Boppies, Behaviorism, and BF Skinner

I recently read several excerpts regarding habit formation based on the behaviorist theories of JB Watson, BF Skinner, and their ilk. The essays and articles I read inspired possible uses for operant conditioning in my personal life, and also reinforced for me the value of some habits I’ve attempted to instill in my professional life.

I realized that I might be able to apply theories of operant conditioning to in my personal life to better develop my son’s acquisition of certain skills. I am the father of the MOST BRILLIANT two-year old that has ever lived (I’m not biased at all, it’s observable just like behaviorism). However, I will admit that his acquisition (or extinction) of certain behaviors are taking longer than I had hoped - Mr. Skinner’s theories provide some tactics for consideration.

One behavior my wife and I are currently addressing is my son’s preoccupation with his pacifier. We have mostly weaned use of his boppy – except for nighttime. Unfortunately, little Benjamin has been studying Skinner as well, and he’s been working to condition mommy and daddy to give him the pacifier every night; if we don’t display the desired behavior of providing him the pacifier, he negatively reinforces that behavior with positive punishment – uncontrollable crying. And also negative punishment – no sleep for mommy and daddy. If instead, we give little Ben his boppy, he positively reinforces that behavior with negative punishment, refraining from crying, and the reward of uninterrupted sleep.

However! I’m an adult! I’m in a Master’s course studying the psychology of learning, for goodness’ sake! I will outwit a two-year-old (even the MOST BRILLIANT in existence)! So let’s consider ways to turn the conditioning tables on little Ben.

We have already attempted a form of negative reinforcement by cutting the tip off his pacifier – this decreases the pleasure gained from the pacifier, but unfortunately, though he recognizes it is “broken,” it still provides him enough reward that he continues the behavior of pacifier-use. The next step we’re considering is to electrify the floor of his crib try using a non-toxic flavoring to give the pacifier a bitter taste. As described in one of the articles, Garcia and Koelling saw rapid extinction of undesired behaviors when paired with negative reinforcement related to nausea (Lin & Arthurs et al, 2014). Though in this case nausea is not intended, I would expect that the extinction of the undesired behavior (wanting his pacifier) might occur rapidly due to the close association with the unconditioned stimulus of disliking bitter flavors. And if he does NOT give up the pacifier after applying bitter flavor, perhaps we will see acquisition of the behavior of eating his vegetables.

Transitioning to the professional world, one new consideration I have regarding my profession is how people respond to technology and its incorporation into daily life. My role as an IT support technician is to assist users with technology, especially new technologies that might not be familiar to the user. However, I now see that there are potentially negative reinforcements causing issues with the user’s acquisition of behaviors related to new technologies unrelated to the technology itself. Though I have noted these potential anxieties as a barrier to learning, I now have a better framework for understanding how to reinforce positive behaviors related to technology.

I believe applications for use of technologies in classrooms can also be drawn from the the theories of Connectionism proposed by Thorndike. If, as Thorndike suggests, learning is a collection of bonds whose sum is the successful practice of a complicated task such as mathematics, then special consideration needs to be made to the technologies used in the teaching process (Thorndike, 1921). If technology becomes a barrier to acquisition of desired skills/behaviors, then the technology itself should either be removed, replaced, or reacquired. It is important to realize for both IT professionals and teachers alike that new technologies and softwares do not guarantee improved behavior/learning, and in fact can act as a barrier to acquisition.

In summary, the theory of Behaviorism and its precursors, classical conditioning and connectionism, deserve consideration in all aspects of life when dealing with learning, whether personal such as the extinguishing of bad habits, or in the professional/education realm related to the adoption of new technologies and education techniques.

Lin J.Y.., Arthurs J., Reilly S. (2014). Conditioned taste aversion, drugs of abuse and palatability. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2014;45:28-45. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2014.05.001

McLeod, S. A. (2007). Skinner - Operant Conditioning. Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html

Thorndike, E. L. (1921). The psychology of drill in arithmetic: The amount of practice. Journal of Educational Psychology, 12(4), 183-194. doi:http://dx.doi.org.proxy1.cl.msu.edu/10.1037/h0070097