Ed Psych 301

What is learning? according to Ormrod

"A long-term change in mental representations or associations as a result of experience." (p. 4)

15 Positively Reinforcing Facts About B.F. Skinner

15 Positively Reinforcing Facts About B.F. Skinner BY JORDAN ROSENFELD DECEMBER 15, 2016 Original image SILLY RABBIT VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS // CC BY 3.0 B.F. (Burrhus Frederic) Skinner was one of the most eminent American psychologists of the 20th century. Skinner founded "radical behaviorism"—a twist on traditional behaviorism, a field of psychology that focused exclusively on observable human behavior. Thoughts, feelings, and perceptions were cast aside as unobservable. Skinner dubbed his own method of observing behavior "operant conditioning," which posited that behavior is determined solely by its consequences—either reinforcements or punishments. He argued that people can be manipulated to exhibit or inhibit a behavior based on these consequences. 1. HE INVENTED THE "OPERANT CONDITIONING" OR "SKINNER" BOX. 2. HE BELIEVED ALL BEHAVIOR WAS AFFECTED BY ONE OF THREE "OPERANTS." 3. HE'S RESPONSIBLE FOR THE TERM "POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT." 4. SOME CRITICS FELT THIS APPROACH AMOUNTED TO BRIBERY. 5. "NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT" ISN'T WHAT YOU THINK. 6. SKINNER TAUGHT PIGEONS TO PLAY PING PONG. 15 Positively Reinforcing Facts About B.F. Skinner BY JORDAN ROSENFELD DECEMBER 15, 2016 Original image SILLY RABBIT VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS // CC BY 3.0 B.F. (Burrhus Frederic) Skinner was one of the most eminent American psychologists of the 20th century. Skinner founded "radical behaviorism"—a twist on traditional behaviorism, a field of psychology that focused exclusively on observable human behavior. Thoughts, feelings, and perceptions were cast aside as unobservable. Skinner dubbed his own method of observing behavior "operant conditioning," which posited that behavior is determined solely by its consequences—either reinforcements or punishments. He argued that people can be manipulated to exhibit or inhibit a behavior based on these consequences. MORE FROM MENTAL FLOSS STUDIOS Play Unmute Current Time 0:01 / Duration Time 0:17 Loaded: 0%Progress: 0% Fullscreen Now Playing WAR The surprising contents of gunpowder Now Playing FUN They have the whole world in their hands Now Playing FOOD How to keep your ice cream cone from leaking Now Playing FUN The humble origins of the smiley face Now Playing FUN The Domino Effect Now Playing FOOD How to make whipped cream in a jar Now Playing PRETTY PICTURES Extreme Knitting Now Playing PRETTY PICTURES It's called Paper Engineering Now Playing HOW TO How to clean shoes with toothpaste Now Playing SCIENCE Why Venus flytraps should watch their diets Now Playing FOOD Salty art Now Playing SCIENCE Do you have Paris Syndrome? Now Playing ARCHAEOLOGY The Sarcastic Jokes Found on Roman Bullets Now Playing POP CULTURE Putin's Favorite Piece of Jewelry Now Playing FOOD The BEST cheese for your pizza Now Playing FOOD The Genius Who Invented Brunch Now Playing ARCHITECTURE What's it like to live in a Tiny House? Now Playing ANIMALS How happy music can help sharks Now Playing HISTORY Too Much Tea? Now Playing HISTORY Smooth Operator: How to Sell the Eiffel Tower WAR The surprising contents of gunpowder To Skinner's critics, the idea that these "principles of reinforcement," as he called them, lead to easy "behavior modification" suggested that we do not have free will and are little more than automatons acting in response to stimuli. But his fans considered him visionary. Controversial to the end, Skinner was well known for his unconventional methods, unusual inventions, and utopian—some say dystopian—ideas about human society. 1. HE INVENTED THE "OPERANT CONDITIONING" OR "SKINNER" BOX. Skinner believed that the best way to understand behavior is to look at the causes of an action and its consequences, responses to stimuli. He called this approach "operant conditioning." Skinner began by studying rats interacting with an environment inside a box, where they were rewarded with a pellet of food for responding to a stimulus like light or sound with desired behavior. This simple experiment design would over the years take on dark metaphorical meaning: Any environment that had mechanisms in place to manipulate or control behavior could be called a "Skinner box." Recently, some have argued that social media is a sort of digital Skinner box: Likes, clicks, and shares are the pellet-like rewards we get for responding to our environment with certain behavior. Yes, we are the rats. 2. HE BELIEVED ALL BEHAVIOR WAS AFFECTED BY ONE OF THREE "OPERANTS." Skinner proposed there were only three "operants" that had affected human behavior. Neutral operants were responses from the environment that had a benign effect on a behavior. Reinforcers were responses that increased the likelihood of a behavior's repetition. And punishers decreased the likelihood of a behavior's repetition. While he was correct that behavior can be modified via this system, it's only one of many methods for doing so, and it failed to take into account how emotions, thoughts, and—as we learned eventually—the brain itself account for changes in behavior. 