Week #5 Movie Activity (Due Friday)

BF Skinner Lectures Psychologists:
In this video I enjoyed the concept that some people think that shaping is unnecessary because you can just tell someone what to do, but in itself it still is shaping because the person still had to learn how to follow instructions to know what to do when given them. I used to think that you could just tell someone what to do instead of shaping their behavior but I didn't consider that this was still shaping their behavior because they had to learn to follow instructions before hand. Another thing I found interesting was the concept of contingencies and how you can give advice but if there is not a good reason behind the advice it will probably not be followed. Like if you tell a gambling addict to stop because they are losing money this will not be enough to get them to stop. One last thing that I enjoyed was that giving advice can be reinforcing. We tell someone to do something we know they will enjoy so then they become more likely to come to us with advice again. One thing I did not enjoy was the talk at the beginning of the evolution of the vocal chords and learning how to communicate verbally through more than just grunts. I don't understand a lot of the science behind it so it was mostly just confusing for me. It is hard to grasp how things like our voices just change and adapt to fit our needs.

BF Skinner on education:
I enjoyed the concept about freedom and dependency. How the child that is dependent on the teacher and the independent one both think they have this sense of freedom, one to go ask questions and the other to explore his interests. But in reality they are both dependent on their environment they controls them. I also really agree with the fact that you have to create a learning environment for children that puts them under control. Something that offers them reinforcements and contingencies to make them behave correctly in the classroom and to continue to want to come back. I like the fact that reinforcers are found at every level of the school system. There is always something you can use to elicit a behavior from a student that will give a positive response. One thing I did not necessarily agree with was the taking away of reinforcers in the school system after a certain amount of time. This seems like it could be seen as punishment and a student could relapse on all the positive behaviors they have learned to emit.

Operant conditioning and free will:
I liked how the case of the pigeon was compared to gambling and that the reason we keep gambling is because of the timed reinforcers we are given. We may win a little then keep playing till we win a little more but the time in between each win becomes longer in in turn we are losing more then we win. I liked the video of the birds pecking to get more food. It is crazy to me how easily they learn if they peck they get food and how they will continue to do this until they are satiated. I thought the bird that could "read" was really fascinating. I know it is not really understanding language, it has just learned what certain signs call for certain behaviors that will get reinforced. I don't really like the idea that we don't really have free will. That our behaviors come as a result of external causes and not free will. I simply don't like it because it is not an appealing thought to think we don't control what we think we do.

Skinner and the teaching machine:
I really like how the teaching machine gives the student the correct answer right away instead of the student having to wait days to find out if they were right. That drives me nuts sometimes. I like that the teaching machine gives reinforcements right away because this keeps the child interested in doing more work when they are getting immediate gratification. I also really enjoy that the machine lets the child move at their own pace. This is important in keeping a child encouraged, they don't feel held back or that they are lagging behind. The one thing I do not like about the teaching machine is that there is no social interaction with the teacher or other students and that could be a disadvantage to the student.

Epstein & Skinner with pigeons:
I like the concept of simple conditioning where only one time being burned (punished) results in not doing that behavior again. This is something that happens all the time and is easy to pick up on. I didn't like the first pigeon in the cage with the light that said turn and the feeding because I didn't feel like it was operant conditioning, it seems like classical conditioning where it was responding to the noise the clicker made when it was given food or the light was turned on. On the other hand I was really intrigued with Epstein and Skinners pigeons jack and jill. It is mind boggling that through the use of shaping that these pigeons were able to communicate by identifying colors in order to receive the reinforcer of food. Finally I really like how when the pigeon was alone it was look behind the curtain and peck the letter key on its side to help it remember once it got to the opposite side of the cage. A type of memory skill humans use as well.

Terms: reinforcers, elicit, emit, positive,contingencies, shaping, satiation, conditioning, classical, operant, punished

Skinner Lecture:
In this video, I liked how to answered questions of the audience. It made the lecture seem more personable to the audience. I found it interesting when B.F Skinner discussed the question about modifying animal behavior and the comparison to human behaviors. I found this also interesting because sometimes I sometimes wonder if animal behaviors are so closely comparable to human behaviors. Skinner discusses that although animals do not speak, they still communicate through verbal cues. These cues are positively reinforced or negatively punished, with consequences of the dog emitting the behavior occurring again or becoming extinct. I also liked how he discussed that the environment could be used as a positive reinforcer or a negative punisher through natural selection. The behaviors we emit today can be caused due to natural selection years ago. One thing I did not like about this video is he seemed to jump around in his lecture, making it hard to follow.

Skinner on education:
In this video, I liked the comparison of the children, the child who depended on the teacher versus the student that was independent and had a love of learning. The comparison really helped understand the difference between environmental control and personal control. Within this comparison, Skinner discussed that the teacher had to reinforce the child in a positive and negative way. The teacher was positively reinforcing the student that was independent and loved learning, while negatively reinforcing the child who was dependent through helping the child emit the targeted behavior of being more independent. Thirdly, the comparison of the environment being a reinforcer really made sense, for what is going on around you really does reinforce or punish behavior. One thing I did not like was the way the interview was set up. Skinner seemed to not be able to explain and express all the information he desired.

