Operant conditioning
By Shirmeen Ijaz
What is operant conditioning
• According to Feldman, operant
conditioning can be defined as:
• “learning in which a voluntary response is
strengthened or weekend, depending on
its positive and negative consequences.”
• It’s a method of learning through reward
and punishments for behavior.
• In it association is made between a
behavior and a consequence for that
behavior.
• History of operant conditioning begins with
the work of Thorndike on cats. On the
bases of his experiments he formulated
the law of effect, which states that the
responses that are satisfying are more
likely to be repeated and those that are not
satisfying are less likely to be repeated.
B.F.Skinner
• Thorndike established the basis for operant
conditioning, but the person generally thought
to be responsible for developing the concept
is B.F.Skinner.
• According to Skinner, behavior is a sandwitch
between an antecedents and consequences.
• Antecedent
Behavior
Consequences
Components of operant conditioning
Reinforcement
Positive
Negative
Punishment
Positive
Negative
Reinforcement
• Use of consequences to strengthen behavior.
• Behavior
Consequences
Reinforcer
Effect
strengthen
behavior
1) Positive reinforcement
• Reward is presented after the behavior.
• Example:
• Social reward (praise, recognition)
• Activity reward ( free time, free
reading)
• Exemption rewards (no homework, no
weekly tests)
2) Negative reinforcement
• It involves the removal of an unfavorable
events or outcomes after the display of a
behavior.
• Example:
1) Cleaning the house to get rid of mess.
2) Running from the building when the fire
alarm sounds.
Punishment
• An unpleasant or painful stimulus that is
added to the environment after a certain
behavior occurs, decreasing the likely hood
that the behavior will occur again.
• Example:
• fines, Extra work.
Consequences
Effect
• Behavior
punisher
weaken
behavior
1) Positive punishment
• Positive punishment occurs whenever a
behavior leads to an aversive outcome.
Example:
• If children misbehave, they are slap.
• If students cheat in an exam, they are
dismissed from the school.
2) Negative punishment
• Negative punishment occurs when a
behavior is followed by the removal of a
presumably positive reinforce.
Example:”
Not being allowed to go on the trip
Missing recess.
• Reinforcement always involves strengthen
behavior. Punishment on the other hand,
involves decreasing or suppressing
behavior.
Schedules of reinforcement
Two types of schedules
1. Continuous schedules
2. Partial schedules
1) Continuous schedules: when people are
learning a new behavior, they will learn it
faster if they are reinforced after every
appropriate response.
• 2) Partial schedules
• Presenting a reinforcement intermittently
rather than every time