Reading Activity Week #9 (Due Monday)

oberhelmand | March 9, 2014 8:28 PM | Reply

1) One thing that I really liked about this section was the history and the different information that was presented about Skinner. There were a lot of things presented in this section about Skinner and different experiments that he did that I did not know about before. I find this really interesting and really enjoy learning about these aspects of the information.

2) One thing that I liked the least about this section was Skinner’s idea of social engineering. I find it really extreme that he believed you could mold or shape a person into exactly what you wanted them to be through behaviorism. I also found it pretty strange that he tried to do this with his own children.

3) One thing that I will definitely remember from this section is “Skinner’s air bed.” I will remember this because it was something that I found very interesting and also something that I had never heard discussed before. I think that this will also be really memorable because of the fact that Skinner actually raised his own daughter in it. I will also remember what social engineering is from this section. This was an idea that was a big part of this section and was also a very big idea that Skinner believed in. I think this is a memorable topic because it is something that is a little bizarre, believing that we can raise a child into exactly what we want just by behaviors and by what we expose them too. Lastly, I will definitely remember the operant chamber that Skinner invented. This was a big part of what Skinner did and helped make big steps in psychology and in the area of reinforcement.

4) Day 1- 4, 8 oz glasses
Day 2- 3, 8 oz glasses
Day 3- 4, 8 oz glasses
Day 4- 2, 8 oz glasses
Day 5- 5- 8 oz glasses
Day 6- 5, 8 oz glasses
Day 7- 7, 8 oz glasses
Average= 4.2, 8 oz glasses per week

My water drinking did not ever reach the goal of 64 oz even with reinforcement; however it was better than the first week of baseline. The last week without reinforcement my water drinking did decrease a little bit, but overall it remained somewhat the same. I feel that I got the results that I did because I did really try to increase my water drinking when I was using reinforcing even though I did not reach the goal of 64 oz per week. I think that because I was reinforcing myself that when reinforcement did stop I continued to drink somewhat of the same amount of water.

5) Terms: social engineering, baseline, reinforcement, Skinner, skinner air bed, operant chamber, behaviorism

wilkem8 | March 9, 2014 10:37 PM | Reply

Section 3.5

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
I liked reading about Skinner as a writer, and different philosophical views of the concept of free will is something I find to be interesting. Many people find his deterministic ideas to be disturbing, but I enjoyed reading about his perspective. According to Skinner, freedom and dignity are traits in society that do not allow for advancement. Instead, attention should be paid toward the social and physical environment that people live in. It is the environment that should be changed in order for societal goals to be met.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
I disliked reading the section on the conditioned emotional response, because it discussed shocking the rats and evaluating their fear by how much or how often they freeze up. Freezing up is considered to be a species specific response, so it is a unique response to fear that rats emit. The reason I disliked this part was because it is something that appears to be very unethical to me.

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
a. One of the things I will remember from this section is that Skinner believed in a concept which he referred to as social engineering. This is essentially was his thoughts on the social and physical environment being changed for societal goals to be met rather than freedom and dignity. This is something I will retain from this section, because it was intriguing for me to learn about.
b. Skinner is famous for his Skinner Box, which is an operant chamber. It is a cage where rats or pigeons peck a disk, and the cumulative recorder graphs the lever pressing. It is used to study reinforcement and punishment. There may also be a tone and light present. The tone is based on a stimulus continuum of a low tone to a high tone, and the light is discrete where it is either on or off.
c. I will also remember shaping, and it is it where an animal is taught to press the level. This is done through successive approximation—a rat does something close to the behavior and is reinforced for it. Being reinforced for a behavior that is close to the target behavior elicits the desirable response. Eventually, through the process, the reinforcement will be leaned out. This means the rat is reinforced intermittently or once in awhile. I will remember this, because shaping plays a major part in behavior modification.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 64
Day 2 = 64
Day 3 = 72
Day 4 = 64
Day 5 = 48
Day 6 = 56
Day 7 = 56
Average = 60.57

4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.

As my data returned back to baseline, where I was not being reinforced for drinking water, it stayed at the 64 oz mark for the most part. The last few days it dropped off, and this could be because more time has passed since the reinforcement occurred. Also, the decrease occurred on the days that I was job shadowing and slept in, so I was not near my water bottle as much.

Terms: free will, deterministic ideas, conditioned emotional response, species specific response, emit, social engineering, Skinner Box, operant chamber, cumulative recorder, reinforcement, punishment, stimulus continuum, discrete, shaping, successive approximation, behavior, target behavior, elicit, desirable, response, leaned out, intermittently, baseline

Megan | March 9, 2014 11:31 PM | Reply

1.) One thing I liked most about this section was learning about Skinner's social engineering and his Air Bed since it was something new I learned and was a little bit interesting.

2.) One thing I liked least was reading about the Skinner Box and operant and classical conditioning, and the rat with all the fixed ratios since it was not interesting at all to me.

3.) Three things I will remember are some of his inventions like the Skinner Box and his Air Bed, social engineering to improve society, and discrimination training since those were new things that I learned.

4.) Day 1= 34 ounces
Day 2= 38 ounces
Day 3= 44 ounces
Day 4= 50 ounces
Day 5= 40 ounces
Day 6= 54 ounces
Day 7= 56 ounces
Average ounces= 45.14
I never made it to 64 ounces and my maximum of ounces was only 56 ounces but this past week's was better than some of my other weeks which is an improvement, but still did not succeed. I think that on weekends it helps that you get more ounces since at parties you drink a lot more than the beginning of the week. I also think that without reinforcement, one is less likely inclined to emit the behavior.

Terms: Emit, behavior, Skinner Box, Air Bed, social engineering, fixed ratio, classical conditioning, operant conditioning

ees93 | March 10, 2014 12:21 AM | Reply

1. A) I liked the part about successive approximation B) because it’s about reinforcing an organism for emitting a behavior that is resembles the target behavior during the shaping period, which reminds me of parents modifying children’s behavior. I’ve definitely witnessed times where parents have rewarded children for behavior that was “close enough” and would probably increase the likelihood that the child emits the actual desired behavior in the future.
2. One thing I disliked from the section was the extensive part on the Skinner box/operant chamber because it felt like an instruction manual on how the box worked rather than how the behavior modification in the box worked..
3. A) I’ll remember that shaping is a technique used to shape a desired behavior because it is used to initially elicit a behavior from an organism to begin the behavior modification. B) I’ll remember that ratio strain happens when the ratio of reinforcement is increased too quickly and extinction occurs because it builds off of extinction and extinction bursts from previous sections. C) I’ll also remember the airbed invention that Skinner created to make the most comfortable temperature environment for infants and also to decrease the rate of crying by momentarily lowering temperature because it’s such a unique object/product to place a baby into.
4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 =4
Day 2 =5
Day 3 =4
Day 4 =4
Day 5 =5
Day 6 =6
Day 7 =5
Average =4.7
4B. The amount of water I drank decreased. The way that the experiment worked, it should have been because of the return to baseline, but really it was because I lost my water bottle and wasn’t drinking as much water during the day.
5) Terminology: Skinner box/operant chamber, elicit, shaping, emitting, target behavior, ratio strain, extinction burst; airbed, return to baseline

Alexis | March 10, 2014 3:03 AM | Reply

Section 3.5 B.F. Skinner

1) In Section 3.5, I really liked the in-depth example of changing the rat’s schedule of reinforcement. In the example, we would like to train the rat to be on a FR25 schedule. We may do this by beginning with continuous reinforcement, and then gradually increasing the number of responses required to receive the stimulus (Scooby Snack in this case). We must gradually change the reinforcement schedule to maximize extinction burst responses while also avoiding ratio strain. Reviewing these concepts with a comprehensive example really helped me solidify these topics.
2) Section 3.5 focuses a lot on the rat in the box. As mentioned in earlier sections, it really bothers me to learn about various punishment methods used on animals, particularly shocking the animal within the operant chamber. Using these procedures to study conditioned emotional responses seems rather severe.
3) In this section, I will remember various concepts we have studied from the works of Skinner and other behaviorists. I will remember the features within the operant chamber allow us to study reinforcement and punishment. Particularly, the light in the chamber is a discrete signal (on or off), while the tone allows the researcher to manipulate stimulus values on a continuum (tones ranging low to high). I will also remember how one can expect to successfully modify reinforcement schedules. It was very useful to have the example changing the rat’s Scooby Snack schedule in training. Finally, I will remember Skinner believed behavior can be affected by changing the environment. Some of his work in the operant chamber centered on classical conditioning (S->R), or a voluntary response. In a throwback to our first weeks learning about the ABC’s of behavior, Skinner believes manipulating the environment (antecedent) goes a long way to changing behavior.
4) Daily Water Intake (week 3, # 8OZ glasses)
Day 1 = 15
Day 2 = 17
Day 3 = 20
Day 4 = 15
Day 5 = 15
Day 6 = 8
Day 7 = 15
Average = 15.00

I got strange results this week because I have been sick with a sore throat and a lot of sinus congestion. Because drinking water momentarily soothes my throat and drinking a larger quantity of water will help my immune system fight the virus, I have actually increased my water intake. (Avg Wk3=8.71429) Additionally, most weeks my water intake is inhibited somewhat by a need to drink soda and coffee (caffeinated beverages). This week I generally consumed fewer soda, tea, and coffee beverages because you don’t need caffeine when you’re sick, taking naps, and not going in to work!
In order to get a better return to baseline measurement, I plan to measure seven days beginning when I feel better (hopefully I can do this before spring break, so my measurement will be taken during my normal routine).

Terms: Schedules of Reinforcement, continuous reinforcement, response, stimulus, reinforcement, extinction burst, ratio strain, operant chamber, conditioned emotional responses, discrete stimulus, continuous stimulus, classical conditioning, antecedent, behavior

DLB | March 10, 2014 10:58 AM | Reply

After reading section 3.5, please respond to the following questions.
1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
I liked how in-depth this section went into the experiment and how it used many terms that we have learned. This section stated how Watson used operant condition, but in his rat experiment it still used some classical conditioning as well. I also liked the images that were provided because it allowed me to fully grasp the concept of the air bed as well as the rat experiment.
2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
Relearning about the types of ratio schedule of reinforcement was a little boring. Simply because I do not find it very interesting.
3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
a. I will remember successive approximation. This is a term that is used when the animal (rat) does a behavior close to the one the experimenters want, and because it is close this animal gets reinforced. This is interesting to me because it allows the rat to be shaped into doing the behavior that the experimenters want.
b. I will remember Skinner’s air bed. This invention is extremely interesting to me because it used precise temperatures and it was almost like an experiment on his child. But this air box was used as a controlled environment to keep the baby comfortable, and any changes in the temperature resulted in a behavior change. This shows the ABC’s of the baby’s behavior within this controlled environment.
c. I will remember skinners book Beyond Freedom and Dignity. I will remember this because Skinner had an interesting view on society. He believed that freedom and dignity were holding society back. I find this interesting simply because those are the two most valued “traits” that our society values.
4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 4cups
Day 2 = 3 cups
Day 3 =5 cups
Day 4 = 5 cups
Day 5 =3 cups
Day 6 = 6 cups
Day 7 = 4 cups
Average = 4.286 cups
4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
You should have received a copy of a graph to fill out from Dr. MacLin. Please go back and fill out the water drinking data for the last four weeks and bring it to class on Thursday (or drop it off in Dr. M's mail box in the psych office).
My drinking never reached 64 oz. This past week I stayed drinking a high amount of water. I think it is because I was dehydrated and when I am I will drink a lot of water to feel better. I also drank a lot more water at work because I would leave my change at home so I could not get a soda. This seemed to well because I drank more water. I think that if I had a stronger incentive to drink more water I would have done better overall, but because I increased my intake I think that I did good, but I could have done better.
5) operant conditioning, classical conditioning, ratio schedule of reinforcement, behavior, successive approximation, air box, ABC, controlled environment,

Jessi | March 10, 2014 11:01 AM | Reply

1 a&b) I enjoyed learning about the Operant Chamber which was one of Skinner’s inventions. I thought this was interesting because it went further to talk about how the rats and pigeons were conditioned. I particularly liked getting a better understanding of how they are slowly conditioned to respond the way Skinner wanted them to. I have always wondered how exactly they get the animals to touch the lever or peck a specific area. The text explained that process really well and I was surprised that they do this gradually and use shaping, successive approximation, then continuous reinforcement, before differential reinforcement and finally using just the type of reinforcement they had set forth. In the textbook’s example it was FR25.

2) I was very interested in Skinner’s other inventions such as the guided missile system and the teaching machine but the text didn’t go into detail for either of those things and that is why I liked them the least. I’m hoping that they expand on these inventions in future chapters or I may just choose them as my topic to do more research on.

3 a,b&c) I will remember Skinner’s Air Bed because I think that was a really interesting invention and the fact that he could get his child to stop crying by lowering the temperature slightly is extremely interesting to me. I will also remember ratio strain and the importance of gradually conditioning your subject to the proper response so that ratio strain doesn’t happen. I will also remember successive approximation and how you reward the subject for doing something close to the required behavior until you are able to emit that behavior from them.

4a)
Day 1 =48 oz
Day 2 =32 oz
Day 3 =32 oz
Day 4 =48 oz
Day 5 =560z
Day 6 =56 oz
Day 7 =64 oz
Average = 48 oz

4b) My results were interesting. I started out not drinking very much water at all. I didn’t feel as if my reinforcements helped very much at all but I was more aware of when I drank water and I would often choose water over other beverages because of my awareness. That seemed to do that trick because my water intake increased during Week 2 and increased even more during Week 3. For the last week my baseline was still higher than Week 2’s results which were being reinforced.

5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
Terminology: operant chamber, Skinner, FR25, successive approximation, continuous reinforcement, differential reinforcement, shaping, guided missile system, teaching machine, Skinner’s Air Bed, emit, ratio strain, baseline

H Larson | March 10, 2014 11:20 AM | Reply

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
I really liked how Watson and Skinner were compared at the beginning because they overlap a lot in my mind so it was nice to see more of a clear distinction between the two. Because of this I was finally able to grasp that it was Watson that popularized behaviorism whereas Skinner was the one to take behaviorism to the next step. Skinner distinguished between classical and operant conditioning and is thought of more as the inventor.
2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
One thing I disliked was all of the shortened initials for Fixed Ratio. It made me confused and led me to actually become more distracted by the initials than the reading because I was trying to figure out what FR meant each time it appeared.
3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
I will remember manipulanda since it is what is what animals are manipulating. I will also remember shaping because it is what is used to shape the desired behavior to occur. For example, I think of giving a dog a treat every time it goes to the bathroom outside because we are trying to reinforce the behavior outside rather than inside the house. Thirdly, I will remember Conditioned Emotional Response. I think this will stick with me because I have been through this kind of experience before. When I was younger, my brother would always hit me if he lost his video game while I was in the room and say it was my fault. Eventually, after getting hit a few more times, I learned that whenever I went downstairs and saw him playing video games I would go back upstairs to avoid getting hit.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4: 
Day 1 =64 oz
Day 2 = 72 oz
Day 3 = 56 oz
Day 4 = 64 oz
Day 5 = 72 oz
Day 6 = 64 oz
Day 7 = 56 oz
Average =64 oz
4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did?
I stayed at an average of 64 oz. I think at this point it has just become more of a habit to take my water bottle with me throughout the day. Also, since I have been running more I have just naturally been craving water and I feel like I have become more aware of when I am starting to feel dehydrated and get water instead of juice because that is ultimately what makes me feel better.

Andrew | March 10, 2014 12:14 PM | Reply

1. What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
I really liked the part about Skinner’s Air Bed. I found it interesting that the temperatures had to be 86 degrees for a newborn to be comfortable. I was also interested in how changing the temperature slightly could elicit a response from the baby.

2. What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
The thing that I liked the least in this section was the part explaining what an operant chamber is. I had already learned about this in two previous psychology classes so it was just a review for me.

3. What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
I will remember what shaping is. Shaping is one way that we can get a person or animal to emit the target behavior. It is usually combined with a technique called successive approximation. This is when the person or animal does something close to the target behavior they get reinforced. An example of this would be reinforcing the rat for looking at the lever, and then reinforcing them for touching the lever and finally for when they press the lever. A third thing that I will remember from this section is ratio strain. This happens when a reinforcement schedule is increased too fast or by too much at one time. This will then lead the person or animal to give up and not emit the target behavior.

4. Day 1 =6
Day 2 =5
Day 3 =3
Day 4 =4
Day 5 =3
Day 6 =4
Day 7 =4
Average =4.14
Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did?
My results decreased slightly. I think that this happened because I was no longer getting reinforced.

Terms used: elicit, Skinner’s air bed, operant chamber, shaping, emit, target behavior, successive approximation, reinforced, ratio strain, reinforcement schedule.

jennasen | March 10, 2014 1:51 PM | Reply

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?

I liked the detail that went into describing Skinner and the work he has done. I feel like this section did a better, more detailed job in retelling the important work of this particular psychologist more than the other chapters had done.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?

I didn't really like how the concept of an emotional response was explained. To be honest, I still don't completely understand what the difference is between an emotional response and a regular response.

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?

I will remember how the rat responded to a fixed ratio schedule in the operant chamber, I will remember the story of the baby and the air bed and I will remember the new concept of successive approximation.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 5 cups
Day 2 = 8c
Day 3 = 10c
Day 4 = 8c
Day 5 = 8c
Day 6 = 9c
Day 7 = 6c
Average = 7.7c

4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.

I met my goal more often when I was reinforced with the reward of Nutella. I had days where I didn't meet my goal the weeks after because I was not being reinforced.

Terminology: emotional response, fixed ratio, operant chamber, successive approximation, reinforcement

Menged | March 10, 2014 3:24 PM | Reply

After reading section 3.5, please respond to the following questions.
1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
I really enjoyed the part about Skinners “Air Bed” mainly because I have never heard about this study before. It is very interesting to see how a few degrees in temperature can alter the behavior of a baby and I was more surprised than anything to find that lowering the temperature was what would stop one from crying.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
One section I did not like was the part about Skinner’s box and how he would use pain in the form of an electrical shock in order to elicit a conditioned emotional response. I would have rather he had used a form of reinforcement to get this type of behavior rather than putting a lab animal through constant bouts of pain.

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
The first thing I will remember from this section is the idea of species-specific responses and that these are used when studying specific behaviors. Another thing I will remember is how B.F. Skinner wrote in Beyond Freedom and Dignity that the only way for humankind to grow and develop is to change the environment rather than change the individual people in society. The last thing I will remember is the invention of the guided missile system developed by Skinner and that three pigeons controlled it. I will remember this last one because it is the most absurd invention yet I find it fairly humorous.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 4 16 oz
Day 2 =4 16 oz
Day 3 =3 16 oz
Day 4 =3.5 16 oz
Day 5 =3 16 oz
Day 6 =3 16 oz
Day 7 =4 16oz
Average =3.6 16oz

4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
My water intake had remained at the mark I had set for my goal surprisingly even without my reinforcer. I believe I had maintained such a high level of water intake because I had in fact been conditioned to fill up my water bottle at the beginning of the day and refill it whenever it was empty. I became accustomed to drinking water throughout my classes whether I was thirsty or not.

5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
Behavior, reinforcement, conditioned emotional response, elicit, Beyond Freedom and Dignity

slimjimm369 | March 10, 2014 3:38 PM | Reply

1. I really enjoyed this section, perhaps it was due to the fact we only had one reading this week and the information wasn't clouded by another section, but I also think Skinner's ideas are fascinating. The behavioral techniques of reinforcement and punishment along with with the reinforcement schedules became much clearer in this section because they were applied to one specific scenario. Furthermore, I think Skinner's idea of social engineering is interesting and I like the examples Maclin gave concerning sin taxes and tax cuts.

2. I didn't dislike anything in this section. However the paragraph on discrimination training could have been more clear. When applied to the rat in the Skinner box, what I gathered from the readings was that S+ signals reinforcement. This occurs when the light is turned off (pellets are able to be given). S- would signal no reinforcement or extinction in this case because the light turns on and pellets are not available. During S- the rat would go into extinction burst until it can discriminate between the light on and reinforcement. The reinforcement under one condition and not the other is called differential reinforcement.

3. I will remember the rat scenarios in the Skinner box. At first the rat does not know pellets can be administered. It is essentially exploring the environment. We may give the rat a pellet when it looks at the lever, then progress to it actually touching the lever. This is called successive approximation. We still do not have the rat on a schedule of reinforcement so we will use continuous reinforcement where the rat is reinforced every time it touches the lever. Gradually we will only reinforce every 3 lever pull, working our way up to a target ratio. Lastly, I won't forget the air bed simply because it is a bizarre way to raise a child. I'm still not entirely sure what behavior he is hoping to elicit from the baby. From what I understand, Skinner learned that decreasing the temperature actually results in the baby to stop crying. This only occurs after successfully removing articles of clothing from the baby.

4
A.
day 1= 6 glasses
day 2= 6 glasses
day 3= 7 glasses
day 4= 7 glasses
day 5= 7 glasses
day 6= 8 glasses
day 7= 6 glasses
average= 7 glasses

B. My water intake level actually increased when compared to my baseline values. It didn't decrease much at all after removing the reinforcer. I found myself getting into a good habit of having my water bottle finished at a certain time each day. I was on my own schedule without the use of reinforcement.

terms- successive approximation, reinforcement, punishment, differential reinforcement, extinction, S+, S-, schedules of reinforcement, sin tax, Skinner box, social engineering

Whatever | March 10, 2014 4:33 PM | Reply

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
One thing that I really liked about this section is that I learned a lot more about Skinner than I did before. I did know much about social engineering or the types of conditioning. I liked that I learned about Type R and Type S conditioning. I also didn’t know that Skinner actually invented the operant chamber I know that he used it but didn’t know he was the first to come up with it.
2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
One thing that I didn’t like about this section was that I don’t like that there are new names for the same exactly thing. It’s hard for me to keep tract with what’s what when they keep changing the name on me. I just want one name for one thing so that I don’t get to confused. One example of this is that another name for classical conditioning is called Type S conditioning.
3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
One thing that I learned about in this section is that Type S is classical conditioning. And that means that in the conditioning the stimulus generally comes before the response. And that Type R is operant conditioning and that is where the response preceded the stimulus. The second thing that I learned is that the operant chamber has many functions. I learned that it is something can function as a discriminative stimulus and also something that is a dispense reinforcing. The third thing that I learned is about the air bed. The fact that what the air bed did was it provided a controlled environment for the baby.
4a) (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 9
Day 2 =6
Day 3 =5
Day 4 =3
Day 5 =3
Day 6 =8
Day 7 =3
Average =5.2
4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
My drinking decreased this week which is the baseline week. I was doing pretty well at the beginning of the week but by the end it really decreased. There was one date later in the week that my water drinking that went up because it was a day I didn’t a lot of physical activity outside. This is something that could have ended up messing up my results and the date.
5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
social engineering, Type R conditioning, Type S conditioning, operant chamber, classical conditioning, stimulus, baseline, operant chamber, response, air bed, discriminative, dispense reinforce.

Rachael | March 10, 2014 4:40 PM | Reply

successive approximation
species specific response
Skiner’s Air bed
utopian community
reinforcer
baseline

halanne21 | March 10, 2014 4:41 PM | Reply

After reading section 3.5, please respond to the following questions:

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
I really liked how it explained a lot about how the operant chamber is run and how it works to reinforce or punish the rat because it showed me that something like this could work depending on the situation and schedule of reinforcement.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
I didnt really dislike anything in the section. I thought every thing was explained well, however I wish that FR would have been written out as fixed ratio in some paragraphs because at first it was kind of confusing to me
3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
I will remember what an operant chamber is and how it is used to punish or reinforce
I will remember conditioned emotional response because I have gone over it before and I think it is relevant to a lot of reinforcements
I will remember the air bed story because it is a different way to raise a child that is not normally heard of anymore

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 48
Day 2 = 40
Day 3 = 56
Day 4 = 48
Day 5 = 40
Day 6 = 40
Day 7 = 56
Average = 46.86

4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
It decreased but not very much. I think I got this result because I realized during the experiments the benefits of drinking water so after while that was just as rewarding as the original reinforcer was

5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
reinforcement, air bed baby, reinforcer, punishment, operant chamber

DaniM | March 10, 2014 5:13 PM | Reply

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
One thing I really liked about this section was how the example of the rat was held throughout. It really made the concepts of shaping, conditioned emotional response, and extinction clear.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
What I liked least about this section was that Skinner believed that all human behavior is determined by environment, because although that may be partially true, I think it would be hard to prove and do not personally agree that each and every behavior people emit is directly related to their environment.

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
One thing I will remember from this chapter was the concept of shaping because if the rat had been put on a 25 time fixed ratio schedule then he never would have emitted the desirable behavior.
Another thing I will remember is successive approximation, which is rewarding if the behavior is close to the desired behavior. Without successive approximation, animals especially, would not know if they are on the right track or not with getting to the behavior expected of them. This reminded me of training a dog as well. The dog cannot understand you, so you must communicate that he is doing the right thing, or close to the right thing, with reinforcement.
Lastly, I will remember that for each species, you need a behavior they are capable of emitting. I will remember this because of the rat/pigeon example, where the operant chambers had to be modified to fit each animal they were testing. This could be applied to humans, in a sense that you need to make sure they are physically capable of doing the behavior you wish to see.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:

My measurements are by number of 8oz glasses.
Day 1 = 6
Day 2 = 6.5
Day 3 = 5
Day 4 = 5
Day 5 = 6
Day 6 = 6
Day 7 = 7
Average = 5.9

4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
My drinking water decreased at the return to baseline. I think that I got these results because without the reinforcement I forgot that I had a goal of the amount of water to drink per day, so I sort of slipped back into my usual habits and the desired behavior became extinct.

5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
Shaping, Conditioned emotional response, extinction, fixed ratio, successive approximation, desired behavior, emitting and reinforcement.

mapesje | March 10, 2014 5:50 PM | Reply

After reading section 3.5, please respond to the following questions.

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
One thing that I liked in this section was the detailed description of how a Skinner box works. I liked this because it made it easier to understand how it is used to study conditioning. Before reading this section I didn’t know that it was complex enough to be used for different types of conditioning such as operant conditioning, classical conditioning, discrimination training, and conditioned emotional response. Knowing how versatile an instrument it is makes me realize why it is such an important contribution to behavioral studies.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
One thing that I didn’t like was Skinner’s idea of social engineering. If it was taken to the extremes that were presented in his book “Walden Two” then I feel like it is similar to communism. The idea of having major parts of your life, such as what career you go into, decided for you is an uncomfortable thought in our society. I think this is especially true for college students who may try several majors until they find something they like. However, I can see the benefits of changing the environment to elicit specific behaviors. The “broken windows” theory of crime argues that rundown neighborhoods elicit crime because the environment reinforces crime. The theory says that fixing these neighborhoods can reduce crime because if people care about their neighborhood then crime will no longer be reinforced, and criminal behavior will be extinguished.

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
a) I will remember that shaping is an operant conditioning technique in which a complex target behavior is taught through reinforcement of smaller steps. The series of smaller steps is called successive approximation. These steps must gradually move closer to the target behavior. Shaping is how many people learn to play a musical instrument, since it is unlikely that you can pick one up and immediately play a song. The instructor might have you practice holding it correctly first, then focus on you producing a good tone, then a specific pitch, then simple rhythm, then a simple melody, and so forth until you can emit the target behavior of playing a song.

b) I will remember that leaning out is a way to increase a reinforcement schedule. This means that the ratio or interval of reinforcement will increase. This can’t be done too quickly or ratio strain will occur. It is normal for an organism to go through extinction as the schedule increases, but if the schedule increases by too much then the organism’s behavior might be extinguished.

c) Finally, I will remember Skinner’s air bed because I had never heard about him inventing this. I think that it sounds like a good idea, since babies are much more sensitive than adults. It was surprising to read about how adjusting the temperature just a few degrees could stop the baby from crying. One question I wondered about was if Skinner or anyone else had wanted to manufacture the bed for sale, and if not, then why? It’s possible that people back then weren’t comfortable with putting their babies in something like that. The picture in this section almost makes it look like a cage.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 0 (10 oz glasses)
Day 2 = 1
Day 3 = 1
Day 4 = 2
Day 5 = 1
Day 6 = 1
Day 7 = 0
Average = 0.86 glasses

4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case).
Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease?
It decreased.

Why do you think you got the results you did?
I think I got these results because I was not being reinforced. I didn’t do well even with reinforcement.

Terms: Skinner box, conditioning, operant conditioning, classical conditioning, discrimination training, conditioned emotional response, social engineering, elicit, reinforce, extinguish, shaping, target behavior, successive approximation, emit, lean out, schedule of reinforcement, ratio, interval, ratio strain, organism, extinction, Skinner’s air bed

RBee | March 10, 2014 6:00 PM | Reply

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
I enjoyed the last part which discussed free-will. Do we really have free will? I’m not so sure the government isn’t just modifying our behaviors and we are functioning like a puppets for our master puppeteer.
2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
I know that lots of things have been done to animals in the name of science, but some of it seems so arbitrary. Shocking a rat to observe it’s behaviors? Is that REALLY ethical...?
3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
a. The air bed was a very interesting concept. I think it’s a unique solution for a real life issue. It is cumbersome to put babies to bed… you worry about them smothering in clothing and blankets. However, it’s kind of like having them in a box or cage…and I’m not a fan of that.
b. It’s odd to think that one man (Watson) can set the basis for behaviorism, but the more recent of the two (Skinner) can get all the credit… but, such is life.
c. Sin taxes was great to read about. My boyfriend is trying to stop smoking, and I’m happy to read that the government has been intervening…although they haven’t done a very good job.
4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 3
Day 2 = 2
Day 3 = 2
Day 4 = 1
Day 5 = 3
Day 6 = 4
Day 7 = 1
Average = 2.3
4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
I didn’t have a single day my water drinking hit 64oz. I attribute this to not making it enough of a priority for it to modify my behavior.
5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
Modify, behavior, observe, air bed, Watson, behaviorism, Skinner, sin taxes

RBee | March 10, 2014 6:01 PM | Reply

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?

I enjoyed the last part which discussed free-will. Do we really have free will? I’m not so sure the government isn’t just modifying our behaviors and we are functioning like a puppets for our master puppeteer.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
I know that lots of things have been done to animals in the name of science, but some of it seems so arbitrary. Shocking a rat to observe it’s behaviors? Is that REALLY ethical...?

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?

a. The air bed was a very interesting concept. I think it’s a unique solution for a real life issue. It is cumbersome to put babies to bed… you worry about them smothering in clothing and blankets. However, it’s kind of like having them in a box or cage…and I’m not a fan of that.

b. It’s odd to think that one man (Watson) can set the basis for behaviorism, but the more recent of the two (Skinner) can get all the credit… but, such is life.

c. Sin taxes was great to read about. My boyfriend is trying to stop smoking, and I’m happy to read that the government has been intervening…although they haven’t done a very good job.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 3
Day 2 = 2
Day 3 = 2
Day 4 = 1
Day 5 = 3
Day 6 = 4
Day 7 = 1
Average = 2.3

4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
I didn’t have a single day my water drinking hit 64oz. I attribute this to not making it enough of a priority for it to modify my behavior.

5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
Modify, behavior, observe, air bed, Watson, behaviorism, Skinner, sin taxes

KatrinaM | March 10, 2014 6:12 PM | Reply

Section 3.5

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?

I liked reading about Skinners "air bed" because i never heard of it before and it was interesting how temperature by a few degrees can affect a baby's mood

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?

i disliked the boxes where we had to recall information from previous sections we had read, just because i had a hard time remembering

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?

a-That the operant chamber will have something that can function as a discriminative stimulus, something to dispense reinforcers, something to manipulate, and something to deliver punishers. Because of the experiment with the rats and levers

b-That Skinner invented the air bed
which provides a controlled environment for the baby.Because of reading about it and i found it interesting that just changing the temperature by a few degrees would make a baby not cry

c-Species specific responses are those particular to a given animal. Because of having to come up with examples

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 =64
Day 2 =64
Day 3 =64
Day 4 =64
Day 5 =64
Day 6 =64
Day 7 =64
Average =64oz

4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.

I continued to drink 64 oz everyday without a reinforcer. I think did that because i just got used to carrying a water bottle and drinking that much everyday

5)operant chamber,discriminative stimulus,reinforcers,manipulate,punishers,Species specific

rusheka | March 10, 2014 6:22 PM | Reply

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why? One thing I really enjoyed about this chapter was learning about species specific responding. I never thought of responses to be species specific or to put a term along with the response and association. While doing my examples I also thought that the response doesn’t always have to be a response while in danger, but a dog may bark to alert others (being protective of owners or the home), when it is excited and playing catch, or when it does happen to be in danger.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why? One section that I was a bit confused on was the section asking to fill out the CER training. This is what has confused me from the beginning so I just found it to still be difficult.

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section? First I will remember that type S is classical conditioning where the stimulus generally comes before the response. Second I will remember that type R is operant conditioning where the response precedes the stimulus. Lastly, species specific responses are those particular to a given animal.

4a)
Day 1 = 70 oz
Day 2 = 60 oz
Day 3 = 65 oz
Day 4 = 70 oz
Day 5 = 68 oz
Day 6 = 66 oz
Day 7 = 72 oz
Average = 67.29 oz
4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
You should have received a copy of a graph to fill out from Dr. MacLin. Please go back and fill out the water drinking data for the last four weeks and bring it to class on Thursday (or drop it off in Dr. M's mail box in the psych office).

Only once throughout the week did my water intake drop below 64 oz. I think the reason I stayed drinking so much water is because I workout daily and if I do not drink enough water I will be very tired and lethargic throughout the day. I have to keep my body hydrated and stay energized.

Terms: species specific responding, CER, classical conditioning, operant conditioning

Bri Martinez | March 10, 2014 6:27 PM | Reply

1. One thing I will remember most about this section is Skinner’s ‘Air Bed.’ The reason I’ll remember this most is because from all the psychology classes I have taken, I have never heard of this. I also thought it was clever because it benefitted both parents and the child.
2. One thing I didn’t like much about this section was learning that Skinner was so close-minded and somewhat cocky. Although he has been a huge part of founding major concepts in behaviorism, his belief that he could mold a child into whatever he wanted them to be just by their environment seemed absurd to me.
3. Three things I will remember most from this section is one, how multi-talented Skinner was, two, the operant chamber, and the technique successive approximation.
4.
a. Day 1: 120oz
b. Day 2: 100oz
c. Day 3: 136oz
d. Day 4: 96oz
e. Day 5: 80oz
f. Day 6: 134oz
g. Day 7: 112oz
h. Average: 111oz
5. I think my results were actually the highest they’ve been this week than ever before. I think this, because I was doing more activities that required more water intake, as well as knowing in the back of my mind that although I wasn’t being reinforced I still wanted to drink a lot of water.
6. Operant chamber, successive approximation.

KReilly | March 10, 2014 8:01 PM | Reply

Section 3.5
1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
One thing that I really liked that was in this section was that it was all about Skinner. Like the previous sections about psychologists, I learned a lot of general information about their studies in other classes. However, it was really nice to actually get to read more about him and really understand what he did to impact psychology.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
One thing that I disliked that was in this section was reading about the testing on the animals. LIke other sections, I really just don't like having to read about things done to animals to help advance other psychologists knowledge. Not only do I understand the point for some experiments, I just don't believe that it is an ethical thing to do.

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
One thing that I will remember from what I read in this section was the difference between type S conditioning and type R conditioning. Type S is classical conditioning where the stimulus generally comes before the response and type R is operant conditioning where the response precedes the stimulus. This topic confused me when we went over it quickly in class, so being able to read over it really helped me distinguish between the two. Secondly, I will remember that discrimination training involves differential reinforcement. This means that some responses are reinforced and others are not. I found this an interesting topic, so I tended to really enjoy reading about it which is why I feel that I will remember it. Lastly, I will remember that along with doing tons of studies in psychology, Skinner was also a prolific writer about how people can use social engineering to create better societies. I thought it was cool to learn about other impacts that Skinner had, other then the ones involving psychological advances.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 =40oz
Day 2 =40oz
Day 3 =24oz
Day 4 =32oz
Day 5 =48oz
Day 6 =40oz
Day 7 =40oz
Average =37.7oz

4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
My results increased from week 3, but decreased from week 2. I feel that regardless of reinforcing myself, it was still difficult to try to drink 62ounces of water a day. As much as I would love to be drinking more water, it is hard for me to drink more then 4 or 5 glasses per day. I realized I do drink more water when I am working out or in an environment when I only have my water bottle. I just think it takes more then a couple weeks to get myself to drink more water, and I also think I need to be more motivated to do it.

Terminology: type R, type S, Classical conditioning, operant conditioning, differential reinforcement

WhittneyM | March 10, 2014 8:35 PM | Reply

After reading section 3.5, please respond to the following questions.

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
I really liked that it was familiar. I really am starting to appreciate the fact that all of my classes are overlapping. I have learned about Skinner in other classes, but I felt that I learned more in this chapter about him and his research than I have in my other classes.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
I least liked the story of him putting his child in an air bed. I thought it was really interesting but I am way to paranoid of a parent to be able to do that to my child. Although I do find that throughout the night my daughter gets overheated. I don't get a lot of sleep because I am constantly checking to see if she is too hot or too cold.

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
I will remember the beginning of the chapter very well! I thought it was very interesting that he thinks that he can shape a child into becoming whatever he raised them to be, a banker or a thief. I find this sort of scary that he believes he can do this but it is also very interesting! I will also remember the operant chamber used to get the lab rat to press the lever 25 times. (FR25) We briefly discussed it in another class, but it is very difficult for me to picture myself doing or being around this type of "cruelty" towards animals. I understand that it is for research and everything but I think I would cry the entire time. Tying into this I will also remember the first picture of the man standing infront of rows upon rows of birds in cages. I think the image has been burned in my mind because I feel that that is not a 'just' way for an animal to live its life-locked in a cage. And of course I will remember that he used an air bed for his child.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 =48
Day 2 =72
Day 3 =32
Day 4 =72
Day 5 =48
Day 6 =48
Day 7 =24
Average =49.1 oz

4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.

I think I did a better job this week of drinking water. This is mainly because I have been sick and fluids help my throat and help me from coughing. My drinking amount definitely increased because of this.

5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
Operant conditioning, FR,

KellseyF | March 10, 2014 8:41 PM | Reply

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
One thing I really liked about this section was about Skinner and his experiments. Like changing the rat’s schedule of reinforcement. And training them to be on a FR25 schedule. We’ve learned about continuous reinforcement, and gradually increasing the number of responses to receive the stimulus. And then changing the reinforcement schedule to maximize extinction burst responses while avoiding ratio strain. The example all in all really helped me understand more.
2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
What I disliked about this section was reading about the conditioned emotional response. Just because it talked about shocking rats and evaluating their fear and how often they’d freeze up. This was super unethical in my eyes.
3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
a. I will remember the Skinner Box, which is an operant chamber. This is a cage where rats are recorded using graphs on lever pressing. It’s used to study reinforcement and punishment. Tone and light are present in this. Tone is based on stimulus continuum of low or high, while light is discrete either on or off.
b. Ratio strain happens when the ratio of reinforcement is increased too quickly and extinction occurs because it builds off of extinction and extinction bursts.
c. “Skinner’s air bed” because I thought it was super interesting that Skinner used his own daughter. He could get his daughter to stop crying by just lowering the temperature slightly.
4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 3
Day 2 = 2
Day 3 = 3
Day 4 = 4
Day 5 = 3
Day 6 = 4
Day 7 = 3
Average = 3
4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
My results decreased. I think this happened because I have always been terrible when it comes to drinking the amount of water I should. So when I took out the reinforcement, it went back down some again. I believe I’ve gotten better about at least emitting keeping track of it more and being more aware of it, but without the reinforcement, the results did suffer at the end baseline.
Terms: Reinforcement, operant chamber, Skinner, FR25, Skinner’s Air Bed, baseline, emit, response, stimulus, punishment, extinction burst, schedule of reinforcement, continuous reinforcement, ratio strain, conditioned emotional response.

cthom26 | March 10, 2014 8:50 PM | Reply

1. One section that I really found interesting was the one on the Skinner air bed. This was a bed for babies in which the temperature was set at a level that was comfortable for the child without excess clothing and was raised or lowered at the preference of the child. If the child was fussy they would alter the temperature a degree or two until the child was no longer uncomfortable. One of Skinner's daughters who was raised in the air bed has said that she really thought it was a good invention and does not disapprove of her father using it on her. I really liked this section because this was something that I had not heard about before and it kind of reminds me of a mad scientist type of invention. It makes sense that adjusting the temperature can help a baby feel better, but I just don't see how practical this actually would be.

2. One section that I did not really find interesting was the beginning section talking about the skinner box and how the rat becomes reinforced. B.F. Skinner created the Skinner box, or operant chamber, which shows operant conditioning with animals. In this chamber an animal must perform a function in order to receive a reinforcer. In these chambers there is often a food hopper and water spout that act as a reinforcer and a lever that was the stimulus. I did not really enjoy this section because it was laid out in a way that seemed confusing to me initially, and it took a lot further reading to understand how exactly the fixed ratio reinforcer worked.

3. I will remember that when a reinforcement schedule increases by too much or too quickly it will cause a ratio strain. I will remember this because it makes sense that this would happen, and I'm sure it happens frequently in experiments. It can be hard to tell how much of an increase is too much until you have had a lot of practice. I will also remember that CER stands for conditioned emotional response. This is something that can be done, for example, by using the bars on the floor of an operant chamber to shock the rat that we are testing. A third thing that I will remember is
Skinner wrote a book called Walden Two. This book was about a utopian society that was based around Skinner's behavioral principles. In this book children are separated from their parents and behaviors are done for the benefit of the community and not the individual person. This book was radical, but there were some good ideas and it was all aimed at creating a better society.

4.
Day 1: 37 oz
Day 2: 40 oz
Day 3: 50 oz
Day 4: 60 oz
Day 5: 45 oz
Day 6: 35 oz
Day 7: 40 oz
Avg: 44 oz

I think that my water intake was the highest this last week than it was in any previous week. This is because I was more active in this past week and that requires me to increase my water intake, regardless of whether I was getting reinforced or not.

terms:
skinner, air bed, skinner box, operant chamber, operant conditioning, reinforcer, stimulus, fixed ratio reinforcer, reinforcement schedule, ratio strain, conditioned emotional response, walden two

LPDIVA | March 10, 2014 8:53 PM | Reply

After reading section 3.5, please respond to the following questions.
1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
I liked the other word for a lever in an operant chamber. It was called the manipulanda because it was manipulating the behavior the rat would emit by pressing on it. I liked this because it just sounded cool.
2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
I didn’t like reading about Skinner’s deterministic ideas when he wrote Walden Two about social engineering. Along with readers, I also think it is asking a lot to have a society let their children go and not raise them yourself. I think his idea was for the betterment of society, it just had flaws that would never gain acceptance.
3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
I will remember the idea of shaping. A researcher would shape the rat in an operant chamber’s behavior by having a fixed ratio of 25 times pressing the lever or manipulanda. I will remember this because it is a word that is pretty self explanatory and is easy to put into context.
I will also remember the idea of successive approximation. This is when the rat comes close to being reinforced and still gets some form of reinforcement. When the rat hears the sound of the gate opening he associates it with getting rewarded for its behavior so he continues to stay near the lever in hopes of more rewards.
I will remember that Skinner invented the air bed in order to have a controlled environment. I will remember this because I know a lot of people who have them for guests or camping and I would have never guessed that a psychologist invented it.
4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 60 oz
Day 2 = 64 oz
Day 3 = 72 oz
Day 4 = 48 oz
Day 5 = 48 oz
Day 6 = 32 oz
Day 7 = 40 oz
Average = 52 oz
4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
My drinking of water decreased. I averaged about 64 ounces previously. This week it went down to 52 ounces. I think my number of ounces decreased because I was no longer looking forward to some sort of reward.
You should have received a copy of a graph to fill out from Dr. MacLin. Please go back and fill out the water drinking data for the last four weeks and bring it to class on Thursday (or drop it off in Dr. M's mail box in the psych office).
5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
Terms: operant chamber, behavior, manipulanda, emit, shaping, fixed ratio, reinforcement, successive approximation, deterministic, social engineering, Walden Two

Ahansen | March 10, 2014 8:57 PM | Reply

After reading section 3.5, please respond to the following questions.
1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
I really liked how this section walked us through most of the information with basically one very easy to understand skinner example, which is the rat and Skinner’s box. I liked this because the example was very easy to visualize, and it helped explain the information and review previous chapters with operant and classical conditioning.
2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
I didn’t like the part of social engineering. I feel although behaviorists are right to a certain extent with being able to shape someone through environments and reinforcement/punishment, there will always be the factor of free will. For an example, people still run stop signs.
3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
I will remember the vocab word ratio strain. I will remember this because of the question right before the word asking what would happen if you went straight to FR25, I did not know the vocab word to explain. I can now connect the thinking with the vocab.
I will remember CER. I knew what this meant before, but reviewing it in another chapter, with more examples and practice questions solidifies my knowledge.
I will remember what successive approximation is because I was confused before this knowledge about how you would get a rat to push the lever in the first place. This struggle helped me better learn this vocabulary.
4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week
#4: Day 1 = 5 Day 2 = 6 Day 3 = 6 Day 4 = 8 Day 5 = 7 Day 6 = 7 Day 7 = 8 Average = 6.71
4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
My water intake slightly decreased through my baseline. This decrease is so small; I do not think it had anything to do with the removal of the reinforcer. I feel my consumption of water was near what it was before because of me being positively reinforced with the good feeling of being healthy, rather then my reinforcement of the movie at the end of the week.
You should have received a copy of a graph to fill out from Dr. MacLin. Please go back and fill out the water drinking data for the last four weeks and bring it to class on Thursday (or drop it off in Dr. M's mail box in the psych office).
5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
Skinner’s box, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, social engineering, reinforcement, punishment, ration strain, Fixed ratio, Conditioned emotional response, successive approximation, baseline, positively reinforced.

Sara Antle | March 10, 2014 8:59 PM | Reply

1. Although it was a little boring, I liked learning most about the Skinner Box. It was interesting to read about how he can condition rats to receive food. I also thought it was interesting that he raised his own children in the air bed. I also like his idea that we can shape a child into being whatever we want. I don’t know exactly how much I agree with that, but I think it’s a cool and thought-provoking statement.