3. HE'S RESPONSIBLE FOR THE TERM "POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT." iStock Skinner eventually moved on to studying pigeons in his Skinner Box. The pigeons would peck at a disc to gain access to food at various intervals, and for completing certain tasks. From this Skinner concluded that some form of reinforcement was crucial in learning new behaviors. To his mind, positive reinforcement strengthens a behavior by providing a consequence an individual finds rewarding. He concluded that reinforced behavior tends to be repeated and strengthened. 4. SOME CRITICS FELT THIS APPROACH AMOUNTED TO BRIBERY. Critics were dubious that Skinner's focus on behavior modification through positive reinforcing of desired behavior could actually change behavior for the long term, and that it was little more than temporary reward, like bribery, for a short-term behavioral change. 5. "NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT" ISN'T WHAT YOU THINK. Skinner believed negative reinforcement also helped to strengthen behavior; this doesn't mean exposing an animal or person to a negative stimulus, but rather removing an "unpleasant reinforcer." The idea was that removing the negative stimulus would feel like a "reward" to the animal or person. 6. SKINNER TAUGHT PIGEONS TO PLAY PING PONG. 7. HIS FIRST BOOK, THE BEHAVIOR OF ORGANISMS, BROKE NEW GROUND. 8. HE CREATED "THE BABY TENDER." 9. HE ALSO DEVELOPED HIS OWN "TEACHING MACHINE." 15 Positively Reinforcing Facts About B.F. Skinner BY JORDAN ROSENFELD DECEMBER 15, 2016 Original image SILLY RABBIT VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS // CC BY 3.0 B.F. (Burrhus Frederic) Skinner was one of the most eminent American psychologists of the 20th century. Skinner founded "radical behaviorism"—a twist on traditional behaviorism, a field of psychology that focused exclusively on observable human behavior. Thoughts, feelings, and perceptions were cast aside as unobservable. Skinner dubbed his own method of observing behavior "operant conditioning," which posited that behavior is determined solely by its consequences—either reinforcements or punishments. He argued that people can be manipulated to exhibit or inhibit a behavior based on these consequences. MORE FROM MENTAL FLOSS STUDIOS Play Unmute Current Time 0:01 / Duration Time 0:17 Loaded: 0%Progress: 0% Fullscreen Now Playing WAR The surprising contents of gunpowder Now Playing FUN They have the whole world in their hands Now Playing FOOD How to keep your ice cream cone from leaking Now Playing FUN The humble origins of the smiley face Now Playing FUN The Domino Effect Now Playing FOOD How to make whipped cream in a jar Now Playing PRETTY PICTURES Extreme Knitting Now Playing PRETTY PICTURES It's called Paper Engineering Now Playing HOW TO How to clean shoes with toothpaste Now Playing SCIENCE Why Venus flytraps should watch their diets Now Playing FOOD Salty art Now Playing SCIENCE Do you have Paris Syndrome? Now Playing ARCHAEOLOGY The Sarcastic Jokes Found on Roman Bullets Now Playing POP CULTURE Putin's Favorite Piece of Jewelry Now Playing FOOD The BEST cheese for your pizza Now Playing FOOD The Genius Who Invented Brunch Now Playing ARCHITECTURE What's it like to live in a Tiny House? Now Playing ANIMALS How happy music can help sharks Now Playing HISTORY Too Much Tea? Now Playing HISTORY Smooth Operator: How to Sell the Eiffel Tower WAR The surprising contents of gunpowder To Skinner's critics, the idea that these "principles of reinforcement," as he called them, lead to easy "behavior modification" suggested that we do not have free will and are little more than automatons acting in response to stimuli. But his fans considered him visionary. Controversial to the end, Skinner was well known for his unconventional methods, unusual inventions, and utopian—some say dystopian—ideas about human society. 