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From: jenningh
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  • ladies and gentlemen the call of duty audience 

  • School sent me here!

  • Who created this video? I'm trying to cite it because I used some of its info on an essay...

  • @SchoolyardKiller Same lol 

  • @SchoolyardKiller Just cite Skinner ;)

  • @MrPatate93 I've turned that paper in already, I'm afraid! I cited the uploader in quotation marks and provided a link for the video. Not perfect, but oh well.

  • @SchoolyardKiller Hope it was enough ;) Did you already get a grade or whatever?

  • LOL master at animal torture

  • Comment removed

  • We did this in Behavior modification with rats and by the end of semester mine was eating around 80 pellets an hour (accounting for the time it needs to get comfortable in the cage)

  • This is what religion has told us for years. We humans are half animalistic (material) and half angelic (spiritual) beings.

  • I'm thinking this is because of evolution and mainly instinct - our instinct does not care about why the food/reward appears after we do something that we don't really understand, it only pays attention to that it appears after a certain action, whatever that action may be.

    Being flexible and adapt to whatever circumstances that gives us what we need is one of the main parts of the evoultionary process which in turn also is part of destructive habits like addiction.

  • In other words - I think it has to a lot more to do with instinct and evolution rather than the immediate enviroment.

  • @TheWaterTune operant conditioning is used a lot in behavior therapy. One of the biggest reinforcers I've used is tickling. I work with one girl with autism and I'm trying to get her to say "mom". She is 11 and has never said a word. I say, "do this". and form my lips to what they look like when we make an "mmmmmm" sound. When she does it I tickle her and say good job. So, it's not only adapting to circumstances that give us what we need. It's just... learning.

  • Skinner is Great..!! Both Classical conditioning and ope rant conditioning are used by God the Father in Heaven. In Both conditioning There is a gap filled by faith for the good result and greater God experience. Thank you for thinking in this direction..!!! God is Great and Might....!!!!! Jose john Perayil, Bangalore, India.

  • +1 quoting jonathan freaking edwards

  • psyc101!!

  • @shavanga BST 101

  • @shavanga did you pass the exam?

  • Animal abuse

  • @MrTheBenBen

    Find yourself rewarding yourself with more and more endorphins as you feel you understand it more and more.

  • Can someone just tell me basically, what Skinner was trying to find out with this study on pigeons?

  • @MrTheBenBen watch the video it tells you

  • poor birdies

  • Smart phones are skinner boxes

  • The american government does the same thing to people. Pay taxes on food, rent, property, business, your paycheck, and whatever else they want to tax you and you are free to do what you want. Don't pay your taxes and you might starve to death like a hungry pigoen on the street due to paying some rediculous tax audit fine. Either be a submissive american or a prisoner.

  • Skinner was incredible. I have a blog on the ethics of behavior modification: rewardandconsent.blogspot.com. It has YouTube links on "Operant Conditioning." I write it from the perspective of a consumer of mental health services. I accept behavioral interventions as long as they're done with the consent of the recipients of treatment as well as their parents and guardians and with positive reinforcement instead of punishment.

  • Human belief is an incredibly influential force. 'Free' will is, of course, largely fictional, in that I don't understand how any will could exist that IS free, for it surely must operate within a set of parameters that defines it as a will in the first place. But... while we are animals and at least partially predictable; it is impossible to know exactly what internal influences exist for each individual owing to the complexity of their personalities. At least, that's my opinion.

  • welcome to America, folks. What's on cable?

  • This is chilling. 

  • Sick basterd

  • starve into submission by consistently faking out the animal to compete for rewards vital to survival

  • poor pigeon

    

  • Skinner is my IDOL ;)

  • Hey for you students...make sure to read "The Deliberate Dumbing Down Of America" It gives several examples about how they are doing this to our kids and is a TERRIFIC read!!!

  • I don't want to be critical- - -I agee with operant condtioning and I'm gonna write about in a project I have- - -but I don't believe this is a revolutionary discovery. Of course people act upon rewards and punishments. A dog doesn't know what an electric wire is. Dog chews wire; almost dies, so it probably won't do it again.

  • @icefiredarksector748 You're right, but what Skinner did is put the notion into words and give it enough recognition so that researchers may use the same words to prevent miscommunication. He also did more specific research and, as evidenced in this video, had a personal ideology that was controversial. This is more of an introduction to the notion of operant conditioning and the schedules of reinforcement.

