Theory of behavior notes @ mba

1. BEHAVIORISTIC FRAMEWORK
Stimuli – Response
Response = Stimulus + Environment +
Learning
The scope of the
Operant Theory of
Behavior
Prof: Asim Naseer’s Assignment
Submitted By Jamaluddin Panhwar
Registration No. 1552-410036

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. Dated : 16th January 2011
What is “Behaviorist Framework”
Behaviorist Framework is the second theory of human &
animal behavior. In Behaviorist Framework human behavior
is explained with as stimulus-response.
A stimulus brings out a response in an individual and results
in learning. The stimulus- response relationship explains the
physical reflexes in human beings. For example, when a
person is pricked with a pin, he immediately flinches.
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3. To further understand this theory let us examine the two elements of this
theory
Stimulus
What is Stimulus: any change in an organism’s
environment that causes to the organism to
react. It is a fancy way of saying “cause”.
Stimulus – singular
Stimuli – plural
Example: Food, Smell, Heat, Cold.
Response
Response: how the organism reacts to a stimulus and results in a change
in behavior. It is a fancy way of saying “effect”.
Example: Getting a drink when you are thirsty.
Stimulus - Response

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The behavioristic Theory has two conditions
Classical Conditions
Unlike the earlier psychologists Ivan Pavlov and John B. Watson
focused on observable behaviors rather than the evasive mind. The
behavioristic Theory explained human behavior with the help of
stimulus-response experiments.
A stimulus brings out a response in an individual and results in
learning. The stimulus- response relationship also explains the
physical reflexes in human beings. For example, when a person is
pricked with a pin, he immediately flinches.
Hence Stimulus Elicits Response (S-R)
Operant Condition
The classical conditions was further studied by B.F. Skinner and he
named his findings as “ Operant behavior” The Operant Behavior
indicates voluntary or learned behavior. Through his operant
conditioning experiments, Skinner emphasized the importance of
stimulus-response relationship.
He found that the consequences of response explain more about
behavior than the stimuli that elicit response.
According to Skinner The stimulus serves as a cue to manifest
certain behavior and does not actually cause the behavior. An
individual responds in a particular way to the stimulus and this
results in certain consequences. He believed that behavior is a
function of its consequences.
For instance, an organization passes a circular to its employees
asking them to stay longer in order to increase the production to
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5. meet the increasing demand. Here, the circular is the stimulus. The
employees may increase the production. This is the response. If the
increase in productivity is rewarded, it is the consequence. Skinner
explained that certain behavior can be expected from an individual
by creating a positive consequence desired by him.
The behaviorist approach is based on the environment. Though
cognitive processes like thinking, expectations and perception do
exist, they are not needed to manage or predict behavior. However,
some behavioral scientists believe that the cognitive variables do
have a role in the behaviorist approach. Continuous research efforts
have led to the emergence of a new area called social learning
approach which incorporates both cognitive and behaviorist
concepts.

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History
Ivan Pavlov and John B. Watson were the pioneers of the
behaviorist theory.
Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (September 14, 1849 -
February 27, 1936) was born in a small village in
central Russia. After reading Charles Darwin, he
found that he cared more for scientific pursuits
and left the seminary for the University of St.
Petersburg. There he studied chemistry and
physiology, and he received his doctorate in 1879.
He continued his studies and began doing his
own research in topics that interested him most:
digestion and blood circulation. His work became
well known, and he was appointed professor of physiology at the
Imperial Medical Academy.
The work that made Pavlov a household name in psychology
actually began as a study in digestion. He was looking at the
digestive process in dogs, especially the interaction between
salivation and the action of the stomach.
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7. He realized they were closely linked by reflexes in the autonomic
nervous system. Without salivation, the stomach didn't get the
message to start digesting. Pavlov wanted to see if external stimuli
could affect this process, so he rang a metronome at the same time
he gave the experimental dogs food. After a while, the dogs -- which
before only salivated when they saw and ate their food -- would
begin to salivate when the metronome sounded, even if no food
were present. In 1903 Pavlov published his results calling this a
"conditioned reflex," different from an innate reflex, such as yanking
a hand back from a flame, in that it had to be learned. Pavlov called
this learning process (in which the dog's nervous system comes to
associate the sound of the metronome with the food, for example)
"conditioning." He also found that the conditioned reflex will be
repressed if the stimulus proves "wrong" too often. If the metronome
sounds repeatedly and no food
appears, eventually the dog stops
salivating at the sound.
Burrhus Frederic Skinner (March 20,
1904 – August 18, 1990) was an

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American psychologist, author, inventor, social philosopher, and
poet. He was the Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology at Harvard
University from 1958 until his retirement in 1974.
Skinner invented the operant conditioning chamber, innovated his
own philosophy of science called Radical Behaviorism,[6] and
founded his own school of experimental research psychology—the
experimental analysis of behavior. His analysis of human behavior
culminated in his work Verbal Behavior, which has recently seen
enormous increase[citation needed] in interest experimentally and in
applied settings.
Skinner discovered and advanced the rate of response as a
dependent variable in psychological research. He invented the
cumulative recorder to measure rate of responding as part of his
highly influential work on schedules of reinforcement. In a June,
2002 survey, Skinner was listed as the most influential psychologist
of the 20th century. He was a prolific author who published 21
books and 180 articles
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