Question

Skinner and his pigeons/rats - “Operant” Conditioning:

8)Define/ briefly explain what O.C. is.

a. Two kinds of O.C. -  Reinforcement versus Punishment

Define/ explain the difference between them

b. Two types of Reinforcement: Positive and Negative

    Explain the difference between positive and negative

    reinforcement. Use examples in your explanation.

c. Punishment – define/ explain what it is. Use an example in your explanation.

d. Explain the difference between punishment and negative reinforcement, which are easily confused.

Answer 1

Operant conditioning also known as “instrumental conditioning" may simply be defined as a learning process through which the strength of a behaviour is modified by reinforcement or punishment. Through operant conditioning, an individual makes an association between a particular behaviour and a consequence.

8. (a) Reinforcement -Reinforcement is a term used in operant conditioning to refer to anything that increases the likelihood of an occurrence of a response. Reinforcement is defined by the effect that it has on the behaviour. It increases or strengthens the response. For example Reinforcement might involve presenting praise immediately after a child puts away his/her toys.

Punishments-Punishment is defined as the opposite of reinforcement since it is designed to weaken or eliminate a response rather than increase it. It is an aversive event that decreases the behaviour that it follows.

(b) Reinforcement is of two types Positive Reinforcement and Negative Reinforcement. Positive reinforcement involves adding something to increase a response, such as giving a bit of candy to a child after she cleans up her room. Whereas Negative reinforcement involves removing something in order to increase a response.Negative reinforcement strengthens behaviour because it stops or removes an unpleasant experience.

(c) Punishment is defined as the opposite of reinforcement since it is designed to weaken or eliminate a response rather than increase it. It is an aversive event that decreases the behaviour that it follows. Punishment is also two types positive punishment and negative punishment. The difference between these two types of punishments is –

Positive Punishment	Negative Punishment
It is the type ogf operant conditioning that deals with decreasing the rate of undesired behaviour by adding certain negative consequences to the individual after the behaviour has been exhibited	It is the type ogf operant conditioning that deals with decreasing the rate of undesired behaviour by removing certain favourite or desired items from the individual’s life