Operant conditioning and free will:
In these videos, I like the pigeon study and the way the pigeon was reinforced to emit a certain behavior in order to obtain food. I also liked that they used deprivation to teach the pigeon how to “read the words”. Also, I liked the way Skinner discussed that we used free will as a reinforer, and that with a reinforcer for targeted behavior we had free will. He also discussed that we begin a behavior without knowing the consequences or knowing what causes the behavior. As time develops, we learn to understand and emit the behavior due to the desired behaviors, or to stop emitting the behavior due to aversive consequences.

Skinner and the teaching machine:
Three things in this video I liked discussed the teaching machine. I first found this machine to be very interesting, for the machine seemed to make homework and learning easier. Alongside this, I also the machine was reinforcing the students to do well and write down the right answer. However, the machine was also not allowing a constant learning, for the slower students were getting left behind while the faster students were becoming bored. One thing I did not like about this video is the quality and the video seemed to take too long to discuss the machine, which seemed pretty simple.

Epstein & Skinner:
This video discussed the simple condition of children, how through “nature” child begin to reinforce and condition themselves. The example in the video talked about how babies do not recognize themselves, however when they become older (around age 2) they recognize themselves. This may be through natural reinforcement that parents give them, or just by the environment around them. Second, the child example of the child reinforcing oneself shows that we can teach ourselves and teach ourselves positive reinforcement. Third, the pigeons we able to reinforce each other by pushing buttons to receive positive reinforcement. One thing I did not like was that the pigeon study just showed the pigeons repeating the same thing over and over and that got repetitive and boring.

Terms Used: positively reinforced, negatively punished, emitting, extinct, positive reinforcer, negative punisher, negative reinforcement, targeted behavior, reinforcer, punish, reinforce, deprivation, aversive,

B. F. Skinner on Psychiatrists and Psychologists

In this video, B.F. Skinner is talking about the different ways you can amend a person or an animal’s behavior. He gave an example that, if you want a monkey to learn how to push a button on a vending machine to bring forth a pop or a pack of cigarette as Skinner stated, you will teach them how to emit that behavior. But if it is a human, Skinner stated that, you simply tell them to push the button and they do it. In order world humans can be spoken to directly to do something but you have to emit the behavior for an animal to emit it as well. One thing that I thought was interesting was when Skinner mentioned the description behavior (telling someone to go to a restaurant, which basically means, telling them where exactly you want them to go, being descriptive). This reminds me of reinforcement in a different way that, by telling someone where to go, you are reinforcing their behavior to go to that place. But when you tell them not to go, you are punishing (reducing) their behavior of going there. I also liked how Skinner mentioned imitation. As children develop (grow), they imitate those in their surroundings to acquire the skill of reality. I still do not seem to dislike anything, but if I was to dislike anything, I will say the quality and the sound of the video.

B. F. Skinner on education

When asked about the learning of children, that if one child is dependent on the teacher for completion of assignments and the other is not but independent, such as do not rely on the teacher, who is controlled? I liked how he talked about the dependency scenario. Many of time from my own experience, there are people who depend on others for everything. Some students depend on teachers for advice regarding assignments and some depend on friends or family for life advice. But what we do not know is that, the more we depend on people, we are controlled by them, they manipulate us, telling us what to do. I will say this punishes our ability to stand up. I think the person being dependent on will be classify as the discriminative stimulus (telling others what to do). I liked the idea of not depending on others but on yourself. I liked how he mentioned target behavior, that when a child comes to class late, to have them come early, you can reinforce them by giving them candy or a token when they come early. I disliked how the interviewer tried tweaking the question instead of asking it directly.

B.F. on operant conditioning and free will

Wiki define operant conditioning as “an unconscious form of learning in which a behavior is linked to a specific stimulus through a process of reinforcement,” (Wiki). I enjoyed watching B.F. Skinner talk about how reinforcement modifies a person behavior to do more of what they were doing. The pigeon in this video gets food every time it peaks on the red board, as I will call it. After hitting the board and getting food, it reinforces the pigeon to do more of that to keep getting food. This goes along with positive reinforcement, benefiting after doing something. I liked the way the facility is set-up, it makes it easier to see and do more experiment. I also liked the sound of this video but not the video itself because, it wasn’t clear enough.

Skinner on teaching machine

I liked how this teaching machine reduces students’ anxiety of what their scores are on a test may be. I think this machine is relevant because, instead of waiting on the teacher to give your test a week later, you just get it right away knowing your result. A lot of time we have to wait on the teacher to score the exam or quizzes whenever they are free, and this gets a student worry but, with this teaching machine, I know right away without waiting on the teacher in order to know whether or not my answer was correct. I also liked the machine teaching the students prior to them taking the test. But one thing I disliked was that, it punishes students from studying and reinforces them to be lazy overtime due to them relying on the concept of studying at school only.

Drs. Robert Epstein & BF Skinner with Pigeons

As mentioned previously about imitation, children imitate people as they develop around them in their surroundings to acquire the skill of reality. This is another way of classifying behavior. Children emit a behavior due to its elicitation. For an example, if a child sees a cookie and wants to eat it but the cookie is on top of a shelf, this reinforces the child to emit a different behavior than usual. I liked how the video showed kids emitting different behaviors such as imitating and rote learning (a memorization technique based on repetition) to achieve what has been taught. I also liked how the things we’ve learned in middle or high school are behaviors that can be classified in one category. I enjoy the concept of the pigeon pressing on the buttons to achieve their desire, to get food. I still do not seem to dislike anything, but if I was to dislike anything, I will say the author needs to be constant because, the author talks about one thing and before you know it he’s talking about another thing.

