Knock Wood

1. Knock Wood Arvester & Jake

2. B.F. Skinner • Burrhus Frederic (March 20, 1904-Aug 18, 1990) was an American behaviorist, inventor. He was the Edgar Pierce Professor of Psych. at Harvard University from 1958-1974. • Skinner called his brand of behaviorism “Radical” behaviorism. • He believed that everything psychology is behaviorally driven

3. Background • Exploring: • Consequences shape actions. • By: • Skinner Box method.

4. Experiment • Skinner Box (Conditioning Chamber) • Food dispenser controlled by Skinner • Food Given for reinforcement • Lever if pressed will cause food to be dispensed. • Experimenter controls lever.

5. Patient Results • Rats could be conditioned to the experimenters liking. • They behaved as if a certain action produced the food. • They became superstitious. • The behavior is put on extinction. • This meant the reinforcement was discontinued.

6. Historical Significance • Superstitions are proven to be real • Superstitions are everywhere and produce society wide effects. • Superstitions can now be used to influence behavior throughout the medical field.

7. Recent Applications • Helps advance medical fields treatments of kids with ADHD by using skinner’s reinforcement theory • Studies found that superstitious behaviors were developed better and faster through negative reinforcement.

8. Ethical Questions/ Criticisms • Subject of heated controversy • Other prominent theoretical approaches to human behavior have argued that the strict behavioral views are unable to account for many of the psychological processes that are fundamental to humans.