Operant Conditioning By B.F.Skinner

Arooba Asmat DevSpeech-Language Pathologist

B.F. Skinner•Burrhus Frederic Skinner (1904-1990) is one of the most famous, influential, and controversial figures in contemporary American psychology.•Skinner made numerous contributions to the science of behavior. He strongly influenced the area of learning that he named operant conditioning. His Skinner box is now a standard apparatus for the experimental study of animal behavior. Much of his work involved the study of how reinforcement schedules influence learning and behavior. 

Skinner’s theory of Operant Conditioning

• Conditioning- behaviours are repeated if they are rewarded, and behaviours that are punished will be avoided

Skinner’s Rats• Skinner tested out the theory of operant

conditioning on rats• Rats were placed in metal cages with a

number of levers. At first the rats would nose around the cage and accidentally press the levers, an action that would cause food or water to drop into a dish. After repeating the action, the rats saw that they could receive food and water by pressing the lever. (Learned this behaviour)

• So, when the rats were rewarded they were conditioned to repeat this positive action to continue being rewarded

“Skinner Box”.

Operant Conditioning

• Operant conditioning is a type of learning where behavior is controlled by consequences.

Key Concepts • Key concepts in operant

conditioning are positive reinforcement negative reinforcement positive punishment negative punishment

Positive Reinforcement• Positive reinforcement is giving

something pleasant after a behavior. This increases the probability that the behavior will continue.

Examples of positive reinforcement

Having a job and going to work every day to receive a paycheck.

Receiving praise after a musical performance would increase the amount that you perform.

A teacher complimenting students when they answer correctly will increase that behavior.

In the Skinner Box experiment, a rat got food as a reward for acceptable behavior, such as pressing a lever.

Negative Reinforcement• Negative reinforcement is taking

away something unpleasant as a result of the behavior that is acceptable. This is also meant to increase the behavior.

Examples of Negative reinforcement

• It is very noisy outside so you turn on the television to mask the noise. Turning on the radio decreased the unpleasant noise.

• A teacher exempts student from the final test if they have perfect attendance. So, the teacher is taking away something unpleasant to increase behavior.

• At a store, a child throws a tantrum because he did not get a candy bar. Dad finally gets him one. He stopped the tantrum so he took away something unpleasant and Dad’s behavior of getting candy bars will increase.

• In the Skinner box experiment, a loud noise continuously sounded inside the cage until the rat did what Skinner wanted him to do. When he did, the noise stopped, so the unpleasant noise was taken away.

Positive Punishment • Positive punishment is used to

decrease a behavior and is presenting something unpleasant after the behavior.

Examples of Positive Punishment

• An employee exhibits bad behavior at work and the boss criticizes him. The behavior will decrease because of the boss’s criticism.

• When a student misbehaves in class, she receives a time out.

• A child gets a spanking when he puts his hand in the cookie jar.

Negative Punishment• Negative punishment is also used to

decrease a behavior and is removing something pleasant after the behavior.

Examples of Negative punishment

• A child doesn’t put his bike away so the parents lock it up for a certain time. The parents took away something pleasant to decrease behavior.

• Sana gets a Rs.500 fine and suspension of his driving license for driving under the influence. Money and his license were removed to decrease behavior.

• A family has a "swear jar." Every time someone swears, they have to put a dollar in the jar. This is taking away money, which is something pleasant, and decreases the behavior of swearing.

• Ahmad trashes his sister’s room and Mom told him he could not go camping with his friends. 

Behavior modification Operant Conditioning

• Behavior modification is the application of operant conditioning techniques to modify behavior.

• It is being used to help people with a wide variety of everyday behavior problems, including

o obesityo smoking o alcoholism o aggression

Classical Conditioning vs Operant Conditioning

• Acquisition• Extinction• Spontaneous

recovery• Stimulus

generalization• Association between

stimuli and responses• Based on involuntary

reflexive behavior

• Acquisition• Extinction• Spontaneous

recovery• Stimulus

generalization• Reinforcement• Based on voluntary

behavior

OPERANT CONDITIONING TECHNIQUES

• POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT = increasing a behavior by administering a reward

• NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT = increasing a behavior by removing an aversive stimulus when a behavior occurs

• PUNISHMENT = decreasing a behavior by removing a positive stimulus

• EXTINCTION = decreasing a behavior by not rewarding it

LIMITED EFFECTS OF PUNISHMENT

• Punishment does not teach appropriate behaviors

• Must be delivered immediately & consistently

• May result in negative side effects• Undesirable behaviors may be learned

through modeling (aggression)• May create negative emotions (anxiety &

fear)

Why is it important to the social sciences?

• The theory of operant-conditioning helps us to control the way humans learn behaviour and how society can be a great influence on behaviour.

• Helps us to understand how to improve behaviours (people with problem behaviours and criminal histories)