Behaviouristic Theory
Created | Updated Apr 8, 2002
"Never try to
teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the
pig."
Thisisaspaceyoushouldn'tbeabletoseeunlessyouarepeekingathecodeandwhydothat?-Mark Twain
"I
am sometimes asked, 'Do you think of yourself as you think of the
organisms
you study?' The answer is yes. So far as I know, my behaviour at
any given
moment has been nothing more than the product of my genetic
endowment, my
personal history, and the current setting."
-B. F. Skinner
As
you reward a behaviour, it is more likely to be repeated. This
simple fact is the entire basis of Ivan Pavlov and B. F.
Skinner's behavioural theory. While it is easily the easiest
theory to prove and understand, it is critisised for being overly
mechanical and comparing human beings to rats and pigeons.
This
entire theory is incredibly simple - reinforcment tells you what
to do, punishment tells you what not to do. There are two types
of reinforcment - positive and negative. Positive reinforcment is
providing positive stimuli - such as giving a child a treat.
Negative reinforcment is stopping an unpleasant stimuli - such as
taking a child out of time-out for being quiet. Punishment is
using an unpleasant stimulus to discourage unwanted behaviour. It
has been proven that 1) reinforcment works better than punishment
and 2) positive reinforcment works better than negative.
There
is only one more factor in this equation to take into
consideration - on what schedule a behaviour is reinforced.
| Schedule | Example | Effect |
| Fixed-ratio Every 20 times a desired action is performed, a reinforcer is given. | Piecework pay | Brief pause after reinforcer followed by a high rate of response. |
| Variable-ratio Reinforces after an unpredictable number of responses | Gambling, fishing | Produces high rates of response, in attempts to get another reinforcer |
| Fixed-interval Reinforcment occurs after a specific amount of time | Waiting for food, Checking the mail (snailmail) | Response occurs more frequently as the anticipated time approaches |
| Variable-interval Reinforcment occurs after an unpredictable amount of time | Studying for a pop-quiz | Produces slow, steady response. |
This perspective doesn't
take into account the idea of human will, in actuality it doesn't
seem to exist in the theory. Therefore it is hard for even
scientists and the most empirical thinkers in psychology to
follow only this theory.
