B. F. Skinner: Theory & Experiments​

Skinner was a behaviorist. He believed our behaviors are caused by our environment and conditioning. He was only concerned with observable actions and discounted what goes on in the mind as unscientific because it can’t be measured. He argued that the scientific study of behavior should be based on objective, verifiable data rather than subjective experiences or internal states.

Skinner is best known for his work on operant conditioning, a type of learning that occurs when behaviors are strengthened or weakened by their consequences. His research on operant conditioning led him to develop several influential theories about human behavior, including the idea that free will is an illusion and that all behavior is the result of conditioning.

Skinner’s work had a significant impact on psychology and education. He believed that behavior could be studied scientifically and that the principles of operant conditioning could be applied in order to modify behavior in various settings. His ideas influenced the development of behavior therapy and had an impact on the field of education through the application of behaviorist principles in teaching and classroom management. 

While Skinner’s ideas have been influential, they have also been subject to criticism and debate. Some critics argue that his approach oversimplifies human behavior by focusing solely on observable actions and external influences, disregarding the role of internal mental processes. While his theories are still widely debated today, there is no doubt that he was one of the most important psychologists of the 20th century.​

While Skinner is often associated with the development and popularization of operant conditioning, the basic principles of learning through consequences were explored by others before him. Skinner built upon the work of earlier behaviorists and psychologists.

For example, psychologist Edward Thorndike formulated the law of effect, which stated that behaviors followed by positive consequences are more likely to be repeated while behaviors followed by negative consequences are less likely to be repeated.

Skinner’s contribution was to refine and systematize these concepts, providing a more comprehensive and detailed analysis of operant conditioning. He conducted extensive research with animals, particularly pigeons and rats, and developed a range of experimental techniques and apparatus to study the effects of reinforcement and punishment on behavior.

Here are the key components of Skinner’s theory:

• Stimulus: This is anything in the environment that triggers a response. It can be internal, like a thought or feeling, or external, like a sound or sight.
• Response: This is any behavior that occurs in response to a stimulus.
• Reinforcement: This is any consequence that increases the likelihood of a response being repeated. Reinforcements can be positive, such as praise or a reward, or negative, such as avoiding punishment.
• Punishment: This is any consequence that decreases the likelihood of a response being repeated. Punishments can be physical, such as a spanking, or social, such as criticism.

Here are some examples of operant conditioning in action:
​

• A child is praised for saying “please” and “thank you.” This positive reinforcement makes the child more likely to use these polite words in the future.
• A dog is given a treat for sitting on command. This positive reinforcement makes the dog more likely to sit on command in the future.
• A student is given detention for talking in class. This punishment makes the student less likely to talk in class in the future.

Skinner’s Box Experiments

Skinner’s box, also known as an operant conditioning chamber, was a device used in his experiments on operant conditioning. The box was a controlled environment where an animal (usually a pigeon or rat) could be isolated, and various stimuli and reinforcements could be manipulated. Inside the box there was a lever or a key that the animal could press or peck and a mechanism for delivering food or other rewards when the lever/key was activated. Additionally, there were devices to administer punishments or aversive stimuli like an electric shock.

Skinner observed how animals learned to associate their behaviors with consequences such as receiving food or experiencing discomfort. These experiments were instrumental in the development of his principles of operant conditioning.

However, he posited that unlike other behaviors that are reinforced by the environment, verbal behavior is typically reinforced by other people. For example, a speaker can be positively reinforced by a listener through nonverbal communication like a smile or a nod, or through a verbal response.

Skinner identified four main types of verbal operants (Sautter & LeBlanc, 2006):
​

• Tacts: Words that refer to objects or events in the environment, reinforced by the listener’s understanding or confirmation. (Imagine a child saying “dog” and pointing at a dog, then being praised by their parent.)
• Mands: Words used to get something you want, reinforced by the listener providing the desired item or action. (A child saying “milk” and their parent giving them milk.)
• Autoclitics: Words that modify or add meaning to other words, like “very” or “not.”
• Echoics: Sounds or words that imitate those heard from others, often as a way of learning language.

While Skinner’s analysis of verbal behavior has been influential, it has also been subject to criticism and debate. Critics argue that Skinner’s theory oversimplifies the complexity of language by reducing it to operant behavior. They point out that language is influenced by a variety of factors such as genetics, cognitive abilities, and social context.

While operant conditioning states that behavior is modified by its consequences, learning theory is more of an explanation of how operant conditioning works. So it builds on operant conditioning principles and expands it to explain the “why” and “how” of learning. 

Like operant conditioning, Skinner’s learning theory proposes that all behavior is learned through interactions with the environment and that reinforcement plays a key role in shaping and maintaining behavior. However, it also includes concepts like shaping, extinction, and schedules of reinforcement. 