2. Something I didn’t really like about this section was the lack of every day examples. It was basically all history and there wasn’t anything to relate to. Those are the type of sections I like most, so this was a pretty boring one to read.

3. Three things I’ll remember from this section is what a Skinner Box is and how it works. I’ll remember the whole thing about the air bed that he raised his child in. I’ll remember this because I thought it was really interesting and unique way to do things. Lastly, I’ll remember the part about conditioned emotional response because we learned about this before and it was interesting. I’ll remember that different specifies have a different specific response.

4.
Day 1= 6
Day 2= 6
Day 3= 4
Day 4= 7
Day 5= 9
Day 6= 7
Day 7= 8
Average= 6.7

My water drinking for the most part stayed up. It didn’t really decease dramatically. I think I got these results because in the back of my mind I think about this class and these assignments, so I drink more water in my classes. My reinforcement was recording my glasses of water, so it’s a little different case.

Terms: Skinner box, air bed, conditioned emotional response

BLS | March 10, 2014 9:02 PM | Reply

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
The one thing I really liked about this section how it went step by step into how to get a to push that lever and how to train it to do so. Whether it be to just literally push it once or condition it to do it VR25. Either way it really helped me to understand the concept better and why each thing is needed to actually make the rat push the lever with either the light or the electric floor or the not giving the rat pellet.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
One thing I disliked the most in this section was when they I read about the "Skinner air bed". I thought it was a very interesting thing to keep a child in pretty much a man made incubator. But I didn't understand the concept and why anyone would actually wan't there child to be in one of those things. I wanted more of an explanation on why it was invented and why people would want there children to be in one of them.

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
The three main things I will remember from this section is that "Type S" is classical
conditioning where the stimulus generally comes before the response. I think this is memorable because there is two types and I know that both are very important. The next thing I will remember is that Type R is operant conditioning where the
response preceded the stimulus. Finally the last thing that I will remember from this section is that "Shaping"is used to train rats to lever press which involves
successive approximation where the rat is reinforced each time it does something
close to the desired response. This is important because without shaping the rat would never actually push the lever or peck the button.
4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 =5
Day 2 =7
Day 3 =7
Day 4 =6
Day 5 =5
Day 6 =7
Day 7 =7
Average =6.2glasses

4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
During the baseline week there were a couple of days that I almost made the goal but most of the days I was under the goal. The reason I think I was under was because I didn't have the reinforcement that I did during the last couple of weeks.

5) Skinner air bed, Type S, Type R, Shaping,classical conditioning, operant conditioning

MarieL | March 10, 2014 9:07 PM | Reply

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
Before this section, I was a bit confused by the schedules of reinforcement. After going through this chapter and reading about the changing of the rat’s schedule of reinforcement. It was pretty in-depth and helped me to comprehend the concepts a little better.
2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
I enjoyed how this section was written and I do not have many complaints, but I am still confused on a few of the terms, such as emotional response.
3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
a) I will remember how the rat responded to the changing of the schedule of reinforcement.
b) I will remember that each species needs a behavior that they are capable of emitting.
c) I will also remember the air bed. The concept of this was interesting. It is an interesting solution to problems.
4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 8
Day 2 =9
Day 3 =9
Day 4 =7
Day 5 =8
Day 6 =9
Day 7 =9
Average = 8.5
4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
The amount of water I drank remained pretty consistent. I think it is because now I am just used to drinking that much water every day.
You should have received a copy of a graph to fill out from Dr. MacLin. Please go back and fill out the water drinking data for the last four weeks and bring it to class on Thursday (or drop it off in Dr. M's mail box in the psych office).
5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
Terms: behavior, air bed, emitting, schedules of reinforcement, emotional response.

thend2011 | March 10, 2014 9:19 PM | Reply

After reading section 3.5, please respond to the following questions.

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?

I like learning how Skinner was an inventor, how he would create all of his own devices for his projects and used them. It was like he made the experiment completely his by creating his own tools in the experiment such as "skinners box".

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?

I really enjoyed this section, I was slightly confused with the FR25 example at first because it wasn't mentioned earlier in section 3.5 but then when I kept reading on it was explained so that it could be understood.

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?

I will remember the term shaping, I like how it was applied with the FR25 example and how we can't tell the rat to just press the lever 25 times but we can shape it to do so as we please. Also the recall with classical conditioning the stimulus comes before the response and the response was more reflexive in nature. And lastly, but with operant conditioning the stimulus follows the response and the response was more voluntary.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 7
Day 2 =7
Day 3 =7
Day 4 =6
Day 5 =3
Day 6 =3
Day 7 =8
Average =5.8 cups

4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.

My amount of water being consumed stayed the same, even slightly increased at my return to baseline. I believe this was because even thought I wasn't actually taking the time to reinforce myself; the good feeling I got from drinking the water was a reinforcement on its own even if you weren't planning for it to be. It also became part of my routine and once you get into the routine of something it is easy to continue on the routine, especially when it is something that helps you feel healthy.

You should have received a copy of a graph to fill out from Dr. MacLin. Please go back and fill out the water drinking data for the last four weeks and bring it to class on Thursday (or drop it off in Dr. M's mail box in the psych office).

5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.

skinner's box, shaping, reinforcement, skinner, behavior.

bussev | March 10, 2014 9:24 PM | Reply

1) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
I liked the Skinner Air Box in theory because it is a very interesting solution to the traditional blankets, covers, etc and the danger that those can pose; however it is also an odd solution because it involves raising a baby in a heated box at such a high temperature that it almost doesn’t seem safe. I guess if you were raised in those conditions and never knew any better you would be accustomed to it, but it seems odd to me.
2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
I greatly dislike Skinner’s Walden Two. It is one thing to want to use behavioral principles to better society, but it is completely different to do so by a deprivation of free will. I agree with his social engineering principle in the allocation of external reinforcers rewards, but I only agree with it to a degree. I disagree with the raising children apart from their parents and the communist attitude of community before individuals. I also agree with Skinner that if we can change the environment or antecedents we can have immense power over the behaviors being emitted; however I believe there is a limit to this power. This and other examples like this is where the sleazy impression of behavior modification comes from.
3) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
(1) Skinner made many inventions, similar to Watson, but Skinner’s seemed a bit more out there. For example the Air Box is something that is a really out there idea that I would have never thought of. The operant chamber on the other hand makes a lot more sense to me and does not seem as outrageous. I also do not understand the guided missile system or teaching machine, though that is from lack of explanation in the text. (2) Skinner had insane ideas about behaviorism and behavior modification as it applies to shaping the world for the better. The text claims that this is no different than our own government using taxes and tax credits to elicit certain behaviors from us; however Skinner proposed taking it to a whole new level. (3) Species specific responses are responses to certain stimuli that are limited to a particular species, such as freezing up as a fear response in rats or cats curling their toes to a touch on the center of their paw.
4a) Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 =60
Day 2 =65
Day 3 =60
Day 4 =55
Day 5 =60
Day 6 =60
Day 7 =50
Average =58.6oz
4b) Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did?
My drinking of water decreased. I think I got these results because I was on fixed interval schedule that I got reinforced each week that I met my goal, but now that reinforcement was taken away I went into extinction and the behavior is getting closer to being extinguished. This shows that I may need to be on a more continuous reinforcement schedule until the behavior is set in place. This drop in the frequency of the target behavior during the return to baseline may also just mean that I need to pick a reinforcer with more intrinsic value, so I am more motivated to attain the reinforcement.

Terms used in this post: fixed interval schedule, reinforced, reinforcement, extinction, extinguished, continuous reinforcement schedule, target behavior, return to baseline, reinforcer, intrinsic value, deprivation, external reinforcer, antecedents, emitted, behavior modification, behaviorism, shaping, elicit

collinad | March 10, 2014 9:38 PM | Reply

After reading section 3.5, please respond to the following questions.
1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
Something I really liked in this section was that the boxes asked me what I thought would happen next with shaping the rat to press the lever 25 times. Or what would happen with the experiment. I like when the sections stop and ask us questions, not just to think of 3 sentences demonstrating a vocabulary word.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
Something I disliked in this section was how Skinner used shocking the rats. In class we are always talking about how reinforcing behavior is more effective than punishing. I also didn't like Skinners idea that Freedom and dignity just get in the way of society.

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
Something that I will remember from this section is that Skinner invented most of his equipment he used in his operant conditioning. I will remember this because not only did he continue important research, but he also had to make up ways to do it. Another thing I will remember is the concept of shaping. Like the text says, you can't just tell an animal to do what you want it to and have it accomplish the task right away. You have to shape the animals behavior so that they can work their way up to doing exactly what you want. Lastly, I will remember that a good way to shape behavior is to use reinforcement intermittently. If you do not do this, the rat will not learn what you want it to.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 64oz
Day 2 =64oz
Day 3 =64oz
Day 4 =64oz
Day 5 =48oz
Day 6 =72oz
Day 7 =64oz
Average =65oz
4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
I stopped reinforcing my behavior, but I still forced myself to drink the 64oz(most of the time). Without reinforcing, I noticed I didn't feel the need to drink water. I still made myself drink it, but I didn't feel any sort of obligation.
5) Terms: shaping, punishing, reinforcing, operant conditioning, intermittent reinforcement, behavior

Micah Webb | March 10, 2014 10:20 PM | Reply

1) Personally, I really liked how Watson and Skinner were compared and contrasted in the beginning of the section. A lot of their work is similar to one another, and I have mixed them up before. Being able to differentiate between the two was very appealing to me. I can now say with confidence that Skinner took Watson’s idea of behaviorism and applied/added onto it.

2) My least favorite part of the section was reading about Skinner’s Box. He used electric shocks to elicit conditioned responses from the poor lab animals. It’s so sad to read about animals going through pain in order for us to gain knowledge about behavior modification.

3) First, I will be able to distinguish Watson’s work from Skinner’s now that I have read about both scientists. I have gotten the two confused before and now that the section was clear on the difference between the two, I will keep them separate. I will also remember reading about discrimination training. Discrimination training uses differential reinforcement where not response is followed up by a reinforcer. I will remember this because I was able to apply it to things like dog training, and it seemed interesting. Finally, I will remember about how taxes can be used to manipulate our behavior. I never thought about it like that, so I appreciated the new perspective.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 48 oz
Day 2 = 36 oz
Day 3 = 40 oz
Day 4 = 48 oz
Day 5 = 30 oz
Day 6 = 40 oz
Day 7 = 44 oz
Average = 41 oz

4b) My drinking behavior definitely decreased when I wasn’t being reinforced. My reinforcement wasn’t all that enticing, but I knew that I should be drinking more water because of this assignment. When I wasn’t reinforcing myself, I wasn’t being overly conscious about how much water I was drinking, and I found myself drinking a lot less. I find drinking water throughout the day being important though, so I knew I would drink a decent amount, but not as much as I did when I was thinking about the assignment.

5) Terms: Watson, Skinner, Behaviorism, behavior, behavior modification, Skinner’s box, conditioned response, elicit, discrimination training, reinforcer, reinforcement, differential reinforcement

Julia Rivas | March 10, 2014 10:27 PM | Reply

After reading section 3.5, please respond to the following questions.
1) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
I really enjoyed learning about Skinner’s experiments and designs he used, such as the operant chamber and the air lift bed. I was unaware that Skinner actually invented the operant chamber and this was interesting to find out because this chamber has been used multiple times for a lot of experiments on rats and such animals; especially how Skinner used the operant chamber to reinforce and punish the rat by shaping, continuous reinforcement, and discrimination training for classical conditioning.
2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
To me there are a couple of ethical concerns, especially with the shocking punishment for the rat. I also till don’t quite understand CER, so I got a bit confused with that area.
3) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
The first thing I will remember is the difference between classical conditioning, where stimulus generally comes before the response, and operant conditioning, where the response precedes the stimulus. This is important to remember because of the distinct differences between different types of conditioning. The second thing I will remember is the operant chamber and how it was used to function as a discriminative stimulus, reinforcement and punishment when lever was pulled. This is important to remember because of the different techniques Skinner used, such as shaping (lever used to reinforce the rat when they achieve desirable response) which eventually ends up being continuous reinforcement, and discriminative training, which involves some responses being reinforced while others are not, in which the rat learns desirable behavior in certain settings. The third thing I will remember is how Skinner laid the foundation for behavior modification and how be believed we can control behavior to ultimately benefit society. Especially how he invented the operant chamber, which has shaped how researchers now use this chamber to accelerate their findings and eventually more and more complex and important research; which is important to remember because Skinner invented such an important research tool.
4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 62 oz
Day 2 = 64 oz
Day 3 = 60 oz
Day 4 = 58 oz
Day 5 = 66 oz
Day 6 = 58 oz
Day 7 = 52 oz
Average = 60 oz
4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
My drinking level decreased a bit, or at least returned to baseline. I believe this happened because I did stop reinforcing myself and in return didn’t think about the Cherry Pepsi as a positive reinforcement so therefore I didn’t combine the Cherry Pepsi to the water because I wasn’t thinking of the Cherry Pepsi as reinforcement.

5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
Positive reinforcement, reinforcement, classical conditioning, stimulus, operant conditioning, response conditioning, operant chamber, CER, punishment, air lift bed, reinforce, punish, shaping, continuous reinforcement, discrimination training, behavior, desirable, behavior modification

Jacey | March 10, 2014 10:45 PM | Reply

1) One thing I really liked in this section was how it described Skinner in other lights rather than just behavior. It talked about other things he invented and even about him being a writer. It keeps me more into the reading because it’s not just one thing repeating the other.

2) One thing I disliked about this section was learning about the rat getting shocked so it would freeze up as a punishment because it seems unethical to me. Whenever there is something that hurts animals it is hard to read and enjoy.

3) Three things I will remember is that successive approximation is associated with shaping where an animal is gradually taught to do the behavior that is reinforced because if I ever use this technique I will need to understand the behavior won’t just happen right away, classical conditioning can also occur in an operant chamber because the animal can associate the sound of a something that presents food to it, and that species specific response is a unique response that certain animals employ because it is important to know the characteristics of the species you are using.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 =6 cups
Day 2 =4 cups
Day 3 =7 cups
Day 4 =5 cups
Day 5 =4 cups
Day 6 =6 cups
Day 7 =4 cups
Average = 5.1 cups

4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
I never made it to the 64 oz mark and my highest was around 45 oz. My last week which is my return to baseline where I wasn’t reinforced I dropped slightly from 43 oz to 41 oz averaged a day. I think I got these results because I wasn’t being reinforced anymore but I was used to drinking the higher amounts of water so it became more of a habit than anything. I also brought back a water bottle at home that I took to classes, which helped reinforce it.

5) Terms: successive approximation, shaping, behavior, reinforce, classical conditioning, operant chamber, series specific response, punishment

KyleRek93 | March 10, 2014 10:59 PM | Reply

1) I really liked the setup of this chapter because it separates the topic under discussion (Skinner) into two sections: the inventor and writer. It really gives an insight into Skinner outside of his famous operant chamber.

2) I disliked how the two sections were very different in length. There was a large amount of information about Skinner as an inventor but not as much of Skinner as writer. It is for that reason I felt that section was fairly unbalanced.

3 a) I will remember Skinner dealt with operant conditioning because another name for the Skinner box was the operant chamber. B) I will remember that manipulanda will be the lever in the Skinner box that the animal manipulates because of the similarity between the two words. C) I will also remember that operant conditioning is not the only conditioning that happens in the Skinner box. Classical conditioning also happens (ex: the rat associating the sound of the machine with giving food).

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:

Day 1 = 64
Day 2 = 56
Day 3 = 56
Day 4 = 64
Day 5 = 48
Day 6 = 56
Day 7 = 64
Average = 58.3 oz

4b) My drinking actually increased slightly (it never actually got to drinking 64oz every day). I got the results I did because I’ve been working out nearly every day since the start of the project so I’ve been having to drink more and more water anyway to stay hydrated.

You should have received a copy of a graph to fill out from Dr. MacLin. Please go back and fill out the water drinking data for the last four weeks and bring it to class on Thursday (or drop it off in Dr. M's mail box in the psych office).

5) Walter Skinner, operant chamber, operant conditioning, manipulanda, conditioning, classical conditioning

Araceli | March 10, 2014 11:21 PM | Reply

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
One thing that I really liked was the history on Skinner. I think it was interesting to know what he did and also that he was a writer. I didn’t know that he was a writer so it was interesting to find out he has written books, such as “Walden Two”.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
I liked learning about everything in this section. I really enjoyed learning about Skinner and his inventions and books because they were very interesting. I thought the Air Bed was an interesting invention.

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
I will remember Skinner’s Air Bed because it was a very interesting invention and to me it seems unethical to raise a baby like that. Another thing I will remember is the “Walden Two” book Skinner wrote because it seems like an interesting book to read. Lastly I will remember Skinner’s theory of social engineering to create a better society. I will remember this because it makes me wonder if it were possible to do.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 9 cups
Day 2 = 8 cups
Day 3 = 8 cups
Day 4 = 7 cups
Day 5 = 7 cups
Day 6 = 6 cups
Day 7 = 7 cups
Average = 7.4 cups

4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
For me it decreased as the week went by, I was at the 64 oz mark the first couple days then it decreased. I think this was because I wasn’t recording it anymore, so it didn’t seem as important to me.

5)Terminology: unethical, social engineering, air bed

Amber | March 10, 2014 11:37 PM | Reply

1. I really enjoyed learning about would have been about the air bed that Skinner talked about. I really found it interesting because it was something that I have never learned about before and I had no idea about. It was an interesting issue and put Skinner more interesting in my personal book!
2. The thing I least liked about this section would be learning about Skinner, this is because I have learned about him for so long that his research and background start to get boring. Yes, important to the field of BMOD, but very repetitive. The issues were interesting but I hate learning about skinner in a way because I’ve already heard so much about him. Yes, I learned something new too so that would pretty awesome as well.
3. I will remember about Skinner and his experiment of the Skinner box. This is because I have learned about this in previous classes and it’s something that I will know never forget because of its repetitiveness. The second thing I will remember from this section is the key term of species specific response. It was a term that seems logical and makes total sense to me know. And I also found it pretty interesting. The last thing I will remember from this section would be the operant chamber because I never understood this term and I know do.
4a.
Day 1 = 68 oz
Day 2 = 64 oz
Day 3 = 32 oz
Day 4 = 18 oz
Day 5 = 40 oz
Day 6 = 30 oz
Day 7 = 16 oz
Average = 38.3 oz
4b. It did decrease but I feel like there was other reasons behind why that happened and that was because I had the Flu all week so I really wasn’t drinking water but instead other fluids. I honestly think that I would have stayed at 64 or above with my water intake if it wasn’t for the flu because I could see it making changes to my weight which is what I’m looking for. Even though I didn’t have a target behavior per say I still have been motivated to drink water.
5. Skinner, Skinner box, Psychology, Behavioral Modification, Reinforce, Target Behavior, Air Bed, Ope rant Chamber, Species Specific Response.
AS

ElizabethC | March 10, 2014 11:44 PM | Reply

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
I think my favorite part of this section was the discussion on Skinner's literature. "Beyond Freedom and Dignity" sounds very intriguing and controversial. The fact that we consider it such a radical piece of literature, yet there are ideas that actually relate to problems we face in today's society, elicit an urge for me to read it. Overall it was interesting to learn about all the different things Skinner did in his lifetime, other than just the operant conditioning studies.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
Something that I really didn't understand was the experimental importance of Skinner's "Air Bed". From what you talked about, it seemed to be a rather successful invention, but what was the purpose, what was it created to prove, or disprove. Since it seemed to be quite successful, as proven by one experimentee's testimony, why wasn't this patented.

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
The difference between Type S (Classical Conditioning) and Type R (Operant Conditioning) were made even more clear. Breaking it down into two types and giving them a simple definition helped me distinguish each.

Breaking down the operant chamber (Skinner's Box) was also very helpful, understanding how each part functioned, and what behavior it elicited or conditioned, gave me a better idea of how the process works. I think I am to the point now where I could explain the experiment to someone outside the psychology field and they would actually understand it, and its function.

Species specific responses were visited in this section as well. Although it seems like a very straight forward behavior, the fact that you associated it with the example of the rats freezing when they are scared, it helped me better understand it and even think of other examples, outside the animal world.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 =40
Day 2 =56
Day 3 =64
Day 4 =64
Day 5 =56
Day 6 =32
Day 7 =40
Average =50

4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
Although I was able to reach the 64 mark a couple days, I just can't bring myself to drink that much water everyday of the week. Overall I feel my water consumption did improve from this experiment, but I'm not sure it will continue after this. I wasn't so much influenced by my reinforcer (pop) as I was by the experiment itself, I knew that the goal was to increase water consumption, so I think that elicited the increase. Now that I don't have the motivation of this class, I am thinking that my water consumption will go down again.

You should have received a copy of a graph to fill out from Dr. MacLin. Please go back and fill out the water drinking data for the last four weeks and bring it to class on Thursday (or drop it off in Dr. M's mail box in the psych office).

5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
Skinner, elicit, operant conditioning, Air Bed, classical conditioning, operant chamber (Skinner's Box), conditioning, species specific responses

KatelinG | March 11, 2014 12:00 AM | Reply

Section 3.5

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
I thought it was fascinating that B.F. Skinner invented an ‘air bed’ in which the temperature of the unit could be controlled, and that things like crying and fussing could be controlled by lowering the temperature in the ‘air bed.’ I’m glad he didn’t try to invent something that took the place of social interaction between the baby and other people (which it kind of sounded like he was trying to do at first…). I think it could be a beneficial alternative to a crib, seeing as it’s much like an incubator—it helps the child to sleep by keeping him or her at an optimum temperature. I also thought it was neat that Skinner invented the operant chamber, which we had discussed in previous sections.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
I did not like learning about the bars on the bottom of the operant chamber that could function as a punisher by shocking the rat that was inside. It’s probably pretty redundant now in my posts, but I think punishers shouldn’t be harmful to the animal, just as we do not conduct legal experiments in which human subjects are allowed to be mentally or physically harmed. Thank goodness there are stricter laws on animal research now.

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?

a. Shaping: used to shape the desired behavior. I’ll remember this because it’s like when a baby attempts to start talking—you will encourage and reinforce everything that’s mildly similar to talking until the child eventually begins saying full words, then full sentences and so forth.

b. Successive approximation: rewarding behaviors that are similar to the behavior that we want emitted. I’ll remember this because it seems like a great idea for any behavior that a person would like to elicit another person to emit. We use this kind of behavior modification technique on children by rewarding good behaviors, even if they’re not entirely correct (think difference between toddler and 10 year old—we’re going to reward the toddler for attempting to clean her room, but we’re going to get angry if the 10 year old still hasn’t figured it out.)

c. Differential reinforcement: teaching an animal/person that behavior will be reinforced under one condition but not the other. This eventually leads to stimulus control, essentially meaning the same thing—the animal will learn that the stimulus determines whether or not a behavior will be reinforced. I think I’ll remember this because it’s very similar to a street light—unless the light is green (or yellow, if you live on the edge), a driving behavior will not be reinforced, but rather punished (if you get caught).

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 52 oz.
Day 2 = 56 oz.
Day 3 = 52 oz.
Day 4 = 64 oz.
Day 5 = 68 oz.
Day 6 = 64 oz.
Day 7 = 52 oz.
Average = 58 oz.

4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
I was not able to stay at the mark of 64 oz.; instead, it decreased. I think this happened because I was so busy with midterm tests that I was not as focused on accurately recording my glasses of water, nor did I always remember to drink enough water. I was also not as encouraged to drink water because I was lacking a reward, even though I knew the consequence of drinking more water was being healthier, which is a reward in itself.

Terms: operant chamber, air bed, punisher, emit, elicit, differential reinforcement, stimulus control, reinforced, punished, behavior modification techniques, successive approximation, shaping.

vedo43 | March 11, 2014 12:05 AM | Reply

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
B.F. Skinner is famous for his research on operant conditioning and negative reinforcement. He developed a device called the "cumulative recorder," which showed rates of responding as a sloped line.
Using this device, he found that behavior did not depend on the preceding stimulus as Watson and Pavlov maintained. Instead, Skinner found that behaviors were dependent upon what happens after the response. Skinner called this operant behavior.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
B.F. Skinner also invented the "baby tender." He created the enclosed heated crib with a plexiglass window. Ladies Home Journal printed an article on the crib with the title "Baby in a Box," contributing in part to some misunderstanding over the crib's intended use.
This was just a weird invention and the way it was described seemed as if it would harm the baby more than it would be useful. It is a bit strange, not one of his better inventions.

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
- While behaviorism is no longer a dominant school of thought, Skinners work in operant conditioning remains vital today. Mental health professionals often utilize operant techniques when working with clients, teachers frequently use reinforcement and punishment to shape behavior in the classroom, and animal trainers rely heavily on these techniques to train dogs and other animals.
- Skinner differentiated between Type S conditioning and Type R conditioning. Type S is classical conditioning where the stimulus generally comes before the response. Type R is operant conditioning where the response preceded the stimulus. This is a pretty important point among Skinners research.
- Shaping is used to train rats to ever press which involves successive approximation where the rat is reinforced each time it does something close to the desired response. Initially the rat is reinforced each time it press the lever. This continuous reinforcement is eventually replaced with intermittent reinforcement and gradually leaned out to the desired schedule. This is a good example of shaping performed by Skinner in his research.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 =32
Day 2 =36
Day 3 =48
Day 4 =32
Day 5 =36
Day 6 =32
Day 7 =50ish
Average =38

4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
I didn’t reach the goal of 64 oz even with reinforcement; however it was better than the first week of baseline. I was gradually building and drinking more water on average every week, so I believe in another week or two, I would have reached 64 oz. The last week without reinforcement my water drinking did decrease but overall it quite a bit more than my average at baseline. When the reinforcement stopped I was use to drinking more water on average and the habit continued, even though it was not as much.
You should have received a copy of a graph to fill out from Dr. MacLin. Please go back and fill out the water drinking data for the last four weeks and bring it to class on Thursday (or drop it off in Dr. M's mail box in the psych office).

5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
baseline, reinforcement, Skinner, skinner air bed, behaviorism, reinforcement, shaping, response

BreR | March 11, 2014 12:18 AM | Reply

1 a.b.I really enjoyed the part about Skinners “Air Bed” because I had never heard about it and i found it fascinating!
2.I did not like the part about Skinner’s box and how he would use pain in the form of an electrical shock in order to elicit a conditioned emotional response.This is simply inhumane.
3. a.b.C.I will remember is the idea of species-specific responses and that these are used when studying specific behaviors. I will also remember how B.F. Skinner wrote in Beyond Freedom and Dignity that this is the only way for mankind to change. This is beautiful! Lastly,I will remember the invention of the guided missile system developed by Skinner. I will remember it because I loved the idea and thought it was brilliant!
4 a.b.
Day 1 = 4
Day 2 =4
Day 3 =5
Day 4 =4
Day 5 =6
Day 6 =5
Day 7 =4
Average =4.5
4. b.My water intake remained the same even without the reinforcer. I think this is because I was still thinking about it all the time. Once I start thinking about it, I assume it will go down.
5.reinforcer, Beyond Freedom and Dignity, elicit, conditional emotional response

katemae27 | March 11, 2014 12:28 AM | Reply

1) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
-I like the review over Skinner and how it focused on what mattered to behavior modification. Although we have been over Skinner in other classes, I enjoyed reviewing his experiences in social engineering.
2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
-I did not like the boxes because the questions were either irrelevant to the class or not helpful to my learning about behavior modification. The only one I did like was the one where we had to recall past material such as conditioned response, conditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, and unconditioned stimulus. The one I liked but wish I had more examples of was species specific responses. Do humans have any?
3) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
-The three things I will remember are Skinner’s experiments and discoveries, species specific responses, and discrimination training. Skinner has many experiments which have led to numerous discoveries in the area of classic conditioning as well as operant conditioning. Discrimination training was used in Pavlov’s experiments and is very simple for me to understand as well as think of examples. The simplest one is differential reinforcement since it is easier to see and understand. Conditional emotional response is connected to species specific response by monitoring an animal’s response to things such as electric shock. This could be using classical conditioning or operant conditioning.
4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 56
Day 2 = 56
Day 3 = 48
Day 4 =56
Day 5 =48
Day 6 =48
Day 7 =56
Average =52.6

4b) My drinking habits decreased slightly and I think that is because I haven’t had time to work out. I usually drink more water during my workouts and I have been so busy that I haven’t been thinking about drinking water.

5) TERMS: Skinner, behavior modification, conditioned response, conditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, unconditioned stimulus, species specific responses, discrimination training, classic conditioning, operant conditioning, Pavlov, differential reinforcement,

timledbetter85 | March 11, 2014 12:32 AM | Reply

After reading section 3.5, please respond to the following questions.

1 a&b) I really liked that this section told more about BF Skinner and his research. I was aware of Skinnner's operant chambers from other psychology courses, but had not hear of the Air Bed or Skinner's books. I thought that these were very interesting to read about.

2) I did not really dislike anything about this section in that it was very informative and did a good job explaining all of the terminology in it.

3 a,b&c) I will remember that successful shaping first involves continuous reinforcement (the rat receiving a pellet each time it presses the lever). This is then followed by intermittent reinforcement and finally is leaned out to the desired schedule of reinforcement.
I will also remember that stimulus control is when an organism is conditioned to emit the proper behavior under the right circumstances (not passing in a "No Passing" zone).
I will also remember that Type R conditioning refers to operant conditioning.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 =6
Day 2 =7
Day 3 =6
Day 4 =8
Day 5 =8
Day 6 =7
Day 7 =8
Average =7.1

4b) In the return to baseline week, my water drinking decreased a small amount from the previous weeks that were reinforced, but only a small amount. I averaged 7.5 glasses of water a day during the weeks where reinforcement was occurring, but only dropped down to an average of 7.1 glasses of water a day in the return to baseline week. I think that I got these results is because I have now developed a habit of drinking water when I wake up, between classes, during work and before I go to bed that it has become a normal part of my daily routine.

5) Terminology: operant chamber, shaping, continuous reinforcement, intermittent reinforcement, schedule of reinforcement, stimulus control, emit, Type R conditioning, operant conditioning, baseline

Biffer26 | March 11, 2014 1:19 AM | Reply

1) I enjoy reading about B. F. Skinner. Even though his mantra is controversial, it is used more frequently that people realize and I believe it is effective. When I think of behavior modification, the leading character has always been Skinner. I liked that we explored more in depth, his different contributions to psychology. I liked how it discussed Skinner as the inventor and Skinner as the writer. I am glad we were asked to review the different reinforcement schedules because I found that I had to look back in the chapters to reassure my answers.

2) I think this is the only chapter that I wish we had more information to read. Like I said I enjoy reading about Skinner so while I liked how short this chapter was, I wouldn’t mind reading more. Especially about his writings. His methods and theories are still considered controversial that I think it is interesting to learn about the effectiveness, people’s reactions, and maybe how people react today.

3) The first thing I will remember is Skinner’s operant chamber. I will remember that these are called “skinner box” because it is literally a box that skinner invented. These provide a stimulus for animals to discriminate when it might get reinforced or punished, depending on the procedure. I was unaware that the bar floors in the chamber could be used to provide a punishment, like a shock.

The second thing I will remember is that discrimination training is continuous reinforcement. This is particularly used with lights to signal reinforcement or extinction. Because this is a continuous reinforcement, it uses both S+ and S- for behavior training.

And the third thing I will remember is Skinner’s air bed. This was invented and used instead of crib to provide the child was more warmth, movement and safety. While I personally think this isn’t socially acceptable and wouldn’t use it, it might actually meet the high standards used today due to risks and unpredictability of SARS. It eliminates bedding and blankets that cause choking, and heightens safety with no slots or crevasses for the infant to get stuck in. The total darkness would help the baby sleep better and might provide a sense of familiarity of the mother’s womb.

4a)
Day 1 = 48oz
Day 2 = 32oz
Day 3 = 48oz
Day 4 = 48oz
Day 5 = 32 oz
Day 6 = 64 oz
Day 7 = 48 oz
Average = 45.71 oz
4b) I have only had one successful day of drinking 64 oz of water. I think the reason this has been difficult goal to achieve because my days are spent on my feet and moving around, I often forget to drink any liquids that aren’t coffee.

5) Skinner, behavior modification, reinforcement schedules, operant chamber, skinner box, stimulus, discriminate, reinforced, punished, punishment, shock, discrimination training, continuous reinforcement, extinction, S+, S-, air bed.

hackettk | March 11, 2014 3:31 PM | Reply

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
I really liked how it broke down the steps to shaping. Telling you exactly how to shape the rat to press the lever and eventually get to FR25.
2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
I think it would be better if the picture at the top showing how the cage was set up would have been before the explanation. Then we could have looked at it and it would have made more sense while reading.

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
The different parts of the operant chamber.
The process of shaping.
condition emotional responses

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 =7 cups
Day 2 =9 cups
Day 3 =9 cups
Day 4 =10 cups
Day 5 =8 cups
Day 6 =7 cups
Day 7 =11 cups
Average =8.7 cups a day.

4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
It stayed pretty much the same, and some days even increased because i increased my workouts making me more thirsty.

You should have received a copy of a graph to fill out from Dr. MacLin. Please go back and fill out the water drinking data for the last four weeks and bring it to class on Thursday (or drop it off in Dr. M's mail box in the psych office).

5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post
.Shaping, Fixed ratio, operant chamber, conditioned emotional response

rat_girl | March 13, 2014 9:21 AM | Reply

After reading section 3.5, please respond to the following questions.
1) I liked the example of the schedule of reinforcement, by using continuous reinforcement. Then changing the amount of the behavior desired to get the stimulus. This was a good section that got a review of older terms that we have already learned.
2) One thing I disliked about this section was the part where Skinner thought it was possible to shape a person into what you wanted them by behaviorism. This is called social engineering. I feel that this is impossible and is very extreme.
3 ) successive approximation is where an animal exhibits a behavior that is close to the one the researchers want, and so it gets reinforced. Another topic I will remember from this section is how Skinner believed that dignity and freedom are what holds society back. I find this interesting, because those traits are what everyone wants. A third topic I will remember is social engineering, because I felt that this was a very extreme approach.
4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 30 oz
Day 2 = 42 oz
Day 3 =32 oz
Day 4 = 50oz
Day 5 = 32 oz
Day 6 = 40oz
Day 7 = 40oz
Average = 38 oz
4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did. It decreased, probably because the reinforcement is gone. Plus I only drink water when I am thirsty.
You should have received a copy of a graph to fill out from Dr. MacLin. Please go back and fill out the water drinking data for the last four weeks and bring it to class on Thursday (or drop it off in Dr. M's mail box in the psych office).
5) Skinner, social engineering, behaviorism, successive approximation, desirable behavior, stimulus

Bre Gibbs | March 23, 2014 6:55 PM | Reply

Section 3.5
1) One thing I really liked about this section is that it was interesting. Another thing I liked is the operant chamber. I think this is a neat invention to shape behavior.
2) One thing I didn’t like is that or liked the least is that in an operant chamber, the rats wouldn’t escape from the electrical current of the metal bars on the floor that shocked the rat.
3) There are many things that I will remember from this section. The first thing I will remember from this section is that manipulanda is another word for lever that the animals manipulate. Another thing I will remember is that shaping is used to actually shape an elicited behavior to occur. Another thing I will remember is successive approximation. Successive approximation is when a rat does something close to the desired behavior and gets reinforced. This helps shape the desired behavior.
Day 1 =64
Day 2 =64
Day 3 =64
Day 4 =64
Day 5 =64
Day 6 =64
Day 7 =64
Average =64
4) I don’t think my target behavior decreased because I quit drinking pop so drinking water is easy for me. Also, I wanted to drink more water for other reasons other than this class which also made it easy. The hardest part was keeping track of how much I drank because sometime I didn’t pay attention to the exact amount of water. I just kept track of the number of water bottles I drank.
Terms: operant chamber, manipulanda, shaping, successive approximation, elicit, desired behavior, reinforced, target behavior.

Trump | May 7, 2014 8:47 PM | Reply

1) I liked reading about Skinners "air bed" i remember it i think from history and systems but it was good to read about it again
2) its hard for me to remember stuff so going back and having to think about stuff from other sections is hard

3) that the operant chamber will have something that can function as a discriminative stimulus, something to dispense reinforcers, something to manipulate, and something to deliver punishers. Because of the experiment with the rats and levers. Skinner invented the air bed. species specific responses are those particular to a given animal.
4)
Day 1 =8
Day 2 =8
Day 3 =8
Day 4 =8
Day 5 =8
Day 6 =8
Day 7 =8
Average = 8 glasses 64oz

4)i thought it would be hard but i found my self drinking water all the time with out even thinking about it.

RA624 | October 16, 2014 1:52 PM | Reply

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?- I really liked learning about the 3 aspects of Skinner's life, being an inventor, a writer, and a researcher. I liked the focus on one person

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?- I didn't like the addition of the air bed, I thought it was really random and didn't transition well with the rest of the section

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?- I will remember that Skinner calls Classical Conditioning Type S because the stimulus comes before the response and the response was more reflexive and Operant Conditioning Type R because the stimulus follows the response and the response was more voluntary. Animals need to go through shaping to get onto a schedule of reinforcement. Along with shaping successive approximation is used. We shape the animals behavior by rewarding it by how close it comes to the desired behavior. I will remember that ratio strain can occur when the schedule is increased too fast and by too much.

4a)
Day 1 =32oz
Day 2 =32oz
Day 3 =64oz
Day 4 =64oz
Day 5 =64oz
Day 6 =50oz
Day 7 =16oz
Average =46oz

4b) Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease?- My results stayed near the 64oz mark Why do you think you got the results you did- I think it stayed here because I was in the habit of getting water instead of pop at the dining centers and I was thinking about this assignment.

5)Terminology: Skinner, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, type s, type r, shaping, successive approximation, ratio strain, schedules of reinforcement

panther | October 16, 2014 3:04 PM | Reply

1. What was one thing you really liked about this section? Why?
The one thing I really liked about this section was the part about operant chambers and all the experiments that Skinner performed.

2. What was one thing you disliked about this section? Why?
The one thing I didn't like about this section was the section about all the rat studies. I don't think it's necessary to put the rats through painful experiences just to run tests. If you wouldn't run the test on a human I don't think you should run it on an animal either.

3. What are three things you will remember from this section?
The first thing I will remember from this section is that skinner invented the air bed. The air bed helps infants not roll onto their stomachs at night. A lot of parents worry about their infants during the night, this helps the parents not worry so much.
The second thing I will remember from this section is what an operant chamber is. The chamber was also known as the skinner box. It was used to study animal behaviors.
The third thing I will remember from this section is what successive approximation is. Successive approximation is reinforcement that is positive. It is a series of steps towards an overall outcome or goal

4a. Day one: 5
Day two: 6
Day three: 6
Day four: 6
Day five: 6
Day six: 5
Day seven: 5
Average: 5.5

4b. Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? My results from week four stayed about the same as last week. I have been trying to drink more water because of all the illnesses going around.

Terms used: Skinner, reinforcement, positive, air bed, operant chamber, successive approximation.

lou1924 | October 19, 2014 10:21 AM | Reply

After reading section 3.5, please respond to the following questions.

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
I liked learning about Skinner’s Air Bed. I have learned about Skinner in every psychology class I have taken, but the books and teachers almost always only talk about his operant chamber studies. It was nice to read about something else he worked on. I had never heard of someone using an air bed instead of a crib. I also thought it was interesting that he could always get a baby to stop crying by slightly lowering the temperature.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
If I had to pick something I disliked, it would be the part about Skinner’s operant chamber and the rats. The only reason I disliked it is because I have learned about it numerous times in the past, and I felt like I was not acquiring any new information. However, later in the section I learned a lot about Skinner that I did not previously know.

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
One thing I will remember from this section is that people can use “shaping” to make others do a desired behavior. Shaping is used to produce a desired behavior. Next, Shaping is connected to successive approximation. When someone/something does a behavior that is close to the one you want it to do, you give reinforcement. I will remember this because it reminds me of the “hot and cold” game kids play when trying to find something. You tell your friend looking for an object when they are getting warmer or colder, and when they get close to the desired object you first say “warmer”, then “hot”, then “BURNING HOT!”. Successive approximation is especially important if you were to be training animals to emit certain behaviors because you cannot communicate verbally with them for the most part. Giving them reinforcement when they do something close to the desired behavior is like a clue to them for what they should be doing. Last, I will remember that animals and people have conditioned emotional responses. Rats freeze up when they are scared, so researchers can evaluate how scared the rats are by how often they freeze up. Freezing up is a response that is specific to rats, so it is a species specific response.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 62 oz
Day 2 = 60 oz
Day 3 = 45 oz
Day 4 = 45 oz
Day 5 = 47 oz
Day 6 = 40 oz
Day 7 = 50 oz
Average = 49.9 oz

4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
My drinking of water did not stay at the 64 oz mark during return to baseline. I started out the week drinking close to my goal, but as the week went on it began to slip. I have always had trouble drinking enough water and I think without the reinforcement I started to slip in motivation. Toward the end of the week, knowing I wasn’t getting any reinforcement, I started to drink less water.

Terms: shaping, desired behavior, successive approximation, emit, reinforcement, conditioned emotional responses, response, species specific response, Skinner’s Air Bed, Skinner’s operant chamber

BadWolf | October 19, 2014 5:10 PM | Reply

1) My favorite thing I liked about this section was learning about how Skinner built most of his own tools he used in his experiments. I think it's interesting because today, you don't really hear much about psychologists building from scratch the materials they need for carrying out their experiments.

2) Something I disliked about this section was reading about how bars used for the floor of the rat cage were also used to shock them when they weren't emitting the correct target behaviors.

3) Three things that I will remember from this section are:
a) Skinner used shaping and successive approximation in order to train the rats to emit the correct behaviors. When ever the rat was getting closer to the behavior, it would get reinforced.
b) Type S, also known as classical conditioning, happens when the stimulus comes before the response. This follows the ABC model where the antecedent comes before the consequence.
c) Operant chambers, like the one used in the rat experiment, can also be used experiments involving classical conditioning.

4)
Day 1= 24 oz
Day 2= 16 oz
Day 3= 28 oz
Day 4= 30 oz
Day 5= 28 oz
Day 6= 18 oz
Day 7= 16 oz
Average= 22.86 oz

Although my average never hit 64 oz, I think my water intake increased this week because I started working out more. So I have been needing to drink more water.

5) Terms: emit, target behavior, shaping, successive approximation, reinforced, Type S, classical conditioning, stimulus, response, Operant conditioning, antecedent, Operant chamber

Rocky Balboa | October 19, 2014 5:17 PM | Reply

1) In this section I enjoyed the fact that I was asked to do some practice in remembering what the different types of reinforcement schedules are. Fixed interval, variable ratio, fixed ratio, and variable interval are the schedules that I had to remember and think about again, and I enjoyed this part because it helped me to remember the schedules and keep them fresh in my mind for the future.
2) In this section, I disliked the fact that I had to come up with examples of species specific responses. I disliked this because I found it difficult because I had never heard of this term and I have never learned about any of these types of responses before. I was confused about what examples to write down, and that is why I disliked this part.
3) One thing I will remember from this section is the idea of a species specific response. I will remember this because the name makes the concept (the fact that it is a response that is unique to a certain species or organism) easy to understand, and the fact that I had trouble making examples of these responses will help me to remember the concept in the future. Another thing from this chapter that I will remember is what “manipulanda” means. I will remember that this is the term that is used for an object, such as a lever, that is being manipulated during tests in an operant chamber because the word is unique, in my opinion, and it looks like the word “manipulate.” A third thing from this chapter that I will remember is the concept of ratio strain. This is when a schedule is increased too fast and by too much at a time, and an organism can give up on finding reinforcement and a target behavior can become extinguished. I will remember this because I had never heard the term before, and I found it interesting and simple to remember.
4)
Day 1 81 oz
Day 2 60 oz
Day 3 101 oz
Day 4 96 oz
Day 5 71 oz
Day 6 81 oz
Day 7 81 oz
Average: 81.6 oz
This week my water consumption seemed to stay similar to what it has been from the past, but there has been a slight decrease from the first couple of weeks that I have been keeping track of consumption. I think that I have started to feel like I have been drinking plenty of water, because I almost always drink more than 64 oz per day, and I believe that is why I have decreased a little bit from the earlier weeks.

Terminology: ratio strain, operant chamber, target behavior, extinguished, manipulanda, response, species specific response, reinforcement, fixed interval, fixed ratio, variable interval, variable ratio.

