Operant and Conditioning Paper

August 5, 2013

PSY/390 Learning and Cognition

Operant Condition Paper

Operant conditioning is based on released behavior or operant behavior; whereas, behavior that is provoked by a known stimulus is discussed to as respondent behavior (Hergenhahn & Olson, 2005). The basic idea behind operant conditioning is that when naturally happening behavior is released reinforcement can increase the future happening of that behavior. Moreover, through the use of cuing stimuli separate operants can be created which then become secondary reinforcers. With sustained combinations of reinforcement a discriminate operant can become a generalized reinforcer. Equally, if reinforcement is inoperative, then destruction occurs. Extinction is the termination of the reinforcement of an operant which leads to before-conditioning response levels for the operant in question. Also, operant conditioning can be broken up into three simple components or processes: positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishment. Positive reinforcement is best explained as the addition a reinforcer which increases the future likelihood of a response. Negative reinforcement is the withholding of a reinforcer which leads to the future likelihood of a definite response. Punishment is either the withholding of something positive or the calculation of something negative that leads to the future lack of a response.

Positive reinforcement is the addition of a positive, dominant variable between emitted behavior and a response which makes the future likelihood of that response increase; equally, negative reinforcement is the removal of a negative, intervening variable between emitted behavior and a response which makes the future likelihood of that response increase (Hergenhahn & Olson, 2005). For example, the addition of food to the cage of an animal when they press a lever will positively reinforce lever pressing in the future. On the other hand, if a bright light is...