liked about this section of reading was as follows.
1. The one specific thing that I really liked about section 3.5 reading is kind of reviewing everything that I have learned about B.F. Skinner. I have learned a lot about Skinner and this section cleared some things up about him and shined a new light on his theories and inventions for me. I also learned some new things about him also, mostly his past and biography!
One thing that I really didn’t like too much about this section of reading was as follows.
2. One thing that I really didn’t like about section 3.5 reading is the difficulty of the chapter. Don’t get me wrong. I ended up understanding everything in this section but some of it was difficult to read at first. Discrimination training and ratio strain were the hardest for me to understand, but discrimination training was used in the operant chamber with the lighting that was used. Ratio strain is when the schedule is increased too fast and by too much. After repetition, this was obviously an easy term to remember!
Of the four historical figures I by far like Skinner the most!
- I like Psychologist B.F. Skinner the most because his ideas are by far the farthest out there. I remember specifically learning about how Skinner interprets our dreams and in my high school Psychology class we had to interpret a Dr. Seuss book through Skinner’s theories!
- I also believe that B.F. Skinner has made the most contributions to Psychology because Skinner’s staunch behaviorism made him a dominating force in psychology and therapy techniques based on his theories are still used extensively today, including behavior modification and token economies.
- I would love to do some more research on Thorndike, because out of the four psychologists’ it is the only one that I couldn’t tell you exactly what they did right away and not having to think about it too much! After a quick Google search, the things that stuck out to me were his law of recency, which is the most recent response, is most likely to reoccur. Also, that Thorndike’s law of exercise has two parts; the law of use (the more often an association is used the stronger it becomes) and the law of disuse (the longer an association is unused the weaker it becomes). Otherwise nothing really stands out to me about Thorndike.
Terminology that I used in my blog: Skinner’s Box or the Air Crib, Operant Conditioning Chamber, Shaping, Continuous Reinforcement, Emit, Behaviors, Reinforced, Intermittent Reinforcement, Desired Schedule, Stimulus Control, Classical Conditioning, B.F. Skinner, Discrimination Training, Ratio Stain, Token Economies, Behavior Modification, Thorndike, Law of Recency, The Law of Use, The Law of Disuse, and Associations.

3.5

The first thing that I found interesting and will remember from this chapter is Skinner's concept of social engineering. I have heard of this idea in previous classes that I have taken but it strikes me powerfully every time. It is just such a bold statement to say that you can just take an infant and turn it into whatever you want. It completely disregards the idea of human free will.

The second thing that I found interesting and will remember from this chapter is that skinner invented a guided missile system using three pigeons to steer. I know this was a minor part of the section but it really jumped off the page at me. Its very interesting to see the progression and wide range of his inventions.

The third thing that I found interesting and will remember from this section is Skinner's use of his "air bed". While I understand the concept, from my perspective it looks to be an altered aquarium for an infant. I just seems cold and impersonal, and these are not traits that make for good parenting.

One thing that I liked from the section was the coverage of Skinner's many inventions and accomplishments. It was cool to learn more about him as he has been so influential in the psychological field.

One thing that I did not like was that Skinner believed that freedom and dignity are traits that stand in the way of advancing society. If this is the case then I pray that society advances no further. To me, a life without any chance of freedom is a life not worth living.

Of the four historical figures I read about, I'd have to say that I like Pavlov the best. His was one of the first names that i learned when I started studying psychology; I have really enjoyed learning more about him over the years.

Skinner probably made some of the most important contributions, and his controversial theories prompted more and more focus from the public eye on psychology.

While all four are undoubtedly brilliant and have made great contributions to our understanding of psychology, there is just a dash of mad scientist action thrown in there. The baby albert experiment is a prime example of the kind of controversial research that really throws me off.

