Operant conditioning, sometimes referred to as instrumental conditioning. A method of learning that employs rewards and punishments for behavior. Through operant conditioning, an association is made between a behavior and a consequence (whether negative or positive) for that behavior. Operant conditioning relies on a fairly Operant Conditioning . By Joseph Swope . This lesson falls under the Learning and under the sub domain of Operant Conditioning. Due to the length of each iteration of the classroom demonstrations, this lesson will take two days. Mastery Objective(s): Students will be able to describe, in a BCR(brief constructed response) the importance of Operant behavior is behavior "controlled" by its consequences. In practice, operant conditioning is the study of reversible behavior maintained by reinforcement schedules. We review empirical studies and theoretical approaches to two large classes of operant behavior: interval timing and choice. Operant conditioning however involves an organism that must first act upon (or operate on) the environment in some way. As the organism acts, those acts (or behaviors) that are followed by pleasurable outcomes (mouse pellets, praise, or money) are reinforced and tend to be repeated. Operant Conditioning deals with operants - intentional actions that have an effect on the surrounding environment. Skinner set out to identify the processes which made certain operant behaviours more or less likely to occur. Skinner's theory of operant conditioning was based on the work of Thorndike (1905). For example, if your cat likes fatty things like oil, and you happen to enjoy eating popcorn, then you can condition your cat to jump onto a counter near the sink where you place a dirty measuring cup. Step 1: Pour oil and kernels from a measuring cup into a pot. Step 2: Allow the cat to lick the measuring cup. It is important to realise that some terminology in operant conditioning is used in a way that is different from everyday use. 1. Positivemeans a stimulus is delivered following a response 2. Negativemeans a stimulus is withdrawn following a response Page3of9 3. Reinforcementis a consequence that causes a behavior to occur with greater frequency. An operant conditioning schedule describes the stimuli in which a reinforcing event is delivered following and contingent upon the occurrence of the recorded response (Ferster and Skinner, 1957). Operant & Classical Conditioning 1. Classical conditioning forms associations between stimuli (CS and US). Operant conditioning, on the other hand, forms an association between behaviors (responses) and the resulting events (consequences). 5 Response-Consequence Learning Learning to associate a response with a consequence. 6 Operant Conditioning: Strategies for changing behavior Pg. 2 A2. Prompting Prompts are events t hat help initiate a response Allow response to occur and be reinforced Examples: a.aPhysical guidance a.bInstruction a.cPointing a.dPlanned visual cues a.e Modeling Serve as an SD for reinforcement available through response—may become aversive if 2. OPERANT CONDITIONING • A theory pioneered by B. F Skinner • Did research with rats, put the animal in the box, record behavior, retrieve the animal after the trial. 3. OPERANT CONDITIONING • Deals with how voluntary (emitted) responses change over time as a function of their consequences. • An association is made between behavior and Answer: Operant Conditioning - Fastening the seatbelt i