operant conditioning

• ao1: paragraph 1

  operant conditioning is learning through three types of consequences positive reinforcement occurs when behaviour produces a reward eg) when the rat pressed the lever it was rewarded with a food pellet. negative reinforcers work because they remove something unpleasant like the skinner box removing the loud music each time the rat pressed the lever.
• paragraph 2

  Skinner also discovered that continuous reinforcement eg) reinforcing a rat each time it presses the lever makes the rat satiated and satisfied with food so the rat wont maintain that response but it is more effective in establishing a particular response . However a partial reinforcement eg)reinforcing the rat every third lever press is more effective in maintaining that response and avoiding extinction
• strength: let to successful therapies

  the principle of operant conditioning can be applied to the management of schizophrenia and has led to the development of an effective method called token economy

  k-this shows that operant conditioning has useful real world application
• another strength is that its more scientific

  Skinners experiment was measuring observable behaviours done in a highly controlled laboratory setting making it more objective and replicable

  k-this therefore gave psychology scientific credibility and status in the scientific community
• one limitation of oc is that research is underpinned on animals

  animals in research like the rats from skinners are then exposed to highly traumatic situations. As well as ethical issues associated to using animals in research stress may have influenced how they respond to experimental situations

  k-therefore the research has issues with validity and therefore scientific credibility
• another limitation of oc is that it is deterministic

  this approach sees all behaviour as determined by past experiences that have been conditioned. It ignores nay posibility that people have free will and may change

  k-this therefore is an incomplete explanation of human behaviour