NMD | October 19, 2014 7:20 PM | Reply

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
One thing I really liked in this section was that Skinner manipulated a rat or pigeons behavior using operant conditioning and his “Skinner Box.”
I really liked this because it is very interesting he got the rat and pigeon to perform the elicited behavior such as pressing a lever or pecking a disc using reinforcement. He uses successive approximation to shape the rat and pigeons behavior to get closer to the target behavior. Each time the animal gets closer to pressing the lever or pecking the disc they will be reinforced with food, but not too much they become satiated.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
One thing I disliked about this section was the Skinner’s idea of social engineering. His idea of social engineering is explained in his book Walden Two. In this book two children were separated from their parents at birth to raise and manipulate their behavior to benefit the community rather than their individual preferences. It is also explained in his book Beyond Freedom and Dignity. In this book he argues attention should be focused on a better environment and society rather than free will and dignity. I do not like this because I feel we should have free will and dignity instead of being turned into robot like objects behaving in a way just for the society.
3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
I will remember Skinner invented the concept of social engineering.
I will remember this because he believed by creating the right environment he could raise and manipulate a person's behavior to benefit society.
I will remember Skinner differentiated Type R and Type S conditioning.
I will remember this because Type S is classical conditioning and Type R is operant conditioning.
Skinner used shaping that involved successive approximation.
I will remember this because it is the start towards emitting a target behavior.
4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 96 oz
Day 2 = 112 0oz
Day 3 = 115 oz
Day 4 = 112 oz
Day 5 = 120 oz
Day 6 = 96 pz
Day 7 = 128 oz
Average = 111.29 (13.9 cups)
4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
My drinking water stayed at or above 64 oz. My drinking water habits are very consistent. I think I got these results because I am used to drinking a lot of water.
You should have received a copy of a graph to fill out from Dr. MacLin. Please go back and fill out the water drinking data for the last four weeks and bring it to class on Thursday (or drop it off in Dr. M's mail box in the psych office).
5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
Terminology: Skinner, operant conditioning, Skinner Box, elicited, behavior, target behavior, satiated, social engineering, successive approximation, shaping, reinforce, Walden Two, Beyond Freedom and Dignity, free will, Type S conditioning, Type R conditioning

Krystin | October 19, 2014 7:34 PM | Reply

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
I really liked the overall background about Skinner, some of the stuff I’ve previously had already knew about but a lot of it I still didn’t know. I also really liked the variety of terms used from previous sections and the use of images provided. It helped explain the rat experiment much easier.
2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
I didn’t really dislike anything in this section. I only found the regular and emotion response to be a little bit confusing they could of maybe explained that a little more clearly.
3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
First thing I will remember from this section is that Skinner differentiated between classical conditioning where the stimulus generally comes before the response and operant conditioning where the response preceded the stimulus. Second thing I will remember is one of Skinners bigger inventions which is the operant chamber and the graphical recording device called the cumulative recorder. Lastly I will remember all that was discovered in the rat experiment.
4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 =6
Day 2 =5
Day 3 =6
Day 4 =6
Day 5 =5
Day 6 =6
Day 7 =6
Average =5.7
4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
My drinking water did stay at the 64oz mark even though I wasn’t getting reinforced this week. I think it’s becoming more of a habit for me to just drink a lot of water regardless of getting rewarded for it or not.
You should have received a copy of a graph to fill out from Dr. MacLin. Please go back and fill out the water drinking data for the last four weeks and bring it to class on Thursday (or drop it off in Dr. M's mail box in the psych office).
5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
Skinner, rat experiment, behavior, reinforced, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, operant chamber, cumulative recorder, stimulus.

clearxminded | October 19, 2014 8:55 PM | Reply

Reading Activity Week #9:
3.5 (Skinner).
1.) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
Skinner’s “Air Bed” was really interesting to read about. I have never heard about this experiment before. It sounds slightly odd to raise a child like this, but all the reasons for it listed helped me understand why he would even come up with such an idea. I also found it interesting that Skinner has deterministic views and does not necessarily believe in free-will.
2.) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
I was a little confused on why Skinner labeled classical conditioning as Type S and operant conditioning as Type R. I wish there was a little bit more material that expanded on his thinking behind this.
3.) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
a.) I will remember that Skinner designed the operant chamber. The chamber has a component that serves as the discriminative stimulus, a compontent that gives out the reinforcer, a component that allows the animal being studied to manipulate it, and a component that delivers the punisher.
b.) I will remember that discrimination training involves reinforcement. The discriminative stimulus can be a light that will signal when the reinforcement will be given (S+) or not given (S-).
c.) I will remember that Skinner was not only a psychologist, but also an author. I am interesting in reading his writings.
4.) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 40 oz.
Day 2 = 40 oz.
Day 3 = 52 oz.
Day 4 = 45 oz.
Day 5 = 60 oz.
Day 6 = 45 oz.
Day 7 = 50 oz.
Average = 47.4
4.) Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did?
The average of week four’s daily water intake is a slight decrease from last week. But a definite increase from the very first week of my recordings. I think this shows that emitting a water drinking behavior more often is eliciting a response that is helping me produce a habit. It is becoming more of a reflex. Although I have not reached my target behavior of 64oz, I have made a definite increase in water intake.

5) Terminology:
Skinner’s Air Bed, Classical Conditioning, Type S, Operant Conditioning, Type R, operant chamber, punisher, reinforcer, discriminative stimulus, S+, S-, emitting, eliciting, target behavior.

Gondala | October 19, 2014 8:58 PM | Reply

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
One thing I really liked in this section was that it was all focused on B.F. Skinner. I learned so much about him in this reading. Most of my classes just mention his famous operant conditioning study. This really went in depth on him and helped me learn more!

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
There really wasn’t anything I disliked. I think everything was clear cut and easy to understand.

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?

-One thing that I will remember is that Skinner believed that freedom and dignity were just traits that stood in the way of advancing society. He argued that instead of promoting freedom and dignity, attention should be directed towards environments, social and physical, in which we live.

-One thing I will remember is that the operant chamber was invented by Skinner. Shaping is used to train rats to lever press which involves successive approximation. The rat is reinforced each time it does something close to the response that is desired.

-One thing I will remember is that Skinner believed that psychology should be only interested in behaviors. He distinguished between Type S and Type R. (Classical & operant conditioning)

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 =6 cups
Day 2 = 7 cups
Day 3 = 6 cups
Day 4 =6 cups
Day 5 =8 cups
Day 6 =7cups
Day 7 =8 cups
Average =6.7 cups

4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease?

My drinking of water definitely stayed the same. Even though I wasn’t being reinforced for drinking water this week, I was still thinking about it. Every time I would see any water I would think about class and reinforcement. This assignment definitely made me increase my intake on water significantly. I did have the most change over the first two weeks. I know that last weekend I went out of town so it threw off my usual routine a little bit. That’s why I consumed less.

5) Terminology:
Reinforce, elicit, Skinner, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, response, desired, successive approximation, target.

AD819 | October 19, 2014 9:49 PM | Reply

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why? I felt this section was informative and to the point. It was interesting to see what all Skinner had a part in.
2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why? There wasn’t anything in particular that I did not like about this section. I guess reading about all the people in succession of each other can make them a little difficult to keep straight.
3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section? I will remember that Skinner invented the operant chamber. I will remember that Skinner distinguished between classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Shaping is used to get a desired behavior.
4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 48oz
Day 2 =32oz
Day 3 =60oz
Day 4 =50oz
Day 5 =48oz
Day 6 =42oz
Day 7 =32oz
Average = 44oz
4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did. My intake increased this week I think because I became more aware of what I was doing.

Terms: Skinner, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, shaping, behavior.

Lin Oleum | October 19, 2014 11:10 PM | Reply

1. I appreciated the interaction between most of the example boxes and the material. I found it easier to participate in this chapter because I found the questions interesting and thoughtful. I enjoyed the boxes that had questions about how the rat would feel if a researcher changed the schedule of reinforcement.
2. I didn’t like the section on discrimination training because I found it confusing and I felt lost and confused while reading it. I think that the structure may need to be rethought or restructured.
3. One thing I will remember is successive approximation. The terms made sense to me and it made a lot of sense to me how the behaviors would happen. An example of this would be the term lean out as it relates to a behavior, and intermittent as an example of how to change successive approximation. Another thing that I will remember from this chapter is the section on emotional response. I found it interesting to learn about the concept of species specific response. I liked that most species have their own emotional response to surprise or fear like freezing up in rats. I also will remember Skinner’s utopian book “Walden Two” and his concept of free will. I liked, and it made it more memorable, when Skinner’s writings were related to our current situation with free will such as high taxes for cigarettes.
4. a) Day 1= 64 oz.
Day 2= 24 oz.
Day 3= 64 oz.
Day 4= 24 oz.
Day 5= 12 oz.
Day 6= 12 oz.
Day 7= 16 oz.
Average= 22 oz.
b) My drinking water definitely decreased. I think this was because I wasn’t paying as much attention to meeting my goal as I had been in previous weeks.
5. Schedule of reinforcement, discrimination training, successive approximation, behaviors, lean out, intermittent, emotional response, species specific response, freezing up, Skinner, Walden Two, free will.

beagles4 | October 19, 2014 11:57 PM | Reply

After reading section 3.5, please respond to the following questions.

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?

I enjoyed how I was able to learn more about Skinner because I have heard of his main contributions but had not previously known for example about type s and type r which stood for classical conditioning and operant conditioning. I also did not know that his operant chamber could actually be used to learn about conditioned emotional response as well.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?

I did not enjoy how the operant chamber is also referred to as a Skinner Box because Skinner Box just sounds weird like they are going to skin the animals in that box or something. I much prefer the term operant chamber.

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?

I will for sure remember the operant chamber because I had learned about it before in an applied psychology class. I will also remember differential reinforcement,when we reinforce under one condition but not the other. This is easy for me to remember because it has the term differential in it. I will also remember skinner's air bed because that was the main part of the entire section that actually intrigued me. I found it quite interesting and therefore think I will remember it very easily.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 4 glasses
Day 2 = 5 glasses
Day 3 = 5 glasses
Day 4 = 4 glasses
Day 5 = 5 glasses
Day 6 = 6 glasses
Day 7 = 6 glasses
Average = 5 glasses

4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.

My drinking of water did stay at the 64 0z base mark because I had a goal of wanting to drink more water and even though I wasn't being reinforced this time, I still felt as if since I had been reinforced before that I should keep going and not give up. Also I realized it's very healthy for me to drink lots of water.

Terms: conditioned emotional response, type s, type r, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, operant chamber, skinner box, differential reinforcement, skinner's air bed

Frankafestapher | October 20, 2014 3:03 AM | Reply

1) One thing that I liked in this section was learning what successive approximation is because it helps describe more in detail the process of shaping behavior. Known this is the first step in the process of shaping behavior is helpful.

2) I didn’t really have anything to dislike in this section because everything seemed well explained and didn’t have any grammatical errors that were distracting.

3) I will remember the air beds, ratio strain, and social engineering. I will remember the air beds because who would forget someone putting a baby in a box? I think it’s interesting that lowering the temperature in the box lowered the crying emitted by the baby because may be that could be applied to making the first year less stressful for parents. I will remember ratio strain because I was unaware that it happened so easily and had a name for it when beginning a schedule of reinforcement. I will remember social engineering because it was Skinner’s main concept that the right environment can predict behavior and allow us to control it for the benefit of society. This idea sounds very productive for how people with the knowledge of behavior modification should use their powers of manipulating behavior.

4a) for week #4:
Day 1 = 33.8
Day 2 = 24.6
Day 3 = 33.8
Day 4 = 16.9
Day 5 = 33.8
Day 6 =16.9
Day 7 = 33.8
Average = 27.65

4b) My drinking of water decreased greatly. It’s more than likely because I didn’t like drinking 64 oz of water a day and I wasn’t getting reinforced for it anymore, so why bother emitting the behavior. I most definitely experienced extinction.

5) Terms and terminology: emitting, extinction, reinforced, shaping, social engineering, skinner, air beds, ratio strain, behavior modification, schedules of reinforcement, successive approximation

TJD | October 20, 2014 10:53 AM | Reply

After reading section 3.5, please respond to the following questions.

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?

I thought it was interesting how Skinner brought up his kids in an “air bed.” I don’t have any kids, nieces, or nephews – so I had no idea how temperature affected a baby so much. It seemed to be a stimulus that easily affected the baby’s behavior if not set right.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?

I was not a fan of the switch between the stimulus and response. This whole time I had been learning that the stimulus usually came before the response and now I know that is not always the case. I see why, however, this change happens.

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?

I will remember that Type S is related to classical conditioning while Type R is related to operant conditioning.
I will remember Skinner came up with the idea of social engineering which basically said he could bring any child up to be anything he wanted simply by surrounding him with a certain environment and behavior techniques.
I will remember successive approximation means when an individual does something close to a behavior it gets reinforced.
These things are certain points I need to remember so if they come up again in further readings I will understand better.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:

Day 1 = 9
Day 2 =9
Day 3 =6
Day 4 =6
Day 5 =9
Day 6 =9
Day 7 =6
Average = 7

4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.

It stayed the same. I think it is just something that is important to me in my subconscious that I will do it no matter what.

You should have received a copy of a graph to fill out from Dr. MacLin. Please go back and fill out the water drinking data for the last four weeks and bring it to class on Thursday (or drop it off in Dr. M's mail box in the psych office).

5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.

Terms: Stimulus, Behavior, Response, Type S, Classical Conditioning, Type R, Operant Conditioning, Social Engineering, Successive Appropriation

grissomm | October 20, 2014 11:08 AM | Reply

Reading 3.5
1.There were two things that I really liked about this article. The first being that the article seemed to tie a lot of the ideas and concepts that we have learned so far together. I liked how this article connected concepts we have learned in the past such as, operant and classical conditioning, in a new context which furthers my understanding. I also liked that there were aspects of B.F. Skinner’s life that I did not know about. We mainly learn about the Skinner box when taught about Skinner in other classes so I found it interesting to learn about the air bed and about Skinner’s writings.

2.I did not have anything that I did not like about this reading. Past readings on people I did not enjoy because I felt that they were really repetitive from things taught in a basic psychology course but I really enjoyed this article because it had new and interesting facts in it. I also liked how the article flowed and I found it all interesting.

3.The first thing that I learned from this article was about social engineering. Skinner believed that by creating the right environment he could predict and control behavior. Skinner believed that we could use this philosophy of behaviorism to build a better society. I found this interesting because I can see how this philosophy of behavior shaped his research and future ideas. I think it is cool to learn about the background of someone’s past and how that influences their future. The second thing that I will remember from this article was the idea of successive approximation. Successive approximation is when behavior that is similar to the target behavior is being reinforced. This then shapes their behavior closer to what the target behavior is. I will remember this because I think it is interesting to think about in terms of extinction bursts. When a behavior that was previously reinforced and is now not reinforced the subject will continue to do that behavior or variations of that behavior to seek out reinforcement. I think it is cool how all these terms seem to connect with one another. The third thing that I will remember from this reading is about Skinner’s views on the world and making a better society. I thought it was interesting that Skinner thought that we should have our lives planned for us using behavioral techniques rather than having free will or dignity to make our own decisions. I also found it interesting learning about Walden 2 and how controversial his ideas were back then.

4.Day 1: 4 18oz water bottles (72 oz)
Day 2: 3 18 oz water bottles (54 oz)
Day 3: 3 18 oz water bottles (54 oz)
Day 4: 3.5 18 oz water bottles (63 oz)
Day 5: 2 18 oz water bottles (36 oz)
Day 6: 2.5 18 oz water bottles (45 oz)
Day 7: 4.5 18 oz water bottles (81 oz)
Average: 57.9 oz

5.My water intake remained high during this period. I think part of the reason was that the reinforcement of increasing my water intake only stopped a week ago and so I still had drinking water on my mind. Also we discussed our water experiment in class on Thursday so I was thinking about drinking more water over the weekend. This week was better than my first week of baseline so I think the reinforcement experiment improved my water consumption because I was more conscious of it.

TERMS: B.F. Skinner, operant conditioning, classical conditioning, air bed, social engineering, behaviorism, successive approximation, shaping, extinction bursts, Walden 2, reinforcement, baseline

ANGIE | October 20, 2014 11:49 AM | Reply

1) Social Engineering is an important concept tagged by Skinner. He believed that he could shape a person by shaping their environment. I believe this to be a concept that should be utilized by our society when we elicit rejection toward people who have not desirably conformed to societal standards, but have grown up in environments unconducive to positive teachings. Take for instance a child who grows up in an extremely abusive home, and then emits violent behaviors on others; though abuse should not be tolerated, this was what the child learned through conditioning, how could it have been avoided? People need to look at the whole picture, and we need to change our thinking and alter our environments so that we can benefit as a society.
2) I disagree with Skinner in his beliefs of changing only the environment in which people live, and not changing humankind, because I feel that environmental change in effect changes people. I believe that the two concepts are interdependent whether it be aversive or desirable.
Also there were a lot of terms to try and sort out that was a bit confusing.
3) A. This section really made the difference between operant conditioning and classical conditioning clear for me. Operant conditioning is a behavior followed by a response, where-as in classical conditioning the stimulus is followed by the behavior. I know that I could already determine that before, but when the two were side by side I would get confused as to which was which. In Skinner’s operant chambers both operant conditioning and classical conditioning were present. B. In order for operant conditioning to occur Skinner first used shaping to teach the rats or pigeons how to work the manipulanda, on a reinforcement schedule that was intermittent enough to keep the organism satiated, and reinforced. Successive approximation is also enforced when shaping is occurring so that the animal is guided to the desirable behavior. When I was reading this I thought of my son-when I am trying to elicit a behavior, I praise him when he is close to what we are trying to accomplish so that he doesn’t give up. C. The function of intermittent reinforcement is so that an organism is driven to the desired behavior, and this is done on a schedule of reinforcement that needs to be appropriately timed so that extinction or ratio strain does not occur. Eventually the organism is under stimulus control. When I was potty training my son he initially got rewarded every time he did not have an accident, then it was every day, and then every week, until he no longer needed the reinforcements. It’s so easy for people to overlook the processes of behavior modification during everyday tasks, but when looking closely, a person can see how applicable it truly is.
4)
Day 1 =55
Day 2 =60
Day 3 =60
Day 4 =64
Day 5 =64
Day 6 =70
Day 7 =60
Average =53 oz/day
My results mostly decreased, with the exception of days 4 and 5 where I maintained the target behavior, and day 6 where I surpassed my daily goal by 6 ouces of water. I believe my results can be attributed to the fact that I was substituting plain water for liquids like milk and coffee with the occasional soda. Without reinforcement it is more difficult to maintain goals. But I’m not hallucinating from dehydration, so I am satisfied with the results.
5) Terms: Social engineering, elicit, emit, conditioning, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, aversive, desirable, response, stimulus, behavior, shaping, manipulanda, reinforcement schedule, organism, satiated, intermittent reinforcement, successive approximation, extinction, ratio strain, stimulus control

kbartels | October 20, 2014 1:53 PM | Reply

1) a)One thing I liked about this section was the ending, and the environment, particularly about how our government manipulates our behavior by using taxes. You gave examples of the government taxing cigarettes in hopes they will deter users because of their health hazards, and the tax breaks you get if you buy an environmentally friendly car, which is the governments way of trying to get you to buy one to benefit the environment. B) I liked this because I think about this stuff a lot. I’m not super smart when it comes to politics and government but I try to pay attention and research things as much as possible. When it comes to this type of thing I feel like such a hypocrite because I like that they do it in some ways, but not others. I don’t smoke cigarettes; I never have, so I don’t mind the tax there. However it makes me upset they decided to just tax it and make money off of it instead of making it illegal, even though they know it’s more addictive and harmful than marijuana. So evidently, it’s more about the money than the people’s health. I just like that you added this part in there to get people thinking about this type of thing.

2) a) I liked this section. Even though there was a lot of vocabulary it was easy to follow and I felt it was good information. Only thing I didn’t ‘love’ would be there wasn’t a lot connected with Skinners air bed. It seemed it was just a brief add in and not very informational. B) I just felt if you were going to bring the topic in it could have gone a little more in depth. Or maybe it’s just when it has something to do with kids/babies I like to know more because I’m trying really hard not to mess up my kid =).

3) 1.That classical conditioning can occur in a operant chamber. This is something I will remember because I liked the example of the rat and the lever. I feel this will stick in my head. I usually need examples when learning, I need something to connect things together and your examples usually do it. 2. That Skinner invented an ‘air bed’ and used it for his child. I will remember this because like I’ve said a thousand times (sorry if it gets annoying) I will connect this with my daughter. I’m forever looking at ways to raise children and how to not mess them up as much as possible. I found his idea of temperate being so important interesting, and don’t think I ever realized it was that important to an upset baby. 3. Shaping- meaning shape the desired behavior. This is something easy to remember because it is exactly what it sounds like.
4a) You should now have an additional week's (week

4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 40oz
Day 2 = 28oz
Day 3 = 48oz
Day 4 = 16oz
Day 5 = 16oz
Day 6 = 20oz
Day 7 = 20 oz
Average = 64 oz
4b) It increased a lot! I think it’s probably due to me working more this week, and when I work I’m always super thirsty, and have nothing but water to drink. Days I’m home I’m always busy doing stuff and forget to drink, and when I do I have other things available to me instead of water, which usually makes me not want water.

5) Manipulate, behavior, Skinner, Air bed, Classical Conditioning, Operant Chamber, Shaping, Behavior.

martihaf | October 20, 2014 3:12 PM | Reply

1) I really enjoyed reading about Skinner’s past. I really enjoy history. So, I found it interesting reading about social engineering. I definitely subscribe to the idea that you can raise a child to be anything given the environment. I agree with the idea that behaviorism can make a better society. It’s interesting that he created Type S and Type R. Type S was basically classical conditioning and Type R was operant conditioning. Skinner invented a lot of equipment like what Thorndike did. I liked reading about shaping and the use of successive approximation to modify behaviors. I found this interesting because it’s so similar to everything we’ve been learning about, but it gave the example with the rat alongside it, so it made it really memorable as well. I also liked reading about Skinner’s deterministic ideas highlighted in the section covering Skinner’s writings about Walden Two. I’ve always been kind of fascinated by his ideas about it, so I found it interesting.
2) Like we talked about in class a little bit on Thursday, this is a lot of repetition. But, it’s frustrating to me because every single time, I’m like, “Oh my gosh… what does that mean again?” I always get a little bit tripped up on classical conditioning, no matter what. Obviously that is pretty frustrating. By now, you’d think I would have this really really down pat. But, I don’t have it 100%. At the same time, as much as it might be kind of challenging, I’m really prideful and want to believe that I really really do have this down now and I just don’t want to read about it anymore.
3) I’m going to remember that shaping is the term used to shape the desired behavior. In the reading, it talked about getting a rat to press a lever 25 times. Obviously, you can’t just tell the rat to do this, you have to shape its behavior. I’m going to remember this because it’s a pretty telling term and I also think it’s really important to know. I’m going to remember that successive approximation means that when an individual does something close to the desired behavior, it will be reinforced. I’m going to remember this because it’s pretty essential to understanding shaping. I’m going to remember that discrimination training is associated with the operant chamber. Once the rat is on the schedule of reinforcement, it is possible to go back to continuous reinforcement. In this case, you would use differential reinforcement, reinforcing one condition and not the other. I’m also going to remember that conditioned emotional response is like creating an emotional response to a certain stimulus. In the book, it discussed the rat pressing the lever, flashing a light, and then administering a shock. I thought that was an interesting concept and that’s why I’m going to remember it.
4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 64 oz
Day 2 = 64 oz
Day 3 = 64 oz
Day 4 = 64 oz
Day 5 = 64 oz
Day 6 = 65 oz
Day 7 = 64 oz
Average = 64 oz
4b) I stayed at 64 oz. I think I still have it in my head because it really really helped the week of my meet. I was drinking close to 64 oz everyday and it really helped my performance (it might just be in my head, but I really thought it did) so, I want to keep drinking plenty of water. So, that’s still kind of acting as a reinforcer for me.
TERMS: Skinner, social engineering, type S, type R, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, shaping, successive approximation, discrimination training, operant chamber, differential reinforcement, reinforcement, conditioned emotional response, Walden Two, and deterministic.

PatFan | October 20, 2014 3:12 PM | Reply

1 a&b). I liked the part on shaping from this section. On our first day in class we discussed this technique. Two students left the room and we decided an action we wanted them to do. When they returned by using successive approximation they were able to figure out what motion we wanted. Every time that they did something similar or close to it they would be reinforced with a click. It was an interesting section to read about because of the examples we were able to see in class.
2). I guess a topic I liked least was on Skinner's idea of social engineering in his book Walden Two. Although the idea is interesting, I does not seem very reasonable to me. Raising children to be bankers, doctors etc., though might seem effective, overall happiness and self-satisfaction is questionable. Similar to the idea of raising a child to be “manly” and to like girl, then struggling with the idea that they are more feminine and actually like other men. Even raising them in a heterosexual environment, they may be unhappy and feel they are not getting what they want out of life, I believe this could be applied to Skinner's idea.
3 a,b&c). In classical conditioning the stimulus comes first and in operant conditioning the response comes first. You can use shaping to train rats to press levers by reinforcing behaviors similar to the one desired. Stimulus control is a situation when a rat emits a behavior under right circumstances.

4a). Day 1 = 24 oz
Day 2 = 40 oz
Day 3 = 12 oz
Day 4 = 24 oz
Day 5 = 36 oz
Day 6 = 48 oz
Day 7 = 12 oz
Average = 28 oz
4b) My water drinking decreased. Most likely because I wasn't reinforced any longer and the period of reinforcement was't for very long. This didn't allow for the habit to stay, and I went back to my usual water drinking habits.
Terms: Shaping, Successive Approximation, Reinforced, Skinner, Social Engineering, Walden Two, Operant Conditioning, Classical Conditioning, Stimulus, Response, Reinforcing, Behaviors, Stimulus Control, Emits.

Bmod_330 | October 20, 2014 5:21 PM | Reply

1. I really liked how it was broken up into several sections. With each one talking about the different areas of Skinner's work. This was great for me because of the simple fact it gave my mind "boxes" to put this information about Skinner into. This allows me to keep the information straight and at the ready for class when we discuss this information.

2. One thing that I was a bit disappointing in was the lack of information on the air bed.
B.I did not fully grasp what it was, this may of been due to me reading it wrong but it seemed to lack information about the invention. A further explanation of the air bed just to help form a better mental image would of made this chapter a pleasure to read.

3. The first one that will stick in my head is the fact the Skinner was an inventor and had to invent most of the tools he used for his studying of behavior. Such as the operant chamber. This stuck with me because it shows his dedication to the study and if I decide to follow this further I will be using one or learning about it more. His inventions had a big impact on the field as a whole.
B. The next thing that stuck with me was the extent you could elicit a rat to emit a behavior of pulling a lever. We talked about shaping in the beginning of this class. I did not realize how powerful it could be. To train a rat to pull a lever is no easy feat then throw in the reinforcement to have it continue to pull the lever it was impressive. I also liked this one because it is a great example of reinforcement schedules and how well they can be used to train a subject, over a hundred times before being reinforced is a crazy amount.
C. The third thing that will stick with me is Social engineering. I think this one stuck out was because of how controversial it is. I personally do not believe in this but it could be used to form a better society but at an amazing cost. Social engineering could be used to control destructive behaviors before they are even presented but at the cost of the freedom of each individual. Like stated above the controversy of this topic was what made it stick out to me and also because this would be something that would be great to discuss/debate in class.

4.
Day one-68
Day two-72
Day three-66
Day four-60
Day five-74
Day six-58
Day seven-68
Average-66.6 ounces

4b. My water intake stayed at about sixty four ounces as it was when we started this before reinforcement. I think that I got the amounts that I did because I was already close to the target behavior. Being so close meant that with a bit of prodding I was easily able to keep my intake up to the target.

Terms used- Skinner, Operant Chamber, behavior, skinner’s airbed, reinforcement, reinforcement schedules, social engineering, target behavior

woodaal | October 20, 2014 5:41 PM | Reply

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
I liked learning more about Skinner and his research throughout this chapter. A few things sparked interest to me kept me wanting to read more which doesn’t usually happen in a text book. The Skinner Box for animals really intrigued me at the beginning because I wasn’t sure how they set them up. The box was actually called the operant chamber and it had had a cumulative recorder to record the data of the lever pressing from the animals. The operant chambers also had what the animals needed like a water spout, light, speaker, and food hopper.
2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
I didn’t like or agree with two things from this section. I didn’t like the idea of a baby in the box to control temperature. I feel as if a blanket and clothing is fine with the house temperature, yes I know back then temperature was a little different but still putting a baby in a box is unnecessary. Also I didn’t agree with Skinner believing that freedom and dignity being just traits that stood in the way of advancing society. I feel without those society would be a mess of control. Also dignity and freedom aren’t traits because they don’t describe a person and that is what a trait is.
3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
I will remember manipulanda is referred to a lever that is the object that the animal manipulates. I will remember this because I thought it was a cool word, it’s kind of like it was made up and just chosen as a word and it just sounds cool.
I will also remember that successive approximation is a technique used when the rat or animal does something close to the behavior and gets reinforced for it. I thought it was different they would get reinforced for something that wasn’t the target behavior.
I will also remember shaping is the technique they use to shape the desired behavior. I thought it was interesting they would use extinction as a part of this so that it could increase the time they pressed the lever.
4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 64
Day 2 = 64
Day 3 = 64
Day 4 = 64
Day 5 = 64
Day 6 = 64
Day 7 = 64
Average = 64
4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did?
My drinking stayed at 64 ounces day because I was use to drinking 2.5 bottles of water out of my favorite water bottle then drinking flavored stuff that tasted better.
5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
Baby in a box, dignity, freedom, traits, manipulanda, Skinner, operant chamber, cumulative recorder, Skinner Box, successive approximation, behavior, reinforced, target behavior, shaping, desired, extinction.

kide42 | October 20, 2014 6:26 PM | Reply

After reading section 3.5, please respond to the following questions.

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?

I really liked in the beginning the comparison of Skinner and Watson. Especially what they both agreed on, which was that psychology should be interested only in behaviors, and where they differed in thinking, such as Skinner went further than Watson with Type S (classical conditioning) and Type R (operant conditioning).

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?

I wouldn't say I disliked much, I guess I could talk about was the idea of a baby being in a box. I'm confused as to how this was ethical? It seems a bit like the Little Albert study to me in that the baby's environment was controlled with a stimulus of temperature and depending on the temperature, the baby's response would be either to settle down or to get uncomfortable or cry/fuss.

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
The three things that I will remember from this section are:
1. Skinner believed in social engineering which was his way of presenting the idea that controlling/creating the right environment can predict and control behavior to benefit society. This was evident in his writing of Walden Two.
2. Skinner was a bit of a radical especially with the idea he presented in Beyond Freedom and Dignity which was that freedom and dignity weren't as important and should be lost amongst people and instead favor should be put towards the environment-both physical and social.
3. Shaping occurred within an operant chamber is used to teach an animal in that it shapes the desired behavior to occur. An example of this would be the rat pressing the bar on a fixed ratio of 25 times and then being reinforced.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 =87
Day 2 =88
Day 3 =76
Day 4 =93
Day 5 =78
Day 6 =80
Day 7 =63
Average =80.7oz

4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.

My drinking increased over the 64oz mark. I think it helped in part that my environment and daily activities have radically changed these past two weeks as we officially started practice and I am in the gym multiple times throughout the day. The most time I take in water is during practice, which is usually close to 2.5 hours long. I sweat a lot and we have our water bottles on the sideline at all times, with the athletic trainers doing a good job of keeping them filled, I am constantly drinking water.

5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.

Terms:
reinforced, fixed ratio, shaping, operant chamber, Beyond Freedom and Dignity, Walden Two, social engineering, Type S, Type R, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, Watson.

nelson21 | October 20, 2014 7:31 PM | Reply

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?

I liked reading about the stimulus continuum; even though it was barely talked about it was still something new that I have never heard about in the field of psychology. So with that being said it was something great to read about. I didn’t know that something like that could be on a continuum such as sound.

Also around that same paragraph it was interesting to read about the manipulanda, something that the animal manipulates. I have never heard that term used before so it was pretty interesting to read about it.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?

There was nothing in the section that I did not like; what I didn’t like though was the fact that we talked about Skinner all day last Thursday so now reading about all of the same things over again kind of irritates me and makes me not want to continue reading about this. We all have read previously about the Skinner box/the operant chamber; so reading about it again kind of makes me sick. Nothing against the section but it is just the timing of the talk and the reading with the class.

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?

a. I will remember the term shaping because of 1. the example that is given about the rat pressing the bar 25 times and also because of the word itself. It is to shape the desired behavior with the subject. It is also interesting to read about how when the shaping is in progress the rat is only being reinforced.

b. In that same section dealing with the rat and shaping they use a term successive approximation; which means when the subject gets close to the behavior it gets reinforced still for being close; rather than shaming it and not getting anything for the somewhat close behavior.

c. Another thing that I will remember will be the story about Skinner’s Air Bed. I will remember this because it was so interesting to me and it is something that I also never heard about before and it was interesting to read about how the temperature of a persons or babies sleep can affect their behavior and their condition.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:

Day 1 =96
Day 2 =192
Day 3 =192
Day 4 =192
Day 5 =96
Day 6 =64.75
Day 7 =96.5
Average =132.75
4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did?

My drinking of water actually increased a lot it seems like when looking at the numbers, but it didn’t increase so much when I actually looked at the chart that I had made from day 1 to now. It had fluctuated going up and down a lot throughout the 28 days. I know that it fluctuated most of the time because most of the time that we did this experiment I was sick 90 percent and had to drink a lot of water most days so I had a few outliers in the mix that caused the high peaks rather than staying in the same area.

5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.

Skinner Box/Operant chamber, reinforcement, Skinner’s Air Bed, Shaping, successive approximation, stimulus continuum.

flute1992 | October 20, 2014 8:42 PM | Reply

1) One thing that I really liked about this section was that I learned more about Skinner was that it talked about other things Skinner did besides the operant chamber or “Skinner Box.” I thought it was very interesting how he was also a prolific writer. Skinners idea of utopia seemed very controversial to me. The idea of social engineering was that all behaviors should be guided by behavioral principles. He had controversial ideas such as children being raised separately from their parents or focusing on the benefits of the community before the individual.
2) Learning about Skinner was also something that I did not like. Skinner thought that freedom and dignity were just traits that stood in the way of advancing a society. This kind of disturbs me. I do not like how the book made the comparison between this and cigarette taxes. This is similar but it is not as radical as his ideas. I think that there is a line society shouldn’t cross when it comes to people’s freedom.
3) A. One thing that I will remember is that operant conditioning can elicit Conditioned Emotional Response as well as classical conditioning. The floor was used to elicit a CER with the rats in the Skinner box. An electric current would be paired with a light, and the rat could turn it off by pressing the lever. The electric current would cause the rats to freeze up: a species specific response. Soon just the light would make the rats emit the freezing behavior and the strength would be determined by decreases in lever presses. B. I will also remember all the different parts of the Skinner Box. The section had a nice diagram of what a box looked like. It contained a water spout, light, bar, food hopper, and speaker. The speaker and and the light were meant to be used as a stimulus (either as a stimulus continuum or a discrete stimulus). The water spout and the food hopper were meant to serve as the reinforcer. C. Lastly, I will remember Skinner’s Air Bed. I will remember this because it seemed very controversial to me to raise baby in that way. Despite its controversy, its seemed like a good invention. Clothing and bedding have been shown to be dangerous for infants. In addition, Julie Vargas was raised in an air bed and thought it was perfectly fine.
4) Day 1 = 40 , Day 2 = 32 , Day 3 = 42,  Day 4 = 40 , Day 5 = 48,  Day 6 = 44,  Day 7 = 34,  Average = 40
My drinking did not stay a the 64oz mark. I think it decreased because I know longer felt obligated to drink a lot of water and I did not have a reinforcer coming at the end of the week. I did notice that my baseline had improved slightly after I did the two weeks of reinforcement.

Terms: Skinner, operant chamber, Skinner Box, social engineering, operant conditioning, classical conditioning, elicit, Conditioned Emotional Response (CER), emit, species specific response, stimulus, discrete, stimulus continuum, reinforcer, Air Bed, baseline, and reinforcement.

roberkaj | October 20, 2014 9:05 PM | Reply

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why? I really liked learning about the Air Bed. I thought it was cool there was a contraption that monitored heat for babies while they were sleeping. I think there should be something like that now because of all the issues we have with SIDS
2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why? There really wasn’t anything I didn’t like about the chapter.
3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section? I will remember a lot about the operant chamber. I will remember that the light and the speaker worked as a stimulus that helped the rats know when they were being punished or reinforced. I will also remember that the tone was used as a continuum. I will also remember shaping. This is used to reach a target behavior you successive approximation to shape a behavior.
4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4: Day 1 = 6 Day 2 =9 Day 3 =8Day 4= 8Day 5 = 8Day 6 =8 Day 7 = 9Average = 8
4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did. I did a lot better than I thought I did! I maintained the target behavior. I drank and average of 8 cups a day. I was surprised because I didn’t get reinforced, but I think I was use to my schedule and continued drinking around it based on when I was getting reinforced. I was trained into drinking at least 8 cups of water!
You should have received a copy of a graph to fill out from Dr. MacLin. Please go back and fill out the water drinking data for the last four weeks and bring it to class on Thursday (or drop it off in Dr. M's mail box in the psych office).
5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post. Successive approximation, shaping, stimulus, reinforcement, punish, operant chamber

AnonymousX | October 20, 2014 9:40 PM | Reply

1 a&b) One thing I really liked in this section was Skinner’s ‘Air Bed.’ I found the differences between the air bed and a regular bed were interesting. The difference between the warmth of the baby with clothing and bedding compared to the baby in its natural state was very interesting. The difference in temperature and how it affects the baby was very interesting. This makes me wonder why it isn’t more popular these days if it is so good for the baby. It has convinced me that I should get one for my baby when I get there in life.

2) One thing that that I liked least about this section is when it talks about Skinner’s belief. “Skinner believed that by creating the right environment we can predict and control behavior to the benefit of society.” I do not believe that our behavior can be completely controlled by the way we manipulate the environment. There has to be other aspects that interfere with behavior. I do not think that our society would be able to all be controlled and predicted by control of the environment.

3 a,b,&c) Three things you will remember from this section include discrimination training, differential reinforcement, and stimulus control. I will remember discrimination training because it explains how an object can tell you if you are being punished or reinforced. I relate to this when I am playing a game. When I get it right, I pass the level and something pops up telling me I did a great job. When I do something wrong and mess up, a noise honks and a pop up telling me I messed up comes up. The noise here discriminates when I am being punished for doing something wrong in the game. This makes me want to emit the correct answer. I will remember differential reinforcement because it makes it makes it clear if something is either being reinforced or punished. A way I have connected this to my life is when my friend helped me with my migraine by giving me a head massage. It felt wonderful and was differential reinforcement because it was just negative reinforcement. I will remember stimulus control because I can relate it to my life in the way of when I ask questions in my bible study. I will not move on until at least three people answer the question. Once three do, then I move on. So I have them under stimulus control.

4a) Week #4:
Day #1: 60 oz.
Day #2: 73 oz.
Day #3: 83 oz.
Day #4: 68 oz.
Day #5: 58 oz.
Day #6: 48 oz.
Day #7: 100 oz.
Average: 70 oz.

4b) I started out really good. My first few days (days during the week) stayed around 64 oz. But as the weekend came around. I became busy with events and would forget to bring my water bottle around with me. And since I didn’t have my water bottle, I wouldn’t drink out of water fountains because I didn’t know how much I would drink. I think I got the results I did, not because I stopped reinforcing myself, but because my weekend got busy and I forgot to bring my water bottle places and felt like my water bottle was the only way I could drink water because of the need to measure how much I drank.

5) TERMS: Skinner’s ‘Air Bed’, behavior, discrimination training, differential reinforcement, stimulus control, manipulate, punished, reinforced, discriminates, emit, and negative reinforcement.

ChooseJoy | October 20, 2014 9:46 PM | Reply

1. My favorite thing about this section was learning about the concept of shaping, which is what is done to help achieve the desired behavior. This was my favorite part of the section because it helped put a lot of pieces together in my head about how operant conditioning works. Before learning about shaping I didn't understand how an organism could learn about what behavior was trying to be achieved, specifically when there is a large amount of time or a large amount of responses between reinforcement. Now I understand an organism is reinforced when they emit a behavior close to what is desired and this is done with increasing time and number of responses until the organism emits the desired behavior for reinforcement.

2. My least favorite part of this section was learning about Skinner’s air bed. This was my least favorite part of the section because it made my heart break for Skinner’s child who was raised this way. I think blankets and clothes do more than just keep a consistent temperature for a child; I think they provide a sense of comfort and coziness that goes deeper than just physiological benefits, but also has emotional benefits. I have slept on tile floors with no bedding of any sort and it greatly impacted my sleep and my emotions. Reading about a child experiencing something similar to this made me really upset, which is why this was my least favorite part of the section.

3. The three things I will remember from this section are:
A. the term of manipulanda, the object that manipulates the animal. I will remember this term for two different reasons. The first being an immature reason, I think the term is humorous, it sounds like a made up word a child would say if they were making up their own language. The second reason I will remember this term is because it has part of the word manipulate in it, which is the main word in the definition. These two reasons help me to remember the actual term and the definition of the term.
B. the concept of species specific response, a unique response only a specific specie demonstrates. I will remember this concept because of the examples of the term. First of all, the example in the text about this concept were very memorable, specifically that raccoons wash their food. Second, when the text asked for examples about this concept I went online to look some up and found some very interesting examples, like how elephants bury the dead, and not just their own specie. These examples were all very memorable to me, making the concept easy to remember.
C. Skinner’s concept of social engineering. I will remember this concept because when I was learning about what the concept meant when Skinner defined it, it was all very shocking to me. When I was first introduced to the concept I knew it meant he believed behavior principles should be used to define the environment, but I didn't know it meant to the extent that free will would be lost to people. This was shocking to me because I believe people were designed to have free will; people should have the freedom to live in the passions they were created with, not forced to do a certain task. His whole concept of social engineering reminded me of the book 1984. Because the knowledge of this concept was so shocking to me and I related it back to a book I have read in the past I found the concept easy to remember.

4a.
Day 1= 50 oz
Day 2= 64 oz
Day 3= 64 oz
Day 4= 40 oz
Day 5= 64 oz
Day 6= 64 oz
Day 7= 60 oz
Average= 58 oz

4b. My behavior of drinking water went below the 64 oz line this past week. In all of the week’s my water drinking behavior has not been at the 64 oz line, but this week it was even further below the line than it was in weeks past. I think my behavior was this way because I wasn't thinking about my water drinking behavior as much as I was in weeks prior. For one, because last week was really busy so it was not in my thoughts as much, and another reason is because I knew meeting this week’s mark didn't mean as much as it did during the weeks that were reinforced.

Terms: shaping, desired behavior, operant conditioning, organism, behavior, response, reinforcement, reinforced, emit, manipulanda, species specific response, social engineering

Ryan Brown | October 20, 2014 9:50 PM | Reply

After reading section 3.5, please respond to the following questions.
1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why? – One thing I liked about this section was that Skinner was an inventor and built a lot of his own equipment that he used in his studies. The pictures of the operant chamber and the air bed were helpful visuals as well. I am also learning a little bit about Skinner in one of my other classes so this reading section will help me with my other class too.
2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
One thing that I liked least about this section was that it was all about Skinner. It would have been fine reading about him had we not read about him quite a bit in previous sections. Although there was a lot of new material, some of the material has become repetitive.
3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
Three things I will remember from this section:
1. Type S is classical conditioning. The stimulus comes before the response and the response is more reflexive in nature.
2. Type R is operant conditioning. The response comes before the stimulus and the response is more voluntary.
3. Skinner was an inventor and invented the cumulative recorder (graphical recording device) and the operant chamber.

I will remember these things because they were the pieces of information that I remembered the best and because these things used some previously learned terminology.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 64 oz
Day 2 = 56 oz
Day 3 = 64 oz
Day 4 = 72 oz
Day 5 = 64 oz
Day 6 = 64 oz
Day 7 = 64 oz
Average = 64 oz
4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
I started off week one with less than 64 ounces of water drank on average each day and by week four my average water consumption per day was 64 ounces. I believe the week four results are the way they are because over weeks two and three my body got used to taking in more water on average than normal due to the reinforcement I would receive at the end of the week. When I hit week four, the average amount of water I consumed per day decreased a little bit, but still remained at the 64 ounce mark due to my body conditioned to drinking so much water in weeks two and three.
You should have received a copy of a graph to fill out from Dr. MacLin. Please go back and fill out the water drinking data for the last four weeks and bring it to class on Thursday (or drop it off in Dr. M's mail box in the psych office).
5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
Terminology used: conditioned, reinforcement, Type S, Type R, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, stimulus, response, Skinner, operant chamber, cumulative recorder, air bed.

NH4L | October 20, 2014 10:32 PM | Reply

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
The explanation of the operant chamber was very well done in this section. It is neat how you can manipulate a rats behavior by reinforcing them less and less often with lever pulling which is also called the manipulanda.
2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
I am not sure what the point of teaching the rat to freeze up upon seeing the light. I get that it might be to exhibit differential reinforcement, which I then understand.
3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
A)You use successive approximation to shape an animal into whatever target behavior you want them to display.
B)You can lean out the amount of repetitions an animal needs to emit by only reinforcing intermittently as long as you don't make the animal experience ratio strain where you move the reps needed to far apart to fast.
C)You must set your experiences up so that the animal you are testing is capable of performing the desired behaviors as some animals have a species specific response.
4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 =64 oz
Day 2 =56 oz
Day 3 =56 oz
Day 4 =48 oz
Day 5 =48 oz
Day 6 =72 oz
Day 7 =80 oz
Average =60.5 oz/day

It appears that my water consumption stayed right in the 64 range, but the amount of water I drink is directly related to the temperature outside while I am at work and how many days I am able to get into the gym. When it is hot outside and I am able to workout my water levels are at their highest.

terms:Operant chamber, manipulanda, reinforcing, manipulate, differential reinforcement, successive approximation, shape, lean out, ratio strain, emit, intermittently, species specific response

neverstop1 | October 20, 2014 11:24 PM | Reply

Section 3.5

I liked that this section walked us through every step and every possibility of using the Skinner box. I think that it was helpful to have the specific steps laid out and it made it easier to understand how Skinner reinforced or punished the rats behavior. I also think that it was made more clear on how to implement shaping and stimulus control to maybe even people.

I’m a big advocate against animal testing, so I guess I still dont like that Skinner had to use animals (even rats) for these tests. I would hope that now there are better ways to run these experiments without causing any pain or anguish to the animals being used. I realize humans can really be used either, but I just hope that there ends up being ways that they can get the same data without hurting anything in the process.

I will remember the term species specific response because I was thinking while I was reading about what it would be called if an animal or subject just completely shut down or didn't catch on to the training. This term makes sense since not all animals are going to react the same if they are given punishment or extinction tactics too early or without the correct exposure.

I will remember that a way to calm a dying baby would be to try and lower the temperature in the room or wherever they are laying. This can help them feel more comfortable and also can help the parents change the target behavior so they have more of an ideal evening or nap time.

I will remember that Skinner was seen as a very cut and dry researcher. He definitely didn't believe that people had any choice in how they act or think. This makes sense considering his line of work, but I think that it is a little off from reality. everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I would like to think that I have some kind of free will.

Day 1=64
Day 2=75
Day 3=78
Day 4=58
Day 5=64
Day 6=69
Day 7=70
Average=68.29

Over the time spent recording the data, I noticed that after the baseline my water consumption increased and stayed up until the end of the recording. I think that I got these results because I became more aware of my goal to reach 64oz a day and that made me more likely to choose water during the day than other beverages. I am a very goal and incentive oriented person, so it became easy to get the ounces that I needed and wanted to get.

