ROSELYN P GABON

MAED-SOCSTUD

Operant Conditioning: Effective on Learning Process?

Operant conditioning, also known as instrumental conditioning, is a method of

learning normally attributed to B.F. Skinner, where the consequences of a response
determine the probability of it being repeated. Through operant conditioning behavior
which is reinforced (rewarded) will likely be repeated, and behavior which is punished
will occur less frequently. (Staddon, 2003)

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. Until then, Skinner was regarded as the father of
Operant Conditioning, but his work was based on Thorndike’s (1) 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. (Lattal, 1998)
 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). (Hergenhahn, 2005) He
studied operant conditioning by conducting experiments using animals which he placed
in a 'Skinner Box' which was similar to Thorndike’s puzzle box. A Skinner box, also
known as an operant conditioning chamber, is a device used to objectively record an
animal's behavior in a compressed time frame. An animal can be rewarded or punished
for engaging in certain behaviors, such as lever pressing (for rats) or key pecking (for
pigeons).
Skinner identified three types of responses, or operant, that can follow behavior:
Positive Reinforcement, Negative Reinforcement and Punishment. 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. Positive reinforcement is a term described by B. F. Skinner in his theory
of operant conditioning. In positive reinforcement, a response or behavior is
strengthened by rewards, leading to the repetition of desired behavior. The reward is a
reinforcing stimulus..
To be precise, Positive Reinforcement strengthens a behavior by providing a
consequence an individual finds rewarding. For example, if your teacher gives you extra
points each time you accomplish you task (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, on the other hand, is the termination of an
unpleasant state following a response. 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, your
teacher will give you lesser points from a certain activity. You will complete your
homework to avoid getting lesser score, thus strengthening the behavior of completing
your homework. 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. Although, it is to be noted that it is not always
easy to distinguish between punishment and negative reinforcement.

In his operant conditioning experiments, Skinner often used an approach called

shaping. Instead of rewarding only the target behavior, in shaping, we reward
successive approximations of a target behavior. Why is shaping needed? Remember
that in order for reinforcement to work, the organism must first display the behavior.
Shaping is needed because it is extremely unlikely that an organism will display
anything but the simplest of behaviors spontaneously. In shaping, behaviors are broken
down into many small, achievable steps.

Discipline is important for a child's success and development - most teaching

staff would vouch for that. It's easy to think that discipline is always a form of
punishment, but in truth, this doesn't have to be the case. Operant conditioning
encourages positive reinforcement, which can be applied in the classroom environment
to get the good behavior you want - and need - from your pupils. Skinner's theory of
operant conditioning uses both positive and negative reinforcements to encourage good
and wanted behavior whilst deterring bad and unwanted behavior. Psychologists have
observed that we every action has a consequence, and if this is good, the person is
more likely to do it again in the future. However, if the consequence isn't so great, it is
likely the individual will avoid doing it in a similar situation next time round. It is through
this process that we develop our behaviors and begin to understand what is appropriate
and useful, and what isn't. Used in a variety of situations, operant conditioning has been
found to be particularly effective in the classroom environment. One of the main ways of
reinforcing a behavior is through praise, as the following example illustrates.

Parents and teachers often use behavior modification to change a child’s

behavior. Behavior modification uses the principles of operant conditioning to
accomplish behavior change so that undesirable behaviors are switched for more
socially acceptable ones. When a child is ready to learn, being able to do so is
reinforcing. This also suggests that motivation is an important aspect of learning) and
should be given more consideration that is currently the case in most school settings.
Learning that is based on students’ intrinsic desire to learn and find out about
themselves and the world in which they live is more apt to create powerful learning
experiences. What are your students curious about? What do they want to learn? What
concerns do they have in their lives? What would they like to be able to do? How would
they like to learn? Why not ask them? This could be the start of some real learning. This
does not mean; however, that you need to abandon your curriculum or ignore the
content standards that have been assigned to you (usually in the form of top-down
mandates). This instead is an invitation to adopt and adapt the curriculum to meet the
needs and interests of your students. This, by the way is what makes teaching exciting
and interesting and keeps so many excellent teachers coming back every year.
Teaching is a creative, intellectual endeavor when the teacher is allowed to make
choices in regards to what and how to teach. However, simply opening the teachers’
manual and replicating what it tells you is extremely boring and not nearly as effective.
Lattal, K. (1998). A century of effect: Legacies of E. L. Thorndike’s animal intelligence
monograph. Journal Of The Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 70, 325–336.

Hergenhahn, B. R., & Olson, M. H. (2005). An introduction to theories of learning (7th

ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.

Staddon, J. E., & Cerutti, D. T. (2003). Operant conditioning. Annual review of

psychology, 54, 115–144. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.54.101601.145124