User:Buginajar/Operant conditioning chamber

Planned Changes for Draft 1

May add another picture of a physical operant chamber as existing photo is hard to understand (as well as the caption)History:

Original statement describing law of effect should instead read "In 1898, American psychologist, Edward Thorndike developed the 'law of effect', which formed the basis of operant conditioning." The reference for which can be used from the wiki page for the law of effect (Gray, Peter. Psychology, Worth, NY. 6th ed. pp 108–109).

Use McLeod (2018) reference to backup sentence on Thorndike's cat studies.

"About fifty years after Thorndike first described the principles of operant conditioning and the law of effect, B. F. Skinner expanded upon his work" unsure if this should be referenced, saying fifty years later seems like an inference done via personal calculation as Thorndike developed the law of effect in 1898 and Skinner completed his work in the 1930's. The sentence could possibly be reworded to instead say "B.F. Skinner's work expanded upon pre-existing work by Edward Thorndike." Where in the McLeod (2018) article could also be referenced.

Looking to add a few sentences on Skinner's contribution as most of the history section describes Thorndike and falls short on Skinner: Skinner's original design was used for studying and manipulating animals. While skinner's early designs were used to study rats, later work explored pigeon behaviour [reference both encyclopedia of psychology vol. 5 (animal experimentation) and article by Sakagami and Lattal, 2016 (studying pigeons)]. The operant conditioning chamber was designed to allow for specific hypothesis testing and behavioural observation. It differed from field research as animals could be closely monitored over a long period of time where stimuli could be easily introduced [reference Skinner box to the field, Nature article].

Purpose:

Reference sentence on the heat box chamber using Brembs (2003)

Perhaps a sentence or two could be incorporated: The operant conditioning chamber was developed to easily study and manipulate animal behaviour. The chambers were intended to be used on animals as a means of studying the animal as well as possibly producing insight into the human condition [reference the psychology of B F Skinner]

Structure:

Fairly well written

Could supply a reference for commonly used animals but unsure if such reference is needed.

Research Impact:Use article by Schlinger (2020) to backup child behaviour impact statement

Commercial Application:

Unable to find article supporting the claim that google, facebook and twitter are using operant conditioning other than the one listed. Seems less factual and more like its pushing an agenda. Perhaps leans too far into forcing an opinion. Article states that facebook and the like use operant conditioning in that the like button being triggered offers an incentive to do more to receive those likes. May be better to remove this example from this page.

Skinner Box:

Skinner was noted to have expressed his distaste of becoming an eponym. It is believed that Clark Hull and his Yale students coined the expression. Skinner stated he did not use the term himself, and went so far as to ask Howard Hunt to use "lever box" instead of "Skinner box" in a published document.

References to add: Will need formatting once inserted into article

O'Donohue, W. & Ferguson, K. (2001). The Psychology of B F Skinner. Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE Publications. ISBN 9780761917595.

McLeod, S. A. (2018, January 14). Edward Thorndike. Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/edward-thorndike.html

Sakagami, T. & Lattal, K. (2016). The Other Shoe: An Early Operant Conditioning Chamber for Pigeons. BEHAV ANALYST, 39(1),25–39. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40614-016-0055-8

Kazdin, A. E. (Ed.). (2000). Encyclopedia of psychology, Vol. 5. American Psychological Association

Gray, Peter. Psychology, Worth, NY. 6th ed. pp 108–109