Terms: Skinner box, reinforce, punish, shaping, stimulus control, species specific response, extinction, exposure, target behavior, free will, incentives, baseline

vikings28 | October 21, 2014 1:18 AM | Reply

1) One thing I really liked in this section was learning more about B.F. Skinner’s operant chamber, called the Skinner Box. The Skinner Box was used when he was doing research on operant conditioning. The Skinner Box is a secured chamber where a rat or a pigeon is used to study reinforcement and punishment. The main features of the Skinner Box are the speaker, light, water spout, food hopper, and bar. I really enjoy learning about different inventions in the history of Psychology. I previously had a general knowledge of this research, but it was really nice to be able to learn more about the specifics of the research.

2) The thing I liked the least during this section was the material on Skinner being a prolific writer. The reason I liked this section the least was due to some of Skinner’s beliefs that were presented in the material. Skinner believed that all human behavior was determined by the environment. Skinner also believed that freedom and dignity were just traits that stood in the way of advancing society. That was the one thing that didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. It’s obvious Skinner was a very interesting guy with some very interesting beliefs and views. It sounds like there were a lot of people that weren’t the biggest fans of some of Skinner’s work.

3) One thing I’ll remember from this section is the material on the Skinner Box. Different features have different purposes in the box. The speaker and the light provide a stimulus for the animal to discriminate when it might get reinforced or punished. The speaker is a good stimulus as the tone can go from low to high, as the light is a discrete stimulus since it can only be on or off. The water spout and food hopper allow for the delivery of the reinforcer. Lastly, the bars on the floor have a couple of purposes. One is so the animal’s urine and droppings can be removed, and the other purpose is used as a punisher as electrical current can be administered through the bars. Another thing I’ll remember from the section is the shaping technique. Shaping is one of the ways that researchers can get a person or animal to emit the desired target behavior. Along with shaping, successive approximation is used, which means when the rat does something close to the behavior, it gets reinforced. For example, the rat may get reinforced for just looking at the lever. As the shaping continues, the rat is only reinforced when it goes to the lever. Then, the rat may be reinforced for touching the lever. Finally, the rat is only reinforced for pressing the lever. I’ll remember this, because it introduced two new terms. While I already had an idea what shaping was, it was very interesting to learn about successive approximation. The third thing I’ll remember from the section is the material on Skinner’s Air Bed. He used this instead of a crib. In Skinner’s Air Bed, the temperature could be changed. As the child aged, the temperature was decreased by a small amount. Skinner reported that raising or lowering the temperature by more than a degree or two can produce a surprising change in a baby’s behavior. I believe this is the first time I’ve learned about this. It’s a very interesting way for one to raise a child. I particularly liked that one of the daughters Skinner raised in the air bed was asked about being raised that way. She thought it was a “perfectly fine” way to be raised.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:

Day 1 = 56 oz.
Day 2 = 48 oz.
Day 3 = 32 oz.
Day 4 = 42 oz.
Day 5 = 52 oz.
Day 6 = 45 oz.
Day 7 = 58 oz.
Average = 47.57 oz.

4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.

I never did get to the 64 oz. average while being reinforced, but I came very close. During this baseline week, my water drinking decreased by quite a bit. I think this is due to not being reinforced. Having the opportunity of being reinforced gave me an extra incentive to try to make sure I drank 64 ounces of water each day.

5) B.F. Skinner, operant conditioning, Skinner Box, reinforcement, punishment, stimulus, reinforcer, shaping, successive approximation, Skinner’s Air Bed

panther34 | October 21, 2014 1:30 AM | Reply

Section 3.5
1.) One thing I really liked was learning about how B.F. Skinner viewed the ways in which we can shape behavior. Although I agree that some of his writings on changing the environment can seem "radical," I also agree with what he said in that the environment plays a huge role in shaping behavior. I agree with the fact that in taking steps to changing our environment, we could work towards solving, or at least improving, a lot of the issues we see in society today, like poverty.

2.) Contrary to what I liked about this section, I didn't like Skinner's ideas about removing some of the free will and "dignity" that we have today. I do agree with the concept of changing our environments to help shape behavior, but as he wrote in "Waldon Two" about a community where children were raised separate from their parents, and so on, I was bothered by that concept. I think it's important to explore how we can change our environment for the benefit of improving behavior, but not at the expense of free will of others.

3.) One thing I will remember from this section was reading about the shaping process. It makes sense that if you want a specific behavior done, you may have to take smaller steps first to accomplish that. I thought the example to explain it was good in saying that the rat has no idea what was wanted of him, until they figured out how to shape his behavior. It also reminded me of the first week of class when Dr. M used the clicker to help emit a certain behavior or response from a student. Second, I will remember B.F. Skinner's views on changing the environment because I'm torn between understanding and agreeing with the overall concept, but I struggle with the idea of taking away people's free will to do so. Lastly, I will remember that if we want to use a high number FR (fixed ratio), we may have to do so in chunks, and that makes sense. It also makes sense that in order to increase that number, the increase cannot be too much nor can it be too fast. Also, we must wait until the subject is at the point of extinction burst to reinforce them so we can gradually raise that FR to the desired number.

4. Day 1= 62oz
Day 2= 56oz
Day 3= 48oz
Day 4= 56oz
Day 5= 64oz
Day 6= 72oz
Day 7= 48 oz
Average= 58oz

My overall average fell just below 64oz, but overall it stayed about the same with just a slight increase. I feel I got the results I did because I've been spending so many weeks now making myself consciously aware of how much water I've been drinking, and also reinforcing myself for two weeks, that I'm just sort of used to it now. I rarely drank water before we started doing this, but this has helped me to drink more water and make it part of my regular routine because this was the first time I was ever really forced to kind of make myself aware of it.

TERMS: Reinforcing, shaping process, FR (fixed ratio), extinction burst, emit.

Elizabeth C. | October 21, 2014 2:40 AM | Reply

Section 3.5

1 a&b) One section I really enjoyed and found useful was the section about shaping and successive approximation because you can change/shape the behavior of an organism to the desired behavior. This can be useful in a variety of settings such as training employees or leading a team. I could use shaping in selling one product a day, where my workers would get reinforced for this one sale or successive approximation. After 2 weeks the reinforcement would be leaned out, I could increase it to three sales per day, then my employees are reinforced until my employees reach 10 sales a day.

2) One thing that I disliked about this chapter was Skinner's deterministic view over free will especially in America because that is what America stands for: freedom. This idea goes against everything America has hoped for and aspired to be. For example in his books "Walden Two" and "Beyond Freedom and Dignity" they are all about social engineering. Although this utopian society sounds nice at first, the reality of it is rather sad and not human. Others who read the books even said it was sad how parents were given specific jobs and children were raised aside from their families. It kind of reminds me of one of my favorite books, "The Giver"

3 a,b&c) I will remember B.F. Skinner and the wide range of things he did. Skinner was very proactive in his life and accomplished many things such as writing books and creating things such as the operant chamber for studying reinforcement and punishment. He was an inventor, writer, researcher, and believed in social engineering.

I will also remember the word/term manipulanda because it is a really unique and neat word. It is the object the animal manipulates. In rat operant chamber studies, it would be the lever the rat pushes to receive/release the food; the lever is being manipulated.

The third thing I will remember is differential reinforcement is reinforcing under one condition (S+) and not the other (S-), because I have never heard of this before and symbols along with the concepts are easy to remember. Signal reinforcement is S+ and signal extinction is S-.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 =6
Day 2 =8
Day 3 =10
Day 4 =8
Day 5 =8
Day 6 =7
Day 7 =10
Average =8.14 glasses

4b) Yes, surprisingly my intake of water was a wide range of 8.something glasses of water each week, so my intake of water was very consistent. I think I received these results because I just listened to my body. When I was thirsty I drank water and if I was not thirsty I did not drink water. If one day my intake of water was low, I could tell because I either did not use the bathroom much or I was thirsty the next day, and then I would make up for lost water. My body naturally craves a certain amount of water and will get the water needed...when I listen. Regardless of reinforcement or not, it remained the same, my internal water-o-meter does not lie/change.

5) Terms: shaping, successive approximation, behavior, reinforced, reinforcement, leaned out, deterministic, free will, Walden Two, Beyond Freedom and Dignity, social engineering, B.F. Skinner, operant chamber, punishment, manipulanda, differential reinforcement, reinforcing, signal reinforcement, S+, signal extinction, S-

pophead | October 21, 2014 5:52 PM | Reply

1) One thing I liked about the section is that it went in-depth into one example that re-discussed the past. The rat example was quite helpful in showing us examples of previous terms and describing how they relate to new ones. The operant chamber was described in detail along with a good representative picture which showed the additions that encompassed various areas like stimulus continuum and discrete stimulus and how the light and metal rods would help with discrimination training while the others would help with shaping and successive approximation in variable reinforcement.

2) I don't like that I still have a small understanding of Conditioned Emotional Response. I understand that it can be measured and that it is measured by the reluctant delays, but not why it is measured this way or how this represents something important.

3) I will remember that type R conditioning is when the Response comes first, which is more voluntary which means that it has been conditioned. This way I will remember that it is also referred to as operant conditioning. I will remember that type S conditioning is when the stimulus comes first, which is more natural which means that it is unconditioned. This way I will remember that it is also referred to as classical conditioning. I will remember that using behavioral principles to manipulate the development of a person or society is referred to as social engineering by the Utopia that Watson wrote about. Finally I will remember that successive approximation is the process of conditioning a living being to eventually respond the way you want be slowly reinforcing it for getting close to the behavior you are looking for. I will remember this because of notable rat example.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 =48
Day 2 =48
Day 3 =60
Day 4 =36
Day 5 =72
Day 6 =48
Day 7 =48
Average =51

4b) It was hard before for me to keep up because I had to drink more than the regular amount just because my water bottle was only 12 oz, plus it filled me up a lot and made me have to go to the bathroom much more than usual so already it was easy to deviate away from the plan, although at times when I didn't have as much water I had to drink a lot more the next day because I didn't get the same good inner feeling with less water.

5) Stimulus continuum, discrete stimulus, discrimination training, variable reinforcement, operant chamber, successive approximation, shaping, conditioned emotional response, social engineering

SJR | October 21, 2014 6:10 PM | Reply

After reading section 3.5, please respond to the following questions.

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
I really liked that the section was about Skinner because i like learning about his work with behaviorism.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
There was not anything that I did not like about this section since most of it was review.

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
a) I will remember that Skinner studied behaviorism because I already knew that information.
b) I will remember that he differentiated between Type S (stimulus) and Type R (response) because I thought it was interesting.
c) I will remember that shaping is used to train rats/animals because I can relate shaping with training my dog.
4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 62
Day 2 = 60
Day 3 = 72
Day 4 = 68
Day 5 = 60
Day 6 = 68
Day 7 = 64
Average = 64.85

4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
My results stayed at the baseline. I think I got these results because I was used to drinking more water after conditioning myself to the past couple of weeks. I made sure to bring my water bottle with me every day to class and fill it up often.

You should have received a copy of a graph to fill out from Dr. MacLin. Please go back and fill out the water drinking data for the last four weeks and bring it to class on Thursday (or drop it off in Dr. M's mail box in the psych office).

5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
behaviorism, shaping, Type R, Type S, stimulus, response, shaping, baseline, conditioning

temp | October 22, 2014 3:25 AM | Reply

Reading Activity Week #9

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
I liked the part near the beginning where it talked about Skinner’s box and the example was given of putting the rat on an FR25 schedule of reinforcement (press lever 25 times, be reinforced with food). It then talked about shaping and how it is used to make the rat keep pressing the lever. The text went on to discuss different schedules of reinforcement and how it would impact the rat.
2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
Nothing I disliked about this section. Informative and good examples building on what has already been discussed.
3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
Skinner is responsible for the operant chamber, which is a secured chamber where a lab animal is placed to study reinforcement and punishment. He was able to use this to train a rat to press a lever to receive a small food pellet.
Successive approximation is when you’re reinforced for doing something close to the desired behavior. Skinner used this with his rat, the rat didn’t know when placed in the box it should press the lever. On the first day of class, the clicker was used as successive approximation in order to get the student to jump up and down on one foot.
Not all conditioning that occurs in an operant chamber is operant conditioning. The rat learns to associate the sound of the computer opening the food gate, which is classical conditioning.
4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 48
Day 2 = 45
Day 3 = 52
Day 4 = 24
Day 5 = 32
Day 6 = 28
Day 7 = 24
Average = 36
4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
You should have received a copy of a graph to fill out from Dr. MacLin. Please go back and fill out the water drinking data for the last four weeks and bring it to class on Thursday (or drop it off in Dr. M's mail box in the psych office).
5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
Schedule of reinforcement, operant chamber, reinforcement, punishment, successive approximation, desired behavior, operant conditioning, classical conditioning

that guy | October 22, 2014 10:58 AM | Reply

After reading section 3.5, please respond to the following questions.

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
I really enjoyed the part about Skinners “Air Bed” mainly because I have never heard about this study before. It is very interesting to see how a few degrees in temperature can alter the behavior of a baby and I was more surprised than anything to find that lowering the temperature was what would stop one from crying.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
What I liked least about this section was that Skinner believed that all human behavior is determined by environment, because although that may be partially true, I think it would be hard to prove and do not personally agree that each and every behavior people emit is directly related to their environment.

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section? First I will remember that type S is classical conditioning where the stimulus generally comes before the response. Second I will remember that type R is operant conditioning where the response precedes the stimulus. Lastly, species specific responses are those particular to a given animal.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4.

Day 1 =60
Day 2 =65
Day 3 =60
Day 4 =55
Day 5 =60
Day 6 =60
Day 7 =50
Average =58.6oz

4b) Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did? My drinking of water decreased. I think I got these results because I was on fixed interval schedule that I got reinforced each week that I met my goal, but now that reinforcement was taken away I went into extinction and the behavior is getting closer to being extinguished. This shows that I may need to be on a more continuous reinforcement schedule until the behavior is set in place. This drop in the frequency of the target behavior during the return to baseline may also just mean that I need to pick a reinforcer with more intrinsic value, so I am more motivated to attain the reinforcement.

5) Terms: Air Bed, Skinner, emit, Type S, classical conditioning, Type R, operant conditioning, stimulus, fixed interval schedule, reinforced, extinction, target behavior, continuous reinforcement schedule, reinforcer, intrinsic

alh777 | October 23, 2014 4:00 AM | Reply

1) I really enjoyed how this section talked about all aspects of Skinner, not just the one that all psychology students hear about with his Skinner Boxes. I didn’t know that he was much a writer other than publishing studies and it was interesting to learn that about him.
2) I did not like that a large chunk of this section focused on the rat in the box. I know that this was what Skinner was most famously known for, but it would have been nice to hear about any other experiments that he may have done.
3) I will remember that he raised his daughters in an “Air Bed” because it was so strange. My only issue with this topic is that it was not explained how this Air Bed worked. I know that it controlled temperature and that it helped his daughter not to be fussy, but that’s about it. I will remember that he wrote “Walden Two” about a utopian society based on his behavioral beliefs. I never read all of the original “Walden” but I did like what I had read. I will also remember that one of Skinner’s core beliefs was that we are affected by the environment.
Day 1: 72 oz
Day 2: 64 oz
Day 3: 64 oz
Day 4: 72 oz
Day 5: 56 oz
Day 6: 64 oz
Day 7: 64 oz
Average: 65.2 oz
4) I continued to drink about 64 oz of water a day. I think that this was a continuing trend because I am starting to just get into the habit of drinking that much water a day.

Terms: Skinner Box, Air Bed, “Walden Two”

temp | October 23, 2014 5:39 PM | Reply

APLK
1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
One thing I liked about this section was the visual aid about the Skinner Box as well as the paragraph description of each aspect of the box because it makes it easier for me to learn and remember it and know all the functions of the Skinner Box.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
There was not much to dislike about this section, other than the fact that the previous background information on Skinner does not have much of relevance when it comes to the rest of the section’s information.

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
One thing I’ll remember from this section is that the object that the animal manipulates in the Skinner Box is called the manipulanda because they are easy word associations. I will also remember that in shaping, the technique successive approximation is when the rat gets a reward when it does something similar, or approximate, to the targeted behavior. Lastly, I will remember that Skinner was not only and inventor, but he was also a very influential writer and that his theories in his experiments also correlate to his prolific writings.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 =64 oz
Day 2 =64 oz
Day 3 = 80 oz
Day 4 =64 oz
Day 5 =56 oz
Day 6 =56 oz
Day 7 =64 oz
Average =64 oz

4b) Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did?
My drinking water average stayed around the 64 oz mark; however, on two days I did decrease my water intake making it lower than the targeted 64 oz. I think that I got the results that I did because this week was really busy and I wasn’t really aware or paying that close of attention as to how much water I was drinking every day. So the days that I drank under 64 oz were the days that I seemed to be most busy and didn’t have water at the top of my priorities list.

5) Skinner Box, manipulanda, shaping, successive approximation, targeted behavior

jsmartin | October 27, 2014 11:01 AM | Reply

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?

The description of the Skinner Box, how it operates, and the explanation on how an animal is shaped into following a fixed ratio schedule. I learned that animal is reinforced through successive approximation before they are able to exhibit the desired behavior; before, I had assumed that the animal was expected to perform the behavior spontaneously and then be rewarded. Through intermittence, the rat develops extinction when he is no longer rewarded for the same behavior, and continues until he is reinforced for trying the same behavior a new number of times.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?

Conditioned emotional response, if only because I dislike the idea of an animal being made to purposively feel fear. I’ll have to accept that this same process is needed in determining how humans can be aided in stopping problem behaviors.

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?

Social engineering is frequently used in our modern society to discourage or promote behaviors.

The deterministic ideas of behaviorists are not always a threat to the concept of free will.

An animal can learn how to emit a desired behavior at a desired time when stimulus control is used.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:

Day 1 = 40 oz
Day 2 = 53 oz
Day 3 = 86 oz
Day 4 = 73 oz
Day 5 = 86 oz
Day 6 = 53 oz
Day 7 = 73 oz
Average = 66 oz

4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did?

My intake increased because I was asked to donate blood during the week. Being able to donate most likely skewed my results, but it certainly didn’t feel like a reinforcer to me!

You should have received a copy of a graph to fill out from Dr. MacLin. Please go back and fill out the water drinking data for the last four weeks and bring it to class on Thursday (or drop it off in Dr. M's mail box in the psych office).

5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.

Skinner box, shaped, successive approximation, intermittence, social engineering, conditioned emotional response, deterministic, free will, stimulus control.

LizzyLou | October 27, 2014 4:04 PM | Reply

After reading section 3.5, please respond to the following questions.

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?

I liked Skinner's "Air Bed". I liked the visual because without it I really wouldn't have understood what it was really talking about.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?

I didn't dislike anything in this section.

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?

a) The Air Bed
b) The Operant Chamber
c) Social Engineering

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 45
Day 2 = 30
Day 3 = 45
Day 4 = 40
Day 5 = 45
Day 6 = 30
Day 7 = 30
Average = 37.86

4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did?

I never hit the target behavior of drinking up to the 64 oz mark. Usually I drink a lot of water when I'm busy and my busiest days are on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, because I work in the early mornings so I'm up earlier and drink more. Then once I'm done with classes for the day I don't do nearly as much so I'm never all that thirsty.

You should have received a copy of a graph to fill out from Dr. MacLin. Please go back and fill out the water drinking data for the last four weeks and bring it to class on Thursday (or drop it off in Dr. M's mail box in the psych office).

5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
Air Bed, Operant Chamber, Social Engineering, Target Behavior.

purplezebra | November 2, 2014 10:03 PM | Reply

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
I really liked getting to learn more about Skinner and his though process on behavior. The history aspect and the comparison between Skinner’s thought process and Watson’s were interesting to me. I also found it interesting that Skinner believed that creating the right environment we can predict and control behavior to benefit society. I found this interesting because it made me wonder if we restructured certain parts within society would we have different or better behavioral patterns?

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
One thing I did not like about this section was the part in discussion about the Skinner Box when they talked about shocking the rats. While I understand this was done to elicit a response or punish a behavior, I don’t like the idea of doing that to any animal. I feel that it is unethical.

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
One thing I remember is that Skinner and the Skinner Box used both classical and operant condition to teach or modify behaviors. I remember this because it was reiterated through out the section.
The second thing I remember from this section is Skinner’s invention of the Air Bed. I will remember this because before reading this section I only thought of Skinner as a psychologist, not as both a psychologist and an inventor. The idea of the air bed is interesting because it keeps the child at a comfortable temperature and behavior such as crying or fussing could be extinct by lowering the temperature.
The third thing I will remember from this section is that in addition to being a psychologist and an inventor, Skinner was also a writer. He wrote a book called Beyond Freedom and Dignity. Skinner believed that two traits were standing in the way of society advancing: freedom and dignity. I found this interesting because those two traits are huge founding principles in our culture and society here in America.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 =64
Day 2 =70
Day 3 =80
Day 4 =70
Day 5 =64
Day 6 =70
Day 7 =64
Average =68.9 oz
4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
You should have received a copy of a graph to fill out from Dr. MacLin. Please go back and fill out the water drinking data for the last four weeks and bring it to class on Thursday (or drop it off in Dr. M's mail box in the psych office).
5) Terms: skinner box, elicit, extinction, punish, behavioral patterns, operant conditioning, classical conditioning, Skinner’s Air Bed.

Amanda Winters | November 3, 2014 10:52 AM | Reply

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
I was interested in learning about Skinner more than what is talked about in Intro to Psychology. I really thought it was interesting learning about the Skinner Air bed. It makes sense to believe that changing the temperature can cause a change in behaviors.
2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
I felt this section was written well and helped me understand Skinner in a different light.
3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
a. I will remember the SKinner Box- a cage where rats presses levers to receive a pellet to study reinforcement and punishment.
b. If the schedule is increased too fast or too much the rat will receive ratio strain.
c. I also will remember that Skinner was more than just a psychologist and he wrote books about free will.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the water drinking data for the last four weeks and bring it to class on Thursday (or drop it off in Dr. M's mail box in the psych office).
5) Terms: Skinner's air bed, Skinner Box, reinforcement punishment, ratio strain, free will

rossv | March 2, 2015 1:27 PM | Reply

After reading section 3.5, please respond to the following questions.

1) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
One thing I found really interesting in this section was when it talked about the idea of successive approximation. Successive approximation is used when shaping a behavior. The pigeon has no clue that pressing the lever a certain amount of times will cause a reward of food, so it get him to start pressing the lever, they will dispense a treat when the pigeon just looks at the lever. He will eventually pair the noise from the food dispenser with the lever. I thought this was cool because I see this with my cat Cooper. When he was little he had no idea when he was going to get fed, now 7 month later, as soon as he hears me open the can of cat food he runs over because he associates the sound of the can opening to receiving food.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
The part I liked least about this chapter was when it tried to explain how the rat in the operant chamber can switch from operant conditioning to classical conditioning. At first it was a bit confusing because we were using the same example only tweaking it in order to make it classical conditioning. However, after I read through it a few times I understood that the reason it can be classical conditioning is because the rat can associate that sound of the food gate opening to receiving food.
3) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
One thing I will remember because I thought it was extremely interesting in regards to the debate between nature versus nurture was that Skinner believed that by creating the right environment we can predict and control behavior to benefit our society. I will also remember that shaping is used when trying to get a particular organism to elicit a certain behavior. In the operant chamber with pigeons, Skinner needed to shape the pigeons behavior so that it would learn every time the level is pressed 25 times it will receive food. The need for shaping occurs because we obviously cannot tell a pigeon “Hey after 25 times of pressing the lever you’ll get reinforced with some food.” I will also remember that in order for the rat or pigeon to start to learn the behavior, extinction will occur. After it receives a snack it will continue to press the lever, however, the pressing of the lever won’t lead to food every time so the animal will then emit the behavior of extinction burst, until eventually after the FR number is reached out will pop the food. It is important to remember this because when you are shaping a behavior, you must know to expect that extinction will occur in order for the behavior to be learned.
4) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 70 oz.
Day 2 = 60 oz.
Day 3 = 64 oz.
Day 4 = 64 oz.
Day 5 = 60 oz.
Day 6 = 64 oz.
Day 7 = 70 oz.
Average = 64. 5 oz.

4) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
My drinking behavior stayed at the 64 oz. mark and I believe this is because I started out strong, looking at my recordings, with drinking 70 oz. of water on Monday and toward the middle of the week it went down slightly and by Sunday I knew I had slacked a little bit so I tried drinking more water to make up for the days I didn’t quite reach 64 oz.
Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
Shaping, reinforced, elicit, operant chamber, nature vs. nurture, extinction, extinction burst, fixed ratio

Cassidy Monaco | March 4, 2015 12:39 PM | Reply

Cassidy Monaco
Reading blog #9
3.5 SKINNER
1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
I liked reading about successive approximation. I thought this was interesting because it’s about reinforcing an organism for emitting a behavior that resembles the target behavior during the shaping period, so it does not have to be the perfect behavior. I think this is smart because it eases the organism into emitting the target behavior by reinforcing them for getting close, one step at a time closer to the target behavior. This is a great technique for children, and I use it in my childcare job. If a child clearly attempts to emit the target behavior, but did not get it quite right, I still might reward him or her for his attempt because that showed me that he or she is aware of what the target behavior is.
2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
I disliked all of the details about Skinner’s inventions. As far as psychology and behavior modification goes, I do not care to know about the mechanical parts of his inventions, such as the operant chamber. I will never use one in my life, nor will I need to, so I felt like this was irrelevant.
3 ) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
a)I will remember that shaping is a technique used to shape a desired behavior because it is used to initially elicit a behavior from an organism to begin the manipulation of their behavior.
b) I will remember that successive approximation means rewarding an individual for getting close to the target behavior because I think this is a very interesting idea, and I did not realize it is a real technique in behavior modification.
c) I will remember that Skinner created an airbed for babies. This is interesting because it made the most comfortable temperature environment for infants and decreased the rate of crying by lowering the temperature, which seemed to elicit a physiological effect in the infant that calmed them.
4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 100
Day 2 =100.9
Day 3 =106
Day 4 =104.9
Day 5 =120
Day 6 =116
Day 7 =112.9
Average = 108.67
4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
My drinking of water stayed above 100 ounces per day every day of the week. While I did not reinforce myself, I did create a new standard for myself. I made myself drink a certain amount of water by a certain time each day. For example, I had to drink 25 ounces water in the time I was getting ready each morning. This is why I got the results I did.
You should have received a copy of a graph to fill out from Dr. MacLin. Please go back and fill out the water drinking data for the last four weeks and bring it to class on Thursday (or drop it off in Dr. M's mail box in the psych office). I do not think we got a graph in class…
TERMS: successive approximation, target behavior, emit, reinforce, Skinner, operant chamber, behavior modification, shaping, elicit

Cassidy Monaco | March 4, 2015 12:40 PM | Reply

Cassidy Monaco
Reading blog #9
3.5 SKINNER
1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
I liked reading about successive approximation. I thought this was interesting because it’s about reinforcing an organism for emitting a behavior that resembles the target behavior during the shaping period, so it does not have to be the perfect behavior. I think this is smart because it eases the organism into emitting the target behavior by reinforcing them for getting close, one step at a time closer to the target behavior. This is a great technique for children, and I use it in my childcare job. If a child clearly attempts to emit the target behavior, but did not get it quite right, I still might reward him or her for his attempt because that showed me that he or she is aware of what the target behavior is.
2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
I disliked all of the details about Skinner’s inventions. As far as psychology and behavior modification goes, I do not care to know about the mechanical parts of his inventions, such as the operant chamber. I will never use one in my life, nor will I need to, so I felt like this was irrelevant.
3 ) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
a)I will remember that shaping is a technique used to shape a desired behavior because it is used to initially elicit a behavior from an organism to begin the manipulation of their behavior.
b) I will remember that successive approximation means rewarding an individual for getting close to the target behavior because I think this is a very interesting idea, and I did not realize it is a real technique in behavior modification.
c) I will remember that Skinner created an airbed for babies. This is interesting because it made the most comfortable temperature environment for infants and decreased the rate of crying by lowering the temperature, which seemed to elicit a physiological effect in the infant that calmed them.
4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 100
Day 2 =100.9
Day 3 =106
Day 4 =104.9
Day 5 =120
Day 6 =116
Day 7 =112.9
Average = 108.67
4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
My drinking of water stayed above 100 ounces per day every day of the week. While I did not reinforce myself, I did create a new standard for myself. I made myself drink a certain amount of water by a certain time each day. For example, I had to drink 25 ounces water in the time I was getting ready each morning. This is why I got the results I did.
You should have received a copy of a graph to fill out from Dr. MacLin. Please go back and fill out the water drinking data for the last four weeks and bring it to class on Thursday (or drop it off in Dr. M's mail box in the psych office). I do not think we got a graph in class…
TERMS: successive approximation, target behavior, emit, reinforce, Skinner, operant chamber, behavior modification, shaping, elicit

huinkert | March 5, 2015 4:58 PM | Reply

Section 3.5

1) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
I really liked the discussion of shaping behavior. I thought this was interesting because I understood how animals were reinforced for emitting specific behaviors, but some behaviors were relatively complicated or odd so I always wondered how they were able to elicit the behavior from the animal in order to have the opportunity to reinforce it. Now I understand that we are able to train animals in a certain way through successive approximation, which is when you reinforce an animal for emitting behavior that is close to the specific behavior you are trying to elicit. For example, I watched a video of Skinner shaping a pigeon to elicit turning in a counter-clockwise circle behavior and he did this through successive approximation by first reinforcing the pigeon to face left (counter-clockwise), then he only reinforced the pigeon when it took a step to the left, then it only reinforced the pigeon when it turned 180 degrees counter-clockwise, and so forth until the pigeon emitted a full counter-clockwise circle.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
The part that I liked least about this section was reading about some of Skinner’s research methods, such as “Baby in a Box” and using the floor panel to create conditioned emotional responses in rats through shocks. I didn’t like reading about these things because I don’t know how ethical they are too research, especially since I am in an environmental ethics class this semester and we have discussed whether it is justified to perform research on animals (as always in philosophy classes, there was no clear answer or consensus). And while I understand that the research Skinner did is important to the field of behavior modification and psychology, I just wonder how ethical his means were to achieve the end.

3) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
I will remember the process of shaping behavior through successive approximation (as described above) because it is important to train animals and humans to emit the correct behavior before you begin to continuous reinforce it or use another reinforcement schedule. I will also remember that if you increase the schedule of reinforcement too fast or by too much, the animal or person will experience ratio strain, which is not good because then they will not actually learn the new behavior and you will not be able to effectively modify their behavior. Finally, I will remember that in classical conditioning the stimulus arrives before the response (S→R), which is why Skinner called classical conditioning Type S and operant conditioning is called Type R because the stimulus follows the response (R→S).

4) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 51
Day 2 = 51
Day 3 = 92
Day 4 = 76
Day 5 = 76
Day 6 = 76
Day 7 = 76
Average = 71 ounces

5) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
My water intake definitely stayed at 64 ounces and actually surpassed that amount most days and overall for the week. I think I received these results because I was still aware of how much water I was drinking and I was still conditioned to continue to check my water app and make sure that I was hitting my goal every day even though I wasn’t reinforcing myself this week.

Terms: shaping behavior, reinforced, emit, elicit, successive approximation, conditioned emotional response (CER), continuous reinforcement, reinforcement schedule, ratio strain, stimulus, response, classical conditioning, Type S, operant conditioning, Type R

Kaylea | March 8, 2015 12:28 PM | Reply

1) One thing that I really liked about this section was the history and the different information that was presented about Skinner. There were a lot of things presented in this section about Skinner and different experiments that he did that I did not know about before. I find this really interesting and really enjoy learning about these aspects of the information.
2) One thing that I liked the least about this section was Skinner’s idea of social engineering. I find it really extreme that he believed you could mold or shape a person into exactly what you wanted them to be through behaviorism. I also found it pretty strange that he tried to do this with his own children.
3) One thing that I will definitely remember from this section is “Skinner’s air bed.” I will remember this because it was something that I found very interesting and also something that I had never heard discussed before. I think that this will also be really memorable because of the fact that Skinner actually raised his own daughter in it. I will also remember what social engineering is from this section. This was an idea that was a big part of this section and was also a very big idea that Skinner believed in. I think this is a memorable topic because it is something that is a little bizarre, believing that we can raise a child into exactly what we want just by behaviors and by what we expose them too. Lastly, I will definitely remember the operant chamber that Skinner invented. This was a big part of what Skinner did and helped make big steps in psychology and in the area of reinforcement.
4) My water drinking data:
Day 1 - 24 oz glasses
Day 2- 12 oz glasses
Day 3- 48 oz glasses
Day 4- 24 oz glasses
Day 5- 8 oz glasses
Day 6- 12 oz glasses
Day 7- 18 oz glasses
Average= 20. 8 oz
My water drinking did reach 64 oz during one week of recording, but on the other weeks I did not reach 64 oz. I was able to reach 64 oz when I was trying to reach it. On the other days, I would probably drink anywhere from 24oz to 48 oz of water each day and on those I would try to get to 64 oz, but I got busy and forgot to drink water. My drinking of water did decrease. I think I got the results that I did is because I wasn't trying my complete best to get to 64 oz. If I tried every day, I know I could of drank 64 oz each day.
5)Terms: social engineering, baseline, reinforcement, Skinner, skinner air bed, operant chamber, behaviorism

SamGalema | March 8, 2015 4:21 PM | Reply

Section 3.5

1) I liked how this section covered information that we were already familiar with such as

conditioned and unconditioned stimulus and conditioned and unconditioned response. I felt that

Skinner was just expand off of Pavlov’s research and I could see similarities between the two

and their testing on animals’ behaviorism. Skinner’s theories and experiments seemed a little

more advanced and focused on shaping behaviors but I found the information very interesting

and enjoyed learning about it within the section.

2) There was not really anything within this section that I disliked. All of the information was

easy to follow and understand how it all flowed together.

3) (a) Because I agree with Skinner, I will remember that he believed that creating the right

environment can help us to predict and control behavior in order to benefit society with his

concept of social engineering. (b) I will remember that species specific response is a unique

response for a certain type of species. I can think of many different kinds of examples that I have

seen before that will help me remember this information such as a cat hissing or a dog waging its

tail. (c) Lastly, I will remember that operant chambers can be used for classical conditioning as

well as conditioned emotional responses. I will remember this information due the similarities I

saw between Pavlov’s and Skinner’s research and how the information can be draw from that.

4a) Water Consumption Week #4

Day 1 =8 cups

Day 2 =6 cups

Day 3 =6 cups

Day 4 =7 cups

Day 5 =6 cups

Day 6 =7 cups

Day 7 =6 cups

Average = 6.6 cups

4b) The amount of water I drank increased slightly during baseline. I believe that I received these

results because even though I was not rewarding myself anymore, I did the behavior or drinking

water before I watched any Netflix because it had been my routine for the previous weeks. I

started to form a habit and I found myself unconsciously drinking more water even though I no

longer had an incentive to do so.

5) Terminology Used: baseline, social engineering, Skinner, behaviorism, conditioned response,

conditioned stimulus, unconditioned stimulus, conditioned stimulus, behavior, shaping, species

specific response, operant chambers, classical conditioning, conditioned emotional responses

Chris R. | March 9, 2015 12:23 AM | Reply

a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
I liked the section on shaping a behavior because it is something that we all can use when dealing with other organisms. This technique is particularly useful when one cannot communicate the desired behavior (for instance, training dogs, mice, the mentally ill, or even small children). The process of successive approximation is easy to explain and I imagine this has been in use by behaviorists and psychologists for a while.
2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
I re-read the section on conditioned emotional responses. Getting an accurate measurement of an emotional response is difficult and the validity of the measurement seems to come into question. I can see how the species specific behavior of mice freezing up when they’re scared is useful for the observer. I did find the topic intriguing and hope it comes up again in later sections.
3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
Skinner imagined his version of a utopian world where his concepts of operant conditioning were used for the purpose of social engineering. Some classical conditioning also occurs during operant conditioning and can be used to create a conditioned emotional response.
4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 64oz
Day 2 =64oz
Day 3 =42oz
Day 4 =42oz
Day 5 =64oz
Day 6 =21oz
Day 7 =21oz
Average =45.5oz
4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
During the beginning of the week, when I was only my normal routine, my target behavior was meet some of the days. During the weekend, when the matter was not in mind and I was away from home, my drinking decreased significantly.
Terms: target behavior, shaping, behavior, successive approximation, conditioned emotional response, species specific behavior, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, social engineering,

Alan | March 9, 2015 1:15 AM | Reply

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
Skinner’s operant chamber has been covered in pretty much every intro psychology class, this section of the book provided much more information about the operant chamber that I knew previously. The diagram was very helpful and it was very interesting to learn about the skimmed over aspects of the operant chamber.
2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
The part that I liked least about this section was the section about discrimination training, a clear definition is not provided but simply that we learned about it during the reading on Pavlov.
3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
• Type S is classical conditioning, Type R is operant conditioning.
• Skinner’s position on technology of behavior modification could be used to solve important social issues such as war and over population
• Skinner’s inventions include the operant room, cumulative recorder and a pigeon guided missile system.
4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 64
Day 2 = 64
Day 3 =48
Day 4 =56
Day 5 =64
Day 6 =72
Day 7 =64
Average =62oz
4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
This week I actually drank more water than previous weeks, there was only one day where I missed the goal of 64oz. I think that these results are due to my incorporating increased water drinking into my schedule for the past 4 weeks.

Terms: operant chamber, skinner, discrimination training, type s, classical conditioning, type r, operant conditioning,

Mariah Rodriguez | March 9, 2015 11:35 AM | Reply

1 a&b) I liked how we only had this small section to read for this week since it's midterm. But I also liked how this section broke down the structure and operations of the Skinner box. It provided terms and showed all the pieces of it in a diagram so it was easier to understand. It explained how everything was used when Skinner was studying behaviorism with reinforcement and punishment on rats and pigeons.

2) Some of the boxes were hard to come up with answers for, just because I'm still trying to learn the abbreviations of the different concepts (For example FR=Fixed Ratio), otherwise it wasn't too bad.

3 a,b&c) Three things I will remember from this section are; 1-Shaping. This is a technique that is used in behaviorism to make the desirable happen. But to make this happen we have to use successive approximation. 2-I had never heard of the term successive approximation, but it is part of the process of shaping in behaviorism. When we are trying to shape a behavior, or make it happen, we have to get the organism to do it, because they do not know it or don't perform it. This concept has us reinforce the organism every time they are close to performing the desirable behavior until they actually do it. Then it is shaped. 3-Ratio strain is also a new term to me, and I learned this is what it is called when the schedules of reinforcement are too fast and too much for the organism.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 =24 oz
Day 2 =24 oz
Day 3 =24 oz
Day 4 =48 oz
Day 5 =48 oz
Day 6 =24 oz
Day 7 =24 oz
Average =216 oz

4b) It didn't really decrease significantly and it didn't increase. I think the results are this way for every week because I'm so busy it's difficult for me to keep track and to actually document every amount of water I intake or make an effort to remember to drink some everyday. My reinforcer was obviously not too strong to begin with because it didn't make much of a difference, and when it was dropped out completely it really had no effect.

Terms: Skinner box, Skinner, behaviorism, reinforcement/punishment, fixed ratio, shaping, desirable, successive approximation, ratio strain, schedules of reinforcement

Madison MacTavish | March 9, 2015 1:45 PM | Reply

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
I really liked that it was only one section to read, but as far as the content itself, I liked that it expanded on Skinner's ideas since we all already know about Skinner's Box. Along with that, I liked that it expanded on the idea of Skinner's box as well by showing the pictures and parts behind it.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
I didn't particularly dislike anything in this section, it was all laid out well and easily understandable, especially since there was a lot of review throughout.

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
I will remember successive approximation, discrimination training and conditioned emotional response. All of these are easily memorable because they are a bit self explanitory but they are also easily associated with the Skinners box example when shaping behavior.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 65 oz
Day 2 = 91 oz
Day 3 = 90 oz
Day 4 = 85 oz
Day 5 = 76 oz
Day 6 = 54 oz
Day 7 = 90 oz
Average = 78.7 oz

4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
My results stayed the same, but I believe that was because I track the water i drink every day, regardless of being asked to track it for this assignment. I try to drink over 90 oz of water a day, so in retrospect, my intake DID go down a bit, but it rarely went below 64 oz. This assignment has conditioned me to make sure I do drink over the amount that I should be drinking, because someone else is holding me accountable for it.

TERMS: Skinner, Skinner's Box, successive approximation, discrimination training, conditioned emotional response, shaping, behavior, conditioned

Allie Bey | March 9, 2015 3:25 PM | Reply

Section 3.5
1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
I liked reading about Skinners "air bed" because i never heard of it before and it was interesting how temperature by a few degrees can affect a baby's mood
2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
I disliked the boxes where we had to recall information from previous sections we had read, just because i had a hard time remembering
3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
That the operant chamber will have something that can function as a discriminative stimulus, something to dispense reinforcers, something to manipulate, and something to deliver punishers. Because of the experiment with the rats and levers. That Skinner invented the air bed
which provides a controlled environment for the baby.Because of reading about it and i found it interesting that just changing the temperature by a few degrees would make a baby not cry. Species specific responses are those particular to a given animal. Because of having to come up with examples
4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 =64oz
Day 2 =72oz
Day 3 =32oz
Day 4 =48oz
Day 5 =64oz
Day 6 =64oz
Day 7 =72oz
Average =59.43oz
4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
It has stayed about the same as it was when I was doing reinforcements. If anything my levels of water intake might be higher than it was when I was reinforcing. I think I got the results I did because I'm never really focusing on how much water I drink, but just count how many times I refill my water bottle.

5)operant chamber,discriminative stimulus,reinforcers,manipulate,punishers,Species specific

yalexia | March 9, 2015 3:33 PM | Reply

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
-One thing that I enjoyed was Skinner's 'air bed' (Baby Box). Something is oddly pleasurable about seeing a baby chillin' in that box. Plus, I thought it was useful they informed you that they were able to figure out that they could stop a baby's crying by slightly lowering the ambient temperature.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
- One thing that I liked least about this section was the the definitions for Type S and Type R, at the very bottom. Using "comes before" and then changing to "preceded" and switching the places of stimulus and response, from the Type S to the Type R definitions, apparently was sufficient to confuse my feeble mind for a jiffy.

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
-I will remember that Type S conditioning is classical conditioning, where as Type R is operant conditioning with the response will come before the stimulus. I will also remember that the operant chamber will include a discriminative stimulus, a reinforcer(s), a level to manipulate, and finally a means to deliver punishments. Lastly, I will remember that when shaping an individual, it's best at first to reinforce the desired behavior with continuos reinforcement, then to wean them off with intermittent reinforcement and finally get them to your desired schedule.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
1 bottle = ~24oz
Day 1 =10
Day 2 =12
Day 3 =11
Day 4 =10
Day 5 =7
Day 6 =12
Day 7 =8
Average =10bottles = 240oz/day

4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
My drinking habits stayed pretty consistent around my baseline. I believe I got the results that i did because I've been in the habit of regularly drinking water. As for the days that it dips below the average, it's often just because I'm not in an area/position to be able to regularly refill my bottle or use the restroom.

5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
Terms: Baseline, Type S conditioning, Type R conditioning, classical/operant conditioning shaping, response, desired, behavior, continuous/intermittent reinforcement, punishment, discriminative stimulus, operant chamber.

Maya | March 9, 2015 3:54 PM | Reply

1. One thing that I like about this section is learning how the rat or something is shaped from the very beginning. It was interesting to learn how they shaped the rat to even press the lever. You don't think about all of the baby steps it takes to get it to do so and then to keep doing it.

2. What I didn't like about this section was adding in the conditional emotional response. It all was starting to make sense and then another thing is thrown in and I am kind of confused again. I know this is the learning process and it will make sense, it is just hard at the very beginning!

3. Three things I will remember from this section: Sometimes classical conditioning is automatically added into the operant conditioning, different things in the chamber (such as the light) can be used for extinction, soon the rat will wait to press the lever until the light turns off, and for the rat to know to press the lever, you need to shape its behavior.

4. Day 1 = 54 oz
Day 2 = 64
Day 3 = 48
Day 4 = 52
Day 5 = 64
Day 6 = 52
Day 7 = 52
Average = 55 oz
This week I was a little busier, so it was harder for me to think about and drink as much water as I needed to. My average went down a little bit but overall I still think that I did pretty well. I think that when I am busy I don't think about needing to drink as much water and it affects the amount that I drink. It didn't have too much of an affect though, without a reinforcer.

Terms: reinforcer, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, chamber, extinction, shape, behavior, conditional emotional response, shaped

JessieKramer | March 9, 2015 4:13 PM | Reply

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
-I really enjoyed the content in this section. It was interesting to read especially the part about how the rat or participants are shaped from the very beginning.
2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
-I thought this section was kinda confusing with all of the abbreviations and new terms, but after reading it a couple times I think I gained a better understanding of the material.
3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
- I will remember that discrimination training involves differential reinforcement, Skinner invented the operant chamber to shape the behavior of rats, and Skinner also invented the air bed which provides a controlled environment for babies. All of these things I found interesting which will make them easier to remember.
4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 =50.8 oz
Day 2 =76.2 oz
Day 3 =101.6 oz
Day 4 =76.2 oz
Day 5 =101.6 oz
Day 6 =101.6 oz
Day 7 =76.2 oz
Average =83.4 oz
4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
- I stayed pretty consistently above 64 oz. I think I got these results because after a couple weeks it just because a "habit" to drink this much water as opposed to other beverages.
5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
-discriminate training, differential reinforcement, operant chamber, Skinner, behavior, controlled environment, stimulus

Valeria Garces | March 9, 2015 4:23 PM | Reply

After reading section 3.5, please respond to the following questions.
1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?

- One thing I really like about this section was skinners theory of behavior modification. This is because he believed the right environment can have a big impact towards the behavior and predictions of a good society. This is related to me major, communication disorders, and therefor e I think it’s a reason why I found it more interesting. Pretty much an environment may shape the language and certain cultural differences in a child and is it’s a positive environment, we will raise children with positive skills creating a good society. Also I found it really interesting about skinner types of conditioning. Type S and type R conditioning. This are new words I need to keep adding to my vocabulary and it may be hard however they confuse me less than, UR, US, CR, CS. The exercises in class helped me to improve in this one’s but is still kind of hard.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?

