B.F. Skinner (1904-1990) further developed the theory of behaviorism by introducing the idea of operant conditioning. While studying rat behavior at Harvard, he noticed that the rats were affected not by what came before their behavior, as was true of most classical conditioning, but by what came after. He concluded that spontaneous behaviors are controlled by the environment's response to them.
Operant conditioning: the process that happens when the response that follows a behavior causes that behavior to happen more
Reinforcement: a response to a behavior that causes that behavior to happen more
Negative reinforcement: a response that makes a behavior more likely to happen again because it removes an unpleasant stimulus
Reinforcement of a behavior cannot occur if that behavior does not occur. Skinner developed the idea that behavior could slowly be "shaped" through reinforcement of behaviors that progressively get more and more like the behaviors desired. Skinner found that some ways of giving reinforcement are more effective in controlling behavior than others.
Schedules of reinforcement: schedules (ratio or interval) on which reinforcement can be delivered based on a fixed or variable number of responses or fixed variable lengths of time
Punishment: administering a negative consequence or taking away a positive reinforcement to reduce the likelihood of an undesirable behavior occurring
Skinner believed that punishment is not as reliably effective as an alternative which he called extinction.
Extinction: in operant conditioning the process by which a behavior stops when it receives no response from the environment
Operant conditioning: the process that happens when the response that follows a behavior causes that behavior to happen more
Reinforcement: a response to a behavior that causes that behavior to happen more
Negative reinforcement: a response that makes a behavior more likely to happen again because it removes an unpleasant stimulus
Reinforcement of a behavior cannot occur if that behavior does not occur. Skinner developed the idea that behavior could slowly be "shaped" through reinforcement of behaviors that progressively get more and more like the behaviors desired. Skinner found that some ways of giving reinforcement are more effective in controlling behavior than others.
Schedules of reinforcement: schedules (ratio or interval) on which reinforcement can be delivered based on a fixed or variable number of responses or fixed variable lengths of time
Punishment: administering a negative consequence or taking away a positive reinforcement to reduce the likelihood of an undesirable behavior occurring
Skinner believed that punishment is not as reliably effective as an alternative which he called extinction.
Extinction: in operant conditioning the process by which a behavior stops when it receives no response from the environment