Chapter 4 Behavioral Learning
Theories:Operant Conditioning
? 4.3.1 Burrhus Frederic
Skinner:1904-1990
? ＊ Born in Susquehanna,
Pennsylvania.
? ＊ Received bachelor’s degree
in Hamilton College in New
York,majored in English
literature,He decided to be a
writer.(influenced by Robert
Frost).
? ＊ master’s degree in 1930
and Ph.D,in 1931 from
Harvard University.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? 4.3.1 Burrhus Frederic Skinner:
? He said in 1967,”I had failed as a writer because I
had nothing important to say,but I could not accept
that explanation,It was literature which must be at
fault”.He gave up describing human behavior
through literature,and attempted to describe it
through science.
? ＊ 1936-1945,taught Psy,at Uni.of
Minnesota.published The Behavior of
Organisms(1938).
? ＊ in 1945,he went to Indiana University.During
World War Ⅱ,he applied his theory to the problem
of national defense.
? ＊ from 1948 to 1990,he worked in Harvard Uni.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? 4.3.1 Burrhus Frederic Skinner:
? Korn and Davis conducted a survey in 1991,
The question is who the ten most eminent
psychologists(all time and
contemporary)were.The results showed that,in
the eye of historians of psy.,Skinner was
ranked the eighth on the all-time list but the
first among contemporary psychologists,In
the eye of department chairs,Skinner ranked
first on both lists.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? 4.3.1 Burrhus Frederic Skinner:
? Through the years,his major concern was to
relate his laboratory findings to the solution of
human problems.For instance,(1)programmed
learning and teaching machines.
? (2) utilizing his principles of learning in the
building of of a model society.Walden Two.
? (3)designing a culture using technology of
behavior,Beyond Freedom and Dignity.
? (4) utilization of his ideas in the area of
psychotherapy,such as,stuttering,phobias,
eating disorder,and psychotic behavior.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? 4.3.2 experimental foundation:
? The Skinner Box,it’s a small test chamber.It
is a direct descendant of the puzzle box used
by Thorndike,It usually has a grid(格子，栅栏 ）
floor,light,lever（ 杠杆）,and food cup,It is
arranged so that when the animal depresses
the lever,the feeder mechanism is activated,
and a small pellet of food is released in the
food cup,A typical Skinner Box is shown as
the following:
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? 4.3.3 Major Theoretical Notions
? ＊ radical behaviorism:rejected the mentalistic
ideas such as drive,motivation,and purpose
because they refer to private,mental
experience and represented a return to
nonscientific psy,The observable and
measurable aspects of the environment,of an
organism’s behavior,and of the consequences
of that behavior were the critical material for
scientific scrutiny.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? ＊ respondent and operant behavior
? Respondent behavior,behavior elicited by a
known stimulus.e.g.UR and all reflexes.It
depends on the stimulus that precede it.
? Operant behavior:behavior not elicited by a
known stimulus but is simply emitted by the
organism,It seems to appear spontaneously,
e.g,whistling,standing up and walking about,
a child abandoning one toy in favor of
another,et al,It is controlled by its
consequences.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? 4.3.3 Major Theoretical Notions
? ＊ Type S and Type R Conditioning
? Type S Conditioning,respondent conditioning which
is identical to classical conditioning,It emphasizes
the importance or the stimulus in eliciting the
desired response,The strength of conditioning is
determined by the magnitude of CR.
? Type R Conditioning,operant conditioning,which
closely resembles Thorndike’s conditioning,It
emphasizes the response,The strength of
conditioning is shown by response rate.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? 4.3.3 Major Theoretical Notions
? ＊ operant conditioning principles:
? （ 1） any response that is followed by a reinforcing
stimulus tends to repeated.This process is
sometimes called contingent reinforcement,because
getting the reinforcer is contingent(dependent)on
the organism’s emitting a certain response.
? (2） a reinforcing stimulus is anything that
increases the probability of a response’s recurring,
Skinner said:whether something is reinforcing can
only be ascertained by its effect on behavior.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? 4.3.3 Major Theoretical Notions
? ＊ operant conditioning principles:
? The principles can apply to (1)a variety of
situations,e.g,modifying behavior,learning
languages.