- What I liked the least was skinners experiment, operant chamber. He explains it’s a chamber where a laboratory animal is used to study reinforcement. It is a very useful experiment. However just the fact that they are using animals kind of makes me feel tht is not wright. I know in most experiments the best way to test them is by using animals, however sometimes I picture some animals being treated really bad and Kind of makes me feel sad and bad at the same time.

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?

a) Skinners behavior modification theory about how a good environment could create a great community and increase a better living community in countries around the world.
b) Operant chambers because animals are used and how it can function as a discriminative stimulus.
c) Stimulus control when the individual or the animals learns to emit a proper behavior under the consequences that it should be.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:

Day 1 = 4 glasses
Day 2 = 6 glasses
Day 3 = 7 glasses
Day 4 = 6 glasses
Day 5 = 8 glasses
Day 6 = 8 glasses
Day 7 = 7 glasses
Average = 6.57

4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease?
- It didn’t decrease but it didn’t increase at all.

Why do you think you got the results you did.

I think this is because some days a workout and other not therefore the days I work out the most increase the fact that I drink more water. However, on the other hand the reinforcement does helped me to increase the amount of water that I consumed but not always. I don’t usually substitute water for other drinks, usually I only drink water but not too much.

You should have received a copy of a graph to fill out from Dr. MacLin. Please go back and fill out the water drinking data for the last four weeks and bring it to class on Thursday (or drop it off in Dr. M's mail box in the psych office).

5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post

Emit, Behavior, antecedent, consequence, skinner, operant chamber, stimulus control, discriminative stimuluS, type R,type S conditioning.

Megan King | March 9, 2015 5:43 PM | Reply

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
I enjoyed that it was highlighted the controversy over Skinner's book, Waldon Two which utilizes his ideas of social engineering. While most people dislike the idea of control and a lack of freedom or dignity, the author pointed out that this is already the case (to some extent). The tidbits about taxes really helped to illuminate how we are unaware of what is really controlling us.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
I disliked the lack of an explanation of a ratio strain. In once shaping has occurred and leaning is in the process, ratio strain can occur from too much or too quick of a schedule change. What exactly are the repercussions for this? Does this then make the particular subject void for the rest of the experiment or do they have to retrain them?

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
I will remember successive approximation as the process in shaping that when the test subject is close to emitting the target behavior it is reinforced. I will also remember the operant chamber that Skinner devised, also known as the Skinner Box where he conditioned rats and other animals to elicit behaviors to experiment and better understand reinforcement and punishment. I will also remember that there are species specific responses, like rats freezing up when they are scared. These vary across animals and once identified help to better understand behavioral patterns.

4a) week #4:
Day 1 = 48 oz
Day 2 = 48 oz
Day 3 = 48 oz
Day 4 = 48 oz
Day 5 = 48 oz
Day 6 = 48 oz
Day 7 = 48 oz
Average = 48 oz

4b) ]
Once again I don't think my results are easy to reflect on. Because I am not too committed to drinking more water I don't think reinforcing or not really affects my behavior. I simply drink water when I want to. However, I did notice I drank about the same amount of water this past week as I did the week before.

5) Reinforcing, Skinner, Waldon Two, shaping, ratio strain, leaning, successive approximation, emitting, target behavior, social engineering, reinforcement, punishment, elicit, behavior, operant chamber, Skinner Box, conditioned, species specific response

stevendreesman | March 9, 2015 5:58 PM | Reply

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
The thing I most liked in this section was the specificity of Skinner's "Air Bed" study. I've learned about it before, but never in this much depth. It was very interesting to read.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
The thing I liked least was the slight lack of regular vocabulary in this section. I felt that there were many more sections with a lot more behavior modification terminology present.

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
A = The first thing I will remember is the difference between classical conditioning and operant conditioning, where in classical conditioning, the stimulus came before the response, and in operant conditioning, the stimulus follows the response.
B = The second thing I will remember is what successive approximation is and how it occurs.
C = The third thing I will remember from this section is what it means to shape a behavior.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 10
Day 2 = 10
Day 3 = 10
Day 4 = 9
Day 5 = 10
Day 6 = 8
Day 7 = 7
Average = 10

4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
I hit the 64 oz mark. It was very peculiar, because after the first week, if I did not hit my mark on a particular day, the simple feeling of failure was enough self-punishment to make me more inclined to drink more the next day.

You should have received a copy of a graph to fill out from Dr. MacLin. Please go back and fill out the water drinking data for the last four weeks and bring it to class on Thursday (or drop it off in Dr. M's mail box in the psych office).

5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
Terms: behavior modification, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, punishment, shaping a behavior, successive approximation

BadgerFan3 | March 9, 2015 7:14 PM | Reply

After reading section 3.5, please respond to the following questions.

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
-I really enjoyed the part about Skinners Air Bed and how he used it instead of using a crib. I enjoyed this part because it was very clear and understandable on what the Air Bed was all about and how it worked.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
-There was really nothing that I did not like in this section. I thought it was easy to understand and was very interesting.

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
-I will remember Skinners Air Bed experiment because i enjoyed how he did the experiment.
-The next thing i enjoyed about this section was Conditioned Emotional Response. I enjoyed this particular because it showed that not all conditions are not Operant conditioning.
-The last thing I enjoyed about this section is the Skinner Box. I liked this part of the section because it explained the box and was easy to understand. I liked how Skinner did this experiment and it was clear on the findings.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Glasses of 8 oz.
Day 1 =8
Day 2 =3
Day 3 =6
Day 4 =9
Day 5 =9
Day 6 =12
Day 7 =13
Average =8.5 glass of 8 oz.

4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
-I reached my goal again this week but it was harder because I was not rewarding myself with anything and I really had to focus more on just drinking the water to be healthier and less tired.

You should have received a copy of a graph to fill out from Dr. MacLin. Please go back and fill out the water drinking data for the last four weeks and bring it to class on Thursday (or drop it off in Dr. M's mail box in the psych office).

5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
-Skinners Air Bed, Conditioned Emotional Response, Operant Conditioning, Skinner Box, reward

cszam | March 9, 2015 7:27 PM | Reply

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
One thing that I found enjoyable I this section was the process of shaping and then leaning out. I think it is interesting because the animal has to connect the lever and the food pellet on its own, there isn’t much to help it. It then figures out to get a food pellet it must press the lever, and so when the rules change and we make him press it more times for the pellet, he goes through an extinction burst and continues to press it, again with no other assistance or aide to tell him what to do.
2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
I feel as if the electric floors are a bit unnecessary or hash. The animal needs to figure out how to get food and submitting him to punishment for just sitting there doesn’t seem very effective.
3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
1. Skinner made all his own equipment, including the operant chamber and the food delivery system. 2. Skinner differentiated between Type S (classical conditioning) and Type R (operant conditioning). 3. Skinner wrote about how people could utilize social engineering to form better societies.
4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 64 oz
Day 2 = 68 oz
Day 3 = 62 oz
Day 4 = 64 oz
Day 5 =58 oz
Day 6 = 72 oz
Day 7 = 70 oz
Average = 65.4 oz
4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
For the most part I believe my water drinking was staying right around the 64 oz mark, but I did have a few days where I did not consume enough water. I think this is because the reinforcer is not put in place to help me stick to my goal.
You should have received a copy of a graph to fill out from Dr. MacLin. Please go back and fill out the water drinking data for the last four weeks and bring it to class on Thursday (or drop it off in Dr. M's mail box in the psych office).
5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
Emit, behavior, reinforcer, reinforce, operant conditioning, classical conditioning, shaping, leaning out, positive, negative.

Elizabeth Hill | March 9, 2015 8:05 PM | Reply

This is an easy reading week. Please read sections 3.5 (Skinner).
Please fill out the boxes in the readings you may be quizzed on them in class.
After reading section 3.5, please respond to the following questions.
1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
I thought that the pictures this section were useful, it gave me a better understanding of the things that Skinner made.
2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
I felt this section had less information than the other ones about historical figures. I didn’t feel I learned anything too new.
3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
a) Skinner was an inventor. This seems to be an important thing about him since the section mentions some of the things that he was a part of making . It will be easy to remember that fact about him.
b) The operant chamber will have something that can function as a discriminative stimulus, something to dispense reinforcers, something to manipulate (lever), and something to
deliver punishers. I think that the picture used with the computer mouse and talking about in great detail in the section.
c) Classical conditioning is also involved in chamber, it isn’t just all operant conditioning. When the rat learns to associate the sound of the computer opening the food gate that is classical conditioning. We have been talking about classical conditioning in class so this just reminded me of stuff of the stuff we been learning.
4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 =66
Day 2 =80
Day 3 =130
Day 4 =66
Day 5 =35
Day 6 =26
Day 7 =76
Average =68.43
4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
I think I did great this week beside the weekend I did not make my goal on Friday and Saturday but I was able to do it on Sunday. My average was 68.43 so that means I am over the 64oz mark. I would say it is better to be over than under. My average went up this week so that is always a good thing.
You should have received a copy of a graph to fill out from Dr. MacLin. Please go back and fill out the water drinking data for the last four weeks and bring it to class on Thursday (or drop it off in Dr. M's mail box in the psych office).
5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
Skinner, The operant chamber, reinforcers, punishers, operant conditioning, classical conditioning,

Heather Kelly | March 9, 2015 8:27 PM | Reply

Section 3.5
1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
One thing I really liked about the section B.F. Skinners concept of social engineering. I thought it was really interesting how he thought we could develop and maintain a utopian society based on behavioral principles. The “utopian” societies always seem more dystopian than not. I say this because of our media depictions of behavioral control such as Divergent or 1984 by George Orwell. I feel to make the social engineering work, interpersonal checks and balances would need to occur and there would need to be an absence of a government or other force imposing rules. Rather society would need to function by means of the people deciding what was best for each other and thus what behaviors are punished or reinforced, etc.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
Although the air bed seems very purposeful, well designed, and unique something rubs me the wrong way about it. I almost feel like raising a child like that is too easy and that it takes away a certain raw, imperfect aspect of human development and being cared for. I’m sure all basic human needs/functions were taken care of by how the bed was designed and I don’t know how long a baby would stay in there at a time, but we all need human touched and held, especially at a young age and I would worry that enough of that need would not be paid enough attention.

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
Three things I will remember include
a. Successive approximation which is how we initiate a behavior to connect with a reinforcement procedure. This is important because you have to guide an organism to a specific reinforcement schedule or behavior in order to teach them that that is the behavior you are looking for.
b. Although Watson is the father of behaviorism, Skinner had a huge contribution to behaviorism as it is now and especially as it pertains to this class. Many concepts of his, including the operant chamber and a focus on changing the environment to change behavior are very important tools in behavior modification.
c. The recap over the reinforcement schedules. It is really easy to just forget what the initials mean such as FR or FI and so on. Making sure to review them consistently, especially when doing readings (which may entail writing out what it stands for and the definition) until it is automatic to connect the ideas.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 40 oz.
Day 2 = 70 oz.
Day 3 = 20 oz.
Day 4 = 80 oz.
Day 5 = 80 oz.
Day 6 = 80 oz.
Day 7 = 80 oz.
Average = 64. 3

4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? My average decreased, and there were some days that I drank considerably less than my target amount for a variety of reasons I cannot remember. However, I think in comparison to how much I would drink daily before this exercise I am drinking considerably more water. I think I got these results because of the lack of reinforcement for emitting the drinking behaviors. Without the reinforcement I was more likely to delay my goal to the second half of the day and then I couldn’t get all of my water intact in in that time. I also felt less compelled to tally where I was throughout the day. I do find myself when trying to make a drink decision saying to myself that I have a lot of water to still drink for the day so I should just drink that with lunch or dinner. I will probably try to maintain this goal just on a less structured basis because it has affected my decision making toward healthy options because it is easy to justify a hamburger and fries combined with a pop but more difficult for me to settle with if I’m committing to drinking water.

5) Emit, reinforcement, behavior, successive approximation, punished, reinforced, operant, conditioned, reinforcement schedules, B.F. Skinner, Watson, operant chamber.

Sp13 | March 9, 2015 8:30 PM | Reply

After reading section 3.5, please respond to the following questions.

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
One thing that I really liked about section 3.5 is learning about Skinner as a writer. I liked this part, because I never really had hear much about Skinner as a writer before reading this section. I thought it was interesting to read about Skinner's book Walden Two. This book described a utopian community that was based on behavioral principles.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
One thing that I disliked about this section, is talking about the conditioned emotional response with the rats. One reason that I disliked this part is because I believe that it is unethical to use electrical shock on the rats to evaluate how often they freeze up, in order to measure how scared they are.

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
The first thing that I will remember from this is section is the shaping technique known as successive approximation. Successive approximation is when someone/something is close to performing a behavior it will still be reinforced. Another thing that I will remember from this section is differential reinforcement. Differential reinforcement occurs when you reinforce under one condition (S+) and not the other (S-). The third thing that I will remember from this section is a species specific response. A species specific response is a response that is a unique response to that species. I will remember these three things because, I found these terms interesting. I also think that they will be important terms in behavioral modification.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 =5
Day 2 =4
Day 3 =5
Day 4 =5
Day 5 =7
Day 6 =4
Day 7 =5
Average =5

4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
My drinking decreased lower than the 64 oz this week. However, this is the first week it went under the 64 oz mark. I think it decreased, because I wasn't reinforced and it wasn't a high priority on my least to accomplish last week, with the amount of other things that I needed to do.

5) Terms- conditioned emotional response, successive approximation, behavior, differential reinforcement, reinforce, condition, species specific response

Brittney McKee | March 9, 2015 8:43 PM | Reply

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
One thing that I really liked in this section was that there were so many visuals. I find that, personally, having an image to go along with what the text is talking about very beneficial.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
The thing that I disliked the most about this section was the fact that the bars on the floors of Skinner's operant chambers could give the animal inside a shock from an electrical current. It seems to me that it doesn't serve a real purpose and is an unnecessary form of punishment.

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
a)I will remember that Skinner invented and built his own equipment that he used for his experiments in operant conditioning. I will remember this because it is review from previous information that I've already learned and the fact that operant chambers are also known as Skinner boxes.
b)Skinner referred to classical conditioning as Type S. I will remember this because the stimulus typically comes before the response in classical conditioning.
c)Skinner also referred to operant conditioning as Type R. I will remember this because the response typically comes before the stimulus in operant conditioning.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 =12
Day 2 =28
Day 3 =32
Day 4 =28
Day 5 =4
Day 6 =4
Day 7 =8
Average =16.5 oz

4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
My level of drinking water decreased. I think that this happened because I was no longer really thinking about the fact that I needed to be drinking water as much as I had been to receive the reward that I had planned for myself when we were first given this assignment.

5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
Skinner, operant chambers, punishment, operant conditioning, Skinner boxes, Type S, stimulus, response, classical conditioning, Type R, reward

Colin Cook | March 9, 2015 10:01 PM | Reply

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
I really liked learning about shaping again. I can relate this to a video (which I believe we saw in this class during the actual meeting time) where a lady was teaching her cat to run through the house and “sock”. I’ve always wondered how dog owners can get their dogs to run those courses and go through some of those obstacles. I understand that you have to reinforce by first letting them look at the obstacle, then only when they go near it, etc.
2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
I thought Skinner’s air bed was dangerous. I understand that it worked out for his kids, but what if it didn’t? I probably wouldn’t want my kids (if I had kids) trying something like that. Also, the discomfort they experienced as they grew up before Skinner changed the temperature was probably not good either.
3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
To shape you have to reinforce slowly by introducing them to the stimulus, then when they go near it, etc.; ratio strain is when the schedule of reinforcement is increased to fast and to much; an operant chamber is a box that animals are put in to study behavioral techniques
4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 6
Day 2 = 6
Day 3 = 7
Day 4 = 6
Day 5 = 7
Day 6 = 7
Day 7 = 6
Average = 6.4
4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
I could not really stop my reinforcements, because I basically was just using the added health benefits as reinforcement and you can’t take those away. However, my drinking water stayed about the same and if I didn’t have the one bad day from the previous week it was almost exactly the same. I need to find something to reinforce myself at the end of the week and not just as I go because that is hard for me. I know I am getting my 64 oz still, because the cups of water I drink are way more then 8 oz usually.
5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
Shaping, reinforce, Skinner, Air bed, stimulus, ratio strain, schedule of reinforcement, operant chamber

MollyD | March 9, 2015 10:02 PM | Reply

Reading Activity Week 9

Section 3.5

1) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
I really liked this entire section. I enjoy reading about behaviorists and psychologists like Pavlov, Watson, and Skinner. They have contributed so many things to the field that I am majoring in (psychology), and I just don’t think it would be the same without the work that they have done. They were able to do studies that wouldn’t be ethical today, and we are able to learn so many things from those about behavior. I just find these topics all really easy to read because they are so intriguing to me.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
The only thing I disliked about this section was the part about Skinner being a strong believer in determinism. I guess I never realized that he had views like that. I also had never realized that he wrote a book called “Beyond Freedom and Dignity”. That just sounds like such a pessimistic book to me. He thought that freedom stood in the way of a society’s potential progression. I can understand where he is coming from and how he would potentially believe those things and have those views, but I really like to believe differently. I like to believe that I have free will and the power to choose things for myself in my life.

3) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
1. The first couple of things I will take from this section are the ideas of shaping and successive approximation. Shaping is the process of teaching an animal how to do a certain behavior. And successive approximation is when the animal “sort of” emits the target behavior/thing we are trying to teach them to do. I like to think of my dog when we talk about teaching an animal to do something. Obviously all pet dogs have a way of telling their owner that they need to go outside (assuming there is no doggy door). But this is not something that we can tell them to do. When my dog was a puppy I didn’t say, “Just go stand by the door and stare at me whenever you need out.” But he knows that if he does that, he will be let outside. He learned that there are certain ways to get me to let him outside. But there are also behaviors he emits that are similar to his “wanting to be let out” behavior. For example, when he has to go outside, he will sit at the door and stare at me until I notice him. But sometimes, he will sit right next to me and stare at me. Usually this behavior means the same thing, but sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes he just stares at me like the weird dog that he is. But I still reinforce that behavior. I will still get up and walk to the door and ask him if he wants to go outside. That is when he will either run out the door or continue staring at me because I was wrong. But these are important to remember when learning about behavior modification. When we use shaping, we can teach animals (and probably humans) to do certain behaviors or act in certain ways. We also need to remember to reinforce the behaviors that look similar to the target behavior because this will aid in the learning process.
2. The next thing I will take from this section is the concept of leaning out. This will be important when we use different reinforcement schedules. The example in the text is about a rat. We are trying to get the rat to a fixed ratio reinforcement schedule of 25 lever pushes. This means that every 25 times the lever is pushed, the rat will receive food. You have to start with a continuous reinforcement schedule, just so the rat can understand that pushing the lever means you get food. Leaning out is the process of gradually increasing the amount of times the rat must push the lever until it gets food. This makes perfect sense because if we just jumped from continuous reinforcement to an FR25, the rat would five up before any behavioral changes occurred. We need to remember to gradually work out way into reinforcement schedules in instances like this.
3. The last thing I will take from this section is Skinner’s idea that freedom and dignity stand in the way of our society progressing. I can definitely see where he is coming from in his ideas. I am usually an unbiased thinker/learner. I like to hear the other side of things. I like to become informed on things I am not aware of and then make an educated decision about what opinion I will form. But I just couldn’t bring myself to agree with Skinner and these ideas. They were a little far-fetched and very pessimistic (in my opinion). I am a strong believer in free will. But I still think this is very important to take with us. We need to remember that there are other ideas, theories, and opinions out there rather than out own.

4) Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 48
Day 2 = 64
Day 3 = 64
Day 4 = 64
Day 5 = 72
Day 6 = 72
Day 7 = 50
Average = 62

This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz. mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did?
My water drinking behavior was about the same as the last two weeks. For the past few weeks, I have been meeting the 64 oz. mark (or more) for 5 of the 7 days. My behavior has increased since we started the process, but now it remains the same. I didn’t see any difference. I think that this is the case because I already knew I wasn’t going to be reinforced. I knew that I didn’t have my reward coming at the end of the week, so I knew I would have to concentrate on it a little harder. I also assumed that this week was supposed to be worse for us since we weren’t being reinforced. Since I figured it would be likely that people would do worse this week, I tried extra hard to continue to meet my goal.

TERMS: Shaping, Successive Approximation, Emit, Target Behavior, Reinforce, Behavior Modification, Leaning Out, Fixed Ratio, Continuous Reinforcement, Skinner, Free Will, “Beyond Freedom and Dignity”, Pavlov, Watson

Monaghad | March 9, 2015 10:21 PM | Reply

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
I thought it was cool to learn about the Skinner Air Bed. I had learned about the operant chamber before, but the airbed was completely foreign to me. Also, I like the amount of detail that has gone into the last few chapters about each of these researchers inventions, and what they were looking to find. I like that it goes ore in depth than what intro classes teach and I feel as though I care more about them.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
I dislike learning about the conditioned emotional response, the only reason I dislike this is because I don’t understand it no matter how many times I read through that part of the book. I think I need to do a google search or look for a video on youtube to see if I can find another way of having this explained to me.

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?

-I will remember how the airbed was used to study behavior of a comfortable baby. I think this is super cool because I think it, if done right, could help a lot of new parents get more sleep at night and I wonder what the effect could be on reducing SIDs.

-I will remember that Skinner wrote freedom and Dignity. I think this book (or what I read about it in the text) is a really interesting piece and I would like to read more about it in academic classes. I will remember that tax credits serve as reinforcer’s because of the way this section was set up.
- I will remember that the Type S is classical conditioning where the stimulus generally comes before the response. And type R is operant conditioning where the response preceded the stimulus.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
 Day 1 = 1 bottle 
Day 2 = 4 bottles
Day 3 = 1 bottle
Day 4 = 1.5 bottles
Day 5 = 0 bottles
Day 6 = 3 bottles
Day 7 = 2 bottles
Average =1.7 bottles

4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.

For the most part my water stayed the same, however the last week it dropped significantly. I think this is mostly because I lost my water bottle and had nothing to carry with me unless I bought disposable bottles.

Type R, Operant Conditioning, classical conditioning, reinforcer, "Beyond Freedom and Dignity", conditioned emotional response, skinner air bed, operant conditioning, Skinner

SarahGast | March 9, 2015 10:32 PM | Reply

1 a&b) I really enjoyed the subject matter of this chapter. While I have heard of Skinner, I did not know much about him prior to this class. Most of the psych classes I have taken in the past focused almost exclusively on Pavlov and maybe Watson. I really liked that this section gave me the opportunity to learn a lot about a very interesting man who I may not have heard about otherwise. One thing that I found particularly interesting was the section which discussed Skinners air bed. While the idea seemed a bit strange and even dangerous to me, I thought that it was a very interesting concept.

2) One thing that I didn't like as much about this chapter is that I wish there had been more information. This is very unusual as in the past I have remarked that I thought various chapters were too wordy of contained an overly dense amount of information. However, in this chapter I found myself wishing that there was more information about Skinner for me to read.

3
a) The first thing that I will remember is that in addition to being a scientist and an inventor, Skinner was also a very good writer. I will remember that while many of his ideas were extreme and may hedge on disturbing to members of the general population. I will remember that he believed in social engineering, and did not believe in the idea of free will.
b) A second thing that I will remember is that each species has unique specifications for the behaviors that they will emit. I will remember the scenario that Skinner constructed with the rats and the pigeons and that the scenario had to be altered to fit the unique needs of the species in the box.
c) Lastly, I will remember the concept of successive approximation. The example that was given in the text dealt with a rat pulling a lever. This idea means that in the beginning the rat toes not need to emit the exact desired behavior in order to be rewarded. If the rat emitted a closely related behavior to that which was desired, it would be reinforced.

4a)
Day 1 = 64 oz
Day 2 =60 oz
Day 3 =70 oz
Day 4 = 64 oz
Day 5 = 80 oz
Day 6 = 64 oz
Day 7 =64 oz
Average =66.5

4b) This week my water drinking actually increased. I think that this is due mostly to the fact that I was very strictly monitoring it. I have a water bottle that holds 32 ounces and I carry it with me everywhere. I think that this helps me stay hydrated because I am constantly drinking out of it. Sometimes I might be bored or distracted and then suddenly realize that I am absentmindedly sipping water from my bottle. I also think that the fact that it is so easy to measure makes it easier to monitor. I know that I need to drink two full bottles every day so it makes it easy to record.
TERMS: Behavior, Skinner, successive approximation, emit, target behavior, reinforcement, free will, pavolv, watson

Tori Davis | March 9, 2015 10:44 PM | Reply

After reading section 3.5, please respond to the following questions.
1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
The one thing that I liked about this section is that it went more in depth about the fixed ratio idea. I didn’t understand it completely after the last couple sections. Skinner used this idea to shape the rat or non-human animal into doing the appropriate behavior that he wanted it to do. Skinner used the idea of successive approximation to help shape the animal.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
There wasn’t anything specific that I didn’t like. It made everything that we have learned in the past more clear. For example, this section included operant and classical conditioning. It explained them both again before talking about them. This section made me more familiar with all the different terms we have been talking about so far.

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
The first thing that I will remember from this section is about the “Air Bed” that Skinner invented. He invented this so that his daughter could sleep in it rather than a crib. He wanted to keep the baby’s body warm during the night without blankets and thousands of layers. He thought it would be more safe for a young child. The next thing that I will remember out of this section is that Skinner used a whole lot of different ideas to get the animals to emit a specific behavior. The first idea that I’m going to remember is that he electrified the rat to emit a behavior that he wanted them to do, like get the food. The last thing but also the second idea that he wanted them to do was that he did a fixed ratio to help shape the rats into pressing the lever to get the food. He started off with a lower ratio so that they would continue the behavior. Extinction happened during this time also.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4
: Day 1 = 32 oz
 Day 2 = 40 oz 
Day 3 = 16 oz 
Day 4 = 32 0z 
Day 5 =16 oz
 Day 6 = 48 oz 
Day 7 = 64 oz
 Average = 35.43 oz

4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
Unfortunately, I never have met the goal continuously. I don’t seem to drink enough water like we should. During the past couple weeks while doing this experiment I average around 35-45 oz per week. The idea of reinforcement didn't help during this.

5) Terminology: fixed ratio, behavior, operant conditioning, classical conditioning, emit, extinction, reinforcement

Ron | March 9, 2015 10:50 PM | Reply

1.) I really liked the short discussion on successive approximation. We have been talking about shaping all semester, beginning on the first day of class Dr. Maclin told us that he was shaping our behavior to get better responses to his questions. The method for shaping (and I think one of the most useful tricks in modifying behavior that I can use everyday) is successive approximation. Some behaviors close to the target behaviors get reinforced to start the process of teaching the appropriate behavior. I think this is very interesting and applicable to everyday life.

2.) There were a lot of terms and definitions in this section. I thought that a few were glossed over without much explanation. I was very interested in the shaping section and was following along with the section and then right before we were about to move on, ratio strain was introduced and then not discussed. I would have liked to have a little discussion on this. These sections always discuss when conditioning works successfully, but I like to know why and how condition is unsuccessful. Ration strain seems like a brief insight into when conditioning doesn’t work, so I was looking for more of a discussion there.

3.) One thing I will remember is that Skinner was a jack-of-all-trades. He developed many inventions to put his numerous ideas and theories to test. He wrote extensively on what he discovered. And he took behavioral science to a new level. Another think I will remember is that the shaping process is made up of many small successive approximations toward the target behavior. Eliciting the target behavior cold turkey is very difficult; the steps (aka successive approximations) have to be built toward it. Lastly I will remember how Skinner’s writing were viewed. He saw a utopian society based on his social engineering that many people didn’t agree with. His stance that society can advance through modified environments that are only hindered by freedom and dignity is a radical view. It is understandable why people opposed these ideas, even though a utopia, by definition, is an imaginary place so there is no actual threat of this happening.

4.) Day 1: 2.5 Bottles
Day 2: 2.5 bottles
Day 3: 1.5 bottle
Day 4: 2 bottles
Day 5: 1.5 bottles
Day 6: 1.5 bottles
Day 7: 1 bottle
Average: 1.78 bottles
I think this baseline may be a little flawed. For the previous three weeks, my drinking habits were normal, but last week I traveled and was staying in a hotel for four days. I think this have led to below normal consumption of water.

5.) successive approximations, shaping, ratio strain, conditioning, eliciting, target behavior.

Kori Roberts | March 9, 2015 10:56 PM | Reply

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
I enjoyed that the section discusses the different hats of Skinner and the different contributions that he has made to psychology. I liked this section because I learned a lot during this section and the backgrounds help explain what he has done and why.
2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
I didn’t necessarily dislike anything about this section, but I disliked something about Skinner. I did not like the box that he put children in and raised them in. I don’t like it because I believe that it is going to far for science. I know that many professors complain that there is lost research because of the restrictions of the IRB but I believe that it is for the best.
3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
-I will remember the concept of shaping because this is the foundation of how to change behavior and how to modify behavior. In an animal experiment, shaping is the first step in order to elicit a change in behavior and this is translated to other areas.
-I will remember that Skinner is the one who created the operant chamber because this is the subject that is difficult for me to understand. I will remember because I have keyed into this topic while reading to attempt to understand it better.
-I will remember the concepts of ratio interval of reinforcement because the example of a rat, a lever, and food. This was a good example of this and it was to examine the differences of schedules of reinforcement.
4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 72 oz
Day 2 = 64 0z
Day 3 = 72 oz
Day 4 = 64 oz
Day 5 = 64 oz
Day 6 = 64 oz
Day 7 = 56 oz
Average = 65 oz
4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
My drinking water stayed right on track with 64 oz. It is nice to know that I can achieve this and be able to drink this amount of water. It is so healthy for people to drink this much water and I am happy that I have elicited myself to do it.
5) terminology: schedules of reinforcement, elicited, shaping, operant chamber, ratio interval,

pflynn | March 9, 2015 11:03 PM | Reply

After reading section 3.5, please respond to the following questions.

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?

a. I liked the description of successive approximation.
b. I was wondering how people could get animals to do tricks and how they would get the animal to know which behavior to emit and successive approximation is the answer to that question. The description was also very clear and not hard to understand.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?

a. I do not like the fact that our behavior is modified by the government.

b. I think the government uses taxes to sometimes manipulate our behavior in bad ways. There are tax breaks for people who have kids but sometimes that doesn’t make them better parents and sometimes, parents will use the extra money they get to do bad things with. The government already manipulates us with laws that are in place like: having to spend our hard earned money on health insurance that doesn’t cover very much and we can’t choose our own doctors. I do not agree with Skinner because of the fact that the government would have to step in even further than they already do. That makes the government officials the puppet masters and how do we choose the people that we know will end up controlling us?

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?

a. The air bed is a way of controlling the environment to control behavior. I will remember this because it sounds comfortable and two degrees difference could make the baby stop crying.

b. Skinner believed that all human behavior was determined by the environment. I disagree to some extent of this because facts about internal motivation would be false due to this theory.

c. Successive approximation is when a behavior that is close to the target behavior is rewarded. This is used in video games a lot. It is also used in classrooms.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:

Day 1 =64oz
Day 2 =64oz
Day 3 =114oz
Day 4 =64oz
Day 5 =72oz
Day 6 =80oz
Day 7 =72oz
Average =76oz

4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.

I think not having a reinforcer made me drink less water than I had been drinking in the last few weeks. I stayed at or above 64oz but when I had the reinforcer, I would go above and beyond what I was supposed to drink. I think having a reinforcer at the end of the week made getting to the goal way easier to do because the reinforcer was something to look forward to having. The reinforcer was also an establishing operation because I couldn’t have it till the end of the week if I met my goal every day. Without the reinforcement, drinking water became less important to me but it was a habit so I stayed right at my goal. I will probably go under the goal and extinction will occur if the behavior is not still being reinforced at the end of every week.

5) Establishing operation, reinforced, reinforcer, successive approximation, emit, extinction, Skinner.

Shawn Ashby | March 9, 2015 11:03 PM | Reply

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
I liked learning that Skinner used his talents in multiple ways. Whether operant conditioning or inventing or writing he stuck behind what he thought was right and used his talents to try to make the world a better place.
2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why? I don’t know if I completely understood the air bed concept. I think Skinner unrestricted the babies by keeping them naked and uncovered but adjusting the temperature starting high to keep them comfortable. As time passed by he slowly lowered the temperature until the babies felt comfortable naked and uncovered at a temperature that most of us would feel like we need a blanket at.
3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section? I will remember the air bed and the Skinner box and how to use a CER to measure if your reinforcement and punishments are working. I will also remember the books that Skinner wrote and see if I can read them on the internet.
4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 =4
Day 2 =5
Day 3 =4
Day 4 =3
Day 5 =4
Day 6 =3
Day 7 =4
Average =4

Shelby Sloan | March 9, 2015 11:21 PM | Reply

After reading section 3.5, please respond to the following questions.

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
I liked the part about skinner box because it's a very interesting invention and I like how the creature used in the box aren't harmed severely besides the positive punishment of a small shock, in anyway but yet are still able to have their behaviors manipulated. I also liked how it broke down each part of the box that dealt with the manipulation of the behavior.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
I did not really dislike anything but I found the air bed to be a little abnormal because this is something new to me and I have never heard of such a thing. I thought it was weird how they got the baby to stop crying or fusing by lowering the temperature.

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
I will remember how they were able to achieve an FR25 through discrimination training and conditioned emotional response. I will remember this because it was talked about in the section for a good chunk of it. I will also remember that the lever in skinner's box is called the manipuldula because its the object the animals manipulate. I will also remember that cigarettes are considered a sin tax and is therefore taxed more so people see it as a punishment and decrease smoking rates. The Government does many things like this that I didn't realize before.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 36
Day 2 = 20
Day 3 = 36
Day 4 = 18
Day 5 = 18
Day 6 = 18
Day 7 =36
Average = 26

4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
My water intake decreased a little compared to past weeks. I think because I was not being reinforced anymore I forgot about it honestly. I think if I were to actually focus on this and maybe set reminders on my phone it would have been better. It's hard on my Thursday classes because I am unable to drink anything in my Chemistry lab so I forget to take a water bottle onto campus with me and it's 2pm by the time I get home so I usually don't remember which just sets a trend into the rest of the week and weekend. Also at work I am not able to have liquid on the floor and theres only so much I could drink on my break. I think because I was not getting reinforced anymore I didn't want to make the extra effort to continue to drink more water.

5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
skinner, skinner's box, response, positive punishment, manipulation, manipuldula, conditioned emotional response, discrimination training, reinforced, reinforcement

Emily W. | March 9, 2015 11:28 PM | Reply

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why? I liked learning about Skinner and his belief that by creating the right environment we can predict and control behavior to the benefit of society.
2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why? I didn’t particularly dislike anything in this chapter because I am overall interested in this class and the concept in general.
3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section? I will remember that 1) Skinner invented the operant chamber and the graphical recording device called a cumulative recorder. 2) The operant chamber will have something that can function as a discriminative stimulus, something to dispense reinforcers, something to manipulate (lever), and something to deliver punishers. 3) Shaping is used to train rats to lever press which involves successive approximation where the rat is reinforced each time it does something close to the desired response.
4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4: 
Day 1 = 60
Day 2 = 58
Day 3 = 64
Day 4 = 56
Day 5 = 55
Day 6 = 69
Day 7 = 76
Average = 62.57
4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did. My behavior stayed about the same. I think this happened because I am not very good at reinforcing my own behavior, I need someone else to.
5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
Behavior, operant chamber, graphical recording device, cumulative recorder, discriminative stimulus, reinforcers, manipulate, deliver punishers, shaping, reinforced, response

Anthony Perez | March 9, 2015 11:50 PM | Reply

After reading section 3.5, please respond to the following questions.
1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?

One thing that I liked in this section was the detailed description of how a Skinner box works. The reason I liked this was because of how easy it made understanding its use in terms of conditioning. Before reading this section I did not know that it was complex enough to be used for different types of conditioning such as operant conditioning, classical conditioning, discrimination training, and conditioned emotional response. Understanding the versatility of the Skinner box reveals its importance as a psychological contribution for behavioral studies.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?

One thing that I did not like was Skinner’s idea of social engineering. If it was taken to the extremes that were presented in his book “Walden Two” then I feel like it is similar to communism. The idea of having major parts of your life, such as what career you go into, decided for you is an uncomfortable thought in society. I think this is especially true for college students who may try several majors until they find something they like. However, I can see the benefits of changing the environment to elicit specific behaviors. The “broken windows” theory of crime argues that rundown neighborhoods elicit crime because the environment reinforces crime. The theory says that fixing these neighborhoods can reduce crime because if people care about their neighborhood then crime will no longer be reinforced, and criminal behavior will be extinguished.

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?

a) I will remember that shaping is an operant conditioning technique in which a complex target behavior is taught through reinforcement of progressions forward. The series of smaller steps is called successive approximation. These steps must gradually move closer to the target behavior. Shaping is how many people learn to play a musical instrument, since it is unlikely that you can pick one up and immediately play a song. The instructor might have you practice holding it correctly first, then focus on you producing a good tone, then a specific pitch, then simple rhythm, then a simple melody, and so forth until you can emit the target behavior of playing a song.

b) I will remember that leaning out is a way to increase a reinforcement schedule. This means that the ratio or interval of reinforcement will increase. This cannot be done too quickly or ratio strain will occur. It is normal for an organism to go through extinction as the schedule increases, but if the schedule increases by too much then the organism’s behavior might be extinguished.

c) Finally, I will remember Skinner’s air bed because I had never heard about him inventing this. It was surprising to read about how adjusting the temperature just a few degrees could stop a baby from crying. It is possible that people back then were not comfortable with putting their babies in something like that. The picture in this section almost makes it look like a cage.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:

Day 1 = 0 (10 oz glasses)
Day 2 = 1
Day 3 = 1
Day 4 = 2
Day 5 = 1
Day 6 = 1
Day 7 = 0
Average = 0.86 glasses

4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case).
Did your behavior of drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease?

It decreased

Why do you think you got the results you did?

I got these results as a consequence of not being reinforced. Therefore, I did not desire to emit the drinking behavior.

Terms: Skinner box, conditioning, operant conditioning, classical conditioning, discrimination training, conditioned emotional response, social engineering, elicit, reinforce, extinguish, shaping, target behavior, successive approximation, emit, lean out, schedule of reinforcement, ratio, interval, ratio strain, organism, extinction, Skinner’s air bed

Dhiya | March 10, 2015 12:07 AM | Reply

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
One thing that I really liked in this section was the technique called shaping. I like that Skinner used shaping to form a desired behavior in the rat which is to press the lever 25 times. The way Skinner uses shaping with successive approximation really interest me because he trained the rat to perform a behavior by first reinforcing it whenever it performed behaviors that are close to the target behavior. The reinforcer motivates the rat to go another step further to achieve the target behavior.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
One thing that I did not favor much in this section was the fact that Skinner shocked the rat to bring about conditioned emotional response. I think it is a mean thing to do, be it animal or human. I belief Skinner could have used a different method to test if rats freeze up when they are scared.

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
Firstly, I would remember Skinner’s operant chamber experiment in which he used rats and pigeons to study reinforcement and punishment. I will remember this because this experiment is one of the most famous studies in behavior modification. Next, I will remember Skinner’s Air Bed. I think this is a unique experiment that Skinner carried out. He used an air bed instead of a crib that is traditionally used for babies. I will remember this because Skinner used his own daughter as a subject for the Air Bed to observe changes in her behavior. Lastly, I will remember the term successive approximation. This method is used when the rat performs a behavior that is close to the desired behavior of the experimenter. As a result, the rat gets reinforced. I find this method interesting because it is a way to shape a desired behavior in the rat.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 5 glasses
Day 2 = 4 glasses
Day 3 = 5 glasses
Day 4 = 6 glasses
Day 5 = 5 glasses
Day 6 = 4 and a half glasses
Day 7 = 5 glasses
Average = 4.9 glasses

4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
My drinking of water decreased a little but, it did not make a significant difference. I think I got the results that I did because of the absence of the reinforcer. I also had to constantly remind myself not to reinforce my behavior. On the second day my drinking of water behavior dropped a little because I was studying for an exam that day and I was too stressed to think about drinking water. However, the third day onwards I tried my best to emit a drinking behavior of 64 oz water per day.

5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
Shaping, successive approximation, desired behavior, target behavior, reinforcing, reinforce, reinforcer, operant chamber, reinforcement, punishment, emit

Kelsy Applegate | March 10, 2015 12:34 AM | Reply

1. One thing that I really liked was reading about shaping and successive approximation.
B) I really liked this because I think it's interesting that a person can shape a desired behavior by using successive approximation (reinforcing the desired behavior). It would be something interesting to try.
2. I least liked reading about Skinner's operant chamber. I least liked this because I already knew about it and it was just a review.
3. A) I will remember that successive approximation is reinforcing a desired behavior or something similar/close to the desired behavior.
B) I will remember that when using fixed ratio if you start leaning out to fast then it could lead to ratio strain.
C) I will remember thatoperant chambers are or can also be used for classical conditioning.
4. Day 1= 7
Day 2= 7
Day 3= 8
Day 4= 6
Day 5= 8
Day 6= 7
Day 7= 5
Average= 6.9
5. Terms: shaping, successive approximation, operant chamber, fixed ratio, leaning out, ratio strain, classical conditioning, behavior, reinforcing.

kaisere | March 10, 2015 7:27 AM | Reply

1 a&b) In chapter 3.5 I really liked learning more about operant chambers. These were the testing boxes that Skinner used. I had always kind of wondered how they actually got the animals to hit the levers in the first place, so having a section on it was pretty interesting. From the text I learned that they start out using shaping, then move to successive approximation. After that they go to continuous reinforcement. Then the reinforcement schedules are changed by differential reinforcement and finally by the certain type of reinforcement they are using, the text used FR25.
2) One thing in this chapter I didn’t like was the part on emotional response. I don't understand how it is different from any other response, and the text didn’t really clear up any of that for me.
3 a,b&c) One thing I will remember is that Watson is seen more as the person who popularized behaviorism, while Skinner is the person who pushed it forward. Skinner is more well known for distinguishing between classical and operant conditioning, and is viewed more as an inventor, than Watson. I will also remember shaping. Shaping is one way to get a target to emit the desired behavior. This is often used in conjunction with successive approximation. Successive approximation is when we reward the subject for doing anything close to our desired behavior. For example, we would reward the rat everytime he looked at the lever, then touched it, and finally move to only rewarding when the lever is pushed.
4a)
3/3 Day 1 = 60oz
¾ Day 2 = 70oz
⅗ Day 3 = 60oz
3/6 Day 4 =90oz
3/7 Day 5 =90oz
⅜ Day 6 =84oz
3/9 Day 7 = 70oz
Average =74.85 oz
4b) This week my drinking behavior increased, I do not think that it really had much to do with this experiment. The last few days of my week, I was playing in a tournament, so I needed to be drinking a lot of water to stay hydrated. This also led to me drinking increased levels of water this week in preparation. So it is unclear whether the increased levels before the tournament were do to successful conditioning or due to my tournament.
5)TERMS: operant chamber, skinner, shaping,successive approximation, continuous reinforcement, differential reinforcement, FR, emotional response, Watson, classical and operant conditioning,

Sam Mossman | March 10, 2015 9:14 AM | Reply

After reading section 3.5
1 a.b. I liked how in this section Skinner’s concept of social engineering is explained, which basically states that Watson could take any child and through behavioral techniques raise him or her to be a banker or thief. Skinner believed that in the right environment we can predict and control behavior to the benefit of society. The concept of social engineering had me imagining all the different ways in which I could create the perfect environment for any occupation I would want my kid to have. Another thing I like in this section was how experimenters get the animals to cooperate in a study, like pressing a lever, through shaping because that has always confused me.
2. One thing that I liked the least was how fixed ratio was written as FR because that caused some confusion that caused me to have to go back and reread parts.
3 a.b.c. One thing that I will remember is the term shaping because how well it was explained with the rat and the fixed ration. Going along with that, I will also remember that you use stimulus control occurs in situations when the rat learns to emit the proper behavior under the right circumstances. Another thing I will remember is being able to tell apart Type S (classical conditioning S->R) conditioning and Type R conditioning (operant conditioning R->S). One more thing I will remember about this secetion
4a.
Day 1 =8 (64oz)
Day 2 =8
Day 3 =8
Day 4 =8
Day 5 =8
Day 6 =8
Day 7 =8
Average =8
4b. My drinking of water stayed at the 64oz mark each day even without being reinforced because before doing this experiment, I had been wanting to drink more water due to all the benefits from it anyway. Now I hardly even need to think about getting more water, it’s more of a habit.
5) Terms: social engineering, behavioral techniques, fixed ratio, operant conditioning, classical conditioning, Type S conditioning, Type R conditioning, stimulus control

tpalar | March 10, 2015 11:57 AM | Reply

1) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?

One thing I really liked that was in this section was reading about the shaping process. Shaping is used to shape a desired behavior when we can’t just tell something to do that behavior (with animals). This is interesting to me because I think it’s really cool that we are able to use different processes to shape an animal’s behavior into something we want. I enjoyed reading about it. I have two new puppies who are in need of some training, so all of this is really relatable and I have tried to use some of the things we’ve learned, like shaping, while training the dogs.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?

There was nothing that I particularly disliked about the section, but one thing didn’t really make sense to me. I don’t understand very well the concept of Skinner’s air bed and how changing the temperatures by a couple degrees can greatly affect the baby’s behaviors and moods. I also don’t really get how lowering the temperature can get the baby to stop crying. It’s a weird invention to me.

3) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?

One thing I will remember from what I read in the section is that an operant chamber is a secure chamber where a lab animals (such as a rat or pigeon) is placed to study reinforcement and punishment in nonhuman animals. The main features of the operant chamber are: the light, waterspout, bar (for pressing the lever), the food hopper, and the speaker. I will remember this concept because it is a popular concept and was discussed in a clear way in this section. Another thing I will remember is that successive approximation is when an animal does something close to the desired behavior and gets reinforced for it. Eventually the animal is only reinforced for actually doing the desired behavior, but this is all just part of the shaping process. I will remember this concept because it is simple and was explained in away that makes it easy to understand. Finally, I will remember that Skinner distinguished between type s (classical conditioning) and type r (operant conditioning). With type s, the stimulus comes before the response and the response is more reflexive in nature. With type r, the stimulus follows the response and the response is more voluntary (because it comes first). I will remember this because I know what classical conditioning and operant conditioning are and I have read about it before, and also because it was explained well.

4) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4: 
Day 1 = 64 oz
Day 2 = 72 oz
Day 3 = 72 oz
Day 4 = 56 oz
Day 5 = 64 oz
Day 6 = 56 oz
Day 7 = 80 oz
Average = 66.28 oz

4) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did?

My drinking of water stayed right around the 64 oz mark. I think I got these results because I love drinking water anyways and drink a lot of it every day (during classes especially), so I don’t need to be reinforced to drink a lot of water.

You should have received a copy of a graph to fill out from Dr. MacLin. Please go back and fill out the water drinking data for the last four weeks and bring it to class on Thursday (or drop it off in Dr. M's mail box in the psych office).

5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.

Shaping, behavior, desired, Skinner’s air bed, operant chamber, reinforcement, punishment, successive approximation, reinforced, Type S, Type R, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, stimulus, response

wetherell | March 10, 2015 12:19 PM | Reply

1) One thing that I really liked in this section was the introduction of a lot of new vocabulary, and the discussion about social engineering because this topic has always piqued my interest. I learned about it briefly in a different class, and I liked the opportunity to learn more about it.

2) The thing that I liked least in this section was the discussion about the air bed, because I felt as though it wasn’t explained thoroughly enough. I understand what it is and what it does, but I would have liked to learn HOW it does the temperature control. Does it use fans? Is it thermal? I had to do my own research on this.

3) The first thing that I will remember from this section is that Skinner invented quite a few things. Some of these inventions include the operant chamber, where conditioning occurs and is observed, the cumulative recorder, and the air bed. The second thing that I will remember from this chapter is the concept of “leaning out”, and how it impacts the schedules of reinforcement. If an FR schedule is implemented with two high of a ratio to begin with, then the consequences won’t be experienced enough and the target behavior won’t be effectively changed. The process of “leaning out” is also important because it helps to prevent ratio strain, where the schedule of reinforcement is increased too quickly and impedes the conditioning process. Another thing that I will remember from this chapter is definitely discrimination training. It was interesting to understand how conditioning can elicit the rat to emit behaviors in the dark but not in the light. The final thing that I will take from this chapter is the Conditioned Emotional Response. Rats can be conditioned to freeze up when the lights turn on, if the lights are taught to be associated with a shock received through bars in the floor. In this case, the lights would be the conditioned stimulus, and the freezing up would be the conditioned response.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 2
Day 2 = 2
Day 3 = 9
Day 4 = 9
Day 5 = 12
Day 6 = 9
Day 7 = 12
Average = 7.9

4) Before I started monitoring my water consumption, I was already drinking plenty of water. The reinforcer wasn’t too reinforcing because I already enjoyed drinking water, both plain and with added flavor. From the data I’ve collected, it seems as though it has more to do with whether I have my favorite cup and water bottle or not. This is probably because my cup/bottle make it easier for me to drink water in class, at work, etc. My drinking water decreased some, but I can’t say for sure whether this was a cause of losing my water bottle (I bought a new one) or because I was not reinforcing myself any longer.

5) Social engineering, air bed, operant chamber, cumulative recorder, schedules of reinforcement, leaning out, target behavior, consequence, ratio strain, discriminative training, elicit, emit, conditioned emotional response, conditioned response, conditioned stimulus.

ottnaa | March 10, 2015 1:19 PM | Reply

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
One thing I really liked about this section was how it explained in detail the works of B.F. Skinner. I think this is important as he is considered one of the most important figures in psychology today. I also appreciated the fact that they talked about his operant chamber, known as the Skinner Box. This is important to how Skinner studied operant conditioning with his animals.

2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
This section was very interesting, there wasn’t really anything I disliked about it. I thought it was well written and had valuable information.

3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
The first thing I’m going to remember from this section is when trying to produce an FR25, you must start by shaping whoever you are trying to get to emit the behavior. This means that you have to get them to first understand which behavior to emit by reinforcing them when they first make attempts to emit the behavior. For example, when eliciting a rat to press a lever, you must reinforce it when it gets near the lever. The second thing I will remember is that after shaping, you must lean out in order to get the rat to press the lever more times to receive their reinforcement. The third thing I will remember is if you lean out too fast and too soon, it will produce what is called ratio strain. This will cause confusion with rat and they won’t understand what to do.

4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 = 64 oz
Day 2 = 72 oz
Day 3 = 86 oz
Day 4 = 72 oz
Day 5 = 50 oz
Day 6 = 86 oz
Day 7 = 64 oz
Average = 70 oz
4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
My water consumption, on average, stayed above the 64 oz line. There was one day where it went below. This, I was extremely busy with work and studying and didn’t really think much about drinking a lot of water. I only drank during meals.
You should have received a copy of a graph to fill out from Dr. MacLin. Please go back and fill out the water drinking data for the last four weeks and bring it to class on Thursday (or drop it off in Dr. M's mail box in the psych office).

5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
Terms: Behavior, emit, elicit, shaping, ratio strain, operant chamber, operant conditioning, reinforcing, reinforcement

jmellman | March 10, 2015 7:32 PM | Reply

After reading section 3.5, please respond to the following questions.
1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
One thing that I liked in this section was the detailed description of how a Skinner box works. I liked this because it made it easier to understand how it is used to study conditioning. Before reading this section I didn’t know that it was complex enough to be used for different types of conditioning such as operant conditioning, classical conditioning, discrimination training, and conditioned emotional response. Knowing how versatile an instrument it is makes me realize why it is such an important contribution to behavioral studies.
2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
One thing that I didn’t like was Skinner’s idea of social engineering. If it was taken to the extremes that were presented in his book “Walden Two” then I feel like it is similar to communism. The idea of having major parts of your life, such as what career you go into, decided for you is an uncomfortable thought in our society. I think this is especially true for college students who may try several majors until they find something they like. However, I can see the benefits of changing the environment to elicit specific behaviors. The “broken windows” theory of crime argues that rundown neighborhoods elicit crime because the environment reinforces crime. The theory says that fixing these neighborhoods can reduce crime because if people care about their neighborhood then crime will no longer be reinforced, and criminal behavior will be extinguished.
3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
One thing that I will remember from what I read in this section was the difference between type S conditioning and type R conditioning. Type S is classical conditioning where the stimulus generally comes before the response and type R is operant conditioning where the response precedes the stimulus. This topic confused me when we went over it quickly in class, so being able to read over it really helped me distinguish between the two. Secondly, I will remember that discrimination training involves differential reinforcement. This means that some responses are reinforced and others are not. I found this an interesting topic, so I tended to really enjoy reading about it which is why I feel that I will remember it. Lastly, I will remember that along with doing tons of studies in psychology, Skinner was also a prolific writer about how people can use social engineering to create better societies. I thought it was cool to learn about other impacts that Skinner had, other then the ones involving psychological advances.
4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 =48
Day 2 =72
Day 3 =32
Day 4 =72
Day 5 =48
Day 6 =48
Day 7 =24
Average =49.1 oz
4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
I think I did a better job this week of drinking water. This is mainly because I have been sick and fluids help my throat and help me from coughing. My drinking amount definitely increased because of this.

Sabrina Sok | March 10, 2015 9:50 PM | Reply

1a&b) One thing that I really liked that was in this section was one of Skinner’s inventions, the operant chamber (also known as a Skinner Box). I like how shaping can be used to shape and elicit a desired behavior (such as the behavior emitted by the rat). I also like how the schedules of reinforcement are applied to this experiment. It is also really exciting to see how the rat can be reinforced or punished and how its behavior can go into extinction.

2) One thing that I liked least that was in this section was the part on Skinner’s ‘Air Bed’. It was really short and the explanation on the experiment was not clear enough for me.

3)
a. I will remember that the operant chamber and the graphical recording device were invented by Skinner because the experiment was very interesting to me.
b. I will remember the difference between Type S conditioning and Type R conditioning. Type S conditioning is the Classical Conditioning, and Type R conditioning is the Operant Conditioning. I will remember this because it was in this section.
c. I will remember that one of Skinner’s invention was the ‘Air Bed’ because I read this part and it was not really clear to me and so I read more about it on other websites.

4a)
Day 1 = 8 cups
Day 2 = 9 cups
Day 3 = 9 cups
Day 4 = 8 cups
Day 5 = 8 cups
Day 6 = 8 cups
Day 7 = 9 cups
Average = 8.4 cups

4b) The average cups of water I drank for last week was 8.4 cups. This is slightly higher compare to the week before last week. I started by rewarding myself a chocolate every time I drink a cup of water. Now I increased it to two cups of water before I would reward myself with a chocolate. Because I feel that I am deprived of chocolate, I would perform the target behavior (drinking at least 8 cups of water) just to get the reward (chocolates).

5 ) Skinner, operant chamber, shaping, elicit, emit, desired behavior, schedules of reinforcement, reinforced, punished, extinction, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, deprived, target behavior.

Brad Barnes | March 10, 2015 10:42 PM | Reply

1. A. I found it interesting that Skinner called his concept “social engineering”.
B. I thought this was interesting because security professionals use “social engineering” to mean gaining entrance to a place/system/piece of information by tricking the people involved. Instead of hacking a computer, you trick the user in to giving you the password- things like that. I suppose it is kind of the same though, you are creating a situation that causes them to act like you want them to act.

2. A. My only complaint is that I wish Walden Two had been talked about earlier rather than waiting.
B. I wanted to know what it was, so I had to go ahead and find it, read that part, and then go back and read the rest otherwise I wouldn't have been able to focus as well on the rest of the material.

3. A. I will remember that shaping is a technique used to condition a complex behavior like lever pressing. Using successive approximation, or reinforcing the organism when it gets close to the target behavior, one can shape a behavior from nothing. I'll remember this because it seemed important, and explains how you go from initial behavior or target behavior on a reinforcement schedule.
B. I will remember that an operant chamber (Skinner box) can be used to study both operant and classical conditioning. Conditioned emotional responses are conditioned when the rat learns to associated the sound of the mechanized door opening to release the reinforcer, and these are classically conditioned. I will remember this because it surprised me that something created to study operant conditioning can still be used to study classical just as easily.
C. I will remember Skinner's book Walden Two. I'll remember that it was about a utopian community based on the principles of behavior. I'll remember this because it bothered me that it was discussed so far after it was introduced.

4. A.
Day 1 = 128oz
Day 2 = 160oz
Day 3 = 160oz
Day 4 = 160oz
Day 5 = 128oz
Day 6 = 128oz
Day 7 = 96oz
Average = 137.14oz

B. It stayed above 64oz because that's where it started.

TERMS: Skinner, social engineering, Walden Two, shaping, condition, behavior, successive approximation, reinforcing, target behavior, reinforcement schedule, operant chamber, skinner box, operant conditioning, classical conditioning, conditioned emotional response

Taylor Chrencik | March 11, 2015 6:27 PM | Reply

After reading section 3.5, please respond to the following questions.
1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
I really liked the pictures in this section because it helped me grasp more about the concept of the air bed and the rat experiment. I also really liked that this section was fully in depth of everything and explain all in great detail and how it used a lot of the previous terms we have learned like for Watson how he used operant conditioning and classical conditioning when doing the rat experiment.
2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
There wasn’t anything that I “didn’t” like in this section besides the fact that we were relearning the schedules of reinforcement. I feel like this is still pretty confusing for me after I have learned it so many times in so many different classes and I feel like I just need a lecture on it instead of it trying to be explain bluntly in the text.
3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
1) I learned about in this section is that Type S is classical conditioning and it means that in the conditioning the stimulus generally comes before the response. Also, Type R is operant conditioning and that is where the response preceded the stimulus. 2) I will remember is that rats used in labs are trained to start associated the lever the scientist wants to be connected with food by a process called successive approximation. Successive approximation is when the subject is rewarded by doing something close to the goal. 3) I will remember that for each species, you need a behavior they are capable of emitting. For example, the rat/pigeon example for the operant chambers had to be modified to fit each animal they were testing.
4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 =76.2
Day 2 =76.2
Day 3 =64
Day 4 =50.8
Day 5 =64
Day 6 =76.2
Day 7 =76.2
Average =69.1
4b) I have noticed that my drinking of water actually has increased more than decrease. I think I got the results I did because drinking water made me feel better and I knew I was hydrating and by emitting the drinking more water behavior I reinforced myself with a pop.

Terms: Reinforced, behavior, emitting, operant chambers, successive approximation, reward, Type S, Type R, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, stimulus, experiment

BJK | March 13, 2015 11:43 AM | Reply

1. Something that I really liked in this section was learning how to shape a behavior without any knowledge of what the subject should be doing. I am talking about the rat that was taught to press the lever 25 times to get a pellet of food. This process of teaching a behavior includes successive approximation, ratio strain, shaping and learning out a schedule. The mouse must be taught that pushing the lever is the behavior that is rewarded, this is done by successive approximation. That means the rat is rewarded for a behavior that is close to the target behavior, like looking at the lever, walking near the lever then finally pressing the lever. Once the behavior is learned the rat has "learned out", this means the rat understand that pushing the lever gets it a single pellet of food. The next step is to change the behavior to 3 pushes of the lever, then 5, then 10 and slowly work it up to 25. Reading this part was interesting to learn exactly how Skinner's experiments worked and why they worked.

2. Because this was such a short section there wasn't much to dislike. I would have to say that differential reinforcement must have been the hardest to understand. In this section they used a light turned on to represent reinforcement and a light turned off to represent extinction. S+ was reinforcement and S- was extinction. This was an addition to the learned behavior that the mouse had to go through.

3. three things I will remember are the differences between type S conditioning and type R conditioning. Type S is classical and type R is operant conditioning. How continuous reinforcement is replaced by intermittent reinforcement when teaching the subject a target behavior like pressing the lever 25 times before receiving a reward.

4a.
day 1- 7
day 2- 6
day 3- 8
day 4- 9
day 5- 7
day 6- 8
day 7- 6
average- 7.28

4b. I have noticed that my water intake has decreased but only slightly. I know I drink more water on days that i have practice, this week we have had more off days than usual. If i were to compare the amounts of water i drank on off days however I noticed that my water consumption has risen, I think that I have taught myself the habit of drinking a lot of water.

5.
Terms-
Operant chamber, operant conditioning, classical conditioning, discrimination training, differential reinforcement, stimulus control and successive approximation.

cs13 | March 13, 2015 1:55 PM | Reply

After reading section 3.5, please respond to the following questions.
1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
I liked the part about successive approximation because it’s about reinforcing an organism for emitting a behavior that is resembles the target behavior during the shaping period. This reminds me of parents modifying children’s behavior. There are times that parents reward a child’s behavior for being “close enough” and I would assume this would increase the likelihood that the child emits the actual desired behavior in the future.
2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why?
One section I did not like was the part about Skinner’s box and how he would use an electrical shock in order to elicit a conditioned emotional response. I would have rather he had used a form of reinforcement to get this type of behavior because I thought that inflicting pain on an animal was a little unethical.
3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section?
I will remember the rat scenarios in the Skinner box. At first the rat does not know pellets can be administered. We may give the rat a pellet when it looks at the lever, then progress to it actually touching the lever. This is called successive approximation. Another thing I will remember from this section is that Type S is classical conditioning. This means that in the conditioning the stimulus generally comes before the response. And that Type R is operant conditioning, which is where the response preceded the stimulus. The last thing I will remember is Skinner’s Air bed. The idea of removing the risk of babies over heating at night and/or suffocating on blankets was a good idea, and it seems like Skinner was trying to address a major issue in baby care.
4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4:
Day 1 =4- 16oz= 64
Day 2 =4- 16oz= 64
Day 3 =3-16oz= 48
Day 4 =5-16oz= 80
Day 5 =3-16oz= 48
Day 6 =5- 16oz= 80
Day 7 =4- 16oz= 64
Average = 64oz
4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did.
My results continued to stay high, at an average of 64oz. I think that I got this result because I got used to drinking water and instead of buying a pop I would grab a water without any thought to it.
5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
successive approximation, target behavior, shaping period, elicit, conditioned emotional response, classical conditioning, operant conditioning

dondecastro | March 23, 2015 9:07 PM | Reply

Section 3.5

1a&b) The one thing I really liked about this section is Skinner’s Air Bed. The reason why I really liked this was because I find it interesting that by adjusting the temperature, it could affect the baby’s conditioned behavior.

2) The one thing I liked least about this section was the part about Skinner’s view on how human behavior is shaped by the environment. Basically he is saying that freedom and dignity is a barrier to the advancement of society. In my opinion, that point of view is irrelevant in this age, because the understanding of freedom and dignity is very broad, and we should be focusing on more specific goals for the betterment of society.

3a,b&c) The three things I will remember from this section are the difference between Type S and Type R, shaping and application of Skinner’s theory in government taxation of cigarettes. The reason I will remember the difference between Type S and Type R is because it is simplified so that Type S means classical conditioning and Type R means operant conditioning. The S = Stimulus → Response, whereas the R = Response → Stimulus. As for shaping, it provides me with a better term when describing a change of an undesired behavior into a more desired behavior. Finally, I will remember the application of Skinner’s theory in government taxation of cigarettes because as a smoker, no matter how much the government increases the tax on cigarettes, I will still continue to buy them.

4a) Day 1 = 5 glasses
Day 2 = 6 glasses
Day 3 = 6 glasses
Day 4 = 5 glasses
Day 5 = 7 glasses
Day 6 = 8 glasses
Day 7 = 5 glasses
Average = 6 glasses of water per day

4b) The amount of water I drank per day decreased below the target amount of 8 glasses per day (64 oz.). I feel that without the reinforcer, which was exercise, I did not feel like I needed to drink that much water.

5) Skinner’s Air Bed, conditioned behavior, shaping, Type S, Type R, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, stimulus, response, undesired behavior, desired behavior, reinforcer.

Zack Carney | May 10, 2015 9:47 PM | Reply

1.It was a good read, I liked learning more about Skinner and reading about his work and research. I previously did not know about type S and type R and that they stood for classical conditioning and operant conditioning. I liked that this section incorporated a lot of terms and concepts from previous sections which helps continue to strengthen the connection in my brain with these concepts. It was so weird to learn that Skinner brought up his kids on an air bed. One of his main ideas was that he could shape a person by shaping their environment.

2.I wish that it would have talked a lot more about Skinner and his kids being brought up on an air bed. I also did not like the concept of putting a baby in a box with the stimulus being the temperature as to see whether the baby settled down or cried and fussed, it seemed a bit extreme and unethical at least for today’s standards.

3.One of the things that I will take away and remember from this reading is species specific response which is a unique response only a specific species demonstrates. The examples of this concept helped to solidify the idea into my head by taking about the raccoons washing off their food. Another concept I will remember is the difference between type S and type R conditioning. Type S is classical conditioning where the stimulus comes before the response and that the response is more reflexive. Type R is operant conditioning where the response comes before the stimulus and the response is more voluntary than reflexive. The last thing I will take away from this reading is the concept of shaping. Shaping is used when researchers want to have an organism emit a desired behavior and in combination successive approximation is used when the organism emits something close to resembling the target behavior it is then reinforced.

4.Day 1= 34 fluid ounces
Day 2= 48 fluid ounces
Day 3= 86 fluid ounces
Day 4= 52 fluid ounces
Day 5= 76 fluid ounces
Day 6= 92 fluid ounces
Day 7= 100 fluid ounces
Average= 70 fluid ounces

My average for the week decreased as compared to the previous week in which I was being reinforced during that week as compared to this week. I think since I was continuously being reinforced my drinking behavior decreased because nothing was there to reinforce the target behavior.

5.Terms: Reinforcer, Continuous Reinforcement, Species Specific Response, Type S Conditioning, Type R Conditioning, Stimulus, Response, Shaping, Successive Approximation, Emit, Target Behavior, Skinner, Classical Conditioning, Operant Conditioning

Emily W. | September 20, 2015 9:10 PM | Reply

1 a&b) What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why? I liked learning about Skinner and his belief that by creating the right environment we can predict and control behavior to the benefit of society.
2) What was one thing that you disliked (or liked least) that was in the section? Why? I didn’t particularly dislike anything in this chapter because I am overall interested in this class and the concept in general.
3 a,b&c) What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section? I will remember that 1) Skinner invented the operant chamber and the graphical recording device called a cumulative recorder. 2) The operant chamber will have something that can function as a discriminative stimulus, something to dispense reinforcers, something to manipulate (lever), and something to deliver punishers. 3) Shaping is used to train rats to lever press which involves successive approximation where the rat is reinforced each time it does something close to the desired response.
4a) You should now have an additional week's (week #4) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #4: 
Day 1 = 60
Day 2 = 58
Day 3 = 64
Day 4 = 56
Day 5 = 55
Day 6 = 69
Day 7 = 76
Average = 62.57
4b) This last week (week#4) is referred to as return to baseline. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did. My behavior stayed about the same. I think this happened because I am not very good at reinforcing my own behavior, I need someone else to.
5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
Behavior, operant chamber, graphical recording device, cumulative recorder, discriminative stimulus, reinforcers, manipulate, deliver punishers, shaping, reinforced, response

Allison Wager | October 18, 2015 12:03 PM | Reply

Reading Activity Week 9
Please go to the following blog page:
http://www.psychologicalscience.com/bmod/abcs.html
This is an easy reading week. Please read sections 3.5 (Skinner).
After reading the first section, please respond to the following questions.
1) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?
The thing I found the most interesting was when they were talking about shaping a behavior that they use what is called as successive approximation. I thought this was interesting because I have heard about shaping but not how to start the shaping. I think that it is interesting that someone can just reward someone and that shapes their behavior. It is also interesting to see how much people try and modify one another without knowing they are even doing it.
2) What did you find least interesting? Why?
The least interesting part was when they talked about how his operant chamber where the rats and pigeons were was not very interesting. I knew how the contraption worked for the most part and found that the rest of the information to not be that beneficial to leaning behavior. It would seem more important in a research class when you would be working on setting up the experiment. I also thought it was strange for them to have a name, manipulanda, for the object the animal manipulates.
3) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.
This section relates to something I have learned in actually my sport psychology class. We were talking about shaping ones attitude when a coach is wanting their athlete to do something most likely technique wise that they were not doing previously.
4) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?
Two things that I can relate to my life are shaping and species specific response. My boyfriend has been trying to change my behavior for some time now by shaping my behavior. However he has told me about this which has made it harder for him to change my behavior. For species specific response when I get scared especially in haunted houses when I see any person in a mask I freeze to the point I can barely move.
5) How has reading these sections influenced what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?
This section along with the previous sections I have learned that behavior can show up in many different areas of studies and many areas out in the world. Behavior is surrounding us as human beings every day. People are being rewarded from being in classes when they doing something right to people getting rewarded in a sport and there are still many other places this occurs.
6a) Behavioral Project (Return to Baseline). You should now have a final week's (week four) worth of data collected while NOT under reinforcement. Please fill out the information below for week four:
Day 1 = 64
Day 2 =64
Day 3 =64
Day 4 =64
Day 5 =64
Day 6 =64
Day 7 =64
Average =64
6b) This last week (week four) is referred to as 'return to baseline.' Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark without the reinforcer or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did?
My drinking stayed about the same with some small differences. I am pretty sure I got these results because when I work out I drink more water to stay hydrated, but also the fact that I did the same thing the week before it was en-grained in my head and was almost natural.
You should have received a copy of a graph to fill out from Dr. MacLin. Please go back and fill out the water drinking data for the last four weeks and either bring it to class on Thursday (or email it to bmod.uni@gmail.com). The graph is worth 10 points.
7) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post and put them at the bottom of your post.
Terms: manipulanda, shaping, species specific response, and reward

Megan | October 18, 2015 4:20 PM | Reply

Megan Hasley
This is an easy reading week. Please read sections 3.5 (Skinner).
After reading the first section, please respond to the following questions.
1) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?
I thought it was interesting that so many of the psychologists that we have talked about were actually responsible for building their own experimental pieces. These men must have been very creative to not only be able to think about their experiments, but to also be able to create the experimental pieces.
2) What did you find least interesting? Why?
I think that Skinner is a very interesting individual, so I did not think that there was anything in this chapter that was least interesting compared to the rest.
3) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.
I have previously read about skinner, and I had heard about him in other classes as well, but I had never had such in depth background information on him before.
4) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?
1. Tax cuts for energy efficient appliances apply to my life. Whenever my family buys a new appliance we always go for an energy efficient model so that we can get the tax credit.
2. I think the air bed could apply to my life because I think that my mood is easily influenced by the temperature or the surrounding environment. If I am extremely hot, I usually tend to get angry faster.
5) How has reading these sections influenced what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?
I think this chapter showed me that although I know some information about behavior modification, I do not know the background information as well as I thought I might.
6a) Behavioral Project (Return to Baseline). You should now have a final week's (week four) worth of data collected while NOT under reinforcement. Please fill out the information below for week four:
Day 1 =1
Day 2 =2
Day 3 =3
Day 4 =2
Day 5 =1
Day 6 =3
Day 7 =3
Average =2.1
6b) This last week (week four) is referred to as 'return to baseline.' Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark without the reinforcer or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did?
Even when I tried to reinforce myself I never drank 64 oz of water. This week I think I actually drank more than normal because I am trying to start drinking more water in general.
You should have received a copy of a graph to fill out from Dr. MacLin. Please go back and fill out the water drinking data for the last four weeks and either bring it to class on Thursday (or email it tobmod.uni@gmail.com). The graph is worth 10 points.
7) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post and put them at the bottom of your post.
TERMS: Reinforce, experiments, Skinner, behavior modification, air bed, mood, influenced,

lemmej | October 18, 2015 5:36 PM | Reply

1) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?
a. What I found the most interesting was the concept of social engineering. Skinner says that by creating the right environment, we can control behavior for that society. I agree with his concept of using behaviorism to engineer a better society. Skinner and Watson believed that behaviorism was the most important concept to research.
2) What did you find least interesting? Why?
a. What I didn’t find as interesting is his experiment with the air bed. When I was reading it I found it really confusing and then I understood what it meant but I was just thrown off by the wording of the definition.
3) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.
a. This reflects what we learned in Social Psychology and Intro to Psychology. Skinner is one of the most influential psychologists and it is one of the topics you cover right away.
4) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?
a. I feel that the air bed experiment relates to my life because my mood is affected by the temperature in the environment. If it is too hot, I am cranky or if it is too cold.
b. Another example would be politics in general when dealing with social engineering. It seems that politicians try to control your behaviors by steering you in their direction and following their instructions for what they consider good behavior, This is their way of wanting to create what in their minds is a better society.
5) How has reading these sections influenced what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?
a. This definitely broadened my knowledge about Skinner because I did not learn in depth about Skinner, just major details. It was good to learn about his actual experiments and more about his accomplishments
6a) Behavioral Project (Return to Baseline). You should now have a final week's (week four) worth of data collected while NOT under reinforcement. Please fill out the information below for week four:
Day 1 = 65
Day 2 = 63
Day 3 = 68
Day 4 = 70
Day 5 = 62
Day 6 = 64
Day 7 = 64
Average =65.14
6b) This last week (week four) is referred to as 'return to baseline.' Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark without the reinforcer or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did?
- I met the 64 oz mark without the reinforcer I think because it is part of my life to drink only water because I do not crave soda so it was just something that I have in my brain to do every day is drink water.
Terms: Skinner, social engineering, reinforce,successive approximation

arwinters956 | October 18, 2015 6:02 PM | Reply

After reading the first section, please respond to the following questions.
1) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?
I thought that it was interesting that Skinner created so many inventions and was a writer, all while being a psychologist. I think the most interesting invention he created was the air bed. Even though, I’m not quite sure how it worked, I do think the concept of being able to stay a constant temperature to be interesting. I know sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night freezing cold even though when I first went to bed, I was perfectly fine.
2) What did you find least interesting? Why?
One of the least interesting things was the operant chamber. I already knew what the operant chamber was from previous classes, but it was nice to get a refresher on how everything worked.
3) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.
I have learned about the operant chamber in previous classes. I have also learned about Skinner before in previous classes, but never gotten this in depth.
4) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?
One thing that relates to my life is when you talked about the tax credits for new windows. My step dad has made our house energy efficient by getting energy efficient appliances, light bulbs, and a water heater just for the sake of the tax credits.
Another thing I can relate to is conditioned emotional response. If I get scared I act like the rats we talked about. I tense up and sometimes find it hard to move.
5) How has reading these sections influenced what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?
This section as altered what I thought about behavior modification because it gave me a deeper understand on how psychologists have changed animals behaviors with inventions that they have made. It also gave me better understandings on how busy past psychologists were.
6a) Behavioral Project (Return to Baseline). You should now have a final week's (week four) worth of data collected while NOT under reinforcement. Please fill out the information below for week four:
Day 1 = 64oz
Day 2 = 96oz
Day 3 =88oz
Day 4 =64oz
Day 5 =72oz
Day 6 =64oz
Day 7 =64oz
Average =73.14
6b) This last week (week four) is referred to as 'return to baseline.' Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark without the reinforcer or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did?
I continued to drink the 64oz of water without being reinforced. I believe it stayed the same because I have now become accustomed to just grabbing water to drink instead of something else so I could be reinforced with American Horror Story.
You should have received a copy of a graph to fill out from Dr. MacLin. Please go back and fill out the water drinking data for the last four weeks and either bring it to class on Thursday (or email it tobmod.uni@gmail.com). The graph is worth 10 points.
7) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post and put them at the bottom of your post.
Air bed, Skinner, operant chamber, behavior modification, behaviors, psychologists, reinforced

dondecastro | October 18, 2015 6:58 PM | Reply

Section 3.5
1) The one thing I really liked about this section is Skinner’s Air Bed. The reason why I really liked this was because I find it interesting that by adjusting the temperature, it could affect the baby’s conditioned behavior.
2) The one thing I liked least about this section was the part about Skinner’s view on how human behavior is shaped by the environment. Basically he is saying that freedom and dignity is a barrier to the advancement of society. In my opinion, that point of view is irrelevant in this age, because the understanding of freedom and dignity is very broad, and we should be focusing on more specific goals for the betterment of society.
3) This chapter can relate to what I already know is through the differences between Type S and Type R. Type S means classical conditioning and Type R means operant conditioning. The S = Stimulus → Response, whereas the R = Response → Stimulus. I learned this from taking Behavior Modification last semester.
4) Based on what I read from this section, two things that I can relate to my life are shaping and application of Skinner’s theory in government taxation of cigarettes. As for shaping, it provides me with a better term when describing a change of an undesired behavior into a more desired behavior, this can be related to when I changed my smoking of cigarettes into smoking electric cigarettes. I can relate the application of Skinner’s theory in government taxation of cigarettes because as a smoker, no matter how much the government increases the tax on cigarettes, I will still continue to buy them.
5) These readings have influenced what I originally thought about behavior modification by making me understand the importance of certain terms and how it helps me remember certain theories in behavior modification. Since I am taking Cognitive Psychology this semester, I realized that there is a significant difference between these two subjects to a point that I feel some theories are contradictive.
6) Behavioral Project (Return to Baseline)
Day 1 = 5 glasses
Day 2 = 6 glasses
Day 3 = 6 glasses
Day 4 = 5 glasses
Day 5 = 7 glasses
Day 6 = 8 glasses
Day 7 = 5 glasses
Average = 6 glasses of water per day
7) The amount of water I drank per day decreased below the target amount of 8 glasses per day (64 oz.). I feel that without the reinforcer, which was exercise, I did not feel like I needed to drink that much water.
8) Skinner’s Air Bed, conditioned behavior, shaping, Type S, Type R, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, stimulus, response, undesired behavior, desired behavior, reinforcer.

Katelyn Stanek | October 19, 2015 12:12 AM | Reply

3.5

1) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?
- I had not known all this information about Skinner beforehand and I think it's super interesting that he accomplished and invented so many things. Obviously the operant chamber was a very important tool that elicited operant conditioning. But I thought the air bed was...different. I didn't know about it so when I first read and saw the picture I was a bit surprised. I was surprised by the results Skinner received from the air bed. It only takes changing the temperature a few degree up or down to elicit a behavior from the baby. If the baby was crying, turning down the temperature would help sooth the cries.

2) What did you find least interesting? Why?
- What I found the least interesting was reading about Skinner's two books, "Walden Two" and "Beyond Freedom and Dignity". The only reason I didn't find this part interesting was because I don't know anything about those books and I didn't think the very brief explanation of them was enough for me to understand the whole concept. Perhaps if I were to read these books, I would be more compelled to discuss their topics and how they relate to Skinner's theories.

3) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.
- This section relates to the other sections because it explains classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Not only does it explain the two concepts, but it gives the in depth picture of Skinner's operant chamber. I had already known about the operant chamber but I hadn't learned how it fully worked. The operant chamber does CER training and this was explained a few sections ago, in this chapter I believe.

4) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?
- I was able to relate to the air bed a little bit because whenever the temperature is too hot I will get sleepy, grumpy, or even sick. I can also relate to the government taxes affecting our behaviors. This isn’t directed towards me but to my dad because he chews. Sometimes he’ll complain that tobacco is really expensive but he continues to pay the price and won’t change his behaviors unless they raise the tax up super high.

5) How has reading these sections influenced what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?
- It was interesting reading all about Skinner and the inventions and books he created. I knew very little about him before this class, all I knew about was the operant chamber. I’ve come to realize that knowing the background of theorists and having a more in depth understanding of their theories is extremely important.

6a) Behavioral Project (Return to Baseline). You should now have a final week's (week four) worth of data collected while NOT under reinforcement. Please fill out the information below for week four:
Day 1 = 33.8 oz
Day 2 = 50.7 oz
Day 3 = 48.9 oz
Day 4 = 33.8 oz
Day 5 = 33.8 oz
Day 6 = 50.7 oz
Day 7 = 50.7 oz
Average = 43.2 oz

6b) This last week (week four) is referred to as 'return to baseline.' Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark without the reinforcer or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did?
- Honestly my drinking habits stayed the same throughout the whole experiment. I tried really hard to remind myself to drink a lot of water but I have such a bad habit of not paying attention to my hydration. I believe I got these results because I had to reinforce myself rather than have another person do that. Because it was all on me, I wasn’t crazy consistent about it since it wasn’t on my mind to begin with. Some days I drank more water and other I didn’t and I believe it depending on what days I worked. Whenever I work, I don’t drink much water because I’m too busy thinking about other things.

7) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post and put them at the bottom of your post.
- Skinner, operant chamber, elicited, operant conditioning, "air bed", behavior, Walden Two, Beyond Freedom and Dignity, classical conditioning, conditioned emotional response (CER)

AbbyTaylor | October 19, 2015 11:02 AM | Reply

1) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?
I found all of Skinner's inventions very interesting. It's really amazing that he built all of his experiments and had the ability to think abstractly about concepts and how to test and manipulate them. The Skinner's air bed was very interesting to me because of how easy it is to change one small thing and how much it affects in consequence.

2) What did you find least interesting? Why?
I found the part about the operant chamber the least interesting because we have already covered what it is and how it has been used in different psychology experiments.

3) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?  Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.
I have learned about Skinner and the operant chamber from previous readings and from a previous psychology class. Although I have not gotten this much background on Skinner before.

4) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?
One thing that relates to my life from this section is the air bed and how my environment's temperature can effect my behavior. Especially if I am warm or hot, I tend to become more short-tempered and get angry easily, where as if it is cold, I am usually fairly patient and reasonable with others. Another concept that relates to my life is conditioned emotional responses. If I am presented with a conditioned stimulus, it might elicit the same response as before, causing me to emit a fear response or possibly an excitement behavior, depending on the stimulus.

5) How has reading these sections influenced what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?
This section has made me realize how important some of these concepts are to everyday behavior and modification of it. It has also taught me how important Skinner and his experiments were to psychology. I realized that animals were such a major part of all of these experiments, which is how we relate these concepts to ourselves. So in reality, our behaviors are almost identical to animals.

6a) Behavioral Project (Return to Baseline). You should now have a final week's (week four) worth of data collected while NOT under reinforcement. Please fill out the information below for week four:
 Day 1 = 60
 Day 2 = 62
 Day 3 = 56
 Day 4 = 58
 Day 5 = 60 
Day 6 = 50
 Day 7 = 58
 Average = 58

6b) This last week (week four) is referred to as 'return to baseline.' Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark without the reinforcer or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did?
I think that my drinking behavior stayed about the same, if not maybe even increasing a little. I feel like it could have been influenced highly by me getting sick this last week and needing more water.

7) Skinner's air bed, operant chamber, conditioned emotional response, conditioned stimulus, emit, elicit, stimulus

Kira | October 19, 2015 12:03 PM | Reply

1) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?
I thought it was interesting to read more about Skinner and some of his accomplishments, especially the way they were broken down into his inventions and writings. Sometimes having some background information as well as details on original experiments and how he came up with certain things can be helpful in understanding concepts. Skinner’s idea of social engineering was enjoyable to read about. It makes me think and wonder what it would be like to create an environment to predict and control behavior in society to make it better. It could also be a bit unnerving to some; to think about having our behaviors controlled to meet societal needs and goals.
I also thought the paragraphs on tax credits and tax punishers were really interesting because they are so true! If the government is trying to get people to stop a behavior, such as buying a certain product, then they will say taxes need to be increased on that product, therefore making less people buy it. However if they are trying to encourage you to purchase a product that’s supposed to be “good,” they will give you a tax credit as an incentive. They say it is for the good of the environment or for the good of the people, and we can only hope that that is true and they’re not doing it for another reason, like money.
Another interesting part of the section was reading about the Air Bed. That was just an interesting topic in general; I’d definitely never hear of it before but it also kind of blows my mind to think that a child was raised in once and turned out okay. It’s fascinating that he was able to discern the temperature(s) necessary to keep a baby warm and from crying and fussing just by adjusting said temp.

2) What did you find least interesting? Why?
I was interested in everything discussed in this section. It was short and sweet but also very informative. I didn’t know much about Skinner other than what was discussed in previous sections, so I enjoyed getting to learn more about him.

3) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.
One thing I had learned in a previous section about Skinner was that he believed in a utopian society where an environment is created to control and predict behavior. He believed the best way to meet societal goals were to change the environments in which people live in, instead of trying to change the people. I knew his views could be somewhat difficult for people who believe in free will and being able to act like they want to, and not be controlled and manipulated to act a certain way.
I had also read about conditioned emotional response in a previous section. A conditioned emotional response is when an unconditioned stimulus is paired with an emotion producing unconditioned stimulus, like with the rat example in this section. It’s possible to measure how scared the rat was of being shocked by the decrease in the lever presses. He was conditioned to fear being shocked because every time the light comes on, he had been.
We also learned about discrimination training in the section with Pavlov and his dogs. He used that training to gets the dogs to salivate depending on what the certain shape was. If it was the right shape, the dog would see it and begin to salivate, but the wrong shape and they wouldn’t.

4) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?
One thing I can relate to my life is either classical conditioning or operant conditioning. Classical conditioning is when the stimulus comes first, and then the response, with the response being more reflexive. In operant conditioning the stimulus follows the response, with the response being more voluntary. I have and will continue to experience those two types of conditioning in my life. However, hopefully I will be much more aware of them now since I have learned what they are and a better understanding of them.
Another thing I can relate to my life is the government’s use of tax credits as reinforcers and tax as a punisher. I don’t personally buy cigarettes, but I know people who do and they are technically “punished” for buying those cigarettes because of the high tax put on them. But that high tax is for the purpose of trying to get people to quit, which is important for their health. I can also related to tax credits used as a reinforce for those who buy things for energy efficiency. Such as people who use ethanol gasoline in their cars, they are able to purchase it for a much lower price than other gas. These are things I see and experience on a daily basis, which is why they relate to me. Also, in the future it’s a possibility that more people (even myself) will be purchasing things that get us a tax credit because of its use in the environment or other reason.

5) How has reading these sections influenced what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?
Reading this section influenced my thoughts on the way behavior is manipulated by the government, whether it’s considered good or bad. I never thought that increasing taxes on cigarettes was a way to manipulate behavior, but it definitely is and I can’t believe I hadn’t looked at it from that viewpoint. I’ve only ever thought about it from a health perspective, but now I am able to see it from a behavioral standpoint.

6a) Behavioral Project (Return to Baseline). You should now have a final week's (week four) worth of data collected while NOT under reinforcement. Please fill out the information below for week four:
Day 1 =50 oz
Day 2 =68 oz
Day 3 =72 oz
Day 4 =64 oz
Day 5 =68 oz
Day 6 =60 oz
Day 7 =62 oz
Average =63.4 oz

6b) This last week (week four) is referred to as 'return to baseline.' Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark without the reinforcer or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did?
My water intake stayed pretty close to the 64 oz mark even without the reinforce. It just barely decreased. I think I got these results because just reaching my goal of drinking 64 oz in a day is enough of a reinforce for me. I like having that satisfaction of knowing that I reached my goal; I love that personal challenge.

7) Terms: reinforcers, punishers, punished, tax credit, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, stimulus, response, discrimination training, conditioned emotional response, unconditioned stimulus

hshaffer34 | October 19, 2015 12:42 PM | Reply

Section 3.5
1. What did you find interesting in this section? Why?
I found reading about some of Skinner's work to be interesting, specifically the air bed that he used with his children. I don't totally agree with all of his views, but I did agree with how powerful it can be to change the environment to help benefit people and ultimately society. However, I would have agreed with many of the students who didn't like some of what he had to say in "Walden Two" because I don't like the idea of not taking people's freedom into consideration. I don't think that people should be treated like robots who are only here to further society.

2. What did you find least interesting in this section? Why?
I wouldn't say that I found anything uninteresting in this section, but I did feel that most of the concepts were review. Overall, it was a pretty easy read.

3. How does this section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
Most of this information was review to me. There wasn't really anything I hadn't learned about before, but I did forget about the air bed study that Skinner did, so this section refreshed my memory on some of his work.

4. Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?
The concept of classical conditioning definitely relates to my life because of the work I've been doing with my dog to help train her. My dog has now recognized the sound of me getting her food or the sound of me opening a bag of her treats. This was done through classical conditioning, although this isn't what I was training her to do! I've been working with her a lot on some of her behaviors and I've been using treats as reinforcement, so now she responds to the stimulus of just hearing me opening a bag that sounds like her bag of treats.

I've also had to use schedules of reinforcement with my dog in order to get a treat. Before, I would reinforce her right away by giving her a treat immediately after doing the desired behavior. Then, I started to make her sit first before she could have a treat. Once she started responding to that, I started to increase the amount of seconds she'd have to sit and wait before she could be given a treat. Part of it is teaching her patience and teaching her to take treats nicely. So, she does a good job now waiting patiently to receive a treat when she knows she's done something that warrants reinforcement.

5. How has reading this section influenced what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?
Nothing in this section really changed what I thought about behavior modification. As I said previously, most of the terms and concepts in this section were review, so this section basically just took concepts we've already learned and applied them to Skinner's work specifically.

6.Day 1 = 32oz
Day 2= 96 oz
Day 3 = 32 oz
Day 4 = 32 oz
Day 5 = 64 oz
Day 6 = 16 oz
Day 7 = 64 oz
Average = 48 oz

6b. My water intake definitely fluctuated throughout the week, but overall, I'm drinking more water now than at the beginning of this project, so I'm happy about that. I think I got the results I did because it's still been difficult for me to completely give up pop, plus this past week was a really crazy week for me which made being consciously aware of drinking more water more difficult.

TERMS: Classical Conditioning, Reinforcement, schedules of reinforcement, stimulus, response

brookenicole12 | October 19, 2015 12:53 PM | Reply

BNC
1)What did you find interesting in the section? Why?
I find it neat how the ones doing the research also invest their time in the equipment they use. Both Skinner and Throndike invented their equipment with the puzzle box and the operant chamber and the cumulative recorder and also his ‘air bed’. It makes sense how they would be the ones making all the main features because the researcher is the one that knows what exactly they are looking for and don’t need to worry about miss understanding in communication. Now a days I feel as though the researcher hardly knows how to put together whatever piece of equipment they are working on. All they know is how to run it and know what it is they are looking for.
2)What did you find least interesting? Why?
I enjoyed reading this chapter and didn’t have any sections that really weren’t interesting. The section about Skinner being a writer would be the section I’d say was the least interesting. I enjoyed reading the other sections about his work as an inventor and a researcher. It just didn’t seem to grab my attention. Although reading about his thoughts on freedom and dignity were fascinating.
3)How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.
Watson’s research with behaviors was brought up in this chapter which is what the previous chapter discussed and it talked about classical conditioning and operant conditioning and how Skinner takes it steps further with these. Thorndike was brought up as well when discussing the inventions of their equipment. Pavlov was also mentioned in this section when talking about the schedule of reinforcement.
4)Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?
The Cedar Falls community is trying to push for a new high school to be built and it got turned down. It would be interesting to see if it gets passed and a new building is going to be built how they build it in a way of changing the environment. The book as a good example of how the government manipulates our behaviors with taxes and tax credits. This effects everyone every day. Discussing the energy efficient cars, coming up after graduation I am looking into buying a new car and these have been brought up, I never would’ve thought of this applying to it and the types of reinforcers that are being applied.
5)How has reading these sections influenced what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?
Behavior modification is everywhere! It’s crazy to think we can apply this to our everyday lives. We can ask ourselves what’s causing it, and what needs to be done. As psychology students we become more aware of our everyday surroundings, but this class has really caused me to be attentive to the behaviors and how they come to be.
6a) Behavioral Project (Return to Baseline). You should now have a final week's (week four) worth of data collected while NOT under reinforcement. Please fill out the information below for week four:
Day 1 =2
Day 2 =3
Day 3 =3
Day 4 =2
Day 5 =2
Day 6 =3
Day 7 =3
Average =2.6 glasses
6b) This last week (week four) is referred to as 'return to baseline.' Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark without the reinforcer or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did?
Increased. I think it increased because it became more natural to me. And I carry a water bottle around with me everywhere so it’s more convenient for me to stay hydrated.
You should have received a copy of a graph to fill out from Dr. MacLin. Please go back and fill out the water drinking data for the last four weeks and either bring it to class on Thursday (or email it to bmod.uni@gmail.com). The graph is worth 10 points.
6)Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post and put them at the bottom of your post.
Skinner. Pavlov. Watson. Thorndike. Schedule of Reinforcement. Classical Conditioning. Operant Conditioning.

beinera | October 19, 2015 1:40 PM | Reply

1) In this section I found that learning about Skinner’s Air Bed. I thought it was weird how he chose to raise a baby in an air bed that was kind of like a crib and found some responses from babies that were intriguing to me. It kind of blew me away when he said his conclusion that the babies would almost always stop crying if the temperature was lowered. The fact that babies were raised in a box though also caught my attention.

