Skinner (1938) rats showing operant conditioning

Question 1

what is the method of the experiment?

Answer 1

1. skinner created a skinner box in which he placed one rat at a time
2. each skinner box contained a variety of different stimuli - a speaker, lights, a floor which gave an electric shock and a food dispenser which released food when it was pressed
3. a hungry rat was placed in the skinner box
4. the time taken for rats to learn that pressing the lever released food was recorded

Question 2

what were the results?

Answer 2

initially the rat would run around the cage until it accidentally pressed the lever and was rewarded with food. the more the rat was put back in the box the quicker they got learning the lever was

Question 3

what is the conclusion?

Answer 3

rats can learn behaviour through operant conditioning. a behaviour such as pressing a lever can be positively reinforced by receiving food

Question 4

what is the evaluation of the study?

Answer 4

• skinners experiment has been hugely influential in promoting the idea of behavioural psychology
• he used animals therefore his results may not be able to be generalised to humans
• his sample size was small reducing the reliability of his results