OPERANT

CONDITIONING
Operant conditioning is a method of learning that
What is Operant Conditioning?
occurs through rewards and punishments for behavior.
Through operant conditioning, an association is made
between a behavior and a consequence for that
behavior.

Skinner used the term “operant” to refer to any active

behavior that operates upon the environment to
generate consequences.
 Operant conditioning was coined by behaviorist
Burrhus Frederic Skinner, who believed that an
organism, while going about it’s everyday activities, is in
the process of “operating” on the environment. In the
course of its activities, the organism encounters a special
stimulus, or simply a reinforcement. This special stimulus
has the effect of increasing the behavior occurring just
before the reinforcement.
The Skinner’s Box
 Components of Operant Conditioning

• Reinforcement
a kind of stimulus that aims to increase the strength in behavior due
to its consequence.

• Punishment
any event that causes a decrease in the behavior.
TYPES OF REINFORCEMENT
• Positive Reinforcement
are favorable events that are presented after the behavior.
(Reward Learning)

• Negative Reinforcement
a response or behavior is strengthened by stopping,
removing or avoiding a negative outcome or aversive stimulus.
(Escape-avoidance Learning)
 Types of Positive Reinforcers
•Natural Reinforcers
Are those that occurs directly as a result of
behavior.

•Token Reinforcers
are points or tokens that are awarded for
performing certain actions.
• Social Reinforcers
involve expressing approval of a behavior, such as a
teacher, parent or employer saying or writing “good job” or
“excellent work”

• Tangible Reinforcers
involve the presentation of an actual, physical reward
such as candy, treats, toys and other desired objects.
 Types of reinforcement schedules
•Continuous reinforcement
the desired behavior is reinforce every single
time it occurs.

•Partial reinforcement
the response is reinforced only part of the time.
•Fixed-ratio
response is reinforced only after a specified
number of responses.

•Variable ratio
• response is reinforced after an unpredictable
number of responses.
•Fixed-interval
response is rewarded after a specified amount of
time .

•Variable interval
• response is rewarded after an unpredictable
amount of time has passed.
 Punishment
Punishment is a kind of stimulus that
aims to decrease the strength in
behavior due to its consequence.
 Kinds of Punishment
• Positive punishment
involves presenting an unfavorable outcome or event
following an undesirable behavior. (punishment by application)

• Negative punishment
it involves taking something good or desirable away to reduce
the occurrence of particular behavior. (punishment by removal)