Terms: social engineering, air bed, traits, Pavlov, Skinner, Watson, Baby Albert

Section 3.1

Three things from this section that I will remember are shaping, stimulus control, and Skinner's air bed.
Shaping was interesting to me because of how easy it was to shape the rat into emitting the desired bar pressing behavior. The shaping method could be used in multiple other antecedents as well as just this one. This is why it is so interesting to me and makes me wonder how else people might use the shaping method in their every day lives.
Stimulus control is also another thing that was interesting to me again because I was wondering how stimulus control affects are every day lives. With out us knowing it we could easily be under stimulus control. The open sign at the bank drive thru or the sold out sign a nearby vending machine of the item we were so looking forward to eating.
The air bed was something that really interested me in which that the initial idea was a little moronic to me. Who would want to put their child in a box? was all I could think. To me parenting involves sacrifices: sacrificing free time to take care of the child, sacrificing sleep so that you can make sure they are doing alright and have every thing they need, and so on. So to me this box seemed like laziness. But after reading a little more I saw that it was also benefiting the child as well. That made things a little less moronic. I would I personally put my child in an air bed? Definitely not. But do I Think that the child benefitted from the bed, sure. There was nothing wrong with her once she grew up so it must have not have been so bad in there.

Something that I liked from the section was just reading about Skinner in general. It was interesting to see the different personas he had and to read about his books and experiments.

There was nothing in this section that I did not like.

Out of the four figures we read about B.F. Skinner was my favorite. I've always had an interest in his work and reading about his experiments only interested me further.

The figure I would like to learn more about is Thorndike. I don't really know about a whole lot of his work outside of what we have discussed in class and I would definitely like to change that.
I think that Pavlov's contributions were important because without his experimenting we may not have understood the conditioning concept at all. Maybe not know about it at all. And conditioning is import, parenting specifically. Even if we don't know we're doing it we are using it every day.

Terms: shaping, stimulus control, Skinner's air bed, emitting, desired, behavior, antecedents,

Section 3.5

The three things I will remember are:

1. Shaping. Shaping is just another form of reinforcement. It was interesting to read about the rats and seeing how that plays into getting people to the place in which you want them by gradual steps. This seems like a step by step process of modification that works on people without them realizing how their behavior is being changed because it is so gradual.

2. Species specific response. Many animals have specific ways to respond to emotions like dear. For example, when a cat is scared and upset it's tail will bunch up and stick straight up in the air or when a skunk becomes upset it's tail will go up and it will spray at it's attacker. It is neat to think about these different responses from animals and how they are specific to the specie.

3. Social engineering. I think social engineering is really effective and interesting how people join on the bandwagon to be apart of certain new technologies. For example, people are now buying hybrid cars because they are thought to be good for the environment, which the government supports by giving people incentives to purchase environment friendly things.

I really enjoyed reading about all of Skinner's theories, he had some really applicable theories to apply to today's issues and the current way that we modify peoples behaviors.

I disliked reading about the "baby in the box" again. I know it's part of Skinner's theories but we already looked into this subject and I did not like reading the same information twice.

I think Skinner was my favorite because his theories were most applicable to today's problems and very relatable to the things that we are trying to change today. Especially people's behavior as a whole to better the world as a whole. Also his classical conditioning was so important to learning about behavior modification.

After emitting the behavior of reading about all four of the psychologist, I think Pavlov made the most important contributions. Any class I have taken in psychology always talks about Pavlov, he was like the founding father of behavior modification and conditioning.

I like to learn more about Watson, I think his experience we interesting (and not very ethical, yet interesting) and would like to know more about what he studied as he was a behaviorist psychologist.

Terminology: Shaping, reinforcement, modification, behavior, species specific response, social engineering, technologies, environment, government, incentives, Skinner, theories, "baby in the box", emitting, Pavlov, conditioning, ethical, behaviorist.

3.5
1.)Three things I will remember from this chapter are:
a. One thing I will remember from this chapter is Skinners air bed, because it elicits me to relate the concept to my daily chip, which is being a nanny. I can relate to where Skinner was coming from when emitting the behavior of creating the air bed, and I believe his view on the benefits of the bed are positive. I believe if in our society it was socially acceptable to emit such parental behavior it would be very beneficial, but we as a society have been conditioned to parent a certain way. And putting a child in an air bed is not that.
b. Something else that was reinforcing in emitting the behavior of remembering was Skinners book, Walden Two. This book is based on Skinners concept regarding social engineering, Skinner believe that behavioralism was the only way to fully understand psychology. We as a society know everything and emit our behaviors based on the behaviors we have learned. I personally think he had good intentions and valid ideas, but his approach was somewhat aversive.
c. The Skinner box is something I will emit the behavior of remembering because it’s so simple and somewhat common in our society. The skinner box is basically based on reinforcement and punishment, which is what our world thrives on.
2.) The only thing I didn’t necessarily like about this chapter was the insistence on behaviorism, I understand is going to elicit their beliefs on that theory to everyone else, and try to make it as reinforcing as possible, while making other theories aversive, but I personally we could benefit and understand things if we connected different theories and realized it’s not just one theory , but rather a connection of them.
3.) something I did like from the chapter was the fact we only had one chapter to ready, therefore I emitted the behavior of thoroughly reading this chapter, also the fact that I have always found Skinner interesting so I didn’t mind reading about him.
4.) I personally would say I liked Skinner just because I feel like his intentions where good and he had valid points, also with the air bed I believe that could have been very beneficial in our society if we had just accepted it, and props to him for going outside the box. One person who I found interesting, and would like to learn more about is Watson, considering he is the founder of behavioral psychology I think there is a lot of information there to learn, in which I can relate it to other theorists work.

