Editing Behaviorism (section)

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

[[Operant conditioning]] was developed by [[B.F. Skinner]] in 1938 and is form of learning in which the frequency of a behavior is controlled by consequences to change behavior.<ref name="Murphy 165–194">{{Citation |last1=Murphy |first1=Eric S. |title=Basic Principles of Operant Conditioning |date=2014-05-19 |work=The Wiley Blackwell Handbook of Operant and Classical Conditioning |pages=165–194 |editor-last=McSweeney |editor-first=Frances K. |editor-last2=Murphy |editor-first2=Eric S. |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781118468135.ch8 |access-date=2023-12-09 |edition=1 |publisher=Wiley |language=en |doi=10.1002/9781118468135.ch8 |isbn=978-1-118-46818-0 |last2=Lupfer |first2=Gwen J.|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="Skinner1938 Organisms" /><ref>W. K. Honig & J. E. R. Staddon (Eds.), 1977, ''Handbook of operant behavior.''  Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.</ref><ref>Staddon, J. E. R. (2016) ''Adaptive Behavior and Learning,'' 2nd edition. Cambridge University Press.</ref> In other words, behavior is controlled by historical consequential contingencies, particularly [[reinforcement]]—a stimulus that increases the probability of performing behaviors, and [[Punishment (psychology)|punishment]]—a stimulus that decreases such probability.<ref name="Murphy 165–194" /> The core tools of consequences are either positive (presenting stimuli following a response), or negative (withdrawn stimuli following a response).<ref>{{Cite news |date=2015-06-19 |title=Classical and Operant Conditioning - Behaviorist Theories |url=https://www.learning-theories.com/operant-conditioning-skinner.html |access-date=2017-08-04 |work=Learning Theories}}</ref>

The following descriptions explains the concepts of four common types of consequences in operant conditioning:<ref name="CooperABA">{{Cite book |last1=Cooper |first1=John O. |url=https://www.pearson.com.au/products/A-C-Cooper-John-O-et-al/A-C-Cooper-J-et-al/Applied-Behavior-Analysis-Global-Edition/9781292324630?R=9781292324630 |title=Applied Behavior Analysis |last2=Heron |first2=Timothy E. |last3=Heward |first3=William L. |date=September 12, 2019 |publisher=[[Pearson plc|Pearson]] |isbn=9781292324630 |edition=3 |pages=1–1056}}</ref>
* '''Positive reinforcement''': Providing a stimulus that an individual enjoys, seeks, or craves, in order to reinforce desired behaviors.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chance |first=Paul |title=Learning and Behavior |publisher=Jon-David Hague |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-111-83277-3 |location=Belmont, CA |pages=133}}</ref> For example, when a person is teaching a dog to sit, they pair the command "sit" with a treat. The treat is the positive reinforcement to the behavior of sitting. The key to making positive reinforcement effect is to reward the behavior immediately.
* '''Negative reinforcement''': Increases the frequency of a behavior, but the behavior results from removing unpleasant or unwanted stimulus.<ref name="Murphy 165–194" /> For example, a child hates being nagged (negative) to clean his room (behavior) which increases the frequency of the child cleaning his room to prevent his mother from nagging. Another example would be putting on sunscreen (behavior) before going outside to prevent sunburn (negative).
* '''Positive punishment''': Providing a stimulus that an individual does not desire to decrease undesired behaviors. For example, if a child engages in an undesired behavior, then parents may spank (stimulus) the child to correct their behavior.
* '''Negative punishment''': Removing a stimulus that an individual desires in order to decrease undesired behaviors. An example of this would be grounding a child for failing a test. Grounding in this example is taking away the child's ability to play video games. As long as it is clear that the ability to play video games was taken away because they failed a test, this is negative punishment. The key here is the connection to the behavior and the result of the behavior.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Li |first=Pamela |date=2020-01-14 |title=What is Negative Punishment (Examples and Effectiveness) |url=https://www.parentingforbrain.com/negative-punishment/ |access-date=2021-03-21 |website=Parenting For Brain |language=en-US}}</ref>

A classical experiment in operant conditioning, for example, is the ''Skinner Box'', "puzzle box" or [[operant conditioning chamber]] to test the effects of operant conditioning principles on rats, cats and other species. From this experiment, he discovered that the rats learned very effectively if they were rewarded frequently with food. Skinner also found that he could '''shape''' (create new behavior) the rats' behavior through the use of rewards, which could, in turn, be applied to human learning as well.

Skinner's model was based on the premise that reinforcement is used for the desired actions or responses while punishment was used to stop the responses of the undesired actions that are not. This theory proved that humans or animals will repeat any action that leads to a positive outcome, and avoid any action that leads to a negative outcome. The experiment with the pigeons showed that a positive outcome leads to learned behavior since the pigeon learned to peck the disc in return for the reward of food.

These historical consequential contingencies subsequently lead to (antecedent) [[stimulus control]], but in contrast to respondent conditioning where antecedent stimuli elicit reflexive behavior, operant behavior is only emitted and therefore does not force its occurrence. It includes the following controlling stimuli:<ref name=CooperABA/>
* '''Discriminative stimulus''' (Sd): An antecedent stimulus that increases the chance of the organism engaging in a behavior. One example of this occurred in Skinner's laboratory. Whenever the green light (Sd) appeared, it signaled the pigeon to perform the behavior of pecking because it learned in the past that each time it pecked, food was presented (the positive reinforcing stimulus).
* '''Stimulus delta''' (S-delta): An antecedent stimulus that signals the organism not to perform a behavior since it was extinguished or punished in the past. One notable instance of this occurs when a person stops their car immediately after the traffic light turns red (S-delta). However, the person could decide to drive through the red light, but subsequently receive a speeding ticket (the positive punishing stimulus), so this behavior will potentially not reoccur following the presence of the S-delta.