Operant Conditioning Theory By B. F. Skinner

“Incentives are the cornerstone of modern life”(Levitt and Dubner 12). Levitt and Dubner once mentioned in their book “Freakonomics”. According to Oxford dictionary, incentives are something tends to incite to action or greater effort, as a reward offered for increased productivity (“incentives”). In business field, incentives are something given by bosses to encourage their employees to endeavour in bringing benefits to their business. For a simple example, the employee who hits the monthly or year sales target will get cash or prizes as incentives. Apparently, these incentives are something that motivates employees maintains their great performance and also to motivate other employee, whoever wants to get the incentives, work harder.

Operant conditioning is “learning resulting from the response an organism receives following a behavior” (Burger, 2014). An example that I see of this is when I see children throwing tantrums in a grocery store because they did not get what they wanted. The parents give the child what it wants, and the child is no longer throwing a tantrum. The example of the child is showing a negative reinforcement. The negative reinforcement is taking away something troublesome because of the behavior that is acceptable (Burger, 2014). Another example that I have witnessed beforehand was when a child misbehaves in class, the teacher gives the child a timeout. This type of punishment is positive. Positive punishment is used to decrease a behavior and is showing

Negative reinforcement is removing an unpleasant consequence when a behavior is exhibited in order to encourage said behavior. This was shown when

Positive reinforcers- Likely to repeat their behaviour when they get something they desire. He suggested this was the most effective way of encouraging new learning. Positive reinforcers for children include gaining adult attention, praise, stickers, sweets and treats.

There is also the argument between behaviourists to whether behaviour is learnt better through positive or negative reinforcement. Positive reinforcement is when someone does something correctly and we reward them with a sweet or chocolate. A strength of this is that the individual will repeat the action again, but a limitation is that the individual will expect the reward every time.

According to Kail and Cavanaugh the theory established by Skinner known as operant conditioning is a “learning paradigm in which the consequences of a behavior determine whether a behavior is repeated in the future” (p. 13). This theory to an extent, parallels the previous theory of operant conditioning but is also important in trying to understand why one makes the decisions they do as well as how often they partake in certain behaviors. Through his theory Skinner displayed that there are two types of consequences, reinforcement and punishment, in which one increases the chances of repeated behavior and the other vice versa. Reinforcement is the component that increases the likeliness of repeated behavior and includes two divisions, negative and positive. Negative reinforcement is that in which a person’s

2. Negative reinforcements – this also makes children repeat behaviour but in different ways e.g.: If a child does well in an exam therefore they don’t have to do their chores.

Good performance is rewarded through timely job promotions, special recognition and in some cases monetary rewards and incentives.

Operant conditioning is a theory that was pioneered by Skinner, and it is a theory that is based on the type of consequence that is given following a particular behaviour. Skinner divided the consequences of actions into three groups, positive rein forcers, negative reinforcers and punishers. Skinner looked at what would happen to behaviour if giving positive reinforcers at different intervals. Most professionals and practitioners will use this theory in one way or another such as giving rewards for good behaviour or sanctions for bad behaviour so the theory is well used in today’s frameworks and practices.

Reward power is often common in the workplace when employees are praised from meeting goals or deadlines, or just having doing something special for another coworker. Rewards can range from gift cards, commission, pay raises or even promotions depending on the case. Everyone likes being praised for their accomplishments, so this power is usually one of the common powers in large organizations with a large amount of employees. (Abudi, 2011)

A reward is a high extrinsic motivator. The reward can be monetary, gift certificate, day off with pay, a two hour lunch, or working for two hours on anything but work. All entice performance and competition in the workplace. A gold star, being the teacher’s helper for a day, no daily

Negative reinforcement is when an aversive stimulus is taken away in order to increase behavior. If the ranchers were already receiving annual

“A reward is something that is tangible or intangible. It is offered by organisations to employees for their potential or actual work potential. Rewards can be categorised into two broad categories; extrinsic and intrinsic. With the right mix of rewards, performance and motivation can be optimised. This holistic approach to reward management is called ‘Total Reward Management’.” (Nankervis, Baird, Coffey, & Shields, 2014, Page 428) The first element of the ‘Total Reward Management’ system is Extrinsic Rewards. “Extrinsic Rewards also encompass three sub-elements; Financial, Developmental, and Social Rewards.” (Nankervis, Baird, Coffey, & Shields, 2014, Page 429)

Operant conditioning is a behavior teaching technique where a person is exposed to a stimulus, followed by some type of response (Commons & Giri, 2016). The response is then met by some type of consequence, either reinforcement or punishment (Commons & Giri, 2016). Reinforcement is when the response of the person rewarded, increasing the chances that the behavior will occur again. While punishment is when the response of the person results in them being punished, decreasing the chances the behavior occurs again. Within the two types of operant conditioning, there are both positive and negative aspects of both. Positive reinforcement is rewarding a behavior by adding something to the environment, i.e. candy, hug, compliment, etc. Negative reinforcement is rewarding a behavior by taking something away like pain. Positive punishment is adding something to the environment to discourage a behavior like spanking or a fine and negative punishment is taking something away to get the same effect

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.