3.5

1. I will remember shaping as being the technique used when trying to get the animal to emit the target behavior. For example, the rat was put at a FR25 schedule of reinforcement, meaning it’d have to emit the behavior of pressing the lever to be reinforced with a food pellet as the reinforcer.

2. I will remember that the operant chamber isn’t just for operant conditioning, but can also be used for classical conditioning. The example used is when the rat learns to recognize the sound of the computer opening the food gate.

3. I will always remember Skinner’s air bed for infants. I think it has its pro of how to manipulate temperature to increase the comfort of the infant while being unclothed.

I liked learning more about how manipulation is more prominent in our lives than we think. I liked the example of the government with taxes and how they raised the tax on cigarettes and how the government wants us to buy energy efficient cars also.

One thing I disliked in this chapter was probably the talk about how great the Air Bed is and how it is perfectly normal when we already covered it in an earlier section. I didn’t necessarily agree with that invention and hearing more about it was kind of boring.

Historical Figure

I liked learning about Thorndike because his name was the only one I didn’t recognize from other psychology classes I’ve taken before. I liked his puzzle box that he used with the cats and his thoughts on trial and error because I feel like trial and error happens every day. However I think Pavlov had the biggest contributions because learning about conditioning was very interesting. The use of US, UR, CS, and CR was something that caught my interest. Pavlov’s findings were also the most challenging for me because I often mixed up the US/UR and CS/CR. I’d like to learn more about him because maybe more practice with situations and different stimuli will help me grasp the concepts quicker.

Terminology: shaping, emit, target behavior, reinforcement, reinforcer, US, UR, CS, CR, operant conditioning, classical conditioning

3.5
Three things I will remember and why.

1. The specific species response will really stick with me because I never thought about the fact that certain behaviors and responses are specific to species within the lower animal kingdom. Obviously human vs. beast response will be different but I never thought about the fact that species to species is different.

2. I think the concept of taxes as a reinforce-er or punisher will be memorable for me because once again I’ve never really thought about the way the government uses sales tax or taxes in general as a way to elicit specific citizen behavior.

3. The third thing I hope to remember is process of changing from continuous reinforcement to another schedule of reinforcement such as FR, FI, VR, or VI.

I really liked the section about the taxes because that is an obvious manifestation of behavior modification in the everyday world. Every country has some form of taxation and the fact that behavior modification is so readily apparent and yet no one thinks of it in terms of reinforcement or punishment. Rather it’s an unavoidable part of the world we live, one that isn’t bound to change.

There was nothing in this chapter that I specifically disliked but I would say that I still don’t understand the conditioning type thing yet. I’m still confused on trace vs. continuous vs. simultaneous vs. delay conditioning.
I personally identify with Watson the most because I am a marketing and psychology major, with a minor in marketing research. Watson really was one of the great supporters of marketing research so for that reason I personally prefer Watson over the rest. But, that being said I also really respect the revolutionary findings of Skinner. I think it is a toss up between those two for me. Again, I am biased towards Watson and believe that the Little Albert study was a great contribution to the world of behavior modification. I think he offered the greatest amount of insight into human behavior modification. I will probably do more research on Skinner or Thorndike because I feel like I really enjoy Skinner’s work but I don’t know that much about Thorndike so I think I would be interested to learn more about that.