• Shaping involves reinforcing successive approximations of a desired behavior. Instead of waiting for the exact behavior to occur, small steps or behaviors that are closer and closer to the desired one are reinforced.
• Extinction is the process of weakening a behavior by either no longer reinforcing it or by reinforcing it inconsistently. In other words, if a behavior that has been previously reinforced is no longer followed by reinforcement, it is likely to decrease in frequency and eventually extinguish.
• Schedules of reinforcement are about how the timing and frequency of reinforcement also play a role in learning. Skinner identified various schedules, such as continuous, fixed-interval, variable-interval, fixed-ratio, and variable-ratio, each with different effects on the strength and persistence of behavior.

These ideas have been applied in both education and therapy through a technique known as behavior modification. This involves using principles of operant conditioning to change or modify behaviors. However, ​​the theory has been criticized for its emphasis on external influences and its neglect of cognitive factors in learning. Critics argue that it oversimplifies the complexity of human behavior and cognition.​

In simple terms, positive reinforcement is presenting a reward or something that’s desired after doing a specific behavior. The reward strengthens the association between the behavior and its positive outcome, making the person (or other animal) more likely to repeat the behavior.

Unlike some of his contemporaries, Skinner heavily advocated for the use of positive reinforcement over punishment or negative reinforcement. He believed that positive reinforcement was a more effective and humane way to shape behavior, leading to lasting changes and intrinsic motivation. This has had lasting impacts on education and psychotherapy. 

Here are some examples of positive reinforcement in action:
​

• A teacher praises a student for completing their homework on time.
• A parent gives their child a hug and a sticker chart for using the potty.
• A manager acknowledges and rewards an employee for exceeding their sales goals.

Skinner further distinguished between two forms of negative reinforcement: escape and avoidance. Escape learning involves performing a behavior to terminate an already present aversive stimulus (e.g., taking an antacid to relieve heartburn). Avoidance learning, on the other hand, involves performing a behavior to prevent an aversive stimulus from occurring altogether (e.g., studying before an exam to avoid failing).

Skinner believed negative reinforcement could be an effective tool for modifying behavior, particularly in situations where positive reinforcement is impractical or ineffective. For example, using a loud noise to deter a dog from barking excessively might be more efficient than trying to reward quiet behavior. 

However, he also cautioned against its potential drawbacks. He argued that overreliance on negative reinforcement could lead to anxiety and avoidance behavior. This is another reason he emphasized the importance of using positive reinforcement whenever possible to promote desired behaviors.

• Continuous reinforcement: Every time the desired behavior occurs, it is reinforced. This is effective for initially establishing a new behavior.
• Partial reinforcement: The desired behavior is reinforced only some of the time. This leads to more persistent learning than continuous reinforcement, but it takes longer to establish the behavior.
• Fixed-ratio reinforcement: Reinforcement is provided after a specific number of desired behaviors.
• Variable-ratio reinforcement: Reinforcement is provided after a varying number of desired behaviors. This creates the strongest and most persistent learning but takes the longest to establish the behavior. This is why gambling can be so addictive.

Pigeons were placed in boxes with a lever that, at random intervals, delivered food pellets. As the experiment went on, the pigeons began to increase the frequency of whatever random behavior they were doing just before they got the food (flapping their wings, spinning, head-bobbing, etc.) This made them “superstitious”—they were mistakenly linking these behaviors to the reward even though it actually had no effect (Skinner, 1948).

This experiment demonstrated the power of operant conditioning in shaping behavior, even through accidental pairings. Hmmm . . . could this explain superstitious behavior in us too?

Skinner rejected the notion of studying internal mental processes and subjective experiences, instead advocating for studying observable behavior and the environmental factors that influence it. According to Skinner, personality is a collection of learned behaviors that have been reinforced or punished through interactions with the environment.

He believed that all of our behavior is determined by our past experiences and by current reinforcements and punishments. Therefore, our behavior isn’t really a free choice; it just feels like it is. Our sense of freedom comes from not paying close enough attention to the things that influence our actions (Clayton, 2018).

He also argued that the belief in free will impedes our ability to understand and control behavior effectively. Skinner believed that by understanding the environmental factors that influence behavior, society could better shape individuals’ actions.

As you might imagine, this concept is debated and has some serious implications. Rejecting free will can lead to determinism, where we see ourselves as helpless products of our environment. This raises ethical concerns about accountability and social control. Just how responsible are we for our behavior?

As we reflect on Skinner’s work, we are reminded of the complexity of human nature and the ongoing search to understand the mysteries of our thoughts, actions, and motivations.

• American Psychological Association. (2023). Operant conditioning. In APA dictionary of psychology. Retrieved December 27, 2023, from https://dictionary.apa.org/operant-conditioning 
• Clayton, M. (2018). The song remains the same: A review of Harris’ Free Will. Perspectives on Behavior Science, 41, 653–656.
• Sautter, R. A., & LeBlanc, L. A. (2006). Empirical applications of Skinner’s analysis of verbal behavior with humans. The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 22, 35–48.
• Skinner, B. F. (1948). ‘Superstition’ in the pigeon. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 38(2), 168.
• Staddon, J. E., & Cerutti, D. T. (2003). Operant conditioning. Annual Review of Psychology, 54(1), 115–144.