2) In my opinion, reading about reinforcement schedules was the least interesting. The idea of shaping different behaviors with the various reinforcement schedules is kind of what we have been learning about all semester in my opinion. I just feel like we have gone over a lot of information about when to give reinforcement for different behaviors and the different notations that are used to show the schedules (For example, FR25). The only part I found while reading about schedules that was interesting was the part about reinforcing with successive approximation.

3) This section relates to what I have already learned in this class because we have learned about reinforcement schedules in earlier chapters. It built off of the knowledge I previously had a little bit by introducing the idea of successive approximation when dealing with reinforcement. Another thing that relates to what I have previously learned in this chapter is conditioned emotional response. It was mentioned very briefly in an earlier chapter we read but this chapter actually explains in depth what it is and helped me understand it more.

4) Two things that relate to my life from this chapter are shaping and Skinner’s belief of freedom and dignity with taxes on things in order for the behavior to hopefully happen less. Shaping relates to my life because I have a dog and I have had to teach him how to behave when he was a puppy. There was one thing I taught him where if he pushes down on the lever then food will come out and he can eat it. I had to shape him and teach him in order for him to know what he was doing. B.F. Skinner’s belief of freedom and dignity relating to taxes relates to my life because there are things in the stores that are a lot more expensive because the government knows we'll buy it anyways. For example, healthy foods are much more expensive than junk foods.

5) I don’t really think this chapter has made me think differently about behavior modification. I feel like this chapter was more of a refresher on certain topics and just went into detail about topics that were talked about in earlier sections. It added to my original knowledge about how things like reinforcement and responses are used but really did not change my ideas.

6a)
Day 1 = 3
Day 2 =9
Day 3 =1
Day 4 = 8
Day 5 = 8
Day 6 = 6
Day 7 = 3
Average = 5
6b) My drinking of water mostly stayed the same as the week prior without the reinforcer. However, I was not consistent with drinking water on a regular basis. I think I got the results I did because it is hard for me to drink water because I am really not a fan of it. The graph however does kind of show an increase in the amount of water I drink now compared to the first week but like I said before, it is not very consistent.

7) Terms: Skinner’s air bed, reinforcement schedule, reinforcement, shaping, behavior, successive approximation, B.F. Skinner

joel head | October 19, 2015 1:56 PM | Reply

1. What did you find interesting in this section? Why?
What I found most interesting in this section was when they talked about Skinner. I didn't know anything about this guy Skinner before i read this section of the book. What interested me the most was Skinner's air bed. I liked The baby's conditioned behavior was affected by what temperature Skinner wanted it to be.
2)What did you find least interesting? Why?
What i found least interesting in this section when it talked about social engineering. I thought this part of the section was really confusing. I didn't understand it at all. I also thought this was the most boring part of the section for me.
3) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.
This section relates to what i have previously learned in social psychology this semester. We talked about Skinner and his experiments in class. We talked about how peoples attitudes are changed and effected by the environment they are around.
4) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?
This relates to my life in two ways i seen when i read it. The first way this section relates to my life with Skinner experiment and the air bed. I really get mad and irritated if it is cold and i hate being cold, That just changes my mood. Being hot is okay with me. I also cant sleep when I am hot. The second way this section relates to my life that i seen when i read is the conditioned emotional response. I have a dog and when she gets scared she tenses up and doesn't move, just like the rats in the section.
5) How has reading these sections influenced what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?
From reading this section i have been influenced by what i originally thought about behavior modification in the way that behavior modification can be used in different ways rather then on humans, but on the government and in their manipulation schemes. Politics use behavior modification to try and get votes also as well, and get people to try and believe in their policies.
6a) Behavioral Project (Return to Baseline). You should now have a final week's (week four) worth of data collected while NOT under reinforcement. Please fill out the information below for week four:
day 1= 45
day 2= 55
day 3= 60
day 4= 55
day 5= 55
day 6= 50
day 7= 65
average= 55
6b) This last week (week four) is referred to as 'return to baseline.' Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark without the reinforcer or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did?
The amount of water that i drunk per oz stayed pretty close to the 64 oz goal a day. Without the reinforcer it was harder but since i was already conditioned to getting it i thought about it when i drank but still didn't give it to myself. I finally reached the goal on the last day.
7) Terms: reinforcers, skinner, response, social engineering, conditioned behavior

nickleidigh | October 19, 2015 3:06 PM | Reply

1) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?
I thought his inventions were really cool. It thought they were creative ways to experiment or apply his ideas. The skinner box is now a very famous way to study conditioning and I thought using pigeons to guide missiles amusing as an idea.

2) What did you find least interesting? Why?
Social engineering- I find it to be a idea that is not an applicable idea and speaks more to an arrogant belief of the power of Skinner’s theories that would never work. It detracts from some of his good ideas and theories along with his creative inventiveness.

3) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
We have discusses a Skinner box in previous reading sections
Skinner was a person discussed in history and systems of psychology
Reinforcement schedules have been discussed in previous sections
Conditioned emotional response has been talked about in previous sections

4) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?
If you are trying to reinforce behaviors on a long scale interval or ratio then you need to do it over time piece by piece and not all at once. This could be a good thing to know when teaching someone or goal setting potentially.
There are laws based on social engineering (such as sin tax) that I am subject to.

5) How has reading these sections influenced what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?
I think I understand Controlled emotional response better as I was left a little bit confused from previous sections.
This gives me an applied example of reinforcement schedules that made me understand it more.
The differences between operant and classical conditioning are now more understood by me.

6a) Behavioral Project (Return to Baseline). You should now have a final week's (week four) worth of data collected while NOT under reinforcement. Please fill out the information below for week four:
Day 1 = 48oz
Day 2 = 32 oz
Day 3 = 48 oz
Day 4 = 24 oz
Day 5 = 16 oz
Day 6 = 48 oz
Day 7 = 32 oz
Average = 35.43oz

6b) This last week (week four) is referred to as 'return to baseline.' Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark without the reinforcer or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did?

I decreased the amount of water i drank. It was more than I initially drank when we started the experiment however. I think this happened because I did not have the reinforcer to keep me drinking from the reinforced weeks but I still had a habit of drinking water so I still drank more than when we started

7) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post and put them at the bottom of your post.

skinner box, type s, type r, controlled emotional response, social engineering, reinforcement schedule, skinner, sin tax, interval, ratio

fishmor | October 19, 2015 3:24 PM | Reply

1) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?
One of the first things that were discussed in this section was Skinner’s operant chamber. I didn’t realize that it was B.F. Skinner who came up with behavior modification. Through his operant chamber he was able to manipulate and elicit certain behaviors through the use of the operant chamber. I also found it interesting that he was able to use shaping to help elicit the behaviors that he wanted to receive from the pigeons and rats. Another experiment I had never heard of was the air bed. I found this to be completely shocking, yet also very interesting to read about the results of this experiment.

2) What did you find least interesting? Why?
This section was actually very informational. I hadn’t learned of most of the things that were discussed in this section, so I found it very interesting.

3) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?  Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.
Something that I have previously heard about was the use of shaping. Although I didn’t know all that I had learned in this section, it was something that I had heard of before. I also have previously learned about B.F. Skinner in other classes before.

4) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?
The first way that I could relate to life is the air bed experiment. Part of this experiment looked at how temperatures could affect mood. I think that I am more subject to irritation when I am hot, a lot like the babies in the experiment. The second way that I found my life could be related back to this section was the taxes that individuals face when they buy cigarettes. Although, I don’t buy them I know that they are punished in a sense due to the high tax rates on this product.

5) How has reading these sections influenced what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?
This section has only furthered my knowledge of behavior modification and proved to me that this is everywhere. You don’t even realize what is considered a behavior modification technique until you read this book and it broadens your knowledge a great deal.

6a) Behavioral Project (Return to Baseline). You should now have a final week's (week four) worth of data collected while NOT under reinforcement. Please fill out the information below for week four:
Day 1 = 4 24 oz bottles
Day 2 = 4 24 oz bottles
Day 3 = 3 24 oz bottles
Day 4 = 4 24 oz bottles
Day 5 = 5 24 oz bottles
Day 6 = 2 24 oz bottles
Day 7 = 4 24 oz bottles
Average =89 oz per day

6b) This last week (week four) is referred to as 'return to baseline.' Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark without the reinforcer or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did?
My results have stayed about the same over the past few weeks. I think this is partially because I feel like I am being healthier when I drink this amount of water, so that is a reinforcer for me, even without the reinforcer that I was giving myself at the end of the week before.

Terms used: behavior modification, air bed, B.F. Skinner, elicit, operant chamber, shaping, and reinforcer

taylor pfiffner | October 19, 2015 5:14 PM | Reply

1) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?
- I found the topic of Skinners operant chamber or Skinner box to be the most interesting. I found this to be the most interesting because it took concepts that we previously learned such as operant conditioning and explained it through Skinners experiment. I also found this section to be interesting because I find experiments in general to be interesting to read about, so learning about how they would used schedule reinforcement to teach the rat to press the manipulanda 25 times in order to receive food along with other aspects to this experiment were interesting.

2) What did you find least interesting? Why?
- the section that I found to be the least interesting would be the topic of Skinners air bed. I found this to be less interesting because I didn’t feel that it did a very good job of explaining what his invention did. Also while I know that the topic is about Skinner and that this is one of his inventions, I didn’t see how it related to psychology that much.

3) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
-This section related to things I already knew through the subjects of operant conditioning and classical conditioning. These are topics that we discussed in previous chapters and then further expanded into with different experiment. For example we learned how the operant chamber used a light, which would then be followed by a shock. The unconditioned stimulus (the shock) elicited the unconditioned response (the rat freezing up). eventually this would lead to the conditioned stimulus being the light, which lead to the conditioned response of the rat freezing up.

4) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?
- from this chapter two things that I read that can be related to my life are operant conditioning and classical conditioning. These relate to our life because we all have behaviors that we would like to change as well as target behaviors we would like to emit more of. In order to achieve this we much use operant conditioning or classical conditioning. A good example of this would be our water drinking experiment.

5) How has reading these sections influenced what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?
- This has influenced what I have already known about behavior modification by giving be a better understanding of another key contributor to the field of psychology. In this reading we learned about skinner and his accomplishments. Prior to this reading I knew briefly about him and his accomplishments however now I know a lot more.

6a) Behavioral Project (Return to Baseline). You should now have a final week's (week four) worth of data collected while NOT under reinforcement. Please fill out the information below for week four: 
Day 1 = 35
Day 2 = 50
Day 3 = 40
Day 4 = 45
Day 5 = 40
Day 6 = 45
Day 7 = 50
Average =43.57

6b) after I returned to baseline my water intake dropped from the previous week, but not by as much as I expected. I think this is because I was used to drinking so much water so I just continued to do what I was used to doing.

Terms: elicit, emit, target behavior, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, unconditioned stimulus, conditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, conditioned response, manipulanda, Skinner, operant chamber, schedule reinforcement.

Lauren Mengwasser | October 19, 2015 5:42 PM | Reply

1. What did you find interesting? I found raising a child in an air bed to be interesting. I think this because they literally balanced a child's emotions on the temperature of the bed and found it to be that if you lower the temperature it could cause happier behavior. It's weird to connect this because I am generally happier in the summer than in the winter.
2. What did you find least interesting? I found the rat testing to be the least interesting because I feel like every single psychologist of some kind uses rats to experiment on and the majority of the testing results in the same results. So even though I am reading from a completely different psychologist I feel like I already knew what I read and could predict the rat's actions.
3. What can you relate to what you previously knew? I can relate this to all of the Skinner stuff I learned in introduction to psychology. I also just learned about Skinner for behavioral therapy in my psychology of personality class but we more learned about how he believes in more environmental stuff than genetics.
4. What two things can you relate to your life?
I can relate the temperature to my moods for sure. I obviously was not raised in an air bed but I agree completely that it affects your mood in some way but I think that goes hand in hand with reinforcement and punishment since when it is too cold you no longer want to go outside. Another thing I can relate to is the discrimination training because if I am trying to train myself in a new habit I don't continuously reinforce myself otherwise I get burnt out.
5. How has this section influenced what I thought about behavior modification? It honestly shows how it is literally everywhere. Every single person uses behavior modification in every part of their life.
6a. Day 1= 50
Day 2= 36
Day 3= 44
Day 4= 64
Day 5= 24
Day 6= 50
Day 7=36

6b. I think I got the results that I did is because I am so sporadic when it comes to drinking water and I don't necessarily think about it whatsoever. It did decrease a little from the past couple of weeks but is still increased from the very first week when I was hardly drinking anything.
Terms: air bed, skinner, discrimination stimulus, reinforcement, punishment.

Kenzie Bush | October 19, 2015 6:01 PM | Reply

After reading the first section, please respond to the following questions.
1) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?
I found it interesting to learn more about Skinner and what he accomplished. I didn’t know that he wrote books or that he invented the tools he used for his research. I’m interested in his books I think they would be an interesting read.
2) What did you find least interesting? Why?
The least interesting part of this section to me was learning about the rat in the operant chamber. Not that that part wasn’t interesting, I just have heard about it already and it has been discussed in a previous class of mine.
3) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.
This section related back to the previous sections when it talked about the schedules of reinforcement and classical and operant conditioning. It was god that it went over these because a review is always a good thing.
4) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?
I can relate successive approximation to my job at the daycare. Some days I work in the two year old classroom, a few of the kids are being potty trained at home and at daycare we continue to try and help them learn. The kids can be rewarded verbally or tangibly by either stickers or candy. If the kids lets us know that they have to use the restroom or if they even just sit on the toilet it’s all a part of the process of them learning to use the restroom when they need to go.
Classical conditioning can relate to my life as well. My dog has a shock collar and he has been trained that if he hears the collar beep he knows he’s either leaving the boundary of his yard or doing something he’s not supposed to be doing and if he doesn’t stop he will be shocked.
5) How has reading these sections influenced what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?
It made me realize how much goes into modifying a behavior and maintaining it.
6a) Behavioral Project (Return to Baseline). You should now have a final week's (week four) worth of data collected while NOT under reinforcement. Please fill out the information below for week four:
Day 1 = 66 oz
Day 2 = 65 oz
Day 3 = 68 oz
Day 4 = 66 oz
Day 5 = 70 oz
Day 6 = 64 oz
Day 7 = 72 oz
Average = 66.7 oz
6b) This last week (week four) is referred to as 'return to baseline.' Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark without the reinforcer or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did?
The amount of water that I drank stayed the same even without the reinforcement. I think it remained constant because I was already used to making sure I drank a set amount of water every day. It became part of my routine.
Terms: classical conditioning, operant conditioning, schedules of reinforcement

Theo Geisel | October 19, 2015 7:02 PM | Reply

1) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?
The thing I found most interesting was B.F. Skinners book “Walden Two.” I found this most interesting because the very brief explanation offered in the chapter reminded me very much of Plato’s Republic. I found the explanation of the book to be almost the exact replica of Plato’s Utopian society where the community is the only goal, and parents do not rear children (guardian class for him, everyone for Skinner.) As a theory it is sound and plausible, but other than that it is not something that is to be normal in today’s society. Overall this utopian idea is always interesting to learn about.

2) What did you find least interesting? Why?
The thing I found least interesting was the return to classical and operant conditioning. The section breaks these up into Type S (classical) and Type R (operant) styles, where s is stimuli based (as seen by all classical conditioning methods, and r is response based, the reinforcement or punishment. I found it least interesting because it was the only seemingly non new material, and although highly pertinent to the section, I was glad it was short mentioned.

3) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.
As always, this section builds upon the initial sections that were done in the first week of class. Classical conditioning has been discussed for the past three to four weeks extensively, and operant conditioning has been discussed in the past two weeks fairly consistently.
Another thing this section builds upon is Plato’s Republic and the information and knowledge that revolve around that book in my life. In my philosophy class we discussed this work extensively and have yet to finish it. Hearing Skinners Walden Two made me think solely of this piece of literature and how it is comparable with the notion of a utopian society.

4) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?
One thing that relates to my life is Skinners brief excerpt about a utopian society. It is so heavily related to Plato’s Republic that it may just be a little fresher on the memory. The rearing of children, allocation of jobs, community of the society not individualization, these are all highly common to what I have done in these classes. I had not heard about the book previously, but I am intrigued about it now that I have a better idea of what it is about.
The second thing that relates to my life is schedules of reinforcement. The reason this relates to me is because with my position in a student organization I am reinforced every single Tuesday with meetings and guys submitting their study hours to me. Without this constant reinforcer to myself it would make the position less justifiable and seeing the effort put in aids in getting it done.

5) How has reading these sections influenced what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?
These sections have not changed my original thoughts because they did not cover much new material, and instead brushed up on previously known stuff and added a little bit of a change with the Skinner rat box.

6a) Behavioral Project (Return to Baseline). You should now have a final week's (week four) worth of data collected while NOT under reinforcement. Please fill out the information below for week four:
Day 1 = 3 24oz
Day 2 = 4 32oz
Day 3 = 6 48oz
Day 4 = 4 32oz
Day 5 = 2 32oz
Day 6 = 8 62oz
Day 7 = 8 62oz
Average = 5 40oz

6b) This last week (week four) is referred to as 'return to baseline.' Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark without the reinforcer or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did?
My drinking is actually the highest it has ever been this week, which is probably because of the two outlier days from the weekend. My mark was always 32 oz with the idea of you don’t go from 0 to marathon runner, you start with 5k’s etc, and so 32 was my goal. I got the results because after homecoming and the Amazing Race on Wednesday I had a lot of need for water in my life, so I consumed ample amounts. I would say this week, as a legal adult, is an off week to compare results to. I also think it has steadily gotten higher just by nature of thinking about it and practicing it.

7) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post and put them at the bottom of your post.
B.F. Skinner, Walden Two, Type S, Type R, Classical conditioning, operant conditioning, reinforcement, punishment, response, stimuli, schedules of reinforcement, utopia, Plato’s Republic

ssb4 | October 19, 2015 7:08 PM | Reply

1). Social engineering was the more interesting part of this section to me. This is the belief that by creating the right environment we can predict and control behavior to the benefit of society. Skinner believed that his research and work would better society. I think this is very interesting because it this belief is what lead to most of the research that he completed. Skinners belief drove him to create new equipment that he could use with his operant conditioning research this was known as the operant chamber (skinner box), he also created the cumulative recorder. I think these things are very creative and they are something that is very interesting to research and learn about because of the results that they helped him find. This belief is what drove skinner to complete his life long work and in my opinion that is very interesting.

2). I thought the information about the government at the end was the least interesting because I don’t think that is something quite necessary to learn and read about while learning about Skinner I think there are many more aspects of skinners life that we should be learning and spending more time on instead of that as an example.

3). This section relates to what I already knew about skinner himself and his research with the Skinner box, and in operant conditioning. It also builds on what I know because I didn’t know about skinners airbed research and I didn’t know about skinner as a writer. Most of the time in my psychology courses they just brush over the topics and just the main work done by the researcher. This section went into more depth and really did help build my knowledge of skinner.

4). I can relate operant conditioning to my life when I would work with the children at the daycare I work at and I could also think I could use discrimination training in similar ways at my work. I could use both of these models to help get the children’s behavior to what is expected of the child.

5). This section influenced what I originally thought about behavior modification in the sense that I didn’t know we would be going into such detail about the researchers and psychologist there were behind the ways to modify behavior. I thought we would most just be talking about how to modify behavior. I also didn’t really connect all these popular psychologist to behavior modification until I began reading about them.

6). A: 1- 60oz.
2- 64oz
3- 55oz
4- 60oz
5- 64oz
6- 70oz
7- 70oz
average- about 63 ounces.
B: My results fluctuated daily the reinforcement didn’t really help my results. I think I got these results because everyday I try to drink a lot of water and I have been doing that for a long time and I just don’t think about it that much and I just try to get close to the amount.

7). Social Engineering, Skinner, Skinner box, operant conditioning, cumulative recorder, Skinners Air Bed, discrimination training,

Ben_Roney | October 19, 2015 7:45 PM | Reply

1) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?
I think that the most interesting part of this section was Skinners book Walden Two. This was interesting to me because this is a sort of uncommon theme that I’ve seen throughout society believing that things should be solely about the community and not about the individual at all. We’ve seen this type of thinking in several recent movies that have come out as well as many other books as well. This is sort of the opposite of free will. I do really think the concept of social engineering is interesting in theory but I don’t really agree with his deterministic ideas but I still find them very interesting.
2) What did you find least interesting? Why?
I think I found the part about Skinner’s Air bed the least interesting but mainly because it was somewhat confusing to me. Can people actually buy these in today’s society/stores? What have other psychologist had to say about the use of Air Bed’s? And if they are easy to use and don’t cause any problems and cause babies to be happier and cry less than why are we not using these more?! So I didn’t necessarily find this topic the least interesting I just found it somewhat confusing.
3) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.
We had already talked about the schedules of reinforcement, operant condition, and classical conditioning in this class so it related on all those concepts. We have also learned about the concepts of US, CS, CR, UR in this class as well as conditioning type. We have also discussed the concept of the conditioned emotional response in a previous reading.
4) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?
One thing that relates to my own life is the sin tax, which is based on social engineering. I don’t smoke cigarettes but I do think that they should be taxed at a higher rate due to their harm of individuals and the environment. I think another form could be through gas tax. We tax people more on gasoline to try to get them to buy more efficient cars and too keep down pollution so they don’t overuse gasoline and oil. I think the other part that could relate to my life in the future is Skinner’s Air bed. I don’t have any kids now but I think that it might be interesting to research these more and see if it would be beneficial to have for whenever I have kids to make them cry less.
5) How has reading these sections influenced what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?
I didn’t realize how the government uses behavior modification through social engineering to sort of try to limit the behaviors that they see fit to limit. I also thought it was good to learn more about the conditioned emotional response. Previously, I was very confused about this concept, but this section really helped me grasp the information better.
6a) Behavioral Project (Return to Baseline). You should now have a final week's (week four) worth of data collected while NOT under reinforcement. Please fill out the information below for week four:
Day 1 = 24
Day 2 = 32
Day 3 = 32
Day 4 = 24
Day 5 = 48
Day 6 = 72
Day 7 = 56
Average = 41 oz
6b) Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark without the reinforcer or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did?
My drinking water decreased after the reinforcer was taken away. I believe that it did this for two different reasons. First, I don’t think that the original reinforcer that I had was that good of a reinforcer because it was only once a week and wasn’t that good at reinforcing me to drink water. Second, I believe that the reinforcer didn’t have enough time to be associated with the amount of drinking water since we only had the reinforcer for one week. I think the results might have changed if I was to have a different reinforcer or simply had more time to link the reinforcer with the behavior at hand.
7) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post and put them at the bottom of your post.
US, UR, CR, CS, conditioning type, reinforcer, operant conditioning, classical conditioning, social engineering, Skinner, Skinner’s Air Bed, conditioned emotional response, behavior modification, schedules of reinforcement, Walden Two

Gabe Flogstad | October 19, 2015 8:27 PM | Reply

1) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?
I found the idea of how they have to train the mice in stages to get them to perform the behaviors that they want them to emit. It seems like a lot of time and effort would go into training them.
2) What did you find least interesting? Why?
The section about Skinners writing was uninteresting to me because I’ve never been into writing but the concepts that he used in his books seemed interesting.
3) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.
We had already covered operant and classical conditioning and the use of the operant chamber in previous readings. I had also heard of one of Skinners books in my time in high school but have not read any books that he has written.
4) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?
In my own life I may not be a parent but I hope to be one someday and I believe that some things that Skinner taught could be usable in the raising of my child and would help to influence their behavior later in life. I also have experience with sin tax on cigarettes from working in a gas station and have noticed that cigars and cigarillos are not taxed as cigarettes are because they avoid the sin tax but they probably should be included in it.
5) How has reading these sections influenced what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?
After reading the process that go into how mice are trained in the operant chamber the idea of being a behaviorist seems like a more difficult job than I first imagined and any time along that process the something could happen to completely ruin all the previous work to elicit the behaviors out of the mice.
6a) Behavioral Project (Return to Baseline). You should now have a final week's (week four) worth of data collected while NOT under reinforcement. Please fill out the information below for week four:
Day 1 = 9856 steps
Day 2 = 5468 steps
Day 3 = 7697 steps
Day 4 = 5632 steps
Day 5 = 8451 steps
Day 6 = 6890 steps
Day 7 = 5685 steps
Average = 7097 steps

6b) This last week (week four) is referred to as 'return to baseline.' Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark without the reinforcer or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did?

You should have received a copy of a graph to fill out from Dr. MacLin. Please go back and fill out the water drinking data for the last four weeks and either bring it to class on Thursday (or email it to bmod.uni@gmail.com). The graph is worth 10 points.
My steps decreased. I missed my mark of 10000steps this week because I saw no motivation to make it. With the reward I had a purpose to work towards but without I saw no reason to try.
7) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post and put them at the bottom of your post.
Terms/ behavior, classical, operant, conditioning, emit, elicit

merricka | October 19, 2015 8:41 PM | Reply

1. I found the Skinner Box portion of this section was interesting. This is like Thorndike’s puzzle box invention, but with a different twist. In some of my other psychology classes we have briefly gone over this concept but I found it really interesting to actually go into depth about how it worked and how Skinner came up with the idea. Skinner’s subject choice is the pigeon and occasionally the rat. His objection for this experiment was to train the rat to press a lever before it received food. For the pigeon it had to peck a button before getting food. The small pellet of food is very tiny so it does not become satiated.
2. I liked reading about the conditioned emotional response section in this reading but it was just hard for me to understand where it came into play. I think I am just thinking about this concept too hard or I’m just completely missing the point of this idea. I was following along decently well until I started reading the part about species specific response. I just don’t get this concept and probably need to do my own research on this. It would be a good idea if I did my Wednesday blog about this concept.
3. We have talked about B.F Skinner quite a bit in this behavior modification class in in my other psychology courses. Which makes since because he plays a major part in behavior and came up with multiple experiments incorporating operant conditioning. This class is called behavior modification and this whole section is about manipulating the subject’s behavior in order for them to learn a certain behavior.
4. This section applies to my life because modifying behavior is relatable to anyone. I attempt to change my roommate’s behavior by positively reinforcing her every time she puts away the dishes. The reinforcement is so small that it stays satiated and I can keep on doing it without having to increase the amount I am using as the positive reinforcement. Another way that this section can be applied to my life is the concept of shaping. In the reading this technique was used to shape the rats behavior of pressing the lever in order to get the food pellet. This applies to my life because when I was being bathroom training my parents would reward me with a praise or a high five, so every time I went to the bathroom successfully in the toilet I would be ready for the praise, I was conditioned to await one of my parents to be proud of me and give me a high five.
5. This section has not really changed my idea or opinion on behavior modification because this was mostly all concepts we have gone over before in this class and in my other classes. This reading just confirmed my belief that behavior modification is an essential aspect in our everyday life, for without it people would be struggling with everyday tasks.
6. Day 1= 64oz
Day 2= 64oz
Day 3= 64oz
Day 4= 56oz
Day 5= 64oz
Day 6= 64oz
Day 7= 64oz
Average= 62.8oz
b. The amount I drank actually went up, but my average did not reach 64oz, it was close though. I finished with 62.8oz for an average, but for all of the days I was drinking 64oz except for day 4. Without the reinforcement my average went up, because I was still in the mindset that I was still going to receive the positive reinforcement, but never got it.
Terms: Skinner box, satiated, conditioned emotional response, species specific response, operant conditioning, positively reinforcing, shaping.

skinnerb | October 19, 2015 8:46 PM | Reply

Section 3.5
1) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?
I found this section interesting to read because I haven't really learned about B.F. Skinner in any of my classes, but we share the same last name so I feel obligated to know more about his research. I thought his idea of social engineering was very interesting. I did not know there were really people out there who believed controlling behaviorism could change society for the better. It kind of reminds me of something you would find in books, or movies such as the Divergent series. It is really strange to think of a society where everyone uses behavioral principles to direct their entire lives. I feel like the idea of this, and taking people's free will away, makes us less like human and more like robots.
2) What did you find least interesting? Why?
I did not find any of this section uninteresting to read because I have been wanting to learn more about Skinner since I started taking Psychology classes, and I thought it was really cool to read a different perspective than most of the people we have learned about so far. I also think it's really cool that he created a lot of his own equipment, and designed his own experiments.
3) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
This section talked about classical conditioning, and operant conditioning which we have talked a lot about in previous sections. Also just like Thorndike and his puzzle box, Skinner created a lot of the things he used in his experiments too. With this equipment he did animal experimentation which we have also talked a lot about in other sections. These experiments dealt with extinction, fixed ratios, rewards, and reinforcement.
4) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?
One thing that can kind of relate to my life is the idea of fixed ratios. I know that if I bug my roommate a certain amount of times to get food she will concede, and then I'm rewarded with yummy food. Another thing that can relate to my life is classical conditioning because there are many different things in my life that are learned behaviors. When I hear the conditioned stimulus of the oven beep for being preheated, and have the conditioned response of going to put food in.
5) How has reading these sections influenced what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?
This section hasn't really changed any of my previous thoughts about behavior modification, but it did give me a different idea of how it could be used. I feel like if society was based off of Skinner's idea of social engineering the world would be a lot different, and I do not believe it would be in a good way. The idea of people having their free will taken away just to create a utopian society does not seem worth it to me.
6a) Day 1 = six cups Day 2 = seven cups Day 3 = seven cups Day 4 = six cups Day 5 = eight cups Day 6 = seven cups Day 7 = seven cups Average = About seven ups a day (6.86 cups)
6b) This week not being reinforced for the target behavior made my drinking habits decrease, but only slightly. The amount of water I drank last week was an even seven cups. I think my water intake stays around seven cups each week because my water bottle fits around 4 cups of water, and I usually only make it through one and a half of those because I think the Cedar Falls water is really gross.
Terms: reinforced, target behavior, behaviorism, social engineering, behavioral principles, free will, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, extinctions, fixed ratios, rewards, reinforcement, conditioned stimulus, conditioned response

Shannon Hoppman | October 19, 2015 8:53 PM | Reply

1) Something I found interesting was the discussion on shaping. I liked reading about it because I remembered learning it in high school. The way we learned about shaping, was actually putting it into practice, and it was cool to see it all work out. So when the section talked about successive approximation and reinforcing behaviors associated with what the final target behavior was, I could actually picture it in my mind.

2) Something that I found least interesting was the topic of Skinner’s Air Bed. I didn’t really find this part interesting because the discussion on it confused me a little bit. I don’t quite understand how it worked or what exactly the goal of the bed was. It seemed like a random piece of information and wasn’t explained very well.

3) This section built upon previous chapters because it talked about Watson and behaviorism, and how his work was popular like what we had read about earlier, but it was Skinner who laid the foundation of the idea. Since we had already learned about Watson and the basis of behaviorism, Skinner and his work just played right into the topic.

4) The two things that relate to my life are the two types of conditioning: Type S and Type R. When I go to bed on time, I am rewarded by not being tired the next day. This is type R because the stimulus comes after the behavior. Type S describes my life when my phone makes a noise or vibrates and then I pick it up to see who is trying to get ahold of me.

5) This section hasn’t really influenced or changed my original thoughts on what I thought behavior modification was because I had already learned about most of this stuff before taking this class. So nothing was really new or surprising to me about Skinner and his ideas on conditioning.

6a)
Day 1 = 4 cups
Day 2 = 5 cups
Day 3 = 4 cups
Day 4 = 3 cups
Day 5 = 6 cups
Day 6 = 6 cups
Day 7 = 2 cups
Average = 4.29 cups

6b) My behavior of drinking 8 cups of water a day decreased this last week without having reinforcement. I’m not surprised at the results, there have been other things on my mind and drinking water was the least of my worries. It wasn’t a priority for me and I didn’t have much motivation to complete it.

7) Shaping, successive approximation, reinforcing, behavior, target behavior, Skinner, air bed, Watson, behaviorism, type S conditioning, type R conditioning, stimulus

Courtney Brown | October 19, 2015 9:09 PM | Reply

1) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?
I found the idea of Skinner’s airbed, which was used in place of a bed. The picture was very unusual, but he raised a child using it and she lived, so I guess it could not have been that bad. When we talk about Skinner, we typically talk about the Skinner box, or operant chamber. It was cool to hear about some things that he did that were outside of the typical textbook.

2) What did you find least interesting? Why?
I didn’t really find anything uninteresting, but if I had to pick something that was the least interesting, it was the section talking about the Skinner box. I know that this section made up a very large portion of the reading for this week, but it is something that I have heard about in other classes many times.

3) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?  Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.
This section relates to the other sections that we have read, in that Skinner has been briefly brought up when talking about Watson and classical conditioning, as well as other sections. We have also learned about Skinner in other courses, which I guess makes sense since he was a large component of behavior modification. We spend quite a bit of time on the Skinner box in History and Systems of Psychology.

4) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?
One thing that I can relate to my life I guess is species-specific response. I feel like all humans can, as we experience fight or flight in fearful situations. I tend to be a “flight” type of person. Whether we run away or stay and put our fists up, this is a species-specific response to being scared. Another thing that I can relate to is Skinner’s ideas behind his airbed. He said that excessive clothing and blankets could make the baby too hot and moody. I cannot sleep when it is too hot in the room, and the heat has always made me cranky.

5) How has reading these sections influenced what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?
6a) Behavioral Project (Return to Baseline). You should now have a final week's (week four) worth of data collected while NOT under reinforcement. Please fill out the information below for week four: 
Day 1 = 28oz
Day 2 = 37oz
Day 3 = 8oz
Day 4 = 48oz
Day 5 = 34oz
Day 6 = 17oz
Day 7 = 17oz
Average = 27oz

6b) This last week (week four) is referred to as 'return to baseline.' Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark without the reinforcer or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did?
I am really bad at this. No matter what I set my reinforcement at, I could not reach the 64oz mark. I think the closest I got was like 48oz. I have never been a big water drinker; a 20oz bottle of water will last me all day, and maybe even a little more after that. This is something that I think I might try to continue to work on.

Terms: Skinner, airbed, Skinner box, operant chamber, Watson, classical conditioning, behavior modification, species-specific response

Jessica Scherbring | October 19, 2015 9:14 PM | Reply

1) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?
I found the section about reinforcers and punishers from the government to be extremely interesting. I have never thought about tax breaks or extra taxes as reinforcers or punishers but if we break it down into the definition it is very clear that they are in fact reinforcers and punishers.
2) What did you find least interesting? Why?
I found it interesting that people found Skinners book to be so upsetting because they is very different but also similar to culture today. There are countless numbers of books about utopian society or societies after major disasters which end up in people are told what to do and when. It seems that within the utopian societies people are not okay with being told what to do and often over throw the government but if there is a major disaster people are looking for someone to tell them what to do to survive.
3) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.
The section that discussed how you need to readjust what you are doing depending on who/what you are working with relates to many other classes I have taken; specifically research methods. This can also apply to human subjects. You cannot tell a subject who does not speak English the instructions to receive reinforcement and English and expect them to understand.
4) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so? The first thing I believe I can relate to my life is stimulus control. I have attempted to use something similar when toilet training toddlers. You reward them for telling that they need to go to the bathroom but eventually stop rewarding them for that and start rewarding them for walking themselves to the bathroom when they need to go. You stop rewarding them for this and start only rewarding them when they actually go to the bathroom in the toilet. The second thing that relates to my life is species specific response because a fellow classmate of mine from high school raised goats, and even though his goats were not fainting goats we still did a lot of research about them because of it. The species specific response for fainting goats is that when they get startled they faint and fall over.
5) How has reading these sections influenced what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?
The more I learn about behavior modification and psychology in general the more I am astounding about how many of the original concepts/theories is that many of them were not intended for psychology or research by psychologists. It reaffirms that you can apply psychology to everything if you look at it in the correct way.
6a) Behavioral Project (Return to Baseline). You should now have a final week's (week four) worth of data collected while NOT under reinforcement. Please fill out the information below for week four:
Day 1 =Did not do dishes
Day 2 =Did dishes
Day 3 =Did not do dishes
Day 4 =Did dishes
Day 5 =Did not do dishes
Day 6 =Did not do dishes
Day 7 =Did dishes
Average =Did dishes 3 times
6b) My average number of times doing dishes per week went down compared to the week prior but I do not think it was because I was not given a reinforcer. The past week was homecoming and I did not eat at my apartment nearly as much as I do on a normal week. I also think the amount of times I emit the behavior of doing dishes a week is effected very little depending on whether I am going to get a reinforce or not because if I do not do them I am punished by my roommates.

7) Terms: reinforce, behavior modification, punisher, psychology, stimulus control, species specific response, Skinner, emit, behavior, punished

Mitch Wilson | October 19, 2015 9:16 PM | Reply

What did you find interesting in the section? Why?
The most interesting part of the section to me was Skinner’s Air Bed. I had not ever heard of an air bed and I didn’t know there was every studies done to fix the problem of having to wrap babies up only to find out they unwrapped themselves or had gone to the bathroom wrapped up in it. I thought an air bed was an interesting idea because of how much it is used for babies after they are born in hospitals.

2) What did you find least interesting? Why?
The least interesting part of the chapter was the part call Skinner the Inventor. Skinner the Inventor talked a lot about the use of operant chambers and studies that used them. The studies told me some new things about shaping and successive approximation but the reading was a bit dry to me and using things like FR3 and FR25 made me feel like I was reading straight findings which required a second and a third run through to make sure I got what I was reading.

3) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.
Operant chambers have been something I discussed in a few other psychology classes and a piece of an assignment I have done for this class.

4) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?
One thing that relates to my life is the study with Skinner’s Air Bed. It is very often that I have to spend a good amount of time trying to find the right position when I’m trying to get to sleep to not be too hot or too cold. Even once I go through all of this I will still wake up in the morning hot or cold, if not at some weird time in the night. Having an air bed would be very convenient for when I’m trying to get to sleep. The other way it relates to my life is how the government manipulates our behavior. Putting certain taxes on things makes us buy more of other items or just less of that certain item. I remember hearing about New York putting higher taxes on unhealthy food in an attempt to get their citizens to eat healthier. I’m not sure if it ever ended up happening, but as a growing problem it should be looked at more.

5) How has reading these sections influenced what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?
This chapter just made me think more about how behavior modification is in everything. I would have never thought about using behavior modification in air beds to change the behavior of children and I didn’t think about how putting taxes on things could be called behavior modification. I think providing benefits from taxes will continue to be a good reinforcer that does let the people think they have the free will to do as they wish.

6a) Behavioral Project (Return to Baseline). You should now have a final week's (week four) worth of data collected while NOT under reinforcement. Please fill out the information below for week four:
Day 1 = 40 oz
Day 2 = 40 oz
Day 3 = 48 oz
Day 4 = 40 oz
Day 5 =24 oz
Day 6 = 64 oz
Day 7 = 56 oz
Average = 44.5 oz

6b) This last week (week four) is referred to as 'return to baseline.' Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark without the reinforcer or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did?
My water levels did decrease without without me being reinforced. For the most part, I think the reason that it decreased is that I just forgot to drink water. I would find myself drinking milk with meals only to remember shortly after I was supposed to hit 64 oz for the day. On my worst day, I was busy and drinking water just didn’t cross my mind.

You should have received a copy of a graph to fill out from Dr. MacLin. Please go back and fill out the water drinking data for the last four weeks and either bring it to class on Thursday (or email it to bmod.uni@gmail.com). The graph is worth 10 points.

7) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post and put them at the bottom of your post.
Shaping, successive approximation, operant chambers, Skinner, Air Bed, behavior modification, reinforcer.

Raven Stowell | October 19, 2015 9:48 PM | Reply

1. I found the sections on the Skinner Box and Air Beds very interesting. I was curious as to how badly the rat was shocked though. Psych experiments were so different back then because of the lack of ethical guidelines and such. I don’t think I completely understand what the function of the Air Bed is though. I wonder if the child is out of the air bed and the temperature is right (lets say in school or something) if the child becomes tired.
2. I thought going over some of the condition responses and stimulus control stuff was a little boring because I am pretty familiar with it, but it was a good review and important information to include.
3. I have learned about skinner before and knew that he did experiments on rats, but I didn’t know to what extent or about the air bed. I also knew quite a bit about what would happen with the rat when in the Skinner Box after reading about what it would do to the rat.
4. I thought the Air Bed related to my life because I sleep best when the temp is around 67-70 degrees. I don’t like to wear heavy clothing, but I like to have lots of blankets. The cooler temp helps me sleep better. Another thing that related this to my life is simply training animals. Because you can’t tell an animal “do this and you’ll be rewarded” showing them in small steps makes it much easier to train.
5. These sections reinforced what I already thought of behavior modification but it is also increasing my knowledge about who did what experiments and what discoveries still apply today.
6. Behavioral Project (Return to Baseline). You should now have a final week's (week four) worth of data collected while NOT under reinforcement. Please fill out the information below for week four:
Day 1 = 24oz
Day 2 = 16oz
Day 3 = 48oz
Day 4 = 56 oz
Day 5 = 24oz
Day 6 = 8oz
Day 7 = 16oz
Average = 27oz
7. I think that this wasn’t the best thing for me to try to change and reinforce myself because drinking water isn’t the most important thing to me. I drink a lot of fluids during the day…but it isn’t often straight water (as you can tell). My reinforcement didn’t really work either because I was never able to reinforce myself. This all around was pretty much a bust for me. Only a few of the 28 days did I consciously tell myself to drink more just for this assignment.
8. Terms: behavior, reinforcement, skinner box, air bed, data, modicifaction

Justin Ruhs | October 19, 2015 10:06 PM | Reply

1) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?
I found much interest in the concept of social engineering. This is because it is so correct that individuals are shaped by their environment. Skinner believed that by creating the right environment we can predict and control behavior in order to benefit society. This method is tested by operant conditioning with operant chambers.
2) What did you find least interesting? Why?
I wouldn't claim that there was anything within this section that I didn't find interesting. All of it was interesting and capturing.
3) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.
I already knew a decent amount of information on classical conditioning and operant conditioning due to this class and intro to psych. I also knew the background knowledge on Watson and Skinner.

4) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?
I can relate to the Operant Chambers method due to trying something over and over again with hope that it will work. This has happened before while trying to set up my subwoofers in my first car. I remember following instructions off of the internet, yet the subwoofers still wouldn't work. Even though the custom deck had all of the settings tweaked correctly it still wouldn't function properly. After trying and messing with different things over and over it eventually worked. Another time this has occurred was when my xbox one's sound wouldn't play through my tv. I kept disconnecting the HDMI cord and blowing the ends to make sure that it was cleared of dust, but it would not work. With acknowledging this, I tried a different slot for the HDMI cable on the tv, and sure enough it worked.

5) How has reading these sections influenced what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?
I would have never thought that something like "Skinner's air bed" would have existed. Who would have thought that someone would create a box for a baby to sleep in that would monitor the temperature and lower as the child aged. This blew my mind and showed that their are so many different aspects to Behavior Modification.

6a) Behavioral Project (Return to Baseline). You should now have a final week's (week four) worth of data collected while NOT under reinforcement. Please fill out the information below for week four:
Day 1 = 56 oz.
Day 2 = 64 oz.
Day 3 = 64 oz.
Day 4 = 64 oz.
Day 5 = 48 oz.
Day 6 = 72 0z.
Day 7 = 72 oz.
Average = 62.86 oz.

6b) This last week (week four) is referred to as 'return to baseline.' Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark without the reinforcer or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did? It decreased a bit, but I would still claim that it was close enough to the required amount. I would say that i got the results I did because there were a few days where I was lacking, and forgot to drink as much as I should have been. That is where a reinforcer would have came in to play.

7) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post and put them at the bottom of your post.
social engineering, operant conditioning, operant chambers, classical conditioning, Watson, Skinner, Skinner's air bed, behavior modification, reinforcer

Elvira L | October 19, 2015 10:08 PM | Reply

1)I really liked this section because it combined terms with experiments which made it a lot more interesting and I felt more engage. I really liked the experiment of the rat and the stimuli he used in order to get the rat to press the lever for a concrete amount of times which is the fixed ratio by using variable ratios so the rat will get used to the pattern in order to get food.

2)I really did not find anything that was not interesting. I liked that the section also talk about the fact that Skinner was also a writer and it briefly talks about that aspect of his life.

3)We have already mentioned Skinner in other sections. I feel like he is an important figure in the area of psychology so may be not about the same aspects but definitely I have talked about Skinner in other classes before. This section also used some familiar terms such as classical conditioning, reinforcement, or punishment.

4)After reading the section assigned for this week, two things that relate to my life would be shaping and differential reinforcement. Shaping is especially used with young children and that is what I used to do with the youngest ones at the summer camp I worked. When I wanted them to display a specific behavior I would use shaping by introducing in moderate basis the behavior that I wanted them to emit. When they would emit the desired behavior I would reinforce them by letting them play any game they would like. They would gradually increase the frequency of the emission of the desired behavior until they would adopt the behavior. The second thing that relates to my life is differential reinforcement. At the summer camp I worked as I mentioned above when I had the kids at the tennis courts with me I used to do an exercise in which the kids would line across the baseline and would pick a fruit, every time I would feed a ball I would say a fruit and the kid that was assign to the fruit would have to hit the ball. If the kid would miss to answer to the fruit by hitting the ball he would have to run to the fence and back. After a little bit they would see the relationship between the ball and the fruit with hitting the ball so the presence of the fruit would be the reinforcement to hit the ball.

5)Like I have mentioned in past sections I would not really say any of the sections is changing my perception of behavior modification but they are completing my perception of behavior modification and its uses and applications.