? (2) to the development of human personality,
We are what have been reinforced for being,
Personality is nothing more than consistent
behavior patterns that summarize our
reinforcement history,So,if one controls
reinforcement,one controls behavior.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? 4.3.3 Major Theoretical Notions
? ＊ secondary reinforcement and generalized
reinforcers:
? Secondary reinforcement:any neutral
stimulus paired with a primary reinforcer
takes on reinforcing properties of its own.
? Generalized reinforcers are secondary
reinforcers that have been paired with more
than one primary reinforcer.Money is such a
reinforcer because it ultimately associated
with any number of primary reinforcers.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? 4.3.3 Major Theoretical Notions
? Positve and negative reinforcers:
? A positive reinforcer is something that,when
added to the situation by a certain response,
increases the probability of that response’s
recurrence,
? A negative reinforcer is something that,when
removed from the situation by a certain
response,increases the probability of that
response’s recurrence.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? 4.3.3 Major Theoretical Notions
? negative reinforcement and punishment
? Punishment occurs when a response
removes something positive from the
situation or adds something negative,The
outcome of the response temporally
decreases the probability of recurrence of
that response.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? But,according to Skinner,punishment is
ineffective in the long run,It appears that
punishment simply suppresses behavior,
and when the threat pf punishment is
removed,the rate with which the
behavior occurs returns to its original
level,Other arguments against the use of
punishment are as follows:
? (1)It causes unfortunate emotional
byproducts.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? (2) It indicates what the organism should not
do,not what it should do.
? (3) being in a situation where previously
punished behavior could be engaged in without
being punished may excuse a child to do so.
? (4)punishment elicits aggression toward the
punishing agent and others,
? (5)punishment often replaces one undesirable
response with another undesirable response,
? The question is why punishment is widely used?
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? Generally speaking,behavior persists
because it is being reinforced,this is true
of undesirable as well as desirable
behavior.To eliminate objectionable
behavior one needs to find the source of
reinforcement and remove it,Behavior
that does not lead to reinforcement
extinguishes,
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? ＊ schedules of reinforcement:
? Continuous reinforcement
schedule:every correct response during
acquisition is reinforced,
? Partial reinforcement:
? Partial reinforcement leads to greater
resistance to extinction than continuous
reinforcement,It was referred as the
partial reinforcement effect(PRE).
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? (1)fixed interval reinforcement schedule(FI),
reinforced for a response only after a set interval of
time,e.g,one puts off a certain task as long as
possible,the due date is rapidly approaching and
activities increases according,Students preparing a
term paper will act in this manner.
? (2)fixed ratio reinforcement schedule(FR):it occurs
when every nth response that animal makes is
reinforced.
? For both the FI and FR reinforcement schedule,a
reinforced response is followed by a depression in
the rate of responding.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? (3)variable interval reinforcement schedule
(VI),the animal is reinforced for responses
made at the end of time intervals of variable
durations.VI produces a steady,moderately
high response rate compared with FI.
? (4)variable ratio reinforcement schedule(VR):
? The animal is reinforced after making a
specific number of responses,It produces the
highest response rate.VR is the one governing
the behavior of gambling at a place like Las
Vegas.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? To summarize,continuous reinforcement
yields the least resistance to extinction,
Partial reinforcement produces higher
response rate,
? The VR produces the highest response
rate,FR produces the next,then VI,
followed by FI,and finally CRF.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? ＊ The Premack Principle(Grandma’s Rule):
? Less desired(low-strength)activities can be
increased by linking them to more desired
activities,That is,access to something
desirable is made contingent on doing
something less desirable,
? e.g.,as soon as you finish your work,you
may go outside”.,Eating your vegetables
and then you may play”.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? Verbal behavior(language):
? Listening and talking are responses that
are influenced by reinforcement just as
any other response,Any utterance will
tend to be repeated if it is reinforced.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? 4.3.4 The application of operant conditioning
? (1)Shaping,it refers to the teaching of new
skills or behaviors by reinforcing learners for
approaching the desired final behavior,e.g,
for a child learning the entire alphabet,
writing a discourse,
? Shaping requires breaking down tasks into
small steps,a process called chaining,For
instance:
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? (1)Shaping:
? ＊ choose your goal – make it as specific as possible.
? ＊ find out where the students are now,what do they
already know?
? ＊ develop a series of steps that will serve as a
stairway to take them from where they are now to
your goal,For some students,the steps may be too
big,for others,too small,Modify according to each
student’s ability.
? ＊ Give feedback as the students go along,In some
ways,learning is like driving a car,The more
unfamiliar area,the more feedback one needs.So,the
newer the subject material,the more feedback
students require.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? 4.3.4 The application of operant conditioning
? Programmed Learning(Instruction):
? Programmed learning was first developed by S.L,
Pressey in 1926,But it was Skinner who rediscover
programmed learning and made it popular.It is an
individualized instruction.
? According to operant conditioning,learning
proceeds most effectively if (1)the information to be
learned is presented in small steps.(2) the learners
are given rapid feedback(correct or incorrect)
concerning the accuracy of their learning.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? (3)the learners are able to learn at their own pace.
? Programmed learning incorporate the principles,His
device of presenting programmed material is called
teaching machine,It is a labor-saving device.Its
effect is just like a private tutor.
? The features of PI:
? (1)small steps,Learners are exposed to small
amounts of information and proceed from one frame,
or one item of information,to the next in an orderly
fashion,This is what is meant by a linear program.
? (2) overt responding,It is required so that the
correct responses can be reinforced and the incorrect
responses can be corrected.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? (3)immediate feedback,immediately
after making responses,students are told
whether or not they are correct,They act
as reinforcer if the answers are correct
and as a corrective measure if the
answers are wrong.
? (4)self-pacing,Students proceed through
the program at their own pace.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? Is PI effective?
? Schramm(1964) conducted a study,There
were 36 studies that compared PI with
traditional kinds of instruction,The results
showed that 17 found PI to be more
effective,18 found both kinds of instruction
to be equally effective,only 1 found
traditional techniques to be more effective.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? Personalized systems of instruction(PSI):
? It was originally called the Keller plan
because F.Keller developed it in 1968,PSI,
like PI,is individualized and involves quick,
frequent feedback concerning student
performance,The steps are as follows:
? (1)determine the material to be covered in
the course.
? (2)divide the material into self-contained(独立
的） segments.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? （ 3） create methods of evaluating the
degree to which the student has mastered
the material in a given segment.
? (4) allow students to move from segment
to segment at their own pace.
? The emphasis in PSI courses is on
mastery of material within course
segments,usually demonstrated by
performance on short,focused
examinations.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? Computer-based(assisted) instruction(CBI or CAI):
? When a computer is used to present programmed
or other kinds of instructional material,the process
is called CBI or CAI.
? Computer users who follow the tutorial（ 指南） are
able to work at their own pace through small units
intended to teach specific skills and
applications.Tutorial require overt responding and
active engagement with the materials,Help is
available at the touch of a button,and feedback is
immediate,
? Computer can also evaluate how well that material
has been learned.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? Criticisms of PI,PSI and CAI:
? Firstly,they create an instructional situation that is
cold,mechanical,and dehumanizing,The
important interactions between teacher and students,
and among students,are absent from these
instructions.
? Secondly,some important kind of educational
material cannot be specified to the point where it
can be programmed or arranged in segments.
? Thirdly,some educational objectives cannot be
easily specified or measured and perhaps never fully
reached.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? 4.3.5 Evaluation of Skinner’s Theory
? Contributions:
? Significantly influenced both applied and purely
scientific psychology.e.g,from animal training to
human behavior modification therapy.
? His methodology is a departure from mainstream
behaviorism,He utilized an ideographic(表意的）
approach in which single experimental subjects were
observed for prolonged periods.The method allowed
for detailed study and analysis of reinforcement
schedules and yielded a number of new behavioral
laws.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? Criticisms:
? Animal experiments
Questions
? 1,How to use Skinner’s theory in the
modification of human behavior?
? 2,What are the differences between
Skinner’s theory and Thorndike’s theory?
