Operant Conditioning: The Law Of Process

Operant conditioning is a process by which the subject learns due to the consequences of their actions, whether those consequences are negative or positive. The subject displays a specific type of behaviour and the reaction shown towards that behaviour, determines if they are likely to continue to display this type of behaviour, which would happen if positive reinforcement is shown, or if they are unlikely to repeat this type of behaviour, if punishment occurs. Specific tasks can also be encouraged or taught this way through the process of shaping, allowing the subject to learn tasks much more quickly and easily. This type of result was first revealed by Edward L. Thorndike (1898) when he proposed the law of effect. Studies on this topic were

A stimulus is presented to, or removed from, the subject to either reinforce or punish the behaviour. This could be after a certain number of responses by the subject, after a certain length of time of the subject responding or it could vary between responses or length of time. If the behavioural response by the subject is desired then then the subject will be rewarded or praised, which is positive reinforcement. The subject could also have a threat removed to encourage their behaviour. This is negative reinforcement. On the contrary if the behavioural response is not desired then the subject will be punished, which could be an electric shock applied to the subject or something similar. This is known as positive punishment. Another way to reduce the likelihood of an unwanted behavioural response reoccurring is by removing a reward from the subject, which is negative

This is when the subject is encouraged when performing tasks that become increasingly similar to the task they are required to carry out. An example of an experiment that would provide evidence on this subject is explained by Jack Michael (1963), where a rat is trained to climb on top of an upside down can and drop a marble into a hole cut in the top of the can through the process of shaping. The process is split down into two sections; the first is training the rat to pick up and drop the marble and the second is training the rat to climb on top of the can. The rat would first of all be placed in a chamber with several marbles and would be rewarded when it showed signs of picking up and then dropping the marble. This would eventually lead to the rat learning to straight away pick up the marble and then drop it a little while later. After this the rat would be placed in the same chamber but this time with only the tin can and no marbles. A similar process would occur in that when the rat showed signs of climbing on top of the can it would be rewarded until it eventually learned to climb on the can. The two components of the task would then be combined and the rat would be placed in a chamber with both the marbles and the tin can. It would then learn to combine the tasks it had previously learned by being rewarded as it showed signs of taking the