Terms: specific species response, behaviors, reinforce, punish, elicit, continuous reinforcement, fixed ratio, fixed interval, variable ratio, variable interval, reinforcement, punishment, trace, continuous, simultaneous, delay conditioning

3.5

1. The first thing I like about this chapter is the thorough details describing the Skinner boxes. If you couldn't remember how exactly they looked before reading, the details listed did a good job of reminding.
2. I liked learning Successive Approximation. On a few of the videos I've looked at for this class, mainly the dog training ones, I've seen the target behavior almost being perform but not quite, and the subject gets reinforced anyway hoping they figure it out all the way. It is nice to be able to categorize that event.
3. I will remember the process of conditioning the rat to FR25 (fixed ratio of 25 occurrences). You cannot just jump in and except results to happen on their own. There needs to be a process, plan, schedule, what have you in order for that large of a fixed ratio to become prevalent. Must build up to it over an undetermined amount of time.

4. One thing I liked was how the chapter said something about dogs becoming conditioned to being fed with the sound of a can opener. I found this a bit amusing because I've had two dogs over a period of about 5 or 6 years and we have never fed them from a can, dog food bags is what we use. But I suppose I don't know about other people's dog food choices.

5. One thing I did not like about the chapter was in the descriptions of the Skinner boxes it told of how the bars in the bottom of the cage could be electrified, ("...to shock the rat.") It seems just a little barbaric to do that.

Historical
1. Thorndike's response to stimulus work I find the most interesting. I like the idea of a non-invasive experiment to see if an animal can free itself from a confined area.
2. I think Skinner has contributed the most important data that could lead to the most outcomes. But this is both good and bad. I think that we could have a much better world if all parents raised their children with these theories in mind. This would make it possible to have much better behaved adults, ethically and legally, as a whole. The bad side of that is people that would be raised in such a way, some would argue, are being repressed of who they were meant to be and how they were meant to act. This is most likely an unsolvable issue and will always be debated.
3. I think I would want to learn more about Watson's work or Thorndike. This is because they are the two I have heard the least about. Pavlov and Skinner are discussed so often in a wide range of (class) subjects. I think I have a good basis of what Thorndike did but I don't know so much about the work that set the stage for Skinner.

Terminology: learning, Successive Approximation, target behavior, reinforced, conditioning, FR25, occurrences, process, schedule, fixed ratio, conditioned, Skinner boxes, response, stimulus, non-invasive, experiment, contributed, theories, behaved, repressed, Watson, Pavlov, basis, Thorndike, Skinner.

Section 3.5:

The three main things that I took away from this section:

1.) Skinner's Box: The information on 'shaping' is what I found most memorable from this section. The idea that, in the example the rat, only gets reinforced if they do the desired behavior is key to the conditioning. This section on the operant box also talked about the schedules of reinforcement. I think that if it is continuous, or if they need to follow certain 'rules' each time (ratio strain) is something that should be noted when looking at the various examples of conditioning.

2.) Skinner's Air Bed: It is something that we talked about earlier in the class and is what I do like most from the section. I'll remember it because it is so interesting to me. I like the idea that it is to be more comfortable for the baby and is to help with their safety and development. I also have to say that I like it because it also things of the mother and making things simpler for her during the infancy. She won't have to reach over a bar to grab the baby and also won't have to wash and change a ton of bedding if she uses the air bed with her infant.

3.) Skinner, the writer: I did not know that SKinners work in writing was so highly noted. One can get the sense that he is indeed a great writer when reading his quotes from the section on the air bed, but I didn't realize that it was something he was known for. This is something I remember just because it is so unique. He was very persistent on the idea that behavior was determined by the environment and is something that one can see throughout his studies and theories.

The thing that I liked most about this section was the coverage of Skinner's Air Bed for infants instead of a crib. We had discussed in prior in this class, but I liked the way the section covered it because it put it all into better perspective for me. I find the bed very interesting and quite intriguing as well. The quotes from his article seem valid and make the bed appealing. It didn't seem to cover any negative aspects to the bed so I get the sense that it is in actuality a very beneficial option; though this is just one side of things.

I would have to say that my last statement is what I would have to say I disliked about the section. If there is actually research that shows any negative aspects to the bed it may have been interesting to read about. I feel like the section is very Pro-Skinner Air Bed and while I get the sense that it is great and beneficial it would be nice to know if there are anythings to be concerned about.

