Operant Conditioning Flashcards
What is operant conditioning?
B.F. Skinner claimed that all behaviour is learnt as a result of consequences in our environment – operant conditioning. This involves learning through the consequences of behaviour responses.
What does positive reinforcement?
Anything which has the effect of increasing the likelihood of the behaviour being repeated by using consequences that are pleasant when they happen e.g. a dog getting a treat for sitting when commanded to do so
What is negative reinforcement?
Anything which has the effect of increasing the likelihood of the behaviour being repeated by removing unpleasant consequences e.g. student does homework to avoid punishment (detention)
What is punishment?
Anything which has the effect of decreasing the likelihood of the behaviour being repeated by using consequences that are unpleasant e.g. getting a detention for not doing homework so to avoid punishment do homework in future
What is skinners box
a hungry rat was placed in a Skinner box. The box contained a lever in the side and as the rat moved about the box it would accidentally knock the lever. Immediately it did so a food pellet would drop into a container next to the lever. The rats quickly learned to go straight to the lever after a few times of being put in the box.
Positives of OC
Is an effective way for both humans and animals to learn. For example, schools use operant conditioning to shape students behaviour through rewards and punishments
