Operant conditioning

Operant conditioning is a method of learning that occurs through rewards and punishments for
behavior. Through operant conditioning, an individual makes an association between a particular
behavior and a consequence (Skinner, 1938). By the 1920s, John B. Watson had left academic
psychology, and other behaviorists were becoming influential, proposing new forms of learning
other than classical conditioning. Perhaps the most important of these was Burrhus Frederic
Skinner. Although, for obvious reasons, he is more commonly known as B.F. Skinner. Skinner's
views were slightly less extreme than those of Watson(1913). Skinner believed that we do have
such a thing as a mind, but that it is simply more productive to study observable behavior rather
than internal mental events. The work of Skinner was rooted in a view that classical conditioning
was far too simplistic to be a complete explanation of complex human behavior. He believed that
the best way to understand behavior is to look at the causes of an action and its consequences. He
called this approach operant conditioning.

BF Skinner: Operant Conditioning

Skinner is regarded as the father of Operant Conditioning, but his work was based
on Thorndike’s (1898) law of effect. According to this principle, behavior that is followed by
pleasant consequences is likely to be repeated, and behavior followed by unpleasant
consequences is less likely to be repeated. Skinner introduced a new term into the Law of Effect
- Reinforcement. Behavior which is reinforced tends to be repeated (i.e., strengthened); behavior
which is not reinforced tends to die out-or be extinguished (i.e., weakened). Skinner (1948)
studied operant conditioning by conducting experiments using animals which he placed in a
'Skinner Box' which was similar to Thorndike’s puzzle box. Skinner identified three types of
responses, or operant, that can follow behavior.

• Neutral operants: responses from the environment that neither increase nor decrease the
probability of a behavior being repeated.

• Reinforcers: Responses from the environment that increase the probability of a behavior being
repeated. Reinforcers can be either positive or negative.

• Punishers: Responses from the environment that decrease the likelihood of a behavior being
repeated. Punishment weakens behavior.
We can all think of examples of how our own behavior has been affected by reinforcers and
punishers. As a child you probably tried out a number of behaviors and learned from their
consequences. For example, if when you were younger you tried smoking at school, and the
chief consequence was that you got in with the crowd you always wanted to hang out with, you
would have been positively reinforced (i.e., rewarded) and would be likely to repeat the
behavior. If, however, the main consequence was that you were caught, caned, suspended from
school and your parents became involved you would most certainly have been punished, and you
would consequently be much less likely to smoke now.

Positive Reinforcement

Skinner showed how positive reinforcement worked by placing a hungry rat in his Skinner box.
The box contained a lever on the side, and as the rat moved about the box, it would accidentally
knock the lever. Immediately it did so a food pellet would drop into a container next to the lever.
The rats quickly learned to go straight to the lever after a few times of being put in the box. The
consequence of receiving food if they pressed the lever ensured that they would repeat the action
again and again. Positive reinforcement strengthens a behavior by providing a consequence an
individual finds rewarding. For example, if your teacher gives you £5 each time you complete
your homework (i.e., a reward) you will be more likely to repeat this behavior in the future, thus
strengthening the behavior of completing your homework.

Negative Reinforcement

The removal of an unpleasant reinforcer can also strengthen behavior. This is known as negative
reinforcement because it is the removal of an adverse stimulus which is ‘rewarding’ to the
animal or person. Negative reinforcement strengthens behavior because it stops or removes an
unpleasant experience.

For example, if you do not complete your homework, you give your teacher £5. You will
complete your homework to avoid paying £5, thus strengthening the behavior of completing your
homework. Skinner showed how negative reinforcement worked by placing a rat in his Skinner
box and then subjecting it to an unpleasant electric current which caused it some discomfort. As
the rat moved about the box it would accidentally knock the lever. Immediately it did so the
electric current would be switched off. The rats quickly learned to go straight to the lever after a
few times of being put in the box. The consequence of escaping the electric current ensured that
they would repeat the action again and again. In fact Skinner even taught the rats to avoid the
electric current by turning on a light just before the electric current came on. The rats soon
learned to press the lever when the light came on because they knew that this would stop the
electric current being switched on. These two learned responses are known as Escape
Learning and Avoidance Learning.

Punishment (weakens behavior)

Punishment is defined as the opposite of reinforcement since it is designed to weaken or

eliminate a response rather than increase it. It is an aversive event that decreases the behavior
that it follows. Like reinforcement, punishment can work either by directly applying an
unpleasant stimulus like a shock after a response or by removing a potentially rewarding
stimulus, for instance, deducting someone’s pocket money to punish undesirable behavior. Note:
It is not always easy to distinguish between punishment and negative reinforcement. There are
many problems with using punishment, such as:

 Punished behavior is not forgotten, it's suppressed - behavior returns when punishment is
no longer present.

 Causes increased aggression - shows that aggression is a way to cope with problems.

 Creates fear that can generalize to undesirable behaviors, e.g., fear of school.

 Does not necessarily guide toward desired behavior - reinforcement tells you what to do,
punishment only tells you what not to do.

Schedules of Reinforcement Imagine a rat in a “Skinner box.” In operant conditioning,

if no food pellet is delivered immediately after the lever is pressed then after several
attempts the rat stops pressing the lever (how long would someone continue to go to work
if their employer stopped paying them?). The behavior has been extinguished.
Behaviorists discovered that different patterns (or schedules) of reinforcement had
different effects on the speed of learning and extinction. Ferster and Skinner (1957)
devised different ways of delivering reinforcement and found that this had effects on

1. The Response Rate - The rate at which the rat pressed the lever (i.e., how hard the rat
worked).

2. The Extinction Rate - The rate at which lever pressing dies out (i.e., how soon the rat
gave up).