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Operant conditioning, in his opinion, better described human behavior as it examined causes and effects of intentional behavior. To implement his empirical approach, Skinner invented the operant conditioning chamber , or " Skinner Box ", in which subjects such as pigeons and rats were isolated and could be exposed to carefully controlled stimuli.
In operant conditioning, the subject displays a behaviour in response to an original situation. A consequence is applied, which may be the presence of a stimulus (positive) or the absence of one (negative). If the consequence is desirable, the behaviour is reinforced. If the consequence is undesirable, the behaviour is punished.
Central to operant conditioning is the use of a Three-Term Contingency (Discriminative Stimulus, Response, Reinforcing Stimulus) to describe functional relationships in the control of behavior. Discriminative stimulus (S D) is a cue or stimulus context that sets the occasion for a response. For example, food on a plate sets the occasion for eating.
To study operant conditioning, he invented the operant conditioning chamber (aka the Skinner box), [8] and to measure rate he invented the cumulative recorder. Using these tools, he and Charles Ferster produced Skinner's most influential experimental work, outlined in their 1957 book Schedules of Reinforcement .
The three-term contingency (also known as the ABC contingency) is a psychological model describing operant conditioning in three terms consisting of a behavior, its consequence, and the environmental context, as applied in contingency management. The three-term contingency was first defined by B. F. Skinner in the early 1950s. [1]
Operant conditioning, sometimes referred to as Skinnerian conditioning, is the process of strengthening a behavior by reinforcing it or weakening it by punishing it. [41] By continually strengthening and reinforcing a behavior, or weakening and punishing a behavior, an association as well as a consequence develops.
Behavior modification was a treatment approach that used respondent and operant conditioning to change behavior. Based on methodological behaviorism, [1] overt behavior was modified with (antecedent) stimulus control and consequences, including positive and negative reinforcement contingencies to increase desirable behavior, as well as positive and negative punishment, and extinction to reduce ...
Staats sees the piece of food to have two functions: one function is that of eliciting an emotional response, the other function is that of strengthening the motor behavior the precedes the presenting of food. So classical conditioning and operant conditioning are very much related. Positive emotion stimuli will serve as positive reinforcers.