Operant conditioning: the basics. Burres Frederick Skinner

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

In psychology, there are many terms and concepts that are not entirely clear to people far from those employed in this field. Such expressions sound quite mysterious, and it seems that something very complex is hidden behind them. However, in reality, everything is much simpler and behind scientific terms there are usually simple and well-known processes, phenomena that can often be observed in everyday life. “Operant conditioning” is just such concepts.

What is an operant?

The term consists of a combination of two words, the first of which is the key to understanding its meaning. It comes from the Latin operatio, which means “action”, “influence”.

In such direction of psychology as behaviorism, the term "operant" is used as an antonym of the concept "respondent". It characterizes types of behavioral responses that are devoid of primary stimulus conditions.

The main feature of these behavioral reactions is considered to be the same way of influencing the environment, which leads to different chains of reactions. For example, a mouse or rat placed inlaboratory box "with a button", regardless of what acts as a stimulus, will respond by pressing the built-in "lever".

How did the concept of "operant conditioning" come about? Who coined this term?

Although an American introduced this term into the scientific dictionary, the world owes its appearance to a Russian scientist. For the first time this phrase was used to refer to certain types of behavioral reactions by B. F. Skinner, a professor at Harvard and Minnesota universities, a psychologist, inventor and writer.

But he did it after getting acquainted with the works of the Russian scientist. Inspired by one of the most famous psychologists of the last century, IP Pavlov. Of course, with his work and research in the field of reflexes. The American was extremely interested in the study conducted by Pavlov concerning the processes of formation and development of conditioned reflexes that occur when an irritating factor or stimulating effect appears.

Who was Burres Frederick Skinner?

One of the most influential and world-famous American psychologists was born on March 20, 1904. And this man died in 1990, on August 18. That is, he found all the main manifestations of the achievements of technological progress and science, which filled the past century. He was born in Pennsylvania, in the town of Susquehanna.

Skinner was a follower of behaviorism - a direction in psychology that considers the behavior of people and animals as a result of their interaction with the surrounding reality.

The theory of conditioning of reflexes brought this scientist worldwide fame. Operant conditioning became his main "brainchild", the work of his life. In support of his theory, Skinner wrote a number of journalistic articles and works of fiction, in which he considered the possibility of practical use of the psychological technique he developed. Although these works were not widely known, thanks to them the scientist was considered one of the forefathers of social engineering.

What is a Skinner box?

The name of the scientist is the laboratory equipment, which is available in almost all institutes and even in circles for children. Of course, if they study behavior, the formation and consolidation of reflexes. Of course, we are talking about a Skinner box.

This equipment is a fairly spacious box or box in which the observed animal is placed, usually a rat or mouse. The box itself is ideally impervious to sound and light. This is necessary to exclude random extraneous factors that can affect the purity of the results of the study.

Inside the box there is one "button" or several, as a rule, they are called levers. Technically, the process of modern research looks like this:

• animal "presses" a button or lever;
• switch captures this and transfers it to the computer.

Of course, before the advent of sophisticated technology forexperimental animals were directly observed. The equipment model developed by Skinner is suitable for studying behavioral responses not only in rats or mice. Any animal or bird can be placed in the box.

Is it in demand?

B. F. Skinