This essay will discuss the role of ecological validity in psychological research, drawing on material from the DE100 textbook ‘Investigating Psychology’. It will begin by giving a description of what ecological validity is, and consider it in relation to different examples of research. The research used to discuss the role of ecological validity will be based around social learning and aggression, behaviourism, and memory. Firstly the study of Bandura et al. will be considered, his experiments on children copying violent behaviours using the Bobo doll experiment. Then the Skinner box will be discussed, finally leading to the studies of Loftus and Palmer on the link between language and memory. The role and importance of ecological validity in each body of research will be discussed and evaluated.
Ecological validity is how much the
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Skinners experiment was based on operant conditioning, using the concept of discrimination learning, he carried out experiments on animals with the idea that their behaviour is predetermined by their environment and using a well controlled environment would allow him to in turn control their behaviours using a range of triggers. Using reinforcement and expectancy, the animal associates acting out certain behaviours with rewards. (Toates, F., 2010, pp. 165-167) After performing a number of experiments on rats using mazes, he subsequently designed the Skinner box. This was a box designed to hold animals and giving the animal contained access to food after carrying out a certain response. Using this procedure of reinforcement the animal learned to perform the response to get food as it associates this required behaviour with the reward of food. (Toates, F., 2010, p. 164) This principle can be applied to strengthen any behaviours whether it be positive or negative, and this research is an efficient technique used widely by many
Skinner in 1938.Operant conditioning is a form of learning which explains the relation of behaviors on certain rewards and consequences. The study of the theory only deals with expressible behaviors and not any internal mental thoughts and brain mechanisms. Operant Conditioning works by applying two major concepts, Reinforcements and Punishments, after the behavior is executed, which causes the rate of behavior to increase or decrease. Skinner’s Skinner box experiment with a rat is the base for operant conditioning theory and its concepts. The main principle comprises changing environmental events that are related to a person's behavior.
In chapter 7, I found the concept of punishment to be most intriguing. Punishment is a part of operant conditioning which was theorized by B.F. Skinner. Punishment is often confused with negative reinforcement. However, the main difference between the two is: while the goal of reinforcement is to increase the likelihood of a behavior, the primary goal of punishment is to reduce the chances of the behavior it follows. In 1938, Skinner concluded that punishment produces only temporary suppression of behavior but later research found that effects may be permanent.
Slater starts off by talking about the title of her book and psychologist B.F Skinner. Skinner studied the effects of rats and how they can be trained with rewards and reinforcements. Skinner designed an experiment using rats that would be rewarded with one pellet of food if the lever
2. **Operant Conditioning:** Proposed by B.F. Skinner, this
1) What symptoms did Harry have, even in infancy, that would suggest he had problems? The symptoms Harry illustrated was self-abuse. However Some of the self-abusive behaviors that Harry revealed was skin picking until he bled, hitting himself, biting, and smashing his face and nose with his fist or his knees. In Harrys infancy stage his mother had to place mailing tubes over his arms to prevent him from hitting his face with his fist. 2) What ethical concerns about the treatment of Harry might have been troubling to the IRB of the hospital in which he was being treated?
Mr. Byrne is having trouble getting his students to listen. He is trying scolding as a punishment, but that is not working. By the end of this essay, Mr. Byrne will learn how use operant conditioning to get his seventh grade students to listen. Mr. Byrne can 't understand why scolding his seventh-grade students for disruptive classroom behaviors makes them unrulier. Mr. Byrne 's can use operant conditioning techniques to reduce disruptive behaviors and increase cooperative behaviors.
The Little Albert experiment was a case study showing empirical evidence of classical conditioning in humans. The study also provides an example of stimulus generalization. It was carried out by John B. Watson and his graduate student, Rosalie Rayner, at Johns Hopkins University. The results were first published in the February 1920 issue of the Journal of Experimental Psychology. After observing children in the field, Watson hypothesized that the fearful response of children to loud noises is an innate unconditioned response.
Through The Psychologist Eye In Lauren Slater’s book, “Opening Skinner’s Box,” we discover in the first three chapters the mysteries behind a few psychological experiments and the discoveries that three profound psychologists have made. Each chapter is about a different psychologist, the first is B.F. Skinner; a behaviorist who designed a process of learning in which behavior is controlled, he called this operant conditioning. Lauren Slater wanted people to know about his experiment, she read his books, talked to friends and family members to unearth the features behind this man. She found that he was a loving father, who could train animals to do unordinary things, like play the piano for an example, through the processes of operant conditioning,
Much like Einstein’s work on relativity was not about designing nuclear bombs, Skinner’s work was not about classroom management but it is easy to see why many of its principles have been adopted and studied for educational purposes. Jacquelynn English in her presentation on Skinner’s classroom management states that “Teachers have benefited from Skinner's fundamental work in reinforcement as a means of controlling and motivating student behavior. This classroom practice that teachers use are called (behavior modification). Teachers consider this technique to be one of their most valuable tools for improving both learning and behavior in their students.” (English; 2012).
Nevertheless, Skinner points out that children learn nothing from the punishment. Instead, they may start to work out how to avoid it (Nolan & Raban, 2015). Another concept is classical conditioning (classical behaviorism) that emphasizes on the relation between stimuli and response. This concept embodies in a famous experiment, in which the food is presented to the dog when the bell rings, and the bell becomes a conditioned stimulus for the dog (Nolan & Raban, 2015). Likewise, if children receive toys in the condition that they behave well, then they will probably repeat this behavior to get the toys.
Introduction This report discusses an experiment to study operant conditioning, extinction and renewal. The objective of the experiment was to shape (also known as operant conditioning) the subject to press the bar, then perform extinction (forgetting the operant conditioning), and renewal (the recovery of acquisition performance when the contextual cues that were presented during extinction were changed). The study role of context similarity in ABA, ABC, and AAB renewal paradigms: Implications for theories of renewal and for treating human phobias conducted by Ayres at al in 2003 hypothesized that acquisition and extension would be similar because text contexts made it harder for fear to be renewed in testing sessions after extinction. The
B.F Skinner placed a rat into a box. At first, the rat didn't do anything in the box because it was a new environment for the rat. After a while, it began to explore the box. While exploring, the rat discovered a lever that dispensed food (Skinner’s theory on Operant Conditioning, 2017, November 17). This process was repeated several times with the same results.
This assignment includes; Strengths, examples and weaknesses of the following psychological research; Bandura et al, Skinner & Loftus and Palmer. In order discuss and come to a conclusion as to why ecological validity is important in psychological research. It is important to note that; Ecological validity is the degree to which behaviours reflect the behaviours of everyday life. In Chapter 3 Bandura et al demonstrated whether children were witnesses to an aggressive display of play.
Then, it was B.F. Skinner who made the concept became popular and well-known throughout the world and even pinned the name of operant conditioning to this concept That is why, he is called the Father of Operant Conditioning and his famous experiment, the Skinner Box. Operant conditioning determinants’ are reinforce, nature response and time interval between response and reinforcement. On the other hand, classical conditioning is a learning way that connects between two stimuli which produce natural response. It measures one stimulus that
This method of operant conditioning allows a person and or animal to realize when something is being done correctly and that it should be followed in the future. This method is rewarding and allows it to be beneficial for someone. According to a research conducted to treat problem behavior in Atlanta, researchers finalized that “training and treatment analysis showed that treatments based on positive reinforcement were effective at reducing problem behavior. (Call, 2014). This research proves how positive reinforcement can provide a good outcome for future behaviors.