Brief history/biography

As you will discover below, Skinner’s theories about children’s cognitive development form part of the theoretical position known as behaviourism.

1904:                Born in Pennsylvania

1926:                BA Honours in English Literature

1930 – 31:         Master and PhD in Psychology from Harvard

1936:                Married

1936:                Lecturer at University of Minnesota

1945:                Indiana university, chair of Psychology

1947:                Professor at Harvard, where he worked for the rest of his life

1990:                Died of leukaemia

Skinner’s work and theories

A psychologist, writer, inventor and experimentalist, Skinner belonged firmly in the behaviourist world. The behaviourist theories centre on the belief that all learning is learned and can be trained, or ‘conditioned’. From his early days at Harvard, Skinner used experimental approaches, using pigeons (in work during WW2) and rodents, but applied his findings to humans, seeing only a level of sophisticated biology between them.

As a behaviourist, Skinner used observation as the basis of his work, so that actions, rather than feelings or thoughts were used as evidence, but he also began to develop theories based on his investigations which led him to see the concept of conditioned learning as being an inadequate term for what he was studying. In order to explain this more clearly, he developed the term ‘operant conditioning’ which referred to his studies of actions, but also the cause and consequence of the actions.

Operant Conditioning

Put in a very simplistic way, this refers to the situation where if an action leads to something pleasant happening, we are more likely to repeat it, whilst the opposite is also true. If a task leads to praise, a reward or chocolate, we are more likely to want to do the task again! Burrhus called this ‘reinforcement’. However, if there is a negative consequence: harsh voice, withdrawal of praise or punishment, we are unlikely to approach the task again willingly. Burrhus called this ‘extinguishment’.

To reach this conclusion, Skinner designed an experiment using an animal food box (often now called the Skinner box, or an operant conditioning box). A rat or a pigeon is placed in a box and its actions are recorded in a set time frame. What was being observed were the creature’s responses to reward or punishment for certain actions or behaviours (such as pecking to find food).

Skinner’s experiments led to a clarification of the following:

Positive reinforcement: reward for actions or behaviour

Negative reinforcement: the removal of a punishment to ensure future compliance

Punishment: for failure to carry out an action

This was illustrated in his Skinner box experiment with rats.  The rats discovered that if they applied pressure to a lever, they would be provided with food. Once this was experienced, the rats repeated the action to get the food. If the lever was pressed but no food emerged, the rats would stop pressing the lever. So, Skinner theorised that behaviour and praise needs to be repeated.  In order to develop the theory further, Skinner passed an electric current through the box, enough to make the rats feel uncomfortable. They learned that pressing a lever stopped the current and the uncomfortable experience. This removal of something that makes us feel uncomfortable is called negative reinforcement.

Skinner believed that the processes which he applied to animals could be applied to human development and language acquisition. Repeated conditioning will lead to results if tasks are chunked into small units, repeated and rewarded if the student is successful, but withdrawal of something pleasurable/enjoyable when students do not stick to the rules.

His theory on language acquisition was similar: it is learnt by operant conditioning. So, repeating baby babble, rather than speaking to the infant in mature language was not correct, according to Skinner.

How Skinner would tutor:

Behaviour management has always been and will always be a significant discussion topic whether you are teaching 1:1 or 1:30. Skinner would ensure that that he used operant conditioning to shape a student’s behaviour so they were motivated to learn.

In many ways, behavioural challenges during a 1:1 session are much more intensely focused. There is nowhere for the student or the tutor to slide sideways and the student can very quickly find that the situation, which they may have created, cannot disappear. Skinner would use these moments to create expectations of behaviour and use positive reinforcements every time a student followed these expectations.

Skinner would use stickers, tokens or points which may lead to a ‘prize’ or enhanced time doing something which the student enjoys, perhaps a game of some sort. He would also make sure the reinforcement is as immediate as possible. Leaving praise to the end of the lesson or session, or admonishment, is not effective. Skinner and the student will not necessarily recall the behaviour in question clearly.

Moreover, Skinner would need to be acutely aware of the individual needs, challenges, and strengths of all the students. Without this, any behavioural management is meaningless.  He would make sure all the students have understood and mastered the concept being taught before moving on.

Lastly, Skinner would present his learning material in a way that created associations. He would want any nee material to be associated with things that are previously learnt. Skinner argued that learning becomes automated that way.

Matters for thought:

• Can consistent positive reinforcement eliminate bad behaviour?
• Does the use of negative reinforcement in a classroom situation to deal with low level disruption work better than punishment? (i.e. if you ignore the misbehaviour, will this deny the children the attention that they might be wanting?)
• How do you as an adult respond to positive reinforcement or punishment? Can you remember instances when you were at school which informed this response?

Critical challenges to Skinner

It is a theory that was postulated on animals and therefore is too simplistic when applied to humans. Additionally, the child or student can be so drawn to the idea of praise, that they feel that they can only perform for the reward and any intrinsic value in gaining knowledge or skill is lost. Feelings of self-worth from accomplishment become replaced with gaining external rewards. Interestingly, since 2000, many studies have been made into the concept of rewards in school: stickers, house points, awards etc.

Noah Chomsky (US professor of linguistics) wrote disparagingly about Skinner’s theories about linguistic development. Chomsky’s theories were that language acquisition was achieved according to rules and structure, rather than through simple repetition. This criticism has been levelled at Skinner by several practitioners who feel that there is plenty of evidence that children are capable of reflection and judgement, rather than the ability to parrot back words or phrases.

Glossary

Operant conditioning

Understanding behaviour by looking at the cause and consequence of an action. Skinner believed that praise could condition or shape behaviour.

Classical conditioning

Learning a behaviour through the linking of two stimuli. This term emerged from Pavlov’s experimentation with dogs who salivated when a bell was rung as they had learned to link the sound of the bell with food.

Positive reinforcement

The rewarding of good behaviour with something that the recipient values.

Negative reinforcement

The removal of a negative impact on an individual because their behaviour has changed to being more acceptable. Skinner saw this as very different to punishment in which an unpleasant action was given to a child. He also believed that the impact would be longer lasting as the child would have repeated the ‘good’ behaviour in order to avoid the negative reinforcement and therefore its behaviour would have been modified.

Behaviour modification

Behaviourism: the theory that all behaviour is learned and can be modified