Terms used

Amend
Emit
Description behavior
Reinforcement
Punishing
Acquire
Imitation
Skinner
Punishment
Discriminative stimulus
Target behavior
Manipulate
Operant conditioning
Relevant
Rote learning

The first video I enjoyed was Skinner talking to a bunch of psychologists. He brought up the fact that he believed the only difference between men and animals are verbal behavior. Furthermore, the fact that we have consciousness and awareness is due to society. Without someone giving these contingents we wouldn’t have awareness. I thought it was interesting that really until you have acquired the behavior of following instructions shaping the behavior is all you really have to work with. Sometimes the reasons are descriptions of contingencies, but that’s not enough for some people to break a habit. Our reasons need reasons and reinforcing consequences is a way to get desired behaviors.
The second video I enjoyed was skinner on teaching. I enjoyed this video the most of all! These teaching machines are devices that improve conditions for effective learning behaviors. Basically the students see a piece of text in a window with some part of it missing. The student then writes the answer using a symbol or word. What I found really interesting is that the student learns whether they’re right or wrong immediately. Skinner believes that this does two things for the students. One it gets to the formation of correct behavior and two it frees the student of anxiety of success or failure which makes the work more pleasurable. Once done the machine gives the student a quick report and adequacy of his response. One thing I really like about this machine is that the students get to move at their own pace. Also, that the program is so very carefully constructed and takes such small steps it becomes unlikely for students to get the wrong answers.
Next I enjoyed Skinners talk on free will. It was very brief, so I had to watch it a couple times to gather in everything he was saying. Skinner notes that free will is basically an American thing that came from a man in the 18 century because we didn’t really know what caused us to do the things we do, but we knew something had to. I think it’s interesting that he points out that we actually do know, now, that there are external causes of behavior and therefore there really is no free will after all. Free will is there for fiction and does not exist.
The clip I enjoyed least was skinner on education. I guess I just didn’t like it because It was a bit boring, but the context was good. I learned that, given the scenario of two boys one who was dependent upon the teacher and one who wasn’t, Skinner saw neither boy as being free because although the one boy wasn’t dependent upon his teacher he was in fact dependent on the real world. He also pointed out that both boys may feel free even though they aren’t. One boy was controlled by the world at large and one boy was controlled by personal approval.

Thursday Skinner Videos For Friday Blog

I enjoy the last video link best “with pigeons.” I like the production style, well-done and reinforcing to watch for scholarly interest.

I enjoyed “with pigeons,” when Skinner says he was wrong about only instinctively producing controlled behavior instead of also being able to model from another individual.

I enjoyed “with pigeons” seeing a scientist start to gather shortly before passing away that they were just a pigeon to their own state of mind. Control indeed…and they can keep it.

I didn’t enjoy the free will discussions. Discussing free will is a paradox and a manipulation attempt, I feel. One will Another. Tomato Tomato. Cicada Cicada, grenada grenada. Thanks!1 –ebs- 9/21/12 @ 1145hrs. Centric Time

Term% reinforcing, Skinner, will, control, manipulation, model

B.F. Skinner on Education
I enjoyed watching this video and learning more about specific ideas discussed by B.F. Skinner. I believe that watching this video provided insight as I continue to form my own opinions regarding education, freedom and environments. I liked that Skinner discussed environment and how it pertained to individuals in a classroom. I feel that one’s environment has much effect on behavior. Interactions between students and faculty were discussed in the video, and I believe that these interactions may also have an impact on learned behavior. I enjoyed that Skinner also discussed positive reinforcement in regard to books, saying rewarding things happen when one reads.
I liked that Skinner’s book, Verbal Behavior, was mentioned and I feel that I may enjoy reading his perspective on said topic. This being written, I did not enjoy B.F. Skinner’s use of “you” statements, and I am interested to know how that such language applies in a publication entitled Verbal Behavior.
B.F. Skinner - Operant Conditioning and Free Will
I felt this video had much to do with motivation. My question was “Whose motivation?” This is a question I ask myself throughout material discussed in a Behavior Modification class. As I watched the video on free will, I thought of one’s dignity, environment and inspiration. I believe that it may be hard to make relevant conclusions regarding free will from watching a video that is only 1 minute, 2 seconds long.
Skinner and teaching machine
I did not value some of the content presented in this video. It reminded me of elementary students today that may be elicited to use an iWho. Although the name of the device shown is “teaching machine,” I feel that I may instead value “teaching individuals” who recognize the importance of face to face interactions with students. B.F. Skinner spoke of correcting papers as if it were an annoyance. He also spoke of the benefits of immediate results, without having to wait for a teacher to check work. He said that this process may relieve anxiety about test scores, however I am curious about the effect this approach has on only storing information in one’s short term memory.
Terms used: Environment, Behavior, Reinforcement, Motivation, Free will, Inspiration, Elicit
SMW 9.21.2012 12:44 pm

Skinner and Operant Conditioning and Free Will:
I really enjoyed this video and watching this pigeon react to these words.
One thing I like about this video was how the bird seemed to know how to read or looked like it knew how to read. Whenever it said peck it knew to peck the wall so it would be reinforced with food and when it said turn the pigeon knew to turn around so it would again be reinforced with food.
Another thing I enjoyed about this video was how they showed training the pigeon to be reinforced with the food.
Also it just really amazed me that scientists or even regualar people can train animals to know what to do so they will be reinforced with food. I just thought the video was awesome.
One thing I didnt really like about the video was when they were interviewing Skinner, it was kind of boring and I would of rather watched the pigeon part of the video longer.

