A preference assessment is conducted to identify potential reinforcers. Note, we don’t know that these things are actually reinforcing until we see if applying the items increases a behavior. To determine if a potential reinforcer is actually reinforcing, we can do a reinforcer assessment. Ways to identify potential reinforcers: Ask the person about their preferences. This is an indirect method. […]
Unconditioned Reinforcer is also called a primary reinforcer. These are reinforcers that do not need to be learned, such as food, water, oxygen, warmth and sex. These are all primary drives that we have for basic survival and if they are deprived in any way, gaining access to these reinforcers is very motivating. Conditioned Reinforcer is also called a secondary […]
The Premack Principle is also known as “Gradmas’s Law.” Parents (and Grandmas) use it naturally all the time. It is the principle that offering something that happens often in a free operant situation to be contingent upon something else that happens with low frequency. So, for example, “You can watch television after you have finished your homework.” Or, “You can […]
“Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.” “A failure is not always a mistake, it may simply be the best one can do under the circumstances. The real mistake is to stop trying.” “The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.” “A person who has been punished is not thereby simply […]
In About Behaviorism, B.F. Skinner says, “Rule-following behavior is said to be the veneer of civilization, whereas behavior shaped by natural contingencies comes from the depth of the personality or mind.” Skinner continues to note, “Doing good because on is reinforced by the good of others (contingency-shaped) is more highly honored than dong good because the law demands it (rule-governed).” […]
Charles Darwin (1809-1882) was an English naturalist who developed the theory of biological evolution. Biological evolution states that species develop and change over time through a series small variances that increase the species likelihood of survival and reproduction. These small variances are passed down from one generation to the next with the variances that give the most competitive advantage expressing […]
B. F. Skinner said that there are 3 ways that the environment can apply itself upon a living being: Phylogenic, Ontogenic and Cultural. Phylogenic: Natural evolution of a species (aka Darwinism). By a natural process of survival characteristics, each generation is passed characteristics by its predecessors. Phylogenics is a discipline in biology that is the study of the evolutionary history […]
