Psychology Atlas

How The Mind Works
Theories and Concepts

Operant Conditioning

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Operant conditioning is a learning process in which voluntary behaviors are modified by association with the addition or removal of reward or aversive stimuli. Skinner, referred to as its father, built the framework on observable behavior and consequences, and invented the operant conditioning chamber (Skinner Box). Its roots trace to Thorndike's law of effect, systematically developed in Skinner's 1938 book The Behavior of Organisms.

Facts
Core Claim
Voluntary behaviors are strengthened or weakened by the reward or aversive stimuli that follow them, with rate of response as the key measure of behavior strength. 1
Origin Year
1938 1
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Associated With

The chamber is the instrument through which operant conditioning was demonstrated and studied.

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1. Wikipedia: Operant conditioning
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a learning process in which voluntary behaviors are modified by association with the addition (or removal) of reward or aversive stimuli
1. Wikipedia: Operant conditioning
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The Behavior of Organisms: An Experimental Analysis...initiated his lifelong study of operant conditioning
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