Enforcing A Positive Reinforcement Approach To Operant Conditioning

To show how positive reinforcement works, Skinner placed a hungry rat inside the box. The Skinner’s box had a lever on one side, and as the animal moved around, it would knock the lever accidentally. A food pellet dropped immediately in the container that was next to the lever. In a very short time, the rat learned to go directly to the lever each time it was put into the box (Litow & Pumroy, 1975). The result of receiving food after pressing the lever, strengthened the repetition of the action again and again ("Operant Conditioning | Introductory Psychology", 2017). The positive reinforcement strengthens a behavior given that the consequence is rewarding. For instance, every time a child completes an assignment on time, the parent gives a gift reward. There is a high possibility that the child will repeat the behavior afterwards therefore reinforcing the completion of assignments in time.

Operant conditioning has made a significant contribution into the development of psychology. However, as with most psychological theories, this theory it has its strengths and weaknesses. Nevertheless, operant conditioning, with both its positive and negative aspects, is very important in promoting learning of desirable behaviors or removal of undesirable

In 1938, B.F. Skinner published The Behaviour of Organisms, An experimental analysis. The publication documented Skinner’s findings in several experiments he conducted with the aim of explaining how organisms learn behaviours and how this knowledge could be used to teach them new ones. Skinner was a behaviourist and was therefore interested in overt behaviours that could be observed and recorded. In his publication, he defines behaviour as follows, “Behaviour is what an organism is doing or more accurately what it is observed by another organism to be doing.” (Skinner, 1938). While classical conditioning is passive, operant conditioning requires the learner to actively “operate” on their environment. Therefore, operant conditioning mainly relies on the learner making voluntary responses, for example, pushing the buttons on a TV remote to select a desired channel. In Skinner’s experiment, the learner was a white rat who was placed in a small chamber where there is only a lever and tray upon which food pellets were dispensed. The experiment required the rat to stand on its hind legs and press down on the lever with a force of at least 10g in order for a food pellet to be dispensed. Of course, the rat’s first few presses of the lever would be purely accidental, but gradually the rat learned that if he wanted a pellet, pressing down on the lever would cause one to fall into the feeding tray. Skinner experimented further, adjusting the lever so that the rat would have to apply

meal time. Operant conditioning is a spin on classical conditioning, whereas instead of trying to

According to McLeod (2015), operant conditioning is a process that attempts to modify behavior to the use of positive and negative reinforcement. Positive reinforcement is the behavior followed by rewarding consequences by adding a rewarding stimulus. Rewards take on many forms. One of the most ordinary rewards for animals is food. If an animal allow to get food successfully by a certain behaviors, the animal will repeat these behavior the next time when it is hungry. For example, positive reinforcement in training dolphins. Dolphins are train to showcase a performance to the tourist. They are taught to shake hand, jump, swim with the tourist and kiss the tourist who interact with them. During the training, dolphins are given a signal such as hand gestures or whistle before they started to do the moves. If they did a good job, they will received positive reinforcement by earning a reward such as foods.

Second, operant conditioning involves learning new desired behaviors by punishing yourself for doing what you deemed to be incorrect behavior. Thus, this conditioning method uses positive, negative reinforcements and negative and positive punishments to reach you desired goal (Dictionary, 2016).

Operant conditioning is the idea of behaviour influenced by rewards and consequences. This idea is founded by psychologist B.F. Skinner who based his idea off another psychologist, Edward Thorndike. There are a lot of things people do that are influenced by rewards by rewards and consequences. Almost everything we do on a daily basis is revolved around operant conditioning. For example, people go to work in order to have money to pay for a roof over their heads and have food to eat. Being able to eat and have a roof over someone’s head is both a reward and a consequence. It is a reward because if the person works, he will be rewarded with basic living needs. It is also a consequence because if the person does not work, he will not have money

Negative Reinforcement is one of the four learning quadrants of Operant Conditioning, as defined by B.F. Skinner. Negative means to remove. Reinforcements increase the likelihood of the dog repeating a specific behavior. The term Negative Reinforcement refers to removing something unwanted, in an attempt to increase the chances that the dog will repeat the desired behavior, and decreasing unwanted behaviors. Operant conditioning is a form of behavior modification that builds associations between behaviors and consequences. The dog is acting and reacting to stimuli and triggers within the environment.

