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 ClaimVoluntary 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 Nature or Nurture Emphasis FAQs
How does operant conditioning differ from classical conditioning?
Classical conditioning works on reflexes; operant conditioning works on voluntary action shaped by its consequences.
Classical conditioning works on reflexes, while operant conditioning works on voluntary action. In operant conditioning the learner acts on the environment, and the consequences decide what happens next: reinforcement strengthens a behavior and makes it more likely to recur, while punishment weakens it. Skinner saw the learner as far more active than Pavlov or Watson did.
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The chamber is the instrument through which operant conditioning was demonstrated and studied.
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Source OpenStax: Psychology 2e: 6.1 What Is Learning?
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Source Wikipedia: Operant conditioning
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Source Operant Conditioning (Wikipedia)Article textQuote, Article text
The techniques of ABA have been effectively applied to such things as early intensive behavioral interventions for autistic children, research on the principles influencing criminal behavior, HIV prevention, conservation of natural resources, education, gerontology, health and exercise, industrial safety, language acquisition, littering, medical procedures, parenting, psychotherapy, seatbelt use, severe mental disorders, sports, substance abuse, phobias, pediatric feeding disorders, and zoo management and care of animals.
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1. Wikipedia: Operant conditioning
Wikimedia Foundationintro paragraph
a learning process in which voluntary behaviors are modified by association with the addition (or removal) of reward or aversive stimuli
body text
The Behavior of Organisms: An Experimental Analysis...initiated his lifelong study of operant conditioning
2. OpenStax: Psychology 2e: 6.1 What Is Learning?
OpenStaxSection: Learning
In operant conditioning, organisms learn, again, to associate events-a behavior and its consequence (reinforcement or punishment).
Belongs To School: Behaviorism, Page text
All of the approaches covered in this chapter are part of a particular tradition in psychology, called behaviorism, which we discuss in the next section.
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