Skinner box
The Skinner box, also known as an operant chamber, is a controlled experimental environment developed by psychologist B.F. Skinner to study behavior in animals, particularly rodents and pigeons. This apparatus is designed to minimize external distractions and includes features such as manipulanda (like levers or pecking keys), reward dispensers, and devices for presenting stimuli. The primary purpose of the Skinner box is to investigate how behaviors can be shaped and modified through reinforcement and punishment, providing insights into operant conditioning.
The Skinner box allows researchers to collect data efficiently, facilitating the study of larger groups of animals and enhancing the statistical reliability of behavioral observations. Skinner's work with this apparatus led to significant theoretical advancements, including the distinction between respondent and operant behaviors, as well as the development of techniques like shaping. The implications of Skinner's research extend into various fields beyond psychology, influencing areas such as behavioral economics and education. While the Skinner box has been subject to ethical scrutiny, it remains a foundational tool in behavioral research.
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Full Article
- DATE: 1930s forward
- TYPE OF PSYCHOLOGY: Learning; psychological methodologies
The Skinner box (or operant chamber) is an apparatus invented by the psychologist B. F. Skinner in the 1930s. It is used in the experimental analysis of animal behavior, particularly in studies of Pavlovian (classical) and instrumental (operant) conditioning.
Introduction
The modern Skinner box consists of a chamber housed in a sound- and light-attenuating shell and connected to a computer through an interface. This arrangement ensures a uniform, controlled environment that minimizes extraneous and distracting stimuli during an experiment. For rats and mice, the chamber is usually equipped with one or more manipulanda (for example, a lever to be pressed or a chain to be pulled). Responses are detected electronically (through closure of a microswitch) and recorded by computer software. The rodent chamber typically has a device that dispenses solid food (for example, 20- or 45-milligram pellets) or a liquid (for example, water or sugar solutions) into a magazine tray located near the manipulanda. Also, it is equipped with speakers (to present auditory stimuli) and lights. Presentations of these events are programmed using computer software. Operant chambers for rodents are manufactured with grid floors that can be set up for delivery of faradic stimulation (electric shock) for use in Pavlovian studies of fear conditioning and instrumental studies of punishment or escape and avoidance learning.
Skinner boxes are not solely for use in experiments with rats. Operant chambers for pigeons generally have either a projector to display visual stimuli on a response key pecked by the pigeon or an LCD panel for displaying computer-generated images and a hopper to present grain that can be accessed through an opening in the magazine tray. Head entries into the magazine tray to retrieve a reward can be detected automatically by interruption of a photobeam. Operant chambers may be modified for use with small primates.
The operant chamber is typically used to study changes in behavior due to its consequences.
History
The Skinner box was one of many inventions the radical behaviorist B. F. Skinner created. While a graduate student in psychology at Harvard, Skinner began experiments to understand the variability of behavior and to investigate the conditions that affected the strength of behavior. He constructed an experimental chamber with a feeding device that registered a rat’s contacts as it retrieved measured quantities of food. Later, Skinner equipped his box with a horizontal bar that, when pushed down by the rat, would cause a feeder to dispense a pellet into the magazine tray. In The Behavior of Organisms (1938), Skinner devotes three pages to discussing his use of the lever press response as an operant. The typical lever was a 1/8-inch brass rod, 6 centimeters (cm) long, mounted 8 to 10 cm above the floor and protruding 1 cm into the chamber. The rat had to exert about 10 grams of pressure to depress the lever and register a response on a cumulative recorder. Among the merits of the lever press response mentioned by Skinner were the ease and spontaneous frequency with which rats made the response. Another advantage he noted was that this operant required stimulus support and, therefore, could not occur without the actual lever.
Throughout the 1930s, Skinner used an operant chamber fitted with a lever for rats. Following his work on Project Pigeon in the early 1940s, Skinner constructed a modified operant chamber for pigeons and, in subsequent work, used pecking at a response key as the operant. The pigeon’s superior vision and longer life contributed to his decision to switch animals.