6a)Day 1= 64 oz
Day 2= 64 oz
Day 3= 64 oz
Day 4= 64 oz
Day 5= 64 oz
Day 6= 64 oz
Day 7= 64 oz
Average= 64 oz

6b) My intake of water without reinforcement has remained the same. I feel that I am getting the goal because I know it is healthy and it feels good to be hydrated the whole time so I don’t feel tired and fatigued.

7)Terms and terminology used: classical conditioning, shaping, reinforcement, punishment, variable ratio, fixed ratio, behavior modification, emit, display, desired behavior, emission, psychology, differential reinforcement, Skinner.

Kailyn | October 19, 2015 10:13 PM | Reply

1) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?

I enjoyed the parts where it compared Watson and Skinner because it is very interesting to see how the two are so similar yet different.

2) What did you find least interesting? Why?

The part where it described the rats pulling the levels and talked about the terms stimulus continuum and manipulanda was kind of boring because of the way it was worded and how it felt like it dragged on.

3) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?  Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.

This section built on what we learned about Watson to teach us about Skinner and his ideas such as social engineering and Type S and Type R conditioning.

4) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?

Maybe I could try to use conditioning to train my cat how to do certain things, but also how to not do certain things.

I could also try to use what I learned to modify my girlfriend’s behavior so that she will do more chores around the house.

5) How has reading these sections influenced what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?

This section has expanded on what we have already learned about behavior modification and taught me more about how it works and how to properly apply it.

6a) Behavioral Project (Return to Baseline). You should now have a final week's (week four) worth of data collected while NOT under reinforcement. Please fill out the information below for week four: 
Day 1 = 30
Day 2 = 30 
Day 3 = 25
Day 4 = 20
Day 5 = 30
Day 6 = 25
Day 7 = Average = 22.86

Terms: stimulus continuum, manipulanda, conditioning, social engineering, Type R, Type S, modify, behavior

Abbi | October 19, 2015 10:18 PM | Reply

1) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?
I found it interesting that Skinner and Thorndike spent so much time to create the puzzle box and the operant chamber as well as the cumulative recorder. They created speaker, light, water spouts, food hoppers and bars. They even took into consideration the animals that would be in each of the inventions because the pigeons can only peck at the bars and do not have hands to be able and be able to grasp the bars. They use reinforcement to get the rats to be able to get food and that teaches them which lever to be able to pull. I find this interesting that they took the time to set this up so that we can learn not only about animals but about how we as humans learn also. It is also interesting to me that we can use animals learning abilities on humans as well, like the operant and classical conditioning works on both. I also found it interesting that the light can act as either a positive or negative reinforcement. This is neat to me that something can be both a positive or negative.

2) What did you find least interesting? Why?
I found the least interesting part to be about shaping done on the rats. This was not very interesting to me because I have learned this in past classes as well as discussion in classes. However, I do find it interesting that the animals can start to catch on to something by successive approximation. This makes sense to me because it teaches the rat how to learn something by reinforcing it with a pellet of food. This is when scheduled reinforcement and continuous reinforcement comes into play as well. Extinction burst also comes into play after this.

3) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.
I had learned in the previous section the parts about continuos and scheduled reinforcement. This was in either the last section or two sections ago and I also did my tropical blog on it. Also, discrimination training was also used throughout this section as well as with previous sections and Pavlov's experimental neurosis. I also learned in previous sections that the stimuli (the light) can be a positive or negative. This is interesting to me but still is something that I learned in the previous section.

4) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?
One definition that would relate to my life would be successive approximation. During class professors or more so high school teachers reward you by giving you a compliment or something along those lines when you state the correct answer to a question. Elementary teachers may give students a sticker for trying to answer the question and giving them positive reinforcement for getting the courage to speak up in class, however students who get the question actually right, may get a piece of candy. The teacher is giving the student the sticker to show successive approximation and try to get them to reach the overall goal, which is to learn the material and get the correct answer.
Another way that this article would relate to me is the section on tax credits. This could relate to anyone's life because of how the U.S. does the tax system. They try to get you to change your behaviors based on the "consequences" or "reinforcement"that we get when we purchase something.

5) How has reading these sections influenced what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?
This has gave me more of an understanding in how broad behavior modification is and the different things that we can learn by being in the class. It is also shown me that many of the things I just thought were everyday normal things, have an actual definition. For example successive approximation. This class is helping me better understand things I can use in everyday life as well which is helpful.

6a) Behavioral Project (Return to Baseline). You should now have a final week's (week four) worth of data collected while NOT under reinforcement. Please fill out the information below for week four:
Day 1 = 60
Day 2 = 45
Day 3 = 70
Day 4 = 40
Day 5 =55
Day 6 = 55
Day 7 = 70
Average = 56

6b) This last week (week four) is referred to as 'return to baseline.' Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark without the reinforcer or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did?
Mine decreased and I think it did so because without the reinforcer and thinking about what I could get, I sort of forgot about it. I think that if I would have had a reinforcer then I would have at least got the average if not more.

You should have received a copy of a graph to fill out from Dr. MacLin. Please go back and fill out the water drinking data for the last four weeks and either bring it to class on Thursday (or email it to bmod.uni@gmail.com). The graph is worth 10 points.

7) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post and put them at the bottom of your post.
Skinner and Thorndike, puzzle box, operant chamber, operant and classical conditioning, positive or negative reinforcement, shaping, successive approximation, tax credits, consequences

Brittany Crawford | October 19, 2015 10:39 PM | Reply

1) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?
I thought this section was particularly interesting because it explained and discussed certain aspects of Skinner that I did not know about. I remember talking about Skinner’s Air Bed in a previous class but I do not remember going into that much detail about it. It seems slightly inappropriate to put a child in something like that but I guess if they were safe and observed than nothing would be wrong with that. I thought it was really interesting that he used his own children in this experiment and that one daughter said that she was not negatively affected by it. I had no idea that he had written those books Walden Two and Beyond Freedom and Dignity. It seemed that a lot of people were not very fond of his books because they ignored the issue of free will. He also believed that freedom and dignity were just traits that stood in the way. I feel like this would all be much easier said than done when it would not be happening to him. The last thing that I found particularly interesting was about how government taxes certain things to manipulate our behaviors. I never thought of this as manipulation but this does make a lot of sense when considering such things like having higher taxes on cigarettes to punish smoking behaviors.
2) What did you find least interesting? Why?
The part that I found least interesting was the first part that was about Skinner’s operant chamber. I found this interesting but it did seem a little repetitive when discussing exactly how these things work. I thought the examples on the FR schedule of reinforcement was just a little confusing when it kept going on and on, but rereading it helped me understand just the first time through it was a little difficult to understand.
3) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
This section relates to what I already know because previously we learned about schedules of reinforcement and we talked about them with regards to Skinner’s operant chamber. Also with that Skinner and Watson who we previously learned about referenced back to Watson’s experiments. As I previously mentioned before I did learn about Skinner’s Air Bed which I think is interesting but I did not know that he used his own children or I had forgotten that he did. Species specific response is something else that we notice without necessarily knowing exactly what it is called.
4) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?
One thing that I can relate to my life is that of the species specific response with my dogs and cat. With my dogs when they feel threatened sometimes they will growl but in other instances they will roll on their backs showing that they are surrendering. Another example would be like when my cat sees the vacuum and because threatened she will hunch her back and run very low to the ground trying to escape the feared stimulus. I feel humans have these behaviors too, if we are threatened some people may become aggressive and fight or others freeze and try to run away. Another thing that about everyone can relate their life to is Skinner’s position on freedom and dignity and free will. Once you think about the fact that the government taxes or gives us tax breaks on certain things we can relate that to multiple things. They posed the question if this interferes with our free will but we still have the choice to choose if we want to buy those certain products we do not have to at all so I do not this really interferes with free will. I think it manipulates us to make better choices however because I do not like that my sister smokes cigarettes I would hope this could possibly deter her.
5) How has reading these sections influenced what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?
Reading this section from what I originally thought about behavior modification has helped me understand operant and classical conditioning better from Skinner’s experiments. Also even though the section was slightly repetitive I did come to understand the schedules of reinforcements better.
6a) Behavioral Project (Return to Baseline).
Day 1 =3 x16oz water bottle
Day 2 =4
Day 3 =4
Day 4 =3
Day 5 =4
Day 6 =1
Day 7 =1
Average =2.8 x 16oz water bottle
6b) Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark without the reinforcer or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did?
Mine decreased I believe because the reinforcer was not there to help me keep consistent with drinking the water. I also believe this might decrease because of environmental issues as well such as it being homecoming week and on the weekend I was not drinking water necessarily. The weekends were always my downfall in this experiment I feel that if I had a better reinforcer for specifically the weekends than I can keep up drinking the adequate amount of water.
Terminology: Skinner, Air Bed, Walden Two, Beyond Freedom and Dignity, manipulate, behaviors, punish, operant chamber, FR, schedule of reinforcement, species specific response, stimulus

Large Farva | October 19, 2015 10:50 PM | Reply

RA9
BMOD
1. Social Engineering was the most interesting topic for me because it takes into account the social aspects that are encompassed in behavior modification. I can recall life lessons that my father taught me where he took me to scenarios and environments that were less developed than the environment that I lived in was. What I could take from these life lessons were the perspectives and how I judged other people. When my dad made me aware of the environmental differences I was able to see how my environment was enhanced in ways that even adults of today’s society fail to see. I was often obsessed with observing other people in their environment. And from moments that my dad showed me a new perspective I found myself looking at not only the negatives but the positives in each environment. I wished more than anything that I could get some of the other young children into the environment that I was living in. this is one of the big points that Skinner talks about in his Walden 2 writing. And that is what caught my interest.
2. What I found least interesting was the differential reinforcement. Why should I care that someone only used one of the discrimination training techniques? I can get for measuring and discovering limits and even deciphering between which training stimuli produced the biggest emotional response but for the most part 2 stimuli should be presented anyway. I didn’t find a need to term this for importance.
3. In sports psychology we learned about the factors that are attributed to why people do and do not work out. We discuss things that relate to past experiences all the way to how certain exercise buildings are named that factor into why people make the choices they do. One of these underlying factors is the environmental factors. Within these factors we discussed in class that poor neighborhoods have no sidewalks which does not promote exercise. Also a failed instrument located in these neighborhoods is streetlights. Streetlights not being present can inhibit people from exercising. They won’t want to run that they fear a robber might come across their path. This is related to social engineering in that professionals say sidewalks could greatly alter the lack of exercise just as Skinner believes that with better environmental changes we could alter the lack of proper education in a school system.
4. Successive approximation and positive feedback. When we look as successive approximation we are attempting to promote the species (rat) to associate the desired reinforcement as plausible. In throwing we have this theory that positive feedback supports a thrower. If we give positive affirmations “That was good!” we can promote and even motivate an athlete to continue the behavior that was reinforced.
Another connection is Ratio Strain and Performance Cue overload. When we look into ratio strain we see that something went wrong in the progression of the leaning out process and the rat cannot find a pattern. Same thing with throwing generally a thrower or any athlete can hold on to 2 or 3 performance cues at one time. For example if you told a basketball player to relax his left arm and shoot at the peak of his jump he could do the task. But if you told the player to shoot at the peak of the jump, keep the elbow aimed at the rim, look at the back of the rim, flick the wrist towards the rim, generate a slight forward lean with the trunk, and generate a slight backward lean with the legs, the athlete would not be able to find any successful attempts. This is an example of Performance cue overload.
5. This reading on skinner made me more socially aware of who I am and where I come from. It makes me appreciate the uniqueness that people harness. I like to think of myself as an aggressive competitor someone who is persistent in what they strive to achieve, and I think from this reading that I can see how my social upbringing could play a role in that.
6. Day:
1. 67 oz
2. 67 oz
3. 44 oz
4. 44oz
5. 67oz
6. 67oz
7. 67oz
a. Average: 60 Oz
When I look at the change I can say that this week was difficult because my reinforce was 2 Smart water bottles that I could carry in my bag. One each side. When I took away the reinforcer and alarms I found that I was often not in a position where I could measure my water intake. I had to think about how much water was in the Gatorade bottle or how much I had at practice and eventually I ended up buying a 44 oz kwik star cup which I filled one and a half times when I remembered to do so. 2 days I had forgot to refill.
Terminology: Skinner, social engineering, plausible, successive approximation, discrimination training , differential reinforcement, stimulus, lean out, ratio strain, adverse.

Zack Carney | October 19, 2015 10:52 PM | Reply

1. It was a good read, I liked learning more about Skinner and reading about his work and research. I previously did not know about type S and type R and that they stood for classical conditioning and operant conditioning. I liked that this section incorporated a lot of terms and concepts from previous sections which helps continue to strengthen the connection in my brain with these concepts. It was so weird to learn that Skinner brought up his kids on an air bed. One of his main ideas was that he could shape a person by shaping their environment.

2. I wish that it would have talked a lot more about Skinner and his kids being brought up on an air bed. I also did not like the concept of putting a baby in a box with the stimulus being the temperature as to see whether the baby settled down or cried and fussed, it seemed a bit extreme and unethical at least for today’s standards.

3. One of the things that I will take away and remember from this reading is species specific response which is a unique response only a specific species demonstrates. The examples of this concept helped to solidify the idea into my head by taking about the raccoons washing off their food. Another concept I will remember is the difference between type S and type R conditioning. Type S is classical conditioning where the stimulus comes before the response and that the response is more reflexive. Type R is operant conditioning where the response comes before the stimulus and the response is more voluntary than reflexive. The last thing I will take away from this reading is the concept of shaping. Shaping is used when researchers want to have an organism emit a desired behavior and in combination successive approximation is used when the organism emits something close to resembling the target behavior it is then reinforced.

4.Day 1= 34 fluid ounces
Day 2= 48 fluid ounces
Day 3= 86 fluid ounces
Day 4= 52 fluid ounces
Day 5= 76 fluid ounces
Day 6= 92 fluid ounces
Day 7= 100 fluid ounces
Average= 70 fluid ounces

My average for the week decreased as compared to the previous week in which I was being reinforced during that week as compared to this week. I think since I was continuously being reinforced my drinking behavior decreased because nothing was there to reinforce the target behavior.

5.Terms: Reinforcer, Continuous Reinforcement, Species Specific Response, Type S Conditioning, Type R Conditioning, Stimulus, Response, Shaping, Successive Approximation, Emit, Target Behavior, Skinner, Classical Conditioning, Operant Conditioning

Justi | October 19, 2015 11:08 PM | Reply

Section 3.5
1.) The most interesting part was reading about successive approximation. It had never occurred to me that one would reinforce actions that were not the target behavior, but are close. It makes sense because no one automatically knows an action or behavior right off the bat that is new. My daughter is in gymnastics and is constantly learning new movements. Her trials of them right now are not exactly correct, but she is still rewarded with verbal praise and a sucker at the end of the night.
2.) As with the others, learning about the boxes that were made to hold animals and prove the behavioral hypothesis is the least interesting to me. It is nice to know why the contraption was built and what results it yielded, but thinking about the animal that had to endure that is not.
3.) Previously, we learned about discrimination training when talking about experimental neurosis. In my health psychology class, we went over stimulus control as well.
4.) I find that successive approximation goes along well in my life. For the purpose of this class, having my daughter gives me great insight on these techniques. Another thing I can relate to is the part about free will. When the semester first started, I had an older gentleman tell me he didn’t believe in what I was study as he believed in free will. My argument was that there is to a point.
5.) For the last few weeks my view on behavioral modifications has been the same, but it has taken on a little bit more of a dark role. With the story of Baby Albert and with the neurotic dogs, it has made me look at the researcher’s in a bit of a different light
6.) Day 1- 2
Day 2-4
Day 3-4
Day 4- 5
Day 5- 7
Day 6-4
Day 7- 6
Average- 4.5
I believe I got these results because I was not reinforcing myself, but accusing of not doing the action. With just the results it is harder than if someone giving me things to drink water.
7.)Stimulus control
Discrimination training
Successive approximation
Reinforcement

kellbell | October 19, 2015 11:10 PM | Reply

1) The most interesting thing I found in this section named Skinner, was an experiment of his. This experiment was called the Skinner air bed. This is where he put his child in a mechanical type box that controls the temperature inside it. He put her in there without blankets or cloths so that he could maintain the temperature easily. The child didn’t seem to care and when crying they would just turn up or down the temperature and she would stop crying. This experiment was weird because some might say it was unethical and almost mean but actually didn’t harm the baby in any physical way.
2) The least interesting thing I found in this section would be about CER. This stands for conditioned emotional response. This part was just not the most interesting thing in this section to me. It wasn’t boring by any means. This is like when the rat see the light come on and freezes because he knows when that light turns on then a shock will follow soon after.
3) Something I read in this section that I have already learned about in previous classes would be the operant chamber, although in my class before we called it the Skinner Box. Skinner made a box to classically condition behaviors in rats or pidgins. He would use any type of method like fixed ratio, variable ratio, fixed interval, or variable interval. Then he would record the pecks of the pidgins with a cumulative recorder. Every time this pecked depending on what method he is using, then a pebble of food will come out.
4) Two thing that I can relate to my life in this section would be the social engineering and how our taxes effect how we act and what we buy without realizing it. Social engineering is for example being able to take any child and make them into a certain person like a lawyer. This can help me understand that when raising my children, that they can truly be anything if we help them out early on and throughout there life. For taxes I knew there were more taxes on some things than others, but I didn’t really think about how that can affect our behavior of not buying so many or any at all.
5) This reading has changed my way of thinking what the behavior modifications class by the many different experiments that have happened ages before to figure out a lot of interesting thing that I may have not thought of to modify, like getting that baby in a good temperature zone.
6a)
Day 1 =34oz
Day 2 =51oz
Day 3 =34oz
Day 4 =34oz
Day 5 =17oz
Day 6 =34oz
Day 7 =34oz
Average =44oz
6b) For my baseline period in the drinking water behavior modification, I definitely did not stay at my goal, because I wasn’t reinforced. I was no longer happy to drink water when I didn’t want to. Therefor why would I drink water if I could have pop instead? When you are doing something that isn’t enjoyable or maybe aversive and aren’t getting reinforced to do so, then there is no point in doing something you don’t like to do.
7) terms: aversive, skinner, air bed, operant chamber, skinner box, classical condition, fixed ratio, variable ratio, fixed interval, variable interval, cumulative recorder, social engineering

Jackie Ingle | October 19, 2015 11:26 PM | Reply

After reading the first section, please respond to the following questions.
1) What did you find interesting in the section? Why? I found the part about how the way that a person’s environment is shapes who they are and what they do very interesting. I enjoyed this part because I intend to work with criminals and knowing how to change their environment to better them could help them significantly. Also, if I ever decide to have children, the way that I would raise them would determine the type of person they grow up to be.
2) What did you find least interesting? Why?
I really enjoyed this chapter, but what I found the least interesting was the part about the Skinner box because I have already learned about them and how they work.
3) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
Skinner followed up some of Watson's work, which is who we read about last week. Also, I have learned about the Skinner boxes in previous psychology classes.
4) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so? Shaping a person’s behavior relates more to my future than to my current life, but that will play a large roll in my career choice that I hope to have in the future, and also my future interactions with children. Also conditioned emotional responses play a role in my life because I have been conditioned to have a certain emotion when I emit a behavior. For instance, hearing certain bands that I listened to when road tripping with friends makes me feel happy and adventurous like I did when I was traveling with them.
5) How has reading these sections influenced what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so? It hasn’t necessarily changed it, just added more to my knowledge of ways to help people change for the better through behavior modification.
6a) Behavioral Project (Return to Baseline). You should now have a final week's (week four) worth of data collected while NOT under reinforcement. Please fill out the information below for week four:
Day 1 = 50
Day 2 = 22
Day 3 = 66
Day 4 = 66
Day 5 = 88
Day 6 = 22
Day 7 = 66
Average = 54.3
6b) This last week (week four) is referred to as 'return to baseline.' Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark without the reinforcer or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did?
It decreased a little. I believe that this was because that I wasn’t being reinforced. The average wasn’t that much under 64 oz, but I think that is because I typically drink a decent amount of water from previously working on the habit.
7) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post and put them at the bottom of your post.
Reinforced, Conditioned Emotional Response, Behavior Modification, Skinner Box, Skinner, Watson, Environment

Teresa D | October 19, 2015 11:35 PM | Reply

1) The most interesting thing in this section was Skinner’s ‘air bed’ because he used it to raise his children instead of a crib. It is amazing how the children’s behavior can change just changing a little bit the temperature. It was nice that when they asked his daughter about it she just felt perfectly fine and it wasn’t weird for her.
2) I found less interesting the successive approximation because it is very repetitive how you have to keep reinforcing the desired behavior, and I think it is a subjective form of conditioning because different researchers may not agree about one specific behavior.
3) I like how these past sections talk about different forms of conditioning from different approaches and how they relate to each other.
4) I would relate the experiment about Skinner’s ‘air bed’ since I have a little cousin that can’t sleep when it’s too cold so we always have to bring a blanket everywhere with us for his naps. In my opinion the successive approximation technique is what parents use to raise their children since they reinforce them for goo behaviors when they’re little but they gradually stop to reach the next level.
5) It was really interesting to know more about Skinner’s experiments and what are the differences with the other well-known psychologists we have read about.
6a)
Day 1 = 8 glasses
Day 2 = 7 glasses
Day 3 = 8 glasses
Day 4 = 8 glasses
Day 5 =6 glasses
Day 6 =8 glasses
Day 7 =8 glasses
Average = 7.57 glasses
6b) My results this week didn’t decrease as much as I thought they would. I got used to wake up and drink at least a glass and a half because it feels good in the morning, and I also got used to carry my water bottle around and drinking out of it and refilling it. Overall I am happy with the results from this week since at the beginning of the week it was a little bit hard to keep up the drinking without watching any show at night but I kept going.
Skinner’s air bed, successive approximation, reinforce, desired behavior.

SEN | October 19, 2015 11:48 PM | Reply

1) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?
It never occurred to me that behavior modification and the government could be intertwined. I had not considered the connection between tax breaks and behavior. It makes sense, though, to use saving money as a reinforcement to purchase certain products.

2) What did you find least interesting? Why?
I was not a huge fan of the recap of reinforcement schedules. I understand that they are necessary to implement behavior modification, but I have a difficult time separating them for some reason.

3) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.
I have heard and read about B.F. Skinner’s work in previous classes. I have noticed a similarity between my biopsychology class and this behavior modification course. Both of these courses mention behaviorism extensively. In my biopsychology class my professor stated that in the past, when the university received more funding, there was a psychology lab assignment where electrodes were implanted into the brains of lab rats and mice. I wish that we could have done this in my class last semester.

4) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?
One thing that relates to my life is that I agree with Watson more than Skinner. B.F. Skinner appeared to have a more radical approach to shaping behavior. Skinner did not focus on the individual’s behaviors but how an environment can influence individuals. I think that it is impractical to try and change a social environment. An individualized approach seems to be easier to carry out and is easier to control the circumstances rather than an entire environment.
Another thing that relates to my life is the concept of successive approximation. I feel that this applies when professors try and include students in discussions. The professor asks a question and if the answer is close, but not quite right, the hope is that the student will keep trying until they get ‘rewarded’ with the professor’s response of “yes, that is correct” (or something similar).

5) How has reading these sections influenced what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?
I feel like these behavior techniques are used in advertising to sway consumers, whether it be for pop or for a political campaign. I wonder if communication majors take a course that related to behavior modification.

6a) Behavioral Project (Return to Baseline). You should now have a final week's (week four) worth of data collected while NOT under reinforcement. Please fill out the information below for week four:
Day 1 = 9 glasses
Day 2 = 8 glasses
Day 3 = 7 glasses
Day 4 = 8 glasses
Day 5 = 8 glasses
Day 6 = 8 glasses
Day 7 = 10 glasses
Average = 8.29 glasses
6b) This last week (week four) is referred to as 'return to baseline.' Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark without the reinforcer or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did?
My behavior stayed near the 64 oz mark this week. I forgot to drink another glass on Day 2. I think I conditioned myself the correct way. If I had not been properly reinforced in previous weeks I am not so sure my drinking habits would be what they were in week 4.
Terms: behavior mod and the government, reinforcement, schedules, Skinner, Watson, shaping, successive approximation, reward, individual versus environment

fuhrmank | October 19, 2015 11:56 PM | Reply

This is an easy reading week. Please read sections 3.5 (Skinner).

1) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?
What I found interesting in this section is Skinner’s air bed. I think it’s really interesting how he figured out how such a slight temperature difference affected a baby’s sleep. I think if it really helped the baby sleep better is should be used today.
2) What did you find least interesting? Why?
What I found least interesting in this section was the part about skinner the writer. I liked reading about the actual experiments and how he performed them. I just didn’t find reading about his thoughts/beliefs/ideas as interesting as how he tested his theory’s.
3) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.
This section relates to what I already learned/have read from other chapters in this class because we have learned about the operant chambers before. I really liked learning exactly how they worked. I honestly would like to know even more about the air bed.
4) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?
One thing I can relate to my life is the tax on cigarettes. I am not a smoker but I worked in a grocery store while in high school. I had an older lady come in and buy a pack of Virginia slims. She told me that she used to smoke almost a pack a day when she was younger and the older she got the more the price went up and the less she was able to afford it. Now she buys one pack a month and smokes when playing cards with her friends as a social thing. She said she was thankful that the price was higher because it helped her not to smoke as much. I think that’s a pretty cool thing. Another example I can relate to my life is temperature when sleeping. I can see how finding a perfect temperature for a baby to sleep in would be helpful. I prefer cold rooms when I sleep, my husband prefers warmer. We try to find a happy medium but one of is usually unhappy with the temp causing a restless night of sleep.
5) How has reading these sections influenced what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?
Reading this section hasn’t really changed my thoughts on behavior modification. But this section did have a few things in it that made me more interested.
6a) Behavioral Project (Return to Baseline). You should now have a final week's (week four) worth of data collected while NOT under reinforcement. Please fill out the information below for week four:
Day 1 = 67.6oz
Day 2 = 67.6
Day 3 = 84.5
Day 4 =67.6
Day 5 =65
Day 6 =67.6
Day 7 =67.6
Average = 69.64

6b) This last week (week four) is referred to as 'return to baseline.' Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark without the reinforcer or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did?
My drinking of water stayed above the 64oz baseline. I think I got the results I did because I got in the habit of drinking a lot of water to be reinforced so it just became a part of my daily schedule.
You should have received a copy of a graph to fill out from Dr. MacLin. Please go back and fill out the water drinking data for the last four weeks and either bring it to class on Thursday (or email it to bmod.uni@gmail.com). The graph is worth 10 points.

7) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post and put them at the bottom of your post.
Skinner, reinforced, operant chamber, theory,

JuniperLL | October 20, 2015 1:13 AM | Reply

1)I thought the part of this section that was the most interesting was the portion titled ‘Skinner the writer’. I had never really considered Skinner’s personal philosophies or learned about them in previous classes. This insight into Skinner’s mind was a good closing point to the section because I felt that it gave the reader both a deeper look at Skinner’s psyche, and offered a philosophical backdrop to some of his experimentation.
2) In this section I thought that there were a lot of interesting points mostly because I find learning about the history of psychology very interesting, but if I had to pick a section it would be the one concerning conditioned emotional response. My reasoning for this is that I have covered conditioned emotional response in classes before this one, as well as earlier in this class, so it was more of a review of concepts rather than learning new information. I understand why it was necessary to include in the chapter on Skinner and his accomplishments but again, it just wasn’t the most exciting topic to me personally.
3) Since this chapter was a bit of a review on what I learned about BF Skinner from History and Systems, I could relate it to what I learned about Skinner during that class. It was also relatable to what we had read previously in class because we built on what we learned about different conditioning chambers (such as Thorndike’s puzzle box) while learning about Skinner’s advancement on the operant chamber.
4) One aspect that I could relate back to my life from this chapter was the classical conditioning that Skinner used on animals such as his rats and pigeons. I have been trying to use more classical conditioning in my life since starting this class and am beginning to see some progress with what Skinner would classify as Type S conditioning with my roommates and praising them for doing the dishes. Another thing that is applicable especially in the modern world is Skinner’s ideas about using taxes as behavior modification. I feel that this is prevalent today with the high prices of things such as cigarettes, and how this tactic is used to try to get people to stop buying them.
5. This section obviously built on what I already knew from this class, but also from what I learned while taking History and Systems. It also influenced how I thought about Skinner and view his experiments now that I have learned and know more about his personal philosophies.
6a) Behavioral Project (Return to Baseline). You should now have a final week's (week four) worth of data collected while NOT under reinforcement. Please fill out the information below for week four:
Day 1 = 80 oz
Day 2 = 90 oz
Day 3 =75 oz
Day 4 =75 oz
Day 5 =80 oz
Day 6 =100 oz
Day 7 =75 oz
Average =82.1 oz
6b) My water consumption dipped a little from last week, but is still higher than when I initially began recording. I believe that my consumption may have decreased only a small amount because it was due to a few external factors such as my water bottle being out of commission due to needing a new straw and mouth piece, instead of not reinforcing the behavior.
7) Terms: Skinner, conditioned emotional response, S response, R response, Thorndike’s puzzle box, operant chamber,

levyb | October 20, 2015 4:43 AM | Reply

1) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?
Something that I found interesting in this section was Skinner’s air bed because this is something new that I have not learned about yet which makes it interesting.
2) What did you find least interesting? Why?
Something that I found least interesting in this section was classical conditioning because is something that we have learned about for the last couple of weeks.
3) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
I already know about social engineering. Social engineering is something that I look for every day at work as a fraud analyst.
4) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so? One thing that relate to my life is skinner air bed because I sleep better and I am in a better mood if I am cold then when I am hot. Second thing that relate to my life is 2 types of conditioning: type s and r because I use both types daily.
5) How has reading these sections influenced what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?
This sections did not really influence my originally thought about behavior modification this just added to my knowledge about behavior modification.
6a) Behavioral Project (Return to Baseline). You should now have a final week's (week four) worth of data collected while NOT under reinforcement. Please fill out the information below for week four:
Day 1 = 64
Day 2 =65
Day 3 =65
Day 4 =65
Day 5 =55
Day 6 =64
Day 7 =64
Average = 63.14 oz
6b) Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark without the reinforcer or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did? My drinking of water did not stay at 64oz mark without or with a reinforcer for the most part. I think that I got these results because my original reinforcer was not a strong enough motivator to reinforce drinking 64oz of water each day so then the behavior did not get modify correctly.
7) Terms: reinforcer, reinforce, behavior, behavior modification, classical conditioning, social engineering, Skinner air bed, types of conditioning: type s and type r

snommis | October 20, 2015 7:07 PM | Reply

1) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?
The thing I found to be the most interesting was the air bed. I find this to be very interesting because I have never encountered any of the problems that Skinner talked about when using blankets. However I am slightly confused on exactly how the concept works.

2) What did you find least interesting? Why?
The thing that was least interesting to me was the operant chamber. This is because i have already learned about it in previous classes, but it was a good refresher.

3) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
I have learned about Skinner in many of my previous classes, but I have never learned about any of his inventions.
Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.

4) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?
The first thing I can relate to is the air bed because at times if it is hot enough in my room I will sleep without any blankets. The second thing I can relate to is conditioned emotional response, because I also tense up just like the rat in the example.

5) How has reading these sections influenced what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?
This has changed how I view Skinner, because I used to just see him as only a behaviorist, but he in fact wears many hats as he is also an inventor and writer.

6a) Behavioral Project (Return to Baseline). You should now have a final week's (week four) worth of data collected while NOT under reinforcement. Please fill out the information below for week four:
Day 1 = 36
Day 2 = 28
Day 3 = 24
Day 4 = 40
Day 5 = 64
Day 6 = 56
Day 7 = 32
Average = 40

6b) This last week (week four) is referred to as 'return to baseline.' Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark without the reinforcer or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did?

Terms: air bed, operant chamber, conditioned emotional response, Skinner

Ktnoah | October 20, 2015 9:30 PM | Reply

1)
I thought it was interesting how Skinner used a technique called shaping for a rat to be on a reinforcement schedule. How he did it was the really interesting part. He first would use successive approximation where the rat would be reinforced when it got close to doing to behavior he wanted it to do, which is pressing a lever. The rat would eventually associate the closeness of touching the lever to the reinforcement, and then doing the behavior more. Then, the rat would only be reinforced when it would approach the lever instead of just looking at it. And after that, only be reinforced when it pressed the lever. At this point, he wanted the rat to get used to pressing the lever, so every time the rat pressed the lever, it would be reinforced with a small pellet of food. After the rat knows it's going to get a food pellet when it presses the lever, Skinner then decided to only intermittently reinforce the rat. He would then only reinforce the rat every 3, 5, 10, etc. times. The rat wouldn't get the food pellet the second time, this is known as extinction, and so the rat would be confused and keep pressing it until he was reinforced. BUT, if the schedule is increased too quickly and too much, such as going from getting reinforced every time to every 20th time, the rat may experience ratio strain, and give up and not press anymore before he gets the next reinforcement, so Skinner had to increase slowly until he got to FR25, which was his goal. This took time, but it was a clever way to teach the rat this behavior.

2)
I was very engaged in this section, so I didn't find anything disinteresting. I was actually really surprised when I went to scroll down to read more and it was the summary. I was actually pretty bummed about it also, because I thought this section on behavior and how Skinner did his research could be very influencing on our society.

3)
I have learned about Skinner in previous classes, but his research I was not familiar with. Some terms that were used were used in previous sections also. But overall, there was a lot of new information.

4)
How Skinner used a continuous reinforcement to teach the rat to press the lever relates to my life in that my parents would give me a certain amount of money for how many chores I did around the house. The more I did, the more money I received. So after realizing this, I would do all the chores to get more money. Another way I can relate to this section is how Skinner wrote about how people can use social engineering to create better societies. Now, I didn't write about it, but I agree with him. You can't control people, but you can control your environment to a certain extent. Changing school buildings and environment to give kids better schooling may work and therefore change society.

5)
Learning more about Skinner and his research helped make me realize that behavior can be learned by not only stimulus to response, but from response to stimulus. Yes, we learned to distinguish classical and operant conditioning, but this was a great example and gave me a clearer understanding of this difference.

6a) Behavioral Project (Return to Baseline). You should now have a final week's (week four) worth of data collected while NOT under reinforcement. Please fill out the information below for week four:
Day 1 = 3
Day 2 = 2
Day 3 = 2
Day 4 = 3
Day 5 = 4
Day 6 = 5
Day 7 = 2
Average = 3 bottles of water; about 60 fl oz

6b)
I did worse this week than the week before, so without the reinforcer, my water drinking behavior decreased. I think this happened because I knew I wasn't getting reinforced, so it was hard to stay motivated. I know several times where I'd say, oh well, it doesn't matter, I'm not getting anything anyways for drinking the water, so I would actually just drink something different, such as a soda or coffee.

Terms: shaping, scheduled reinforcement, successive approximation, intermittently, continuous reinforcement, classical conditioning, operant conditioning

Sean | October 20, 2015 11:25 PM | Reply

1. I found the idea of shaping as it pertains to conditioning to be very interesting. I just think the idea that this is basically how learning is achieved to be an interesting concept. We start by rewarding something vaguely related to what behavior we want to elicit, and just gradually dial it in. I also find Skinner's Air Bed to be a very interesting idea. I think that there is a perception that his air bed is kind of an inhuman response to child care, but it actually seemed to come from a place of genuinely desiring to find the most comfortable conditions for a baby. It's very interesting in general just how many different areas Skinner worked in, all relating to behavior and social engineering. I also found his ideas on environment shaping behavior to be very interesting, because it is rather the opposite of the way people think about ourselves, especially in America. I know in Japan they found that lighting the streets at night in a certain color was found to drastically cut down violent crime rates. This seems to relate to the cultural differences between western and eastern cultures.

2. I didn't really find anything uninteresting, Skinner was a pretty cool dude.

3. I've read about Skinner before in many of my classes, he really had a pretty massive impact on psychology. A lot of his ideas about environment shaping behavior apply to the social psychology class I've taken in the past. I learned about his inventions in my history and methods class, but it was nice to get a refresher on them.

4.I feel like shaping is something that can readily be applied to my life. This concept of slowly creating associations that eventually guide the subject to a target behavior can be used in multiple areas. Obviously this can be used in training of pets to great effect. In addition, this is an excellent method for encouraging children to emit desired behaviors.
The idea of environment shaping behavior also really applies to my life. As was mentioned in the reading, our government already uses some of these principles in the way we are taxed for certain things. Additionally, I have certainly noticed that certain environments lead to better performance on certain tasks for me. Working out in my own home tends to lead to less effective workout sessions, I'm more easily distracted, and tend to work out for shorter periods than if I go to an actual gym.

5. I feel like the most important ways this section has changed my thinking is in relation to shaping and environmental controls on behavior. I never really thought much about how shaping comes into effect in behavior modification, but it clearly is a very important tool in this process. The environment shaping behavior, while I've certainly read about it before, it hit me more about how it really can be surprisingly effective. And I think that as Americans we battle it a little harder than other cultures might, because we have more of a cultural bias towards the individual being free and unconquerable.
6a.
Day 1 -36 oz
Day 2 - 40 oz
Day 3 - 45 oz
Day 4 - 60 oz
Day 5 - 65 oz
Day 6 - 50 oz
Day 7 - 30 oz
6b.
I did pretty similar as to the previous week, but I also struggled to find effective reinforcers. In addition I had an opera performance on Monday, and the few days before were tech rehearsals, so in preparation for this my water levels were probably inflated slightly. I would say that overall, my water levels have increased since I started this experiment, as its perhaps become a bit more of a habit to reach for water instead of another type of drink.

Maria Breitsprecher | November 4, 2015 2:40 PM | Reply

Please go to the following blog page:
http://www.psychologicalscience.com/bmod/abcs.html
This is an easy reading week. Please read sections 3.5 (Skinner).
After reading the first section, please respond to the following questions.
1) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?
-I found it very interesting how Skinner believed he could raise a child the way he wanted them to be through behavioral techniques and that we can predict and control behavior to the benefit of society. I wonder why and how he thought so positively and was that confident in his studies. I found it interesting how Skinner was really creative with his inventions and studies. Before this reading, I have learned about the operant chamber and was surprised on how successful his research was in punishments and reinforcements. I had never seen a specific picture of what the operant chamber looked like either so I really enjoyed the picture and explanation of each object in the chamber and what their purposes where. Learning about the different techniques like shaping and successive approximation was also interesting because I never thought about how the animals that were being used would have to learn the behaviors that we wanted them to do. I just overall enjoyed learning about Skinners inventions since there are way too many to list!
2) What did you find least interesting? Why?
-I really enjoyed this section, so I did not find anything uninteresting.
3) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?  -We really dug into the different types of reinforcements and was able to learn about how Skinner was able to do his research. I felt like the things he did and came up with were amazing.
4) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?
-I loved learning about how animals learn
-I am able to use schedules of reinforcement on my own animals
5) How has reading these sections influenced what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?
-The confidence that Skinner had in his research makes me feel like people back then knew what they were doing. It makes me feel great that we are learning from some great resources and am glad that we have psychologist out there that learn how humans and animals work.
6a) Behavioral Project (Return to Baseline). You should now have a final week's (week four) worth of data collected while NOT under reinforcement. Please fill out the information below for week four: Day 1 =36oz Day 2 =29oz Day 3 =32oz Day 4 =26oz Day 5 =24oz Day 6 =34oz Day 7 =27oz Average =29 oz
6b) This last week (week four) is referred to as 'return to baseline.' Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark without the reinforcer or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did? My drinking water behavior definitely decreased. I believe that on week 2 (reinforced week) I was trying so hard to drink as much water that I could just so I could be reinforced, which I was reinforced. Then for some reason on week 3, I drank more than week 2 because I probably thought I would be reinforced again or realized how much water I’m not drinking. But this week I just gave up and didn’t care as much which made my drinking water habit almost go back to normal how it was from week 1.
You should have received a copy of a graph to fill out from Dr. MacLin. Please go back and fill out the water drinking data for the last four weeks and either bring it to class on Thursday (or email it to bmod.uni@gmail.com). The graph is worth 10 points.

7) Terminology: Skinner, behavioral techniques, predict, control, behavior, operant chamber, punishments, reinforcements, successive approximation, shaping

Anna Fewins | November 25, 2015 11:09 PM | Reply

Reading Assignment Week #9
What did you find interesting in the section? Why?
For this assignment I would say that having more background on Skinner and his inventions was really interesting. I am a person who loves a lot of detail and having information pertaining to some of his original experiments and his thought process behind those experiments was not only interesting, but assisted me in comprehending specific concepts. The whole portion of the reading about Skinner’s belief of social engineering was really neat and it made me wonder about to the “what ifs”, such as what if there truly was a society that developed a way of controlling the environment as a direct way of controlling the citizens? This reading reminded me of some books I have read in the past about government dominant societies where they go to such extremes in order to create this utopian society in which all behavior is mandated/structured/predicted. When I read these books it was a bit disturbing to see how these societies went to such great lengths to control the citizens behaviors, but also their deaths in order to achieve certain societal goals and needs.
Next I would have to say is the portion of the reading dedicated to the air bed. This was a new and interesting topic to me because I had never heard of such a thing. I had heard of a memory foam mattress but an Air Bed for children? Crazy! It really was a surprise to find out that there has been a child who was raised successfully using such unique form of confinement for the child. I will say though, having the whole temperature controlled room sounded very nice. Being able to adjust temperatures in order to keep the baby warm was really interesting and I feel as though being able to do such things for parents would alleviate the worry and concern over SIDS through asphyxiation due to a blanket or pillow intended to keep the child warm. Personally, I wonder just how much climate control would affect the overall health of a child during their early years.
What did you find least interesting?
I can’t really complain about this section because it was short, sweet, and to the point. I enjoyed learning more about Skinner and I feel as though I got a deeper look at who he was as a person.
How does this section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.
Well, as I said before, this reading reminded me a lot of books I had read in the past regarding utopian societies. I can relate this previous knowledge to the reading due to the fact that Skinner believed that a utopian society could be used to create an environment where behavior is controlled and predictable. In the books I read, the purpose behind such beliefs was due to the fight for a greater good, and that the environment could change people for the better. This idea was reflected in the reading pertaining to skinner because he believed that instead of trying to change the people directly, you could mold a society with goals that change the environments, ultimately changing the people. He believed that this would be more effective because the participants in the society would be unaware that something is influencing their behaviors for alternative purposes. As one of my former sociology professors liked to say “Like it or not, we are influenced by other people. We are in denial about this fact, but it is true, other people affect our behaviors”. By having a utopian society the individuals feel as though they are making their own choices when in fact, they are acting as a result of their environment.
Another little tidbit is that we learned previously in this class about the discrimination training regarding Pavlov and his dogs. In other classes I had we discussed the salivation manipulation depending upon the presence of certain objects, however we had not specifically talked about the different use of shapes in order to trigger salivation.

Based on what you read in this section, what are two things that you can relate to your life?
One thing I can immediately relate to my life is our lovely government’s ability to manipulate my behaviors and the behaviors of others through the use of tax credits as reinforcers/taxes a punishment. This really annoys me on several levels because I don’t personally enjoy being manipulated by others, and through this class (and especially this reading) I am able to see just how much the government influences my behaviors. Let’s use the cigarette example: I don’t smoke but I used to date a guy who smoked. I was not a fan of it and I told him he could save so much money by not purchasing cigarettes. I understand that the intended purpose of the tax on cigarettes is to get people to stop smoking, but it does not have enough impact upon people who really are addicted. Instead of seeing it as a punishment, they see it as a necessary evil in order to assuage their desire for nicotine. On the other hand, I appreciate how tax credits can be used as a method of rewarding individuals who try to buy things that are energy efficient. My uncle purchased an electric car and the tax credit he received for doing so was pretty nice. It just helps encourage him to continue doing the right thing and can serve as a motivator to others to help save the environment.
Another very basic way I can relate this reading to my life is the classical and/or the operant conditioning of behaviors. Classical conditioning involves the stimulus coming first, followed by the response, sort of a natural reflex. Operant Conditioning on the other hand involves a response followed by a stimulus, where the response is a voluntary action. These basic concepts are utilized in my everyday actions but through this reading I have been made more aware of these things and I can learn more about myself/my behaviors.
How has reading these sections influenced what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?
This particular reading has influenced my opinion regarding the ways in which citizens behavior in any given society is being manipulated by the ruling government. Be this good or bad, it is very scary to see how easily the government can influence my behaviors without me really noticing it. I had never really considered the rising cost of gas as a way to manipulate behavior, or the example regarding cigarettes. This is a new perspective that I am able to take and viewing our society with this behavioral perspective, it is truly eye opening in terms of just how much the government affects its people.
Behavioral Project (Return to Baseline). You should now have a final week’s (week four) worth of data collected while NOT under reinforcement. Please fill out the information below for week four:
Day 1: 62 oz
Day 2: 74 oz
Day 3: 68 oz
Day 4: 79 oz
Day 5: 79 oz
Day 6: 74 oz
Day 7: 72 oz
Average: 72.6 oz

6b) This last week (week four) is referred to as ‘return to baseline’. Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water say at the 64 oz mark without the reinforcer or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results that you did?
Day 1 I was driving a lot that day and so I have found that when I drive I tend to drink less water so I can travel faster without having to take as many bathroom breaks. This definitely had an impact upon my behavior (the water intake) and sadly I was only 2 oz from my goal, however it was 12:01 and technically no longer day 1 but day 2, so I was trying to be fair. Having the water intake app on my phone helped me keep track of my water intake better than the reinforcer because my phone would send me notification that I had gone “x” amount of time without drinking water and I was past due. Having this reminder made me feel more motivated than eating a cookie. The reason that I think that reinforcer was ineffective for me in the first place was that I am trying to eat healthier and having such an unhealthy snack as a reward for one goal, was counterproductive in achieving another goal. Also, my application on my phone allowed me to set my weight and so my daily water intake goal was set based on my weight, which was 72 oz. By having a higher goal mentally, it allowed me to achieve this goal for class a lot easier.
(Note: Although this is a re-do assignment, I did keep data during the week in which the original assignment was due using the application “Water my Body” on my phone. )

Terms: Skinner, reinforcement, punishment, Classical Conditioning, Operant Conditioning, Utopia,

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Reading Activity Week #9 (Due Monday)

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