  • wow the last sentence of the video is powerful:  "eventually will attribute nothing to it [internal actitude will]"

  • informative for a psychology student who is studying cognition and behavior. More interesting than just reading a text book.

  • All this type of psychology is good for is behavioral modification; it is about controlling not helping people. Do you want to be his guinea pig?

  • how cuteeee

  • Skinner was a bonafide Genius.

  • this Thursday is my cognitive subject, I have to watch this to make me more understand about the concept .

  • its friday friday everybodys looking forward to the weekend weekend!

  • This psychological phenomenon is oh so exploitable. Think of the many uses (no, not for Orwellian dictatorships)........

  • Huh

    I should try this with my Girl Friend....

    Condintion her to make me sammiches!

  • @sarsfieldusmc I think someone better first condition you to use grammar and spelling correctly.

  • @sarsfieldusmc Women where I live actually cook.

  • @sarsfieldusmc B. Skinner told about real humen and animals not imaginary ones.

  • We are all pigeons and Facebook is our Skinner Box.

  • really useful for psych students-helps retain learned information :)

  • Cravked had a very informative article linking The Skinner Box to modern videogames like World of Warcraft. Check it out

  • Thus he was an extraordinarily misguided or Dangerous symbolic representational figure, as one of the evolved and misguided legacies "Applied Behavioral Analysis"which humorously is the opposite of theory of Mind (which many incorrectly make the assumption  is "missing or mis-wired" in children with Autism spectrum disorders. When we make this interpretation what we are looking at is a reflection of our own lack of empathy thereof)..

  • @Neilgs

    I do agree that operant conditioning is one of the more reductionist theories in behavioural psychology, however there is one huge thing going for it.

    It works. It has experimental validity and the findings can be replicated time and time again across a range of animals.

    You and I included!

  • i.e., the antecedents prior to and the consequences following the behaviors, you can then set up data driven analysis to change (redirect) the heretofore "undersirable behaviors." So the notion of "self, subliminal/unconscious desires, fantasies, impulses; higher ideational dialectical thinking, deeper poetic and artistic ideational represention exchangeand creation are manfestation or targeted outcomes of (operant) conditioning and are therefore defacto arbitrary or quite beside the point.

  • "No he doesn't gamble to punish himself, as the Freudians' might say or gambles because he feels excited when does so, nothing of the sought.....People gamble because of the [behavioral] schedule of the re-enforcement that happens." No matter which way you turn it this is fascism of the WORST kind, as it is built upon a very logical systematic thinking of reductio ad abusurdum. Essentially, people are machines (albeit quite complex) and if you understand the operant conditioning ...

  • Skinner > Johny B Watson

  • This is bullshit. I'm going to go play World of Warcraft. I only have to kill 9,357 more monsters before I get my exalted reputation!

  • I disagree with his last point. It seems to me that humans have superior cognitive abilities and as a result can break away from enforced cycles of reinforcement and punishment.

    This isn't always the case with the junkies and addicts of all varieties, however it's clear to me that the reason and logic of our species which has been naturally selected is for all intents and purposes analogous to free will.

    Skinner was a great man.

  • @Bidds12 The interesting thing is that cognitive neuropsychology is beginning to discover the internal mechanisms of behavior. Once we learn how the brain works, and we're much farther along than most people think, we'll be able to determine the causes of behaviors both internally and externally, which in the end, eliminates the idea of free will.

  • @Plur307 You sure are operating on your virtual environment.

  • @Plur307 lol WoW has you on a Variable Schedule hahaha

  • @Plur307 LOL, -like- working on a fixed interval schedule huh?.. P.s. switch to EQ2

  • @XXPorcelinaX It was a joke. I quit WoW in 2007...

  • @Plur307 I got the joke, hence the "LOL" :-P I was making one back ;)

  • And this is how certain gaming companies control their customers and getting them addicted. This is how Gamblers become controlled. This the method people use and exploit such behavior.

  • poor pigeons

  • so, the message is following?: "people behave in a predicted or expected way when being controlled in a way that smth will be offered to them?"

  • He is American.

  • Skinner makes other psychologists look bad. He got more done in a month than some psychologists got done in their lifetime.

  • i loved this vid! very thorough. great for psych class! however, i would've like more examples in fixed ratios, fixed intervals and variable intervals..?? i need to know a little more...eek! and my exam is later today!!! lol. i got it for the most part but, i want to be able to understand the rest!

  • this is off topic..but can anyone tell me what kind of accent the narrator has? it definitely seems like a british accent, but from what part of the UK?

