Editing Radical behaviorism (section)

==Operant psychology==
{{main|Operant conditioning}}

Skinner believed that [[classical conditioning]] did not account for the behavior that many people are interested in, such as riding a bike or writing a book. His observations led him to propose a theory about how these and similar behaviors, called "operants", come about.

Roughly speaking, in [[operant conditioning]], an operant is actively emitted and produces changes in the world (i.e., produces consequences) that alter the likelihood that the behavior will occur again.

As represented in the table below, operant conditioning involves two basic actions (increasing or decreasing the probability that a specific behavior will occur in the future), which are accomplished by adding or removing stimuli.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/behsys/operant.html |title=An Introduction to Operant (Instrumental) Conditioning |author1=Huitt, W. |author2=Hummel, J. |name-list-style=amp |year=1997 |publisher=Valdosta State University |location=Valdosta, Georgia}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Stimulus
! Effect: increase behavior
! Effect: decrease behavior
|-
| Added
| Positive reinforcement
| Positive punishment
|-
| Removed
| Negative reinforcement
| Negative punishment
|}

In other words:
* If the probability of a behavior is increased as a consequence of the presentation of a stimulus, that stimulus is a [[positive reinforcer]].
* If the probability of a behavior is increased as a consequence of the withdrawal of a stimulus, that stimulus is a negative reinforcer.
* If the probability of a behavior is decreased as a consequence of the presentation of a stimulus, that stimulus is a positive punisher.
* If the probability of a behavior is decreased as a consequence of the withdrawal of a stimulus, that stimulus is a negative punisher.

Instrumental conditioning is another term for operant conditioning that is most closely associated with scientists who studied organisms running through a maze. Skinner pioneered the free operant technique, where organisms could respond at any time during a protracted experimental session. Thus Skinner's dependent variable was usually the frequency or rate of responding, not the errors that were made or the speed of traversal of a maze.

Operant conditioning affects the future of the organism, that is how the organism will respond after the actions summarized above occur.<ref>{{Citation |last=Ollendick |first=Thomas H. |title=Operant Conditioning Influences in Childhood Anxiety |date=January 2001 |work=The Developmental Psychopathology of Anxiety |pages=231–252 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/med:psych/9780195123630.003.0011 |access-date=2024-05-15 |publisher=Oxford University Press |last2=Vasey |first2=Michael W. |last3=King |first3=Neville J.}}</ref>