Skinner and Education:
I didnt enjoy this video as much as the other one but this video wasnt that bad.
I liked how they talked about all the acomplishments that Skinner has had it was very impressive.
I also like how the interviewer asked Skinner a question giving him a scenerio and asking which child is controlled and which child is freed and he went on about how they both are controlled and freed but in different ways.
Another thing I enjoyed about this video was how they gave examples for teachers to reinforce their children so they will learn better.
I didnt like that Skinner said our teaching program is defected.

Overall I liked the videos and they were interesting to watch.
Terms: reinforcement, controlled

BF Skinner Lectures Psychologists:
The first thing I liked about this video was B.F. Skinner talking about the main difference between humans and animals is verbal behavior. This emitted my behavior to think more into this and gave me a better understanding. The second thing I liked about this video was Skinner explaining how behavior is shaped. He uses children as examples who watch a behavior being done, which allows them to elicit this behavior later on. The third thing I liked about this video was Skinner talking about how easy it is to give someone else advice (pleasant or aversive). The example used was someone reinforcing someone else to stop gambling. One thing I disliked about this video is Skinner seemed to jump around with his topics, which make it harder to follow and understand.

BF Skinner on education:
The first thing I liked about this video was the discussion between the dependent and independent student. This allowed me to emit a better learning behavior about environment (antecedent) control. The second thing I liked about this video is when Skinner brought up reinforcement and punishment. He explained how teachers can reinforce the student which allows their learning to grow (control). The third thing I liked about this video was Skinner was at the end when Skinner discussed how a student up graduate school main target behavior is to study to avoid the consequences of not studying. There wasn’t anything I disliked about this video.

Operant conditioning and free will:
The first thing I liked about this video was how the birds were manipulated to learn two types of behaviors to receive food. They were emitted at certain weight which allowed them to be hunger (extinction) The second thing I liked about this video was learning how you could schedule the reinforcement, which means not always reinforcing the behavior. Skinner explains how this correlation with humans and humans with certain target behaviors are not always reinforced (gambling). The third thing I liked about this video was Skinner discussing free will and emitting me to understand how we don’t necessary have free will due to external causes. I disliked how this video didn’t discuss free will a little more; I found this to be an interesting topic.

Skinner and the teaching machine:
The first thing I liked about this video was how the teaching machine is supposed to elicit the behavior of learning more desirable. This should be the main target behavior of the teaching machine. The second thing I liked about the teaching machine was giving the student a quick report (results) to him/her responses. I find it aversive when teachers take their time to grade homework assignments or tests. The third thing I liked about the teaching machine was allowing the students to emit at their own pace. The only thing I question is the consequence of the students who fall behind from the higher ranked students? One thing I disliked about this teaching machine is it takes away their social interactions from one another. The students at the beginning of the video were all next to each other, but could only focus on their teaching machine and not others.

Epstein & Skinner with pigeons:
The first thing I liked about this video was learning about rote learning, which means individuals are taught to do something. The example of this was the little boy saying the pledge of allegiance. However how do we explain the behavior of a baby’s first word? The second thing I liked about this video was the example of simple conditioning. The girl burns herself from the soup and knows not to do it again. I liked everything in this video dealing with the children emitting certain behaviors. I disliked watching the pigeon emitting the behavior of turning around in circles over and over!

Terms: elicit, emit, behavior, antecedent, consequences, rote learning, punishment, reinforce, reinforcement, extinction, aversive, pleasant, desirable, condition, and target behavior

I like the video's because they give you some of the first findings that scientist have found when researching behavior modification. Skinner is shown talking about learning and how we go about learning. In the first video, Skinner talks about our free will and how learning in the real world isn't much different from reinforcement in an experiment. If we are in search of something, we have ways of meeting the requirements. He talks about how we learn of a good italian restaurant from a friend. The next time we want to eat italian we don't have to go searching, because we have learned from someone else's trial and error. I love the second video. Skinner talks about how the education system should be in order to elicit high level learning through reinforcement. The interviewer then asks him what he thinks of how things are done actually in school through punishment. He talks a great deal on how it is much easier to learn with reinforcement, research proves it, and yet still school systems tend to emphasize punishment in the classroom. Skinner talks about free will in the next video. The question is posed that if we do things simply because we learn to do them through behavior modification, doesn't that mean none of us act on free will. He replies that we are the ones who make the "gamble" to be punished or reinforced. We make a decision and will ourselves to do something. Our free will is still in tact even though it may seem like we are only doing as we have learned through some kind of operant conditioning. I didn't really agree with the teaching machine. The video shows these kids on teaching machines. Apparently they are given simple tasks, and are rewarded immediately for completing those task. It didn't look like much fun although the students seemed to be engaged. The last video was very interesting. It showed two pigeons using communication between each other to figure out a feeding apparatus. Certain buttons elicit behavior from the pigeons and if they work together and emit the right behavior they will be fed.