1. HE INVENTED THE "OPERANT CONDITIONING" OR "SKINNER" BOX. Skinner believed that the best way to understand behavior is to look at the causes of an action and its consequences, responses to stimuli. He called this approach "operant conditioning." Skinner began by studying rats interacting with an environment inside a box, where they were rewarded with a pellet of food for responding to a stimulus like light or sound with desired behavior. This simple experiment design would over the years take on dark metaphorical meaning: Any environment that had mechanisms in place to manipulate or control behavior could be called a "Skinner box." Recently, some have argued that social media is a sort of digital Skinner box: Likes, clicks, and shares are the pellet-like rewards we get for responding to our environment with certain behavior. Yes, we are the rats. 2. HE BELIEVED ALL BEHAVIOR WAS AFFECTED BY ONE OF THREE "OPERANTS." Skinner proposed there were only three "operants" that had affected human behavior. Neutral operants were responses from the environment that had a benign effect on a behavior. Reinforcers were responses that increased the likelihood of a behavior's repetition. And punishers decreased the likelihood of a behavior's repetition. While he was correct that behavior can be modified via this system, it's only one of many methods for doing so, and it failed to take into account how emotions, thoughts, and—as we learned eventually—the brain itself account for changes in behavior. 3. HE'S RESPONSIBLE FOR THE TERM "POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT." iStock Skinner eventually moved on to studying pigeons in his Skinner Box. The pigeons would peck at a disc to gain access to food at various intervals, and for completing certain tasks. From this Skinner concluded that some form of reinforcement was crucial in learning new behaviors. To his mind, positive reinforcement strengthens a behavior by providing a consequence an individual finds rewarding. He concluded that reinforced behavior tends to be repeated and strengthened. 4. SOME CRITICS FELT THIS APPROACH AMOUNTED TO BRIBERY. Critics were dubious that Skinner's focus on behavior modification through positive reinforcing of desired behavior could actually change behavior for the long term, and that it was little more than temporary reward, like bribery, for a short-term behavioral change. 5. "NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT" ISN'T WHAT YOU THINK. Skinner believed negative reinforcement also helped to strengthen behavior; this doesn't mean exposing an animal or person to a negative stimulus, but rather removing an "unpleasant reinforcer." The idea was that removing the negative stimulus would feel like a "reward" to the animal or person. 6. SKINNER TAUGHT PIGEONS TO PLAY PING PONG. As part of his research into positive reinforcement, he taught pigeons to play ping pong as a first step in seeing how trainable they were. He ultimately wanted to teach them to guide bombs and missiles and even convinced the military to fund his research to that effect. He liked working with pigeons because they responded well to reinforcements and punishments, thus validating his theories. We know now that pigeons can be trained in a whole host of tasks, including distinguishing written words from nonsense and spotting cancer. 7. HIS FIRST BOOK, THE BEHAVIOR OF ORGANISMS, BROKE NEW GROUND. Published in 1938, Skinner's debut tome made the case that simple observation of cause and effect, reward and punishment, were as significant to understanding behavior as other "conceptual or neural processes." Skinner believed behavior was everything. Thoughts and feelings were just unreliable byproducts of behaviors, he argued—and therefore dismissed them. Many of his fellow psychologists disagreed. Regardless, Skinner's theories contributed to a greater understanding of the relationship between stimuli and resulting behavior and may have even laid the groundwork for understanding the brain's reward circuitry, which centers around the amygdala. 8. HE CREATED "THE BABY TENDER." Skinner was fond of inventions, and having children gave him a new outlet for his tendencies. He designed a special crib for his infant daughter called "the baby tender." The clear box, with air holes, was heated so that the baby didn't need blankets. Unlike typical cribs, there were no slats in the sides, which he said prevented possible injury. Unsurprisingly, it did not catch on popularly. 9. HE ALSO DEVELOPED HIS OWN "TEACHING MACHINE." Silly rabbit via Wikimedia Commons // CC BY 3.0 You may have Skinner to thank for modern school workbooks and test-taking procedures. In 1954 Skinner visited his daughter's classroom and found himself frustrated with the "inefficiencies" of the teaching procedures. His first "teaching machine"—a very basic program to improve teaching methods for spelling, math, and other school subjects—was little more than a fill-in-the-blank method on workbook or computer. It's now considered a precursor to computer-assisted learning programs. 10. SKINNER IMAGINED AN IDEAL SOCIETY BASED ON HIS THEORIES OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR. 11. HE WROTE A UTOPIAN NOVEL, WALDEN TWO. 12. SOME FELT HIS IDEAS WERE REDUCTIONIST ... 13. ... OR WORSE. HIS ACADEMIC COLLEAGUES WERE HORRIFIED BY WALDEN TWO. 14. HE IMPLIED THAT HUMANS HAD NO FREE WILL OR INDIVIDUAL CONSCIOUSNESS. 15. HE DIED CONVINCED THAT THE FATE OF HUMANITY LAY IN APPLYING HIS METHODS OF BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE TO SOCIETY.

