Skinners Operant Conditioning Theory
B.F Skinner (1904-1990), an American psychologist who was the leading
exponent of the school of psychology know as behaviourism, maintained
the idea that learning is a result of any change in overt behaviour.
Changes in behaviour are determined by the way an individual responds
to events (stimuli) in the environment. Skinner described this
phenomenon as operant conditioning. Action on part of the learner is
called a response. When a desired stimulus-response pattern is
reinforced (rewarded), the individual is conditioned to respond in a
certain way, and learning takes place. Reinforcement is a vital
element in Skinner's Stimulus-Response Theory. A reinforcer is
anything that strengthens a desired response, such as verbal praise,
or a good grade. Skinner's theory also covers negative reinforcers,
and punishment that lead to the reduction of undesired responses.
Further, attention is given to schedules of reinforcement used to
establish and maintain behaviour. This topic will explore the
application of Operant Conditioning where learning is controlled
through reinforcement of certain stimulus and response patterns.
Learning through Operant Conditioning
To understand Operant Conditioning we must look at the laws that
control the relationship between two variables: independent variables
and dependent variables. When an experiment is conducted, the
independent variable(s) are manipulated by the experimenter, and
dependant variables are measured from the subjects. Skinners system
described the independent variables as the type of reinforcement, and
schedules of reinforcement, and the dependent va...
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...ses of the organisms to external
stimuli. Learning takes place as a result of the organism responding
on its environment. Skinner described this phenomenon as - operant
conditioning. Operant conditioning looks at the different affects
types of reinforcement (positive and negative), and schedules of
reinforcement (Ratio and Interval, Fixed, and Variable) have on an
individual or animals behaviour regarding acquisition, rate of
responding, and extinction rate. Events that increase the likelihood
of a response are termed reinforcers. Reinforcers can be either
positive, or negative, and can be highly effective for modifying
behaviour. The removal of an unpleasant stimulus, or presentation of
an unpleasant stimulus following behaviour involves punishment.
Punishment does not increase the probability of a response occurring.
If a behavior is desirable, consequences called reinforcers are used to encourage the behavior in the future, via the process of reinforcement. Reinforcement can be positive (presenting reinforcing stimulus) or negative (removing a negative stimulus). However, if a behavior is undesired, a negative consequence can be used to discourage the behavior, through the process of either positive or negative punishment. In positive punishment, a negative consequence is presented after the undesired behavior occurs. When negative punishment it used the idea is the same “to discourage future display of undesired behavior,” but instead of presenting a negative stimulus, a desired stimulus is removed following the behavior.
Castle closed the book deliberately and set it aside. He had purposefully waited half a decade to read Walden Two after its initial publication, because, years after parting from Frazier and his despotic utopia, he could not shake the perturbation the community inspired. But, eight years later, he had grown even more frustrated with himself at his apparent inability to look at the situation calmly. In a fit of willfulness, he had pulled the unopened volume from its top shelf, and now he was hoping that that had been a good idea. His daily temperament, to say the least, had suffered from his continual aggravation. Something had to be done about this.
Operant conditioning is changing behavior through the use of reinforcement after the desired action is given; a behavior that is rewarded positively is more likely to continue and a behavior that is rewarded negatively would likely stop occurring (Santrock,2014). In addition to reinforcement, Skinner also talks about punishment. Reinforcement increases the probability an action or behavior will be repeated, while punishment is intended to decrease a behavior (McLeod, 2015). When Laurie was younger, she thought she was being sent to school every day to socialize with her friends and that learning was a secondary, unintentional happenstance. In third grade, compared to the other students in her class, she was falling short in reading and math.
