Educational Psychology / Unit 4 EDP 0314 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Operant Conditioning
Captions available
The idea
In operant conditioning, Skinner's extension of Thorndike's law of effect, behavior is shaped by its consequences: reinforced behavior increases and punished behavior decreases.
In practice
A rat in an operant chamber presses a lever more once pressing brings food.
Where people slip
Classical conditioning pairs two stimuli before a response; operant conditioning links a behavior to what follows it.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
Unlocks
- 0315The Four Quadrants
- 0321Extinction
- 0322Generalization and Discrimination
- 0323Intermittent Reinforcement
- 0326Primary and Secondary Reinforcers
- 0328Many Sources of Reinforcement
- 0340A Reward Is Not a Reinforcer
- 0401Social Cognitive Theory
- 1007The ABCs of Behavior
- 1231Classical Conditioning
- 1232Operant Conditioning and the Four Quadrants
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