Theories:Operant Conditioning
? 4.3.1 Burrhus Frederic
Skinner:1904-1990
? ＊ Born in Susquehanna,
Pennsylvania.
? ＊ Received bachelor’s degree
in Hamilton College in New
York,majored in English
literature,He decided to be a
writer.(influenced by Robert
Frost).
? ＊ master’s degree in 1930
and Ph.D,in 1931 from
Harvard University.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? 4.3.1 Burrhus Frederic Skinner:
? He said in 1967,”I had failed as a writer because I
had nothing important to say,but I could not accept
that explanation,It was literature which must be at
fault”.He gave up describing human behavior
through literature,and attempted to describe it
through science.
? ＊ 1936-1945,taught Psy,at Uni.of
Minnesota.published The Behavior of
Organisms(1938).
? ＊ in 1945,he went to Indiana University.During
World War Ⅱ,he applied his theory to the problem
of national defense.
? ＊ from 1948 to 1990,he worked in Harvard Uni.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? 4.3.1 Burrhus Frederic Skinner:
? Korn and Davis conducted a survey in 1991,
The question is who the ten most eminent
psychologists(all time and
contemporary)were.The results showed that,in
the eye of historians of psy.,Skinner was
ranked the eighth on the all-time list but the
first among contemporary psychologists,In
the eye of department chairs,Skinner ranked
first on both lists.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? 4.3.1 Burrhus Frederic Skinner:
? Through the years,his major concern was to
relate his laboratory findings to the solution of
human problems.For instance,(1)programmed
learning and teaching machines.
? (2) utilizing his principles of learning in the
building of of a model society.Walden Two.
? (3)designing a culture using technology of
behavior,Beyond Freedom and Dignity.
? (4) utilization of his ideas in the area of
psychotherapy,such as,stuttering,phobias,
eating disorder,and psychotic behavior.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? 4.3.2 experimental foundation:
? The Skinner Box,it’s a small test chamber.It
is a direct descendant of the puzzle box used
by Thorndike,It usually has a grid(格子，栅栏 ）
floor,light,lever（ 杠杆）,and food cup,It is
arranged so that when the animal depresses
the lever,the feeder mechanism is activated,
and a small pellet of food is released in the
food cup,A typical Skinner Box is shown as
the following:
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? 4.3.3 Major Theoretical Notions
? ＊ radical behaviorism:rejected the mentalistic
ideas such as drive,motivation,and purpose
because they refer to private,mental
experience and represented a return to
nonscientific psy,The observable and
measurable aspects of the environment,of an
organism’s behavior,and of the consequences
of that behavior were the critical material for
scientific scrutiny.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? ＊ respondent and operant behavior
? Respondent behavior,behavior elicited by a
known stimulus.e.g.UR and all reflexes.It
depends on the stimulus that precede it.
? Operant behavior:behavior not elicited by a
known stimulus but is simply emitted by the
organism,It seems to appear spontaneously,
e.g,whistling,standing up and walking about,
a child abandoning one toy in favor of
another,et al,It is controlled by its
consequences.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? 4.3.3 Major Theoretical Notions
? ＊ Type S and Type R Conditioning
? Type S Conditioning,respondent conditioning which
is identical to classical conditioning,It emphasizes
the importance or the stimulus in eliciting the
desired response,The strength of conditioning is
determined by the magnitude of CR.
? Type R Conditioning,operant conditioning,which
closely resembles Thorndike’s conditioning,It
emphasizes the response,The strength of
conditioning is shown by response rate.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? 4.3.3 Major Theoretical Notions
? ＊ operant conditioning principles:
? （ 1） any response that is followed by a reinforcing
stimulus tends to repeated.This process is
sometimes called contingent reinforcement,because
getting the reinforcer is contingent(dependent)on
the organism’s emitting a certain response.
? (2） a reinforcing stimulus is anything that
increases the probability of a response’s recurring,
Skinner said:whether something is reinforcing can
only be ascertained by its effect on behavior.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? 4.3.3 Major Theoretical Notions
? ＊ operant conditioning principles:
? The principles can apply to (1)a variety of
situations,e.g,modifying behavior,learning
languages.
