B. F. Skinner introduced operant conditioning, the process by which organisms learn to behave in certain ways by noticing the consequences of their behaviors. Skinner referred to behavior as operant because it operates on the environment to produce consequences. Conditioning is another word for a change in the likelihood of a behavior. So in operant conditioning, response becomes more or less likely to occur, depending on its consequence
Operant -------------consequence---------behavior modification
(behavior)…………….consequence----------conditioning (behavior more likely)
(Behavior less likely)
Skinner defined reinforcement as any stimulus that increases the likelihood of a prior response. Reinforcement can be either positive or negative, but both result in strengthen a prior response.
Operant------------reinforcement------------------------conditioning (behavior more likely)
In operant conditioning, punishment is any stimulus that decreases the likelihood of a prior response. There are two types of punishment positive and negative.
Operant------------punishment-----------------------conditioning (behavior less likely)
Don’t confuse negative reinforcement with punishment. Reinforcement always leads to an increase in behavior, and punishment always leads to a decrease in behavior.
Students often confuse the terms positive and negative. These terms have nothing to do with good or bad but with procedures giving or taking something away.
For example, if a passenger waiting for the train in a railway station puts a ten paisa coin (R) in the weighing machine (S) nothing happens (consequence). However, if he interest one rupee (R) in the machine (S) he gets the weight card (consequence).
Operant Conditioning has greater impact on learning as compared to Classical Conditioning.
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