Example of Connected Learning

Cooking Ingredients Soil, light, water Gardens How do things grow? Climate effects Chemistry Botany Cooking

neuromyth 1

Evolution doesn't design organs that operate at only 10% capacity The brain is always on Different areas are for different uses

John Dewey 1859-1952

Founded University of Chicago Laboratory Schools Learning is social and interactive Purpose of education is to "learn how to live" and realize one's full potential to serve the greater good

Neuroplasticity

Is the brain's ability to reorganize throughout life due to new situations or environmental changes Can help us overcome injury and disease Ability to change structure and function as a result of experience

Basic Neuroscience

Learning is the formation and strengthening of synaptic connections Stimuli activate brain regions and become encoded as synaptic connections Consolidation - process of stabilizing and strengthening neural (synaptic) connections. More automatic = stronger connections

We Only Use 10% of Our Brains

May have been started with a misquote of Albert Einstein. May be misunderstanding of William James who wrote in 1908: "We are making use of only a small part of our possible mental and physical resources" (from The Energies of Men, p. 12). Perhaps it was the work of Karl Lashley in the 1920s and 1930s that started it. Lashley removed large areas of the cerebral cortex in rats and found that these animals could still relearn specific tasks. Brain is most metabolically active organ in the body: Only 3% of body weight, uses 20-30% of oxygen and glucose Use it or lose it; Brain plasticity and reorganization

How do we train the brain?

Memorization practice Crosswords College/school Solving math problems Repetition is not bad Playing music Sports/activities Experimentations/ Learning from mistakes Sleep!

What is learning?

No single, perfect definition! Some possible definitions: The acquisition of skills, knowledge, values, beliefs, attitudes, and emotional reactions A long-term change in knowledge as a result of experience An enduring change in behavior or in the capacity to behave a certain way, resulting from practice or experience Overall, we can conclude that: Learning involves change Learning endures over time Learning occurs through experience We can say someone has learned if they: Perform a new behavior Respond differently to a stimulus Change the frequency, speed, intensity, or complexity of existing behaviors

Neuromyth 3

People are either "right-brained" or "left-brained"

Lumosity vs Portal Study Results

Problem-solving? Spatial Tasks? Persistence? Portal 2 players showed significant advantages over Lumosity players.

Dewey was most famous for

Progressive Education that emphasizes the need to learn by doing. Child-centered approach that places the emphasis of learning on the needs and interests of the child Basis for more of an inquiry-based curriculum that connected to concepts outside of school

factories, a metaphor for schooling

superintendent->boss teachers->employees students->products

Key Neuronal Processes

Synaptogenesis: Formation of new synapses (i.e., connections between neurons) Neurogenesis: Formation of new neurons Differentiation: Specialization of neurons for a particular function Synaptic Pruning: Elimination of synapses that aren't used

State of education that Dewey wanted to address

Teacher centered Absolute control by the teacher Learning was from a text and teacher lecture Students are expected to repeat information either orally or in written form Based on Basic skills (reading, writing, and arithmetic)

Neuromyth 2

The bigger the brain, the smarter you are

what is educational psychology

The scientific study of human learning processes A branch of psychology Also influenced by neuroscience, sociology, anthropology, cognitive science, computer science, applied linguistics... Emphasis on the psychological and social processes that underlie learning, as well as the design of effective instruction