? (2) to the development of human personality,
We are what have been reinforced for being,
Personality is nothing more than consistent
behavior patterns that summarize our
reinforcement history,So,if one controls
reinforcement,one controls behavior.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? 4.3.3 Major Theoretical Notions
? ＊ secondary reinforcement and generalized
reinforcers:
? Secondary reinforcement:any neutral
stimulus paired with a primary reinforcer
takes on reinforcing properties of its own.
? Generalized reinforcers are secondary
reinforcers that have been paired with more
than one primary reinforcer.Money is such a
reinforcer because it ultimately associated
with any number of primary reinforcers.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? 4.3.3 Major Theoretical Notions
? Positve and negative reinforcers:
? A positive reinforcer is something that,when
added to the situation by a certain response,
increases the probability of that response’s
recurrence,
? A negative reinforcer is something that,when
removed from the situation by a certain
response,increases the probability of that
response’s recurrence.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? 4.3.3 Major Theoretical Notions
? negative reinforcement and punishment
? Punishment occurs when a response
removes something positive from the
situation or adds something negative,The
outcome of the response temporally
decreases the probability of recurrence of
that response.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? But,according to Skinner,punishment is
ineffective in the long run,It appears that
punishment simply suppresses behavior,
and when the threat pf punishment is
removed,the rate with which the
behavior occurs returns to its original
level,Other arguments against the use of
punishment are as follows:
? (1)It causes unfortunate emotional
byproducts.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? (2) It indicates what the organism should not
do,not what it should do.
? (3) being in a situation where previously
punished behavior could be engaged in without
being punished may excuse a child to do so.
? (4)punishment elicits aggression toward the
punishing agent and others,
? (5)punishment often replaces one undesirable
response with another undesirable response,
? The question is why punishment is widely used?
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? Generally speaking,behavior persists
because it is being reinforced,this is true
of undesirable as well as desirable
behavior.To eliminate objectionable
behavior one needs to find the source of
reinforcement and remove it,Behavior
that does not lead to reinforcement
extinguishes,
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? ＊ schedules of reinforcement:
? Continuous reinforcement
schedule:every correct response during
acquisition is reinforced,
? Partial reinforcement:
? Partial reinforcement leads to greater
resistance to extinction than continuous
reinforcement,It was referred as the
partial reinforcement effect(PRE).
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? (1)fixed interval reinforcement schedule(FI),
reinforced for a response only after a set interval of
time,e.g,one puts off a certain task as long as
possible,the due date is rapidly approaching and
activities increases according,Students preparing a
term paper will act in this manner.
? (2)fixed ratio reinforcement schedule(FR):it occurs
when every nth response that animal makes is
reinforced.
? For both the FI and FR reinforcement schedule,a
reinforced response is followed by a depression in
the rate of responding.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? (3)variable interval reinforcement schedule
(VI),the animal is reinforced for responses
made at the end of time intervals of variable
durations.VI produces a steady,moderately
high response rate compared with FI.
? (4)variable ratio reinforcement schedule(VR):
? The animal is reinforced after making a
specific number of responses,It produces the
highest response rate.VR is the one governing
the behavior of gambling at a place like Las
Vegas.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? To summarize,continuous reinforcement
yields the least resistance to extinction,
Partial reinforcement produces higher
response rate,
? The VR produces the highest response
rate,FR produces the next,then VI,
followed by FI,and finally CRF.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? ＊ The Premack Principle(Grandma’s Rule):
? Less desired(low-strength)activities can be
increased by linking them to more desired
activities,That is,access to something
desirable is made contingent on doing
something less desirable,
? e.g.,as soon as you finish your work,you
may go outside”.,Eating your vegetables
and then you may play”.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? Verbal behavior(language):
? Listening and talking are responses that
are influenced by reinforcement just as
any other response,Any utterance will
tend to be repeated if it is reinforced.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? 4.3.4 The application of operant conditioning
? (1)Shaping,it refers to the teaching of new
skills or behaviors by reinforcing learners for
approaching the desired final behavior,e.g,
for a child learning the entire alphabet,
writing a discourse,
? Shaping requires breaking down tasks into
small steps,a process called chaining,For
instance:
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? (1)Shaping:
? ＊ choose your goal – make it as specific as possible.
