operant conditioning

• comparing classical and operant condition

  • both explain learning by associating a stimulus and a behaviour together
  • classical focuses on involuntary automatic behaviors
  • operant focuses on strengthening or weakening voluntary behaviors
• positive reinforcement

  using a pleasant stimulus to increase behaviour
• positive punishment

  using an unpleasant stimulus to decrease behaviour (e.g: shortening break times)
• negative reinforcement

  removing an unpleasant stimulus to increase behaviour (e.g: removing a child's chore for the week)
• negative punishment

  removing a pleasant stimulus to decrease behaviour (e.g: no break time)
• primary reinforcers

  occur naturally and do not need to be learned (e.g: things that satisfy basic survival needs: water, food, sleep)
• secondary reinforcers

  linked to primary reinforcers - they are rewarding because of the powerful link to primary reinforcers (e.g: money-linked to ability to buy food)
• strength of operant conditioning as an explanation for learning

  • supported by many studies
  • skinner (1948) box study where a rat learns to push certain levers in response to lights to earn a reward of food and avoid being electrocuted
  • therefore, there is evidence supporting the existence of operant conditioning (punishment and reinforcement) in animal learning
• counterpoint

  • skinners findings are not generalisable
  • skinners study focused on rats and pigeons as human physiology and behaviours are more complex as they are affected by complex reasoning and culture
  • therefore findings on learning of animal studies are not applicable to human behaviour
• weakness of operant conditioning

  • only explains how existing behaviours are strengthened or weakened but not where it originates from
  • does not account for the learning of new behaviours animals have never performed before
  • while operant conditioning can explain wider range of behaviour than CC, therefore shows that operant conditioning is still not a full explanation for behaviour
• strength of operant conditioning

  • highly practical learning theory
  • systems of reinforcements are used in schools and nurseries. For example, in primary school a child is given a sticker for their good work to reinforce desired behaviours and negative punishments when a child is fighting like a timeout during break to reduce negative behaviours
  • shows that operant conditioning is being applied in education so in the real world therefore its useful