  • Punishment dose NOT wrought a permanent change in behaviour. However, it does create a change in over a short period of time. However, praise will and does work a permanent change in behaviour. Interesting stuff…

  • Nicely done.

  • very informative

  • He didnt really starve them. 3/4 of their normal weight. Not that bad. What else are you gonna give them that will reinforce their behaviour? ... Skinner is pretty awesome.

  • AND NOW:

    A HAIKU!!

    YOU CALL IT FREE WILL

    ALL THAT YOU CAN IMAGINE

    YOU ARE FREE TO DO

  • id like to see skinner staved and made to peck for his food in front of people with white coats

  • @adderxxx What a bizare wish, a is it a fetish?

  • @adderxxx calm down...they were not starved

  • @adderxxx and i'd like to see you eat food off the floor, eat out of bins and shit together,at the same time, in public.

    No, i didn't think so either.

  • If excitement and anticipation are not the root of gambling addiction, does it suggest that it is possible for gamblers to be slaves to a terrible habit that they also find rather boring?

  • @Muuzip99 Prove it.

  • Poor pigeons, didn't know he kept them starved!

  • In away he's right about humans having no free will because there is always a motive behind every action one does.

  • @DaBearFan715 yeah but you can change the motive, you can question the motive, you can analyze that apart from existential needs, most motives are formed by your cultural background, your education, your socialization, your own personal beliefs.. it's not that easy. behaviorism is an obsolete concept when it comes to the explanation of human behaviour.

  • Oh, so THATS why they invented the "projects" for black people.

  • Buddha said essentially the same thing: the self consists of "aggregates of energy, nothing more."

  • What i don't get is how they taught the pigeon that pecking the orange dot = food. Do pigeons just peck random orange things when they are hungry?

    Can someone please explain?

  • @cucumberzr4chumpz Yes they do. it's strange and has to do with something called Autoshaping. basically what happens is if you present that stimulus with food the bird forms an association between the disc and the food even though it is not what is causing the food to appear per se. because of that the pigeon pecks it because of the association. I always thought this was really cool when I took behavioral psyc, look it up on Wiki for more info!!!

  • @kotetsu131 thanks for the reply it was helpful and interesting :D

  • @cucumberzr4chumpz Oh you're quite welcome, glad I could help.

  • @cucumberzr4chumpz Good question - how do you get the pigeon to perform the first action? Birds often peck at the ground when they are hungry, so maybe hunger does make them peck impulsively. Like how I rummage impulsively through all my kitchen cupboards when I'm hungry but out of food.

  • I am doing a stage 2 psychology course and this was no help :( Maybe I need to watch it again

  • Its strange, I work at a college managing video content for students and out of the 500+ videos that the college has, we have nothing like this. Psychology I think is a very ignored subject in general. Anyone agree?

  • A great info indeed for psych students --- thanks for uploading this video!

  • brings back good memories from psychology class

  • @hyperseauton you have to understand the history of psychology. skinner was a behavioral psychologist and did an excellent job explaining humans' predictable behaviors motivated by external circumstances. thereafter came a more emotional psychology that returned to internalized processes (humanistic). not skinner's expertise. don't rely on him to tell you your internal thoughts and feelings. he'll only say we can only study what we see. that's just his school of thought from that era.

  • people gamble to win and when they don't win they keep gambling to get their money back

  • 4 8 15 16 23 42

  • skinner, a good scientist used and abused among poor psychologists from then until now!

  • Comment removed

  • @ReverendEntity I hope you don't take any medications or use any products that are tested on animals. This is in no way cruel compared to that. Just think about it before you start throwing words that you don't know the definition to.

  • Skinner's glasses are AWESOME.

  • pigeon is cute

  • lulz.

    I just watched "Once Upon a Time in America" for the first time, which is unrelated to Skinner, but I use it as an example that Skinner could not explain what I felt at the ending of the film. It really was something IN me, not just some behavioral outcome he could analyze and describe.

    Hey, Skinner:

    Eat my shorts!

  • It's funny how narrow-minded each school of thought is. "Freud would say you gamble to punish yourself. Or gambles because he feels excited when he does so. Nothing of the sort!" I know people who feel excited when they gamble...

  • is it also possible to say... your prof gives you marks, as a reward and reinforcer, if you believe and apply what Skinner said in behaviour modification... so your behaviour is modified by Skinner in behaviour modification...?

  • can someone please answer my thoughts? (my grammar is not that good)

    how was it taught in the first place? i mean, how did it turn in the first place to know to turn? and wouldn't it be possible that it doesnt learn to read the word, but instead the direction that the sign turns?