Reinforcement, Punishment, Operant Conditioning, Elicit, Emit,

I liked all the videos that where listed for us to watch, watching the videos really helped me understand B.F Skinners views on how behavior can be elicit and how/why organisms emit certain behaviors. In one video he talks about the school system and how at the time teachers where not doing a good job at reinforcing children for what they are doing right, rather they were reinforcing children for how much they were doing and punishing when they would get something wrong. Skinner stressed that this was a wrong way to facilitate a behavior learning environment.
Translating animal and human models
Another aspect I liked about the short videos is how Skinner touched base on how animal models can be used to help explain how humans can learn. Skinner points out that the only difference he expected between teaching animals and humans is the fact that humans have verbal ability as animals do not. Which helps humans be able to communicate while we are learning and what to do while animals only have verbal cues to reinforce or punish their behavior. Such as the video that showed how Skinner taught pigeons how to peek at a disk in order to receive food. He achieved using food as a positive reinforcement by using deprivation on the pigeons, keeping the pigeons body weight down to keep them hungry. He would slowly work them up to identifying words and specific behaviors soon it would appear that the pigeon can read.
Free will
Lastly, I liked the when Skinner touched base on free will and how we all like to assume that free will is basically our own feeling, thoughts and actions that are created from our head. But when analyzing behavior there are external reasons that affect and initiate those thoughts, feelings, and actions. As time goes on we start to emit behaviors we are reinforced or stop emitting behaviors that are aversive.

Renforcement
Punishment
Emit
Elicit
Aversive
Skinner
Positive renforcement
Deprivation

B.F. Skinner Lectures Psychologists

This clip was B.F. Skinner holding a lecture about the differences between human behavior and animal behavior and how both can be taught through the use of operant conditioning and reasoning. I liked how he discussed the training of a chimpanzee could be the same for a human, but a human can understand spoken language while a chimp can't. Also, I liked how Skinner used examples of his experiments with mice and pigeons to support the claims of his research. Lastly, I liked it when he discussed the fact that without reinforcement consequences, a person won't stop emitting an aversive or punishing behavior on the reasons given by others. One thing that I didn't like was how Skinner seemed to constantly branch out into multiple topics to answer questions he had received because although he was trying to support his theories and research, he never stayed on a main topic for very long.

Operant Conditioning and Free Will

This clip was mainly about B.F. Skinner's pigeon experiments to support his operant conditioning theory and how 'free will' is fictional. I liked watching the pigeons read the different words and understand what behavior to emit in order to receive food. I also liked how the deprivation of the food for longer amounts of time caused the pigeons to peck a lot in order to receive reinforcement for their behavior. Lastly, I liked the fact that when the pigeons were put in a cage, which represented an antecedent, they managed to adjust quickly in order to provide the expected results. One thing that I did not like was how the pigeons were always starved and underweight so that they could never experience satiation, only constant deprivation.

Skinner and the Teaching Machine

In this clip, B.F. Skinner was in a room full of students of many different grade levels doing work with something called a 'teaching machine.'I liked the fact that each child could use this machine to work at their own pace rather than feeling rushed and making unnecessary mistakes. Also, I liked how to answer each question or equation, all a student would have to write is one word or symbol. Lastly, I liked how the paper in the machine already had the correct answer written down for the student to receive immediate feedback on the correct answer rather than having to wait for a teacher to correct their work. One thing that I didn't like was that there were a lot of things wrong with the machine, such as: could a child just look at the right answer and write it down? If all the students were learning the exact same thing, wouldn't they be able to look at another student's answer and cheat? If the papers only require one word or symbol, is that really teaching them anything? There are just too many questions about the legitimacy of this machine.

Terms used: behavior, operant conditioning, reasoning, reinforcement, consequence, emit, aversive, punishing, deprivation, antecedent, satiation

The video that stood out to me the most was B.F Skinners Lectures to Psychiatrists and Psychologists, mainly because of all the information packed in the short segment that made so much sense to me. Something that has been in the back of my mind as we talked about behavior modification is that why do all this covert work of modifying people’s behaviors to get them to do something, so really people don’t need behavior modification. But what Skinner said about learning the behavior of receiving and acting on directions given made a lot of sense. We did have to have our behavior modified in order to be able to take what people said to us and turn it into the action that was desire, but it was done when we were children. And then this also made me think of the work I do with individuals with intellectual disabilities. Every day our job is to do behavior modification! We have to consistently use techniques to help the people we serve modify their behavior in things that many people take for granted because they were able to learn these things as children. The clip on Operant Conditioning and Free Will was very interesting. It is very interesting to look at gambling through the eyes of behaviorists as a behavior that is rewarded. It was crazy that they can basically turn a pigeon into a pathological gambler much as a human gambler gets addicted, and that is because of scheduled reinforcement. So a person is at a slot machine for the first time and emits the behavior of playing the slots the consequence is that a little money is received. Which elicits the person to again emit the behavior of playing the slots the consequence is that no money is received, but because the person was rewarded for their behavior once or even twice they are likely to keep doing this behavior to reach the desired outcome. This seems like an establishing operation of deprivation making the stimulus more pleasing as it doesn’t happen all the time, and with the added knowledge that the reinforcement could happen, the gambler is likely to continue in the behavior.
I didn’t agree with what Skinner said in the clip about free will. In the clip of free will I have to say it was interesting to hear Skinner say that basically all around us, externally and internally, we have things that are actually the causes of our behavior and not actually attributable to our own free will. On first instinct I want to disagree with him having the cultural value of free will but having confronting that thought I will say there is some truth to the statement. But I have to say I disagree with him further on an intellectual point. In psychoanalytic theory, which Skinner mentioned in one of the other clips, the purpose of therapy and the premise is to make the unconscious conscious and only then can a person really exercise free will. I definitely agree with this. So while yes there are forces, circumstances, structures of culture, and society that impact our decisions when we are aware of these things and freely make the decisions I contend that we can indeed exercise free will.

