Operant Conditioning Flashcards
What is operant conditioning?
Learning through consequences (reinforcement or punishment)
Who developed operant conditioning?
Skinner (1948)
What happened in a Skinner box?
The box contained food pellets that could be released as reinforcers when the animal learned to do something (e.g. pressing a lever).
What is reinforcement?
Something that makes a behaviour more likely to be repeated.
What is positive reinforcement?
When something pleasant follows a behaviour (e.g. giving a merit in school for good work).
What is negative reinforcement?
Taking away something unpleasant to try to encourage a behaviour (e.g. your teachers/parents will stop nagging if you get good grades in an exam).
What is positive punishment?
Adding something unpleasant which in turn reduces a behaviour (e.g. giving someone a prison sentence for theft).
What is negative punishment?
Removing something pleasant in order to reduce a behaviour (e.g. your parents taking away your mobile phone as a punishment for bad behaviour).
What is a primary reinforcer?
Something that satisfies a biological need such as food, warmth or shelter.
What is a secondary reinforcer?
They have been associated with primary reinforcers (e.g. money: money buys food)
What is a strength of operant conditioning?
There is a lot of research support from humans and animal studies.
Skinner completed many animal studies to show operant conditioning.
Brain studies on humans revealed brain systems that relate to reinforcement.