Both operant and respondent conditioning are methods both teach concepts, but are significantly different in their deliveries. A website called Tutor2U disclosed some of the differences, such as, respondent conditioning is involuntary and based on reflexes, whereas operant conditioning is voluntarily controlled and is followed by a change in behavior. Additionally, respondent action is usually followed by a stimulus. Likewise, an operant response or action comes before either a punishment or an incentive. Lastly, in respondent conditioning, the stimulus is either pleasant or unfavorable, whereas the operant rewards system leads to a perception of the stimulus as a punishment to be a recurrence or elimination (Similarities and Differences
Operant conditioning is a kind of conditioning, which examines how often a behavior will or occur depending on the effects of the behavior (King, 2016, pg. ). The words positive and negative are used to apply more significance to the words reinforcement or punishment. Positive is adding to the stimulus, while negative is removing from the stimulus (King, 2016). For instance, with positive reinforcement, there is the addition of a factor to increase the number of times that the behavior occurs (King, 2016). An example of positive reinforcement is when a child is given an allowance for completing their household chores. The positive reinforcement is the allowance which helps to increase the behavior of doing chores at home. In contrast with negative
Skinner argues that ‘learning is accelerated by reinforcement: a stimulus that increases the probability of a response’ called ‘operant conditioning’ and it is not reliant on what triggered the response but...
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.
What is Skinner’s Operant Conditioning? Skinner was the first to discuss operant conditioning. McLead (2007) explained that an operant condition means that using reinforcements given after a desired response could change behavior. There were three types of responses that can follow the behavior. Neutral operants, reinforces, and punishers were the three types of responses. According to McLead (2007), Skinner invented a box with levers and lights to test his theory. He placed a hungry rat inside where the rat learned to press the levels for different responses. One level would give it a piece of food and the rat would not receive food when the light was off. This box demonstrated the shaping of behaviors through operant conditioning.
Classical conditioning, operant conditioning are all in daily lives. It is just acknowledging it when it is used, and calling it what it is, which is difficult to determine. Classical conditioning is essential training someone to do a reaction to when you do your reaction first for instance training a dog to when a bell rings, the dog knows that food is coming therefore salivates. Operant conditioning in the example I’m using, is giving a reward for task that is done. Some personal examples of conditioning in my life are with my teacher. But mainly the conditioning that I do is with my dog. Conditioning is something that you surely do in your personal life even if you don’t acknowledge it.
In this experiment, I am planning to change my behavior of biting my nails. This is widely regarded as a bad habit, and I feel as though it would be quite simple to condition this rather unsanitary behavior out of my everyday actions. If the experiment goes as planned, I will no longer be biting my nails within the next seven days. If my assumptions are correct, then operant conditioning will be the most suitable form of conditioning for this experiment; this is my conviction because I feel as though this would involve mostly ¨voluntary¨ behaviors along with negative reinforcement.
Reinforcement is a motivation which depends upon a performance and increases the chance of a performance being frequent. Positive reinforcement can increase the chance of not only necessary behavior but also unwanted behavior. For example, if a student complaints in order to get attention and is successful in getting it, the attention helps as positive reinforcement which increases the possibility that the student will remain to complain. Positive reinforcement is one of the important ideas in behavior inquiry and it is something like rewards, or things usually work to get (Fahimafridi, 2016).
B. F. Skinner, the most well-known American Psychologist who was the top exponent of the school of psychology that was known as behaviorism, preserved the impression that learning is an end result of change in evident behavior. The changes in behavior are determined by the way individuals reply to stimuli (events) in the environment. B.F. Skinner defined this phenomenon as operant conditioning. Operant conditioning means changing of behavior by the use of reinforcement which is given after the desired response (McLeod, 2007). This
Learning is defined as a “process of change that occurs as a result of an individual’s experience” (Mazure, 2006). Researchers assume that the process of learning follows certain general principles, which were developed, into the general process learning theories. These include operant conditioning and classical conditioning which has been put forward by leading psychologists like Pavlov, B.F.Skinner and Thorndike. However, in learning, operant and classical conditoning are opposed by biological constraints that state that there are limitations to the theories. Some of these biological constraints on learning will be discussed below.
Classical conditioning and operant conditioning both played a key role in the history of the study of learning, but, as argued by B.F Skinner, there are key differences to be noted between the two (Gleitman, Gross, Reisberg, 2011).
In contrast to classical conditioning, operant conditioning, discovered by B.F Skinner, is a learning process that involves either an increase or decrease in some behavior as a result of consequences (Amabile, 1985). Operant conditioning attempts to elicit new behavior through use of reinforcers and punishments.