Out of the four figures we have read about I would have to say that Pavlov is my favorite so far because he was so highly organized and detailed with his work that he could find novel ways to take his research. I have high respect for all of the contributions he has made to science and believe that because of his strict research and attention to details, he was able to come up with some great theories. WI do have to say that his experiment with digestion was the greatest contribution; just because out of that we were able to get information not only on digestion, but the new, at the time, idea of Pavlovian Conditioning. I think that his work on conditioning and development of classical conditioning we have what today is behavior modification. I'm not saying he is the sole 'psychologist' that we shall applaud behavior modification, but I think his work is extremely influential to todays ideas.

I would like to find more information about Thorndike because it seems we know a lot about his contributions, but do not hear about him all that much. When I think about behavior modification now and back to before the class his name surely was not and is still not one of the names I think of at first.

Terms: Skinner, Operant Chamber, continuous reinforcement, desired behavior, ratio strain, conditioning, Skinner's Air Bed, shaping, Pavlov, Pavlovian Conditioning, classical conditioning, Thorndike, behavior modification.

While emitting the behavior of reading this chapter there were some things that I will take away and remember from this chapter. The first thing from this chapter I will remember is the various different types of reinforcement schedules. A few of the reinforcement schedules are continuous reinforcement (each response is reinforced), intermittent reinforcement (reinforce the response every now and again), variable ratio (is an average amount of times it takes to elicit a response and be reinforced), and fixed ratio (reinforced after doing the behavior). I was getting all of these types of reinforcement mixed up, and reading this chapter helped me better understand the differences. Another thing I will remember is what a conditioned emotional response is. A conditioned emotional response is similar to classical conditioning, where a sound, such as a can opener, can trigger a response. The difference between the two is a conditioned emotional response is done to get an emotional species specific response. I’m not sure if I fully have a grasp on this, but I felt that this would be important to remember. The other thing I will remember is what is meant by a species specific response. A species specific response is what it sounds like a certain response emitted by a species due to a stimuli, a few examples would be a turtle tucking its extremities inside its shell when it senses danger, a possum playing dead when in danger, and a snake coiling up when it gets ready to strike. I just thought it was interesting thinking about some of the species specific responses, so that’s why it kind of stuck with me from the reading.

One thing I really liked about this chapter is that it did a great job helping me understand some more of the reinforcement schedules. I was a little hazy on them, and still do mix them up a bit but it is getting better. I don’t think I can say there was anything I disliked, it was short to the point and gave a lot of useful information.

The historical figure I was most interested in was Skinner. The reason I thought Skinner was interesting was because of some of his out of the box thinking, and his different experiments as well were kind of neat. It also helps that I know a bit more about Skinner so I may hold a bias towards him. I think the person that made the most important contributions was Skinner. Reason being is because of some of the reasons I stated above, as well as the powerful impact he had on modern behaviorism and behavior modification. I think some of his experiments and thinking helped open a whole new world of thinking in behavior modification. I would like to learn more about Watson, because he was credited with popularizing behaviorism and yet I know little about him. I find behavior modification fascinating, so that is also why Watson, as well as Skinner drew my interest.

Terms- emitting, reinforcement schedules, continuous reinforcement, intermittent reinforcement, variable ratio, elicit, reinforced, fixed ratio, conditioned emotional response, classical conditioning, species specific response, Skinner, behavior modification, behaviorism, and Watson.

After emitting the reading behavior of reading section 3.5, felt that I understood how Skinner used the operate chambers better. This section shows a diagram of a operant chamber indicating the different uses of each mechanic; such as the water and food dispenser to give reinforcements or the bars on the bottom that can also act as a punishment giving the rat a small shock. Another piece of this section I will remember is successive approximation, this is when an organism in this case the rat does something close to the behavior and still gets reinforced. It is important to keep in mind that when condition an organism to a behavior you do not want to successive approximation the individual to much, this will cause the organism to start to do the (almost behavior) then the actual behavior. Lately, I will remember how we can use the operant chamber to condition an emotional response on an organism, this can be obtained by using the shock from the bars on the floor of the operant chamber.
One thing i liked about this section is how it goes into depth about how to use the operant chamber. One thing i disliked about this chapter is it was a little unclear at the end how to actually apply the shocks in order to use it to condition an emotional response.
out of the four historical figures we have read about i like Pavlov the most, in my opinion this is were research began to notice differences in conditioning organisms. His most important contribution to the field was his research with dogs and how much they salivate on multiple levels of different stimuli.

Conditioned stimuli
reinforcement
punishment
operant chamber
Skinner
Pavlov