Skinner Vers Huxley Term Paper

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B.F. Skinner, a behavioral learning theorist, states that behaviors are learned and learning is represented by a permanent change in behavior. The components of this theory are reinforcers -- good or bad. Most people think of reinforcers as rewards for good behavior. There are actually two types of reinforcers -- positive and negative. Positive reinforcers are when a stimulus is given, and negative reinforcers are when a stimulus is taken away. However, negative reinforcers are different than punishments. Punishing is when either taking away a positive reinforcer or adding a negative reinforcer.

He also says that changes in behavior are the result of an individual's response to events, or stimuli, in the environment. When a particular Stimulus-Response pattern is reinforced, the individual is conditioned to respond. This pattern is known as Operant Conditioning, and the distinct characteristic of this is relative to previous forms of behaviorism, when the organism can emit responses instead of only eliciting a response due to an external stimulus.

A distinctive aspect of this theory is that it attempts to explain a broad range of cognitive phenomena. Drive, or motivation, is explained in terms of deprivation and reinforcement schedules. For example, when a person is facing hunger as a result of hard economic times, or deprivation, that person goes out to look for a job, so that he can buy food, or earn his reward for working.

This theory has been widely accepted in clinical settings (behavior modification), schools (classroom management), and community colleges (programmed instruction).

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An example of operant conditioning in colleges, according to Skinner, is that practice should take the form of a question, or stimulus, and the answer, or response, frames that expose the student to the subject in gradual steps. The learner is then required to make a response for every frame and receive immediate feedback. The questions should be arranged in order of difficulty so that the response is always correct, which leads to consistent positive reinforcements. Good performance in the lesson is paired with secondary reinforcers, such as verbal praise, prizes, and good grades.

Behavior that is positively reinforced will reoccur, especially with intermittent reinforcement. Information should be presented in small amounts so that responses can be reinforced, or shaping of behavior. Reinforcements will generalize across similar stimuli ("stimuli generalization"), producing secondary conditioning.

Huxley wrote the book, A Brave New World, in 1932. His beliefs were that human development is primarily based on environmental stimuli. His vision for the future is a stable society of five classes of human beings: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon. Within this society, every being is conditioned from their conception to be happy fulfilling a productive role in the world community. Even though there is some genetic differentiation among the classes, the primary division comes from environmental stimuli.

Huxley compares conception and embryonic growth in his Brave New World to that of a Ford production line. Each embryo is placed in a bottle and is transported….....

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