BF Skinner Lectures Psychologists:
I enjoyed when Skinner related giving someone advice on a certain restaurant to go to with behavior modification. If you give someone advice to go to a restaurant because you have already been positively reinforced by eating there, you are potentially saving the other person time and exposure to positive punishment by them searching on their own for a good restaurant. I also enjoyed how Skinner explained how reasoning with a person that has a gambling addiction or some other illogical behavior isn’t adequate to stop them from emitting that behavior. He explained that you can tell the person to stop gambling because it is hurting them and give them good reasons to stop but they would just go out and do it again. I enjoyed how he stated that behavior modification can be a useful tool in therapy for changing this unwanted behavior when reasoning fails.

Epstein & Skinner with pigeons:
I enjoyed that at the beginning of the video when they show the pigeon being conditioned to respond to the feeder when it hears the clicking sound to release food. The pigeon emits an extinction burst after the experimenter pauses from pressing the switch to cause the clicking sound and release food from the feeder. I also enjoyed that the pigeon eventually learns that when the light comes on, it is supposed to turn around in order to be reinforced with food from the feeder. I also thought that the experiment with the two pigeons, Jack and Jill, was very interesting. I thought it was interesting that they got the two birds to work together in order to receive the reinforcer for doing so, food from their various feeders. I thought it was interesting that when the pigeons were put into the chamber alone they went through the process, even pressing the button to help them remember which color was shown. I didn’t like how the video cut back and forth between the pigeon example and their explanation of human behavior in infancy at the beginning.

BF Skinner on education:
I enjoyed Skinner’s example of a token economy to running a classroom smoothly. I also found it interesting that he used a token economy as a temporary solution, with it slowly evolving into a credit system, then to something like a pat on the back and finally learn without any added reinforcement. It was also interesting that Skinner said we as humans are constantly reinforced naturally through every day successes such as gradually learning the material in a book as you read through it. Finally, I found it interesting that Skinner claimed students are driven, to some extent, by the attempt to avoid punishment in school (such as getting bad grades). I didn’t like the audio for the video or the minute long introduction.

Terms: positive reinforcement, positive punishment, emitting, behavior, conditioned, extinction burst, reinforced, reinforcer, token economy, punishment

Skinner on Education

I liked when he was talking about the forms of reinforcement. He said to start with reinforcements such as tokens, then slowly shift to credit and eventually end up with something like praise and approval. I liked it because it's easy to emit and could be very effective. I also enjoyed that he mentioned reinforcment vs. punishment because in a school setting it is very hard to use punishment. I teach a workout group so positive punishment is easy to do, "get down and give me 20 pushups". This made me wonder what would be the most effective. I thought the phrase "what do I have that my students want?" is a really important thing that all teachers should ask themselves. I know that I will be asking myself that question in the future.

Epstein and Skinner with Pigeons

I like how the example of the pigeons gave me another visual example of the ABC's of behavior modification. The antecedent was the pigeon being in the chamber. The behavior being targeted was pecking the color keys in the correct order. The consequence was getting food. The researchers used deprivation as establishing operations so the pigeons would respond better.

BF Skinner Lectures Psychologists

I liked how Skinner mentions how humans can learn vicariously by giving or getting advice. This is one instance where I think there might be a loophole in the ABC's of behavior modification. You hear about the consequence, but don't actually experience the antecedent, behavior, or consequence.

Skinner and Teaching Machines

I diliked Skinner's teaching machines. I think they would be useful at teaching rote learning, but I don't think that type of learning is as functional in real world application. I also don't think that type of learning would be effective for all the different learning styles.

Terms: antecedent, behavior, consequence, reinforcement, punishment, deprivation, establishing operations, emit

Skinner and the teaching machine:
I enjoyed how Skinner looked at his work on behavior to improve education. We take for granted immediate feedback these days. Technology has given us information at our fingertips. Another aspect that I enjoyed was how Skinned looked at individual students and how this "teaching machine" could make up for deficiencies that could occur in the classroom. One aspect that I didn't like about this video is 1) this machine makes it very easy to cheat, 2) it is on a strictly controlled program, therefore leaving no room for anything else that could be interesting to specific students.

Operant Conditioning and Free Will:
I enjoyed how strict Skinner kept his experiments and how he went about studying pigeons. I enjoyed how such intricate behaviors could be emitted by a pigeon. Finally I enjoyed how Skinner related this behavior by the pigeon to gambling.

Free Will:
This was my favorite video. I enjoy Skinner's philosophy of behaviorism, and I do completely agree with him and determinism. Any choice you made can be strictly analyzed and shown how the environment actually made the choice for you.