? ＊ find out where the students are now,what do they
already know?
? ＊ develop a series of steps that will serve as a
stairway to take them from where they are now to
your goal,For some students,the steps may be too
big,for others,too small,Modify according to each
student’s ability.
? ＊ Give feedback as the students go along,In some
ways,learning is like driving a car,The more
unfamiliar area,the more feedback one needs.So,the
newer the subject material,the more feedback
students require.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? 4.3.4 The application of operant conditioning
? Programmed Learning(Instruction):
? Programmed learning was first developed by S.L,
Pressey in 1926,But it was Skinner who rediscover
programmed learning and made it popular.It is an
individualized instruction.
? According to operant conditioning,learning
proceeds most effectively if (1)the information to be
learned is presented in small steps.(2) the learners
are given rapid feedback(correct or incorrect)
concerning the accuracy of their learning.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? (3)the learners are able to learn at their own pace.
? Programmed learning incorporate the principles,His
device of presenting programmed material is called
teaching machine,It is a labor-saving device.Its
effect is just like a private tutor.
? The features of PI:
? (1)small steps,Learners are exposed to small
amounts of information and proceed from one frame,
or one item of information,to the next in an orderly
fashion,This is what is meant by a linear program.
? (2) overt responding,It is required so that the
correct responses can be reinforced and the incorrect
responses can be corrected.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? (3)immediate feedback,immediately
after making responses,students are told
whether or not they are correct,They act
as reinforcer if the answers are correct
and as a corrective measure if the
answers are wrong.
? (4)self-pacing,Students proceed through
the program at their own pace.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? Is PI effective?
? Schramm(1964) conducted a study,There
were 36 studies that compared PI with
traditional kinds of instruction,The results
showed that 17 found PI to be more
effective,18 found both kinds of instruction
to be equally effective,only 1 found
traditional techniques to be more effective.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? Personalized systems of instruction(PSI):
? It was originally called the Keller plan
because F.Keller developed it in 1968,PSI,
like PI,is individualized and involves quick,
frequent feedback concerning student
performance,The steps are as follows:
? (1)determine the material to be covered in
the course.
? (2)divide the material into self-contained(独立
的） segments.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? （ 3） create methods of evaluating the
degree to which the student has mastered
the material in a given segment.
? (4) allow students to move from segment
to segment at their own pace.
? The emphasis in PSI courses is on
mastery of material within course
segments,usually demonstrated by
performance on short,focused
examinations.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? Computer-based(assisted) instruction(CBI or CAI):
? When a computer is used to present programmed
or other kinds of instructional material,the process
is called CBI or CAI.
? Computer users who follow the tutorial（ 指南） are
able to work at their own pace through small units
intended to teach specific skills and
applications.Tutorial require overt responding and
active engagement with the materials,Help is
available at the touch of a button,and feedback is
immediate,
? Computer can also evaluate how well that material
has been learned.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? Criticisms of PI,PSI and CAI:
? Firstly,they create an instructional situation that is
cold,mechanical,and dehumanizing,The
important interactions between teacher and students,
and among students,are absent from these
instructions.
? Secondly,some important kind of educational
material cannot be specified to the point where it
can be programmed or arranged in segments.
? Thirdly,some educational objectives cannot be
easily specified or measured and perhaps never fully
reached.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? 4.3.5 Evaluation of Skinner’s Theory
? Contributions:
? Significantly influenced both applied and purely
scientific psychology.e.g,from animal training to
human behavior modification therapy.
? His methodology is a departure from mainstream
behaviorism,He utilized an ideographic(表意的）
approach in which single experimental subjects were
observed for prolonged periods.The method allowed
for detailed study and analysis of reinforcement
schedules and yielded a number of new behavioral
laws.
Chapter 4 Operant Conditioning
? Criticisms:
? Animal experiments
Questions
? 1,How to use Skinner’s theory in the
modification of human behavior?
? 2,What are the differences between
Skinner’s theory and Thorndike’s theory?
