Learning & Memory

  Operant conditioning, a term that was brought into psychology by B.F. Skinner illustrates the relationships between behavior and its possible outcomes. In contrast to classical conditioning, which involves creating connections between unrelated stimuli and reactions, operant conditioning initially centers on how external stimuli such as reward or punishment can affect a subject's behavior in the future. Operant conditioning involves the behavior, the result, and the feedback (reinforcement or punishment). Behavior is defined as any action or reaction that can be seen. Outcome is what comes after the behavior. Reinforcement is a consequence that makes the behavior keep on recurring, whereas punishment is a consequence that decreases the likelihood of the behavior to reoccur. The reinforcement can be positive or negative. Positive reinforcement indicates the addition of a rewarding stimulus to make an already existing behavior become more frequent. One example is that a child is re...