A Skinner box, also known as an operant conditioning chamber, is a device used in behavioral science to study classical and operant conditioning in animals. It offers both unconditioned and conditioned stimuli, response levers or keys, and can be simple or complex. BF Skinner did not raise his daughter in a Skinner box.
A Skinner box is a device invented around 1930 by behavioral scientist BF Skinner of Harvard University. The Skinner box is used in a laboratory setting to study classical conditioning and operant conditioning in animals. Skinner and other behaviorists object to the term “Skinner box” and more often call the device an operant conditioning chamber.
Behaviorism is a branch of psychology that deals with learned behaviors. In classical conditioning, a conditioned stimulus is coupled with an unconditioned stimulus, resulting in a natural unconditioned response being coupled to the conditioned stimulus, thus becoming a conditioned response. In the famous example of Pavlov’s dog, the dog heard a bell ring before each meal and eventually salivated at the sound of a bell rather than at the appearance of the food.
In operant conditioning, the subject’s behaviors are reinforced by desirable outcomes, punished by undesirable outcomes, or extinguished by having no outcome. Reinforced behaviors will occur more frequently, while punished and extinguished behaviors will be performed less often. An example of operant conditioning is a mouse learning to navigate a maze more quickly and efficiently after a series of attempts.
A Skinner box, used to study these concepts, is a box that houses an animal and offers both unconditioned and conditioned stimuli – such as colored lights and food, respectively – and response levers or keys that serve to monitor the animal’s behavior. For example, a Skinner box can be used to test classical conditioning in a bird by associating a red light with each feeding, causing the bird to peck not only at the food, but also after seeing the red light. Skinner boxes can be quite simple, with a single lever or key, or they can be quite complex, with a variety of stimuli and ways to monitor responses. The Skinner box has received criticism for not capturing every nuance of the animal’s behavior; pushing the lever with your nose or paw registers the same response, for example, and light taps of the lever may not register.
BF Skinner has been accused of raising his daughter in a Skinner box, leading to her mental illness and suicide, but this is not true. Skinner designed a special air cradle intended to facilitate childcare, but he did not conduct psychological experiments on her daughter or abuse her. Deborah Skinner Buzan, Skinner’s daughter, is still alive and has refuted every point of these rumours.
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