CHILD DEVELOPMENT PEDAGOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Skinner (1948) studied operant conditioning by conducting experiments using animals which he placed in a ‘ Skinner Box ‘ which was similar to Thorndike’s puzzle box. A Skinner box, also known as an operant conditioning chamber, is a device used to objectively record an animal’s behavior in a compressed time frame.

Detailed explanation-2: -Skinner created the operant conditioning chamber as a variation of the puzzle box originally created by Edward Thorndike. While Skinner’s early studies were done using rats, he later moved on to study pigeons. The operant conditioning chamber may be used to observe or manipulate behaviour.

Detailed explanation-3: -The Skinner box produces more accurate and useful results compared to Thorndike’s puzzle box. This is because the Skinner Box is an experimental environment that is better suited to examine the more natural flow of behavior.

Detailed explanation-4: -Both theories recognize that consequences due to behaviors have a direct impact on conditioning human behavior. However, in Skinner’s theory, a behavior is likely to reoccur based on a reinforcer rather than whether the stimulus is positive or negative.

Detailed explanation-5: -The Skinner box is a small box structure designed to block out light and sound to reduce external stimuli and for the purpose of testing small animals and reinforcing their positive behavior and minimizing their negative behavior.