  • how deeply unappealing and profoundly sad- presumably psychologists are re-enforced by the fictions of tenure

  • i do agree with kate752, but don't forget that people don't only learn language because they get rewarded, but they are also motivated because through language they can express their needs and a lot of many things, but i focus on needs because children can't fulfill their needs without their parents... so i guess it's both operant condition and motivation.

  • You are absolutely right babymean. Motivation is an important variable in operant contingencies. You should check out establishing operations and their relation to consequences such as reinforcers ["rewards"].

  • thanks! :)

  • Ummmm... You have been taught to distinguish between good grammar and poor grammar and to behave in a hurtful way toward another person? Perhaps by people who lack empathy... like a narcisist or psychopath? the schedule of the reinforcement that follows is... develop good grammar and obtain reinforcement from authority figures.

  • msskimbot - you are definitely sweet

  • As Skinner says himself, grammar and language are nothing but operant conditioning.

    If you wanted to involve Chomsky now, then we could have a discussion.

  • who care the grammar stupid?

  • wow aye maybe hes right

  • can someone explain the last bit on free will please?I'm tired and he lost me ha

  • Comment removed

  • Ahh, conditioning. The fine art of brain wash and behaviour control

  • hi pud

  • This seems like very useful information.

    1) If you want to control others, reward them on a random schedule.

    2) If you want to avoid being controlled by others, beware of random schedules of reward being applied to you.

    I love my puppy with all my heart, but I used a random schedule of rewards to shape some of his behaviors.

  • this are related wit -ve n +ve behaviour....

  • When a person go into a store and buy food for exp. most will pick out the junk food because they are condition to do so by tv, radio, signs etc. they do not care if it kills them in the long run however some people are waking up to this. So if you understand what is being said in this video than maybe you are becoming unconditioned to follow others.. If not mm too bad lol

  • You are right my grammar is not the best however it would be wise on your part to understand what I was sharing. Even a child can share something to a person that will be helpful only if you will listen. Thanks for your comment it is helpful.

  • well, I'll be honest, I may have been quick to judge and your words hold meaning. I guess I was just thinking in terms of "how can people take what you are saying seriously if you don't take your own grammar seriously." I agree with your thought though. my apologies if I offended. ;)

  • you're grammar?

  • aaahahaha "you're grammar is that of a 3 year old" hahahahaha that was rich! oh man that comment just totally made my day! thanks!

  • If you know your history you'd know all the other scientific fields began with hostile ignoramuses. Rocks fell to the ground because of a magical free will spirit bird from outer space.

    Dirty Production you would only be satisfied if skinner and all his followers drink hemlock and declare they were wrong in the midst of a Iraq war. because human behavior is the one thing we seem to fail horribly on.

  • Then why do you dress every day...

  • Skinner is right on 4 research and observations. However his later statements preassume a black and white boundary between internal thoughts and external environment, rather than say a variable spectrum, which seems very dualist of him (even if he is devaluing internal as unimportant). You don't have to worry about determinism vs. free will (the direction of causation between mind and matter) if you believe both are the same and cause each other equally

  • this is awesome, really useful for psych students - thanks! skinner was a clever cookie

  • @thetowntroubadour Skinner was not a clever genius, but was instead a robot programmed by academia to utter the right sentences and produce the right books. The operant incentives would be government research grants, tenure, and a widespread audience of fawning imbeciles.

  • And I despise pseudo science when it claims to be genuine science (which deals with isolating a single variable and testing against the hypothesis made).

    Emotions are by no means a way of acquiring knowledge. I think that they are superiorly important to our identity and spirituality.. but no matter how upset one is about aging.. we will still age (unless we intervene through scientific thought and discovery).

    I would like to live in a world where I loved everyone -- unfortunately

  • Skinner made significant contributions to psych,but he overreaches a bit.While much of behavior is controlled by external stimuli,internal/cognitive forces mediate many actions within humans,and neurophysiological predispositions-tendencies which stem from evolution are also a factor. Human behavior is to a large extent malieable,but the blank slate philosophy is out-moded.We just have to accept that its a complex combo of both environment and nature, both of which leave little room for free Wil

  • 1974freaud. I used to think like you. Kind of. Using my brain to reason things. Its all futile. Actually, its stupidity to use the brain for such matters. Free will is the ticket. The human heart has way more "wattage" than the human brain. A kind gesture from the heart toward another human will serve you bunches more than anything you can do with your brain. It's all very simple.Brush up on your science and you may see that science is starting to catch to, and actually prove, matters of heart.