Impact on Research
The Skinner box provided researchers in the 1930s with a laboratory apparatus with several highly desirable advantages over mazes and runways. Data collection was substantially less labor- and time-intensive. Larger numbers of animals could be studied, which increased the power of statistical analysis and the likelihood of detecting lawful properties of behavior by averaging across individuals. The cumulative recorder, another of Skinner’s ingenious inventions, provided an immediate and continuous record of the rate of behavior (a measure of its strength) that could be mechanically averaged across subjects by the Summarizer, also developed by Skinner.
In addition to these practical benefits, the new apparatus had significant theoretical impacts. The most important distinction Skinner was prompted to make based on his studies with the operant chamber was between two kinds of responses: respondent (Pavlovian) and operant (instrumental). Whereas respondents were elicited by preceding stimuli, operants were controlled by their consequences (the reinforcement contingency).
Shaping by successive approximation was a technique developed by Skinner to train animals to perform complex actions. The operant chamber also allowed him to develop his theory of how schedules of reinforcement influenced behavior in lawful ways. It is no accident that slot machines use a variable ratio schedule of reinforcement.
Contemporary psychology reflects the impact of the modern operant chamber in many ways. Empirical challenges to classical temporal contiguity theory (for example, blocking and contingency) emerged from studies using changes in the rate of a free operant to assess learning. Postconditioning manipulations of a response-contingent outcome have illuminated the processes involved in instrumental learning. Behavior modification programs use the principles of operant conditioning.
The effects of Skinner’s work with the operant chamber have extended beyond psychology to behavioral economics, behavioral pharmacology, and personalized instruction. Contrary to urban legend, Skinner did not raise his daughter Deborah in an operant chamber. Still, he built the baby tender, designed to provide an infant with a safe and comfortable environment. Skinner’s Walden Two (1948) describes a fictional utopian community that raised its children using the principles of operant conditioning.
In the twenty-first century, Skinner boxes remained in use in various disciplines, including behavioral neuroscience, pharmacology, and developmental psychology. The principles of Skinner's work were also applied to Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapies. ABA was often employed for use in patients with autism spectrum disorder. Patients were not placed in a Skinner box, but the principles and techniques of Skinner's work involving reinforcement techniques were employed. However, ABA was controversial within this community. Skinner's work was also used in animal training. As technology advanced, so too did Skinner boxes. With the rise of video games and social media, much attention was paid to technology, human behavior, and the way in which the brain seeks out rewards. Finally, an issue that remained constant since the advent of the Skinner box was the ethical treatment of the animals used in experiments. In the more contemporary era, much-needed attention was focused on animal welfare regarding the use of Skinner boxes.
Bibliography
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Ferster, Charles B. "The Use of the Free Operant in the Analysis of Behavior." Psychological Bulletin, vol. 50, no. 4, 1953, pp. 263–74.
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Lattal, Kennon A. "JEAB at 50: Coevolution of Research and Technology." Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, vol. 89, no. 1, 2008, pp. 129–35.
Nickerson, Charlotte. "Skinner Box: What Is an Operant Conditioning Chamber?" Simply Psychology, 2 Feb. 2024, www.simplypsychology.org/what-is-a-skinner-box.html. Accessed 4 Oct. 2024.
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Rutherford, Alexandra. Beyond the Box: B. F. Skinner's Technology of Behavior from Laboratory to Life, 1950s–1970s. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 2009.
Schachter, Daniel L., Daniel T. Gilbert, and Daniel M. Wegner. "B. F. Skinner: The Role of Reinforcement and Punishment." Psychology. 3rd ed., New York: Worth, 2014. 278–80.
Somers, Steven. "Shaping Behavior in ABA: Unlocking Potential Through Gradual Progression." How to ABA, 10 Jan. 2024, howtoaba.com/shaping-behavior. Accessed 4 Oct. 2024.