Theories Of Operant Conditioning

Burrhus Frederic Skinner was 18th century American psychologist and the founder of operant conditioning in learning. He believed that external force such as environment can affect an individual’s behavior. According to his theory, one must look at the reinforcement and the consequence in order to understand why organism’s behaved in certain ways. Skinner showed how rat can be used in operant conditioning in his laboratory.

B.F Skinner developed operant conditioning."The consequences of behavior determine the probability that the behavior will occur again" (Skinner). It's the theory that behavior is determined by the consequences following afterward, making it more or less likely that the behavior will occur again. For example a young boy hitting a younger sibling repeatedly without consequences , would cause the behavior to become a habit. If the boy faced consequences he would be less likely to repeat the

Behaviorism revolves around the measurable and observable characteristics of human behavior, and is based off of the principle that behavior is a result of stimulus-response associations. The purpose of this learning theory is using conditioning in order to acquire a desired behavior. Once understood, the use of behaviorism can be an effective tool in the classroom for educators to use.

Learning in its most basic form is our minds associating one thing with another. Digging deeper reveals that there are trends in how human beings and animals learn by association, usually this is done by a brain connecting one event to another. The two different ways a brain tends to learn is through either classical conditioning or operant conditioning. Classical conditioning is learning to associate one stimulus with another stimulus, and Operant Conditioning is learning by associating a response or behavior with a consequence. Knowing how people and animals learn is an important piece of knowledge if one is to help benefit the greater good.

There is a fixed-ratio, variable-ratio, fixed-interval, and variable-interval schedule. A fixed-ratio schedule reinforces a behavior after a certain number of responses are made. A variable-ratio is based off of how often the desired response is recorded. A variable-interval schedule is a behavior that is reinforced depending on how much time has passed since the last time the behavior was reinforced. A fixed-interval schedule is reinforced at the same time all the time if the desired response is observed. (Schacter, Gilbert, Wegner, Nock, n.d., pg. 285)

The fixed ratio schedule was the first one Skinner discovered: If the dog did the trick three times, say, he gets a goodie. Or five times. Or twenty times. Or “x” times. There is a fixed ratio between behaviors and reinforcers: 3 to 1, 5 to 1, 20 to 1, etc. This is a little like “piece rate” in the clothing manufacturing industry: You get paid so much for so many shirts.

B.F Skinner developed operant conditioning. It’s the theory that one’s behavior is influenced by the actions that follow afterward. If the actions that follow afterward are consequences, then the behavior according to the theory will fade away. If the actions afterward is a positive action like a reward the behavior will continue on.

He took an environmental approach to the study. His method was the use of the operant conditioning box also known as Skinner box helped understand different behaviors that occurred during different environments. He stimulated a system of rewards and punishments and reinforcements. When the pigeon or rat received a reward, the animal performed the behavior more often and when it received a punishment, it performed the behavior less. He first tested positive reinforcement which he made rats press a lever for food. It encouraged the rat to perform more of the behavior. He also used negative reinforcement which added an uncomfortable stimulus. He placed an electric current in the box. The rats learn to avoid it. They even learned to stop when he turned on the light indicating the circuit will soon turn on. This behavior was known as Avoidance or Escape Learning. Both positive and negative reinforcements encourage good behavior. He also used punishment. Unlike the reinforcements, punishments were used to discourage unwanted behaviors rather than promote good behavior. It was performed by adding an unfavorable stimuli or removing the rewarding stimuli. When the rat was punished, its unwanted behavior decreased. When Skinner, removed the punishment, the bad behavior returned. He placed a hungry rat. The rat would pull the lever for food, but no food would come out. The rat later stopped pulling it learning it had no purpose. He studied that the more the rat pulled the lever, the higher the probability that the rat will quit pulling it; he developed an equation known as response and extinction rate. Response rate, the domain, is that rate of how hard a person performed an action and extinction rate, the range, is the rate that the person performed the action less and less. As the response rate increase, so this extinction rate. He used a token economy, a type of positive reinforcement, which a person was given a “token” which can be

Primary reinforcement, secondary reinforcement, and generalized reinforcement are the main three types of reinforcement. Primary reinforcement is the basic needs of human such as water, oxygen, food, and shelter. This reinforcement is natural and biological instinct in which forces us to search for those needs. On the other hand, secondary reinforcement must be paired with primary reinforcement in order to occur. A secondary reinforce is created after operant discriminate stimuli. There are two types of reinforces involved in operant conditioning such as secondary reinforcement and generalized reinforcement

Behavioral psychology or behaviorism, is a school of thought that is based upon learning. Behaviorists theorize that all behaviors are learned by way of conditioning. Conditioning comes about through interface with the environment. Behaviorists believe that our individual reactions to various environmental stimuli form our behaviors. B. F. Skinner was one of the most prominent American psychologists. He was a behaviorist who developed the theory of operant conditioning. Operant conditioning is the idea that behavior is shaped largely by its consequences, in the form of punishment or reinforcement, which make less or more likely, respectively, that the behavior will occur again. Operant conditioning is a means of learning that takes place through

In the study of shaping behaviors, Skinner’s idea of operant conditioning makes incredible insights into explaining a wide variety of behavior. According to him surrounding environment where a person grows up influences to shape behaviors (McLeod, 2015, para. 4). It

The reinforcement and punishment will determine the maintenance of the behaviour whether will be continue in the future or need to be stopped. The operant conditioning involves the voluntary

Skinner explained that behaviour can be understood by analysing the effect of environment. Operant conditioning developed by Skinner is the term that he used to describe the effects of the consequences of a particular behaviour on the future occurrence of that behaviour. According to him voluntary behaviour is either weakened or strengthened by the immediate presence of punishment or reinforcement. Undesirable behaviour is minimised through negative reinforcement. (Meyer, 2008, pp. 263-264)

...e scientific study of behavior. One of Skinners greatest contributions was the development of operant conditioning. Operant conditioning is the learning process by which a particular action is followed by something desired or by something unwanted. There can be positive and negative reinforcements but not the way we normally associate positive reinforcement and punishment. Reinforcement is when a behavior is followed by something desired. Positive reinforcement can be giving a time out or negative reinforcement can be taking away desert. Positive and negative doesn’t mean good or bad it just means taking away or giving when looking at the reinforcement. Learning this way tends to happen after much repetition. Another reason behaviorists hesitate to use the term punishment and reward is because they know that one punishment can be like a reward to another child.

From the time humans are born, they begin the process of learning and trying to understand the world. Conditioning is one way of learning in which a response becomes more frequent as a result of reinforcement. We can also learn through associations and punishments. There are two types of conditioning that will be discussed within this paper, classical conditioning and operant conditioning. I will further discuss how both classical and operant conditioning are prevalent within my article claims and then explain why both conditioning methods are important in everyday life.