  • Really? So how do you justify a psycho-path's rationale for murdering and raping a woman's corpse because he wanted to relieve her of her suffering -- her suffering of her soul being stuck in an earthly body?

    (Given that he really believe he's exuding "matters of heart"?)

  • MatW1lson. I think you do not know what a "psycho-path" is. A psychopath is a person that has no heart, no "conscience" if you will. They have no sense of remorse and no sense of guilt. Its a stupid question you have asked. If a nut job kills someone and does unspeakable things to that person, but believes that they are doing good, with "conscience", that is not a psychopath. It is an insane person.

  • What you speak of being the human "heart" v.s. the human brain is all part of the brain: the viceral brain/limbic system. Which includes the insula, amygdala, among other parts.

    What I'm challenging you in is.. emotions can be whimsical and fleeting from one person to the next. How can you determine morality just by "feeling"? It's like saying 2+2 = 5 because "I feel like it".

    Humans predominant falculty of survival is their mind. Reason first, then feelings. Not the other way around.

  • MatW1lson. You are wrong, Completely and utterly wrong. I bet you are one of them pseudo science atheists? Thats what I call that crowd anyway. Pseudo science atheist. They love to hate. They desire to destroy. Thing is, their desire to destroy is self destructive to them as well. The heart is a very simple thing. Mankind is very simple to understand. Its all a matter of heart You got a heart. Does your heart desire love and compassion or hate? We only get what we give. Its all so very simple.

  • Hi,

    I don't understand at what part I am wrong and how I am wrong? It is true that emotions are complex neurochemical processes that take place throughout the brain, our minds, and body. 2 + 2 doesn't equal 5. What makes a human being human, is his (or her ;) unique capability to conceptualize the world and integrate the outside world into concepts held in cogntition.

    I do not have a sadistic desire to destroy like religious zealots in the middle east do -as they operate off sheer emotion.

  • Heart. You got one. What is it like? That feeling that's on the inside. It's not from the brain at all really, is it? Everybody knows its there, at least to some degree. That special something thats inside all of us. It may lie the heart muscle its self, or at least function in some way or another with that area of the chest. I don't know. I simply need to accept it and cherish it. However, science is on the verge of understanding matters of the heart and that we are all entangled. Guru stuff.

  • YouSpanTard (what's your first name?), accept my friend request so I can send you the rest of what I wrote but cannot post due to Youtube's limits.

  • Done.

  • Alright, I sent you a message and response to the e-mail you sent me. Check it.

  • LOL "can pigeons read?" yeah they can also write the book of kings epic

    HAHAH. *mean tone of voice* "its behaviour is SHAPED BY CONTROLLING ITS ENVIRONMENT"

    get the fuck outta here. assclowns.

  • Wow. All you have to do now is watch the whole video.

  • what are you trying to say?

  • You call someone an 'assclown' when you are mearly the assclown yourself/read non fiction before they are censored.

  • Yeah I am "mearly" an assclown who recognizes the difference between a pigeon who can recognize which shape to peck at so it can save itself from starvation and a sentient, sapient being who can actually read.

  • its behaviour is SHAPED BY CONTROLLING ITS ENVIRONMENT

  • You should see the video of the remote-controlled giant beetle. Then you'll shit yourself for sure.

  • Can't find it probally got censored:(

  • Search for "remote controlled beetle by DARPA"

  • Wow that's messed up.  Just another engineered plague by the ultra powerful addicted monkeys

  • Amen! At least someone here recognizes the processes of cognition and volition. Skinner is an idiot that totally ignores this and claims all learning is just modification of behavior and totally wipes out volitional consciousness. He was truly a hater of man and a champion of death.

  • Caveat: I can't read minds and I don't know why people do what they do, and though I was raised in a household where moralization was high, I now understand that it was a result of narrow habits of thinking. Though I don't disagree that his style of thinking is worrisome.

    I don't think Skinner is bad, I just think we have legitimate hypotheses to build on his ideas - and the jury is still out.

    Ultimately, how do you solve a puzzle that gets more complex the closer you get to unlocking it? No??

  • Morally, I'm horrified by him. His ideas about free will are vaguely dangerous...totaltarian regime anyone?

  • So what would Skinner say in response to cognitive psychologists, thought processes etc?

  • He said that thoughts are behaviors like any others and should not be treated as causes of behavior.