In operant conditioning trainers will use reinforcement and punishment as outcomes to increase or decrease the likelihood of the behavior that led to it. An example of Skinner’s is when he put rats in “operant chambers” that contained a lever for the rat to manipulate. If they pressed the lever at the right time they would be rewarded with food, and if pressed at the wrong time they could be punished with electrocution. There are many behaviors a trainer could teach because there are many options for reinforcement and punishment, and they could be done in different time intervals (Schater, Gilbert, Wegner, 2011). There are also positive and negative reinforcements and punishments. A positive reinforcement would be adding something such as food and a negative reinforcement would be subtracting something such as using sunscreen so that you avoid getting sunburnt. A positive punishment would be adding something such as a shock and a negative punishment would be taking something away such as a toy from a child when in trouble. An example of operant conditioning in my life is when I was younger and would talk back to my mom. If she told me to do something and I talked back she would either spank me or put me in time out. Getting spanked would be an example of a positive

Many parents struggle with disciplining their children, the thought alone of teaching a child how to act or perform is an everyday struggle. Especially when it comes to dealing with behaviors. However, a physiologist B.f skinner came up operant conditioning, Operant Conditioning is when behavior is strengthened or weakened by positive or negative reinforcements. Parents must deal with their children behavior even it is bad or good. Operant conditioning can be used in daily life issues to resolve problems. An example of the negative reinforcement of Operant Air conditioning can be applied to everyday life as a parent would be when my daughter is hysterical every time she falls and rolls on the floor, she must get up and stand in a corner on

Since the beginning of time people have wanted to control others behaviors and this want is still prevalent in the world. One way people can achieve this is through operant conditioning. Experiments that worked with controlling behavior by awarding or removing a reinforcement or punishment were conducted over one hundred years ago (Chance 1999). Unlike some psychological theories that become irrelevant after further research, operant conditioning aspects are still used to influence behavior today. Operant conditioning is not only being used in experiments conducted by psychologists, but also by many businesses. E.L. Thorndyke’s and B.F. Skinner’s experiments shed light on operant conditioning and their research findings are still applicable.

Solomon et al. (2002) explain that operant conditioning occurs as the individual learns through external stimulus to perform behaviours that create positive feelings and avoid those which produce negative outcomes.

The textbook defines operant conditioning as ‘the process of modifying behavior through the use of positive or negative consequences following specific behaviors. It is based on the notion that

Operant conditioning is the reinforcement of a desired behaviour, learning can be achieved whereby a response will come to be controlled by association of a consequence. Operant conditioning is considered to be an extension of Edward Thorndike’s law of effect explained as a person changing their behaviour to replicate positive consequences and avoid negative consequences. B. F. Skinner, professor of Psychology at Harvard University, expanded on Thorndike’s theory (O'Donohue & Ferguson, 2001). This essay will analyse Skinner’s development of the theory of operant conditioning. Skinner’s theory and the studies he devised will be discussed and how they support operant conditioning.

Operant conditioning and classical conditioning are two completely different forms of learning. Classical conditioning, discovered by Ivan Pavlov, is associated with learning through the process in which one reacts to a neutral stimulus. This process involves matching a neutral stimulus to a stimulus (UCS) that produces an unconditioned response (UCR), or a reflex, for a long period of time. Over time, the UCS would be removed and the person being manipulated would start reacting to the previously neutral stimulus, thus becoming a conditioned, or learned, stimulus (CS) that elicits a conditioned response (CR). Operant conditioning, on the other hand, is a form of learning where one’s behavior is manipulated by the outcome. The consequences would take a toll on one’s behavior and would either increase-- through reinforcement--or decrease-- by punishment-- the likelihood of the behavior happening again. Both reinforcement and punishment are split into two types: positive and negative. Positive reinforcement and positive punishment involves controlling one’s behavior, whatever the case may be, by presenting a certain stimulus. Negative reinforcement and negative punishment eradicate a stimulus to increase or decrease behavior. The differences seen between operant conditioning and classical conditioning are apparent. In classical conditioning, the