B.F. Skinner on education
-3 things I Liked
1. I liked how B.F. Skinner talks about how teaching needs to be weaned off, the same as a psychologist does to his student.
2. He talks about how reading at the beginning has a lot of pictures, which give the child a lot of success at the beginning giving himself the enjoyable feeling to read.
3. He talks about the human organism is naturally reinforced by doing well. This never really occurred to me, but really makers sense because there is a natural competitiveness to a human spirit. There is a reinforcer by itself being or doing better than your peers.

-1 thing I disliked
1. The only thing I disliked is how the information was presented in the video since it could have used more interaction and visuals to make B.F.’s ideas more relatable.

Drs. Robert Epstein & BF Skinner with Pigeons-Part 1
-3 Things I Liked
1. I like how the video gives good obvious examples of the concepts of what is presented. A great example is the positive reinforcement of food to the pigeon. The sound of the switch as a consequence elicits the pigeon to eat the food available. I assume this experiment was using the operant condition of depriving the pigeon of food, thus making the pigeon desperate as compliable. The pigeon is used as an example multiple times throughout the video and is understandable.
2. I also found it very interesting how you could see the two pigeons responding to the exchange to produce very complicated language type behavior. The video al slowed down the birds exchange and explained it to make it easier to understand.
3. I also like how B.F. Skinner admits a fault where he said he tried to show imitation in a pigeon who hadn’t got it and actually went as far as saying in a text book that animals at that level only imitate when the behavior is instinctive. It is impressive when such an accomplished researcher admits her was wrong even after it was published.

-1 thing dislike
1. The one thing I did dislike about this video is that is outdated and could have been updated to make itself more current and relatable to today’s audience, which in turn would make it more memorable.

Terms: Reinforcer, Positive Reinforcement, Elicits, Behavior, Consequence, Operant Condition, Deprive

In Skinner’s Lectures Psychologists clip I found it interesting to learn that he believes the only difference between animals and humans is speech. He believes speech evolved through evolution. Speech can make a different culture evolve. We can look at behavior and have self-awareness about what we do. I thought it was interesting to think that all behavior is unconscious behavior until we analyze it and make it conscious behavior. This makes a lot of to think behavior this way. We have to think about something in order to understand it. We must look at our feelings and context in which something happens. I liked that Skinner believed we should take people’s advice. An example is asking a person what would be a good restaurant to go to. We can learn from other people’s mistakes so that we do not make the same one. I didn’t really like that he thought we must learn to follow instructions in order to teach behavior. A person must have reasons to follow the reasons. Consequences tend to reinforce us to stop behaviors or determine it. I don’t feel that we have to have strict instructions in order to learn.
I completely agreed with Skinner. No child is completely independent. We are dependent on our physical environment. I liked that he said child should be dependent on the things of the world and try not to be dependent on a teacher. Children should learn to try to be independent to an extent. The truth is we are all dependent on something or someone. Children need to be put under some sort of control but give them reinforcement do going to school and doing homework. I didn’t like that Skinner thought that it was a teacher’s job to wean a child off independence. It is but, I feel that we should focus more on the idea that it should be the parent’s job. I liked that Skinner thought you can discover things that can be used as reinforcement at any level of education teaching. We study to avoid the consequences of not studying. It is true the consequence is usually why we end up doing something.
The teaching machine Skinner introduces to us allows a student to see one line of text from the material they are reading. A small part of it is missing and the student has to write in a small space word or answer to the material, like something that is missing. Right after the machine will tell him if they are right or wrong. It gives the student immediate knowledge whether or not their answer is correct. It creates interest and lets a student work at its own pace. I liked that the machine gives a student an answer right away. I always hate having to wait to find out if I got an answer right on a test. I also found it interesting that student should go at their own pace. I think that is important, but I also disagree with this. Students feel pressed to keep up with the other kids in their class. If the children were all in separate room I think this would be affective. I like that it gives a student one question at a time. It encourages student to go on question at a time and learn to focus on one task at a time.

terms: consequence, unconscious, conscious

posted for JM:
- Skinner and teaching machine
o I enjoyed that with the teaching machine that the students get the feedback right away on whether the answer is wrong or right.
o I really liked that these students weren’t under any type of time crunch. The students are working at their own pace which I think can be good.
o I also think that this machine makes homework and learning to be easier in a way. I mean it would be easier to not have to stress all of the time about
o What I disliked about the video is that they lose the human contact that you get with a teacher and a relationship that helps you out in the future.
- B.F. Skinner - Operant Conditioning and Free Will
o First it is so sweet that the bird comes off that it can read the two different words.
o Seeing that these birds catch on to what the desired behavior is by using food is neat. The bird caught on to pecking.
o In some way the bird can still tell the difference between two different words to know the difference between turn and peck. If individually they only have to work with one behavior its understandable but it is shocking that they can work with two at the same time.
o I really dislike that they keep the birds underweight so that they can use food to get what they want. I understand that it’s a reinforcer but and for science it’s how we learn but at the same time I don’t find it to be ethical because we wouldn’t do that to people.
- B. F. Skinner Lectures Psychiatrists and Psychologists
o It makes a lot of sense when Skinner says that they difference between animals and humans has to do with the verbal behavior
o Also how he answers questions from the audience is impressive. It shows that he knows what he is talking about and able to explain.
o How he talks about you can’t just tell a gambler to stop gambling without any reasons as of why they need to stop gambling makes sense. I think that everyone has a difficult time with just wanting to do something just because someone tells you too.
Terminology, reinforce, ethical, behavior,

Posted for TM:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7VZUjncC_SY#!

