What Is Operant Conditioning in Simple Terms?

Name: ______Per. ______What is operant conditioning in simple terms?

B.F. Skinner coined the term "Operant Conditioning" to refer to his theory of how animals learn. In the broadest sense, Skinner defined four ways to change behavior: positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, negative punishment. Here is a simple and brief explanation of each:

Positive Reinforcement: This is when something is added to the environment after a behavior that will increase the occurrence of a behavior. Examples of this are giving a dog food after it sits or telling a young child how proud you are of him/her when the child says thank you.

Negative Reinforcement: Negative reinforcement is when an aversive is applied, and then eliminated to increase the occurrence of a behavior. There are two types of negative reinforcement.

The first is avoidance. An example of this would be a child cleaning her room to avoid a scolding. A dog walks next to you to avoid a harsh leash correction. In avoidance, it is the threat of the aversive that is removed.

The second is escape. This is when the aversive is continually applied and the aversive is eliminated when the animal does the behavior you want. An example of this would be teaching a dog to sit by pulling up on a leash, when the dog sits, the leash tension is relaxed. Parent yells at a child until the child starts cleaning his room, then the yelling stops. A dog is shocked with a collar until it starts a return to the handler, then the collar is turned off.

Positive Punishment: This is when an aversive is introduced during or immediately after a behavior to reduce the occurrence of the behavior. Child misbehaves; he is spanked. Rat touches a lighted disc; it is shocked.

Negative Punishment: This is when something rewarding is taken away to reduce the occurrence of a behavior. An example would be if a child whines, so you take his dessert.

Operant Conditioning: Operation Fix my kid

Directions: Read through each scenario. Fix the problem using an operant conditioning strategy. List the strategy used and an explanation.

1. The power went out and Miles can’t watch Umizoomi. He is now having a full on tantrum on the floor.

2. Miles has to wear an eye patch for 4 hours a day. He hates it. He wants to take it off as soon as we put it on him.

3. It is that time in a little boy’s life when he needs to learn to use the potty. How can we teach Miles to use the potty? Name: ______Per. ______

4. Miles has been secretly feeding parts of his dinner to the dog. The dog is getting sick, so we need the behavior to stop. We often catch Miles sliding unwanted chicken nuggets and peas to Teddy.

5. Miles’ lovey is a brown Teddy Bear named “Bear.” Bear is dirty and needs to be washed. How can we get Miles to give up his friend for washing?

6. Miles loves his pacifier. He throws fits when we take it away. He insists on going to bed with it, and sometimes even asks for it in the tub. We are worried continued use of the pacifier will mess up his teeth.

7. Recently we took Miles to BW3. He finished eating his meal before the rest of the family. Upon finishing, he began to throw fries at the neighboring tables. This is not appropriate and causes extra work for the wait staff.

8. Miles doesn’t want to take a nap. Mrs. Taylor put him down for a nap anyway. She then saw him jumping up and down in his crib and singing to himself on the monitor.

9. At a sporting event the national anthem is being sung by a student. Miles begins screaming and all the nearby spectators begin glaring at him.

10. Miles has a boo boo on his foot. Mrs. Taylor put a cool Lightning McQueen bandage on it before daycare. During daycare the bandage fell off. Upon noticing the bandage is missing he begins to complain that his foot hurts.

11. Miles has to get a flu shot at the doctor’s office. He is very scared and is hiding from the doctor behind his mommy. Name: ______Per. ______

12. Miles loves cheese! Mrs. Taylor made the mistake of feeding him all the cheese cubes he wanted at dinner one night and immediately regretted it. He threw up cheese all over the couch. Now he is asking for “more cheese” after his allotted cheese for dinner.

13. Miles wants to stay at the park but Mrs. Taylor wants to leave.

14. Miles loves Zeke the cat. He insists on petting him and Zeke hisses back. Miles also wants to lay his head on Zeke’s soft fur. The cat is getting more and more angry and is about to lash out.

15. Miles loves to watch the movie Jungle Book, but gets very upset when Mowgli is taken by the monkeys. How can we let him watch the movie but avoid the crying fit?