Expected the only difference between animals and people, was in the field of verbal behavior. Once verbal behavior became possible (bringing the voluntary muscle) due to operant control. People began to set up conditions that allowed them to look at their own behaviors, themselves, and their own bodily function, and how it affected their behavior. Consciousness is a social product, people make you ask questions of yourself. All behavior begins as unconscious behavior but some of it becomes conscious when you look at it, external conditions when it occurs, states of body, and mind. That allows you to discuss your behaviors. Culture makes behavior modification possible. Governmental and Scientific laws are of this nature, and thus can be used on behavior, and can be used in place of shaping behavior (instruction are similar to shaping behavior). If you don't know how to follow instruction shaping behavior cannot progress. Repetitive behavior (a child learning to do something by watching) can be substituted for shaping behavior; because through the repetition the child has shaped their own behavior. Contingencies are more powerful than reasons, and that is why people become addicted to gambling, or other things. They get reinforced for gambling, and that is why they continue, instead of listening to societal reasonings.

1: I really like his description of addiction, I have never though of it in that way before. But, if someone was addicted wouldn't the reach satiation?

2: I liked what he said about shaping behavior. It cleared that concept up, and know I can see that instructions are modifications to behavior.

3. His reasoning for why animals cannot be manipulated beyond a certain point makes sense. If you cannot progress past following instructions, how can you judge your own behavior. However, didn't they do a study with chimpanzees and mirror? The chimp became self aware, and used the mirror to pick out bugs from his fur, would that not be self rewarding; or self reinforcement?

4: I disliked his description of advising others. The example he used was telling someone to go to a certain restaurant, it really confused me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUzoa7Vv5sE&feature=related

Books:

Verbal Behavior

The Behavior of Organisms

The Technologies of Teaching

Contingencies of Reinforcement

Scientific Awards:

Scientific Reward of the American Psychological Association.

Membership in the National Academy of Sciences

The President's Medal of Science.

We are dependent on the psychical environment, just like people. According to Skinner our educational environments are ineffective. The child needs to be under some kind of control. Conspicuous rewards, and contingencies, will reinforce the child for coming to school, getting to work, and learning. Reinforced environments cannot exist forever. From a token system you should progress to a credit system, to a pat on the back, and then the child should emit to learn on his/her own. (People don't live in token economies so school should not operate soupy on token economies.) Children need to be reinforced for reading, so they can begin to reinforce themselves for reading. Reinforcers in human uprising should only be used temporarily. The human organism is reinforced just for having success. Schools should not punish children for not doing well. Students study to avoid the consequences of not studying.

1: That schools should not operate entirely on a token economy.

2: That students study to avoid the consequences of not studying: School uses punishment more than is uses rewards.

3: People are dependent on physical environments.

4: I really enjoyed this video, and didn't dislike anything.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhvaSEJtOV8&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64wsSA3ajGk&feature=related

Schedules of reinforcement; you don't reinforce every time. Gambling operates on a schedule of reinforcement. Where does that leave free will? Internal feelings have started something, and we have will to act. Discovering the causes of behavior we can find the cause of behavior. Free will is believed to be a American invention, because we know about our behavior; but not our causes.

1: When you change an animals emitted behavior, you operate on a schedule of reinforcement.

2: Free will is due to our behaviors and consequences

3: Slot machines reinforce on a schedule of reinforcement, (study with pidgins)

4: N/A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXR9Ft8rzhk&feature=related

Students learn on a teaching machine. What are teaching machines? Teaching machines are seen to be dramatically effective. Students must answer questions, that complete material just read. The machine tells the student if he got the answer right or wrong. This leads the student to the correct behavior, he learns to be right, and it eliminates any feelings of uncertainty even pleasurable. He does not have to force himself to study. Students also get to work at their own pace, and still learn the information.

1: Teaching machines are a form of reinforcement, that allows students to work at their own pace.

2: The use of these machines eliminates stress at school.

3: Teaching machines increase the concentration provided by the students.

4: Why are teaching machines not used today?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKSvu3mj-14&feature=related

Wrought learning, when a child is taught to remember something (Ex: Pledge of Allegiance). Why is it that only humans can communicate using symbols. We know how a child learns avoid being burnt by hot food, this is called simple conditioning. Some behaviors are far more mysterious, a baby reacts to a reflection as if it were another child, but a two year old reacts like it is a reflection of herself. Its easy to explain why a child reaches into a cookie jar, but what about when the child solves a problem to get to the cookies. In casual conversation we often refer to these things as intelligence, creative, or reason. Psychologist have replaced these terms with mental image, self, and ego. Such terms don't really explain things, and can only be used to describe behavior. Pidgins were taught to peck keys that simulated conversation: However, nothing was learnt from this, except that you can teach a pidgin to reinforce itself for food. After removing the partition, one bird operated the sequence, and simulated talking to itself. The pidgins use the symbols like we use a memoranda. When they delayed Jill's actions she emitted a pecking response to elicit Jack to peck the color, so that they would be rewarded with food. Pidgins can imitate behavior.

1: Imitation is extremely important to facilitate a child's learning.

2: Pidgins can be taught to simulate human speak

3: Pidgins can be taught to imitate actions

4: It was a little long, but I really like the video.

Terms Used: operant control, reinforced, emit, token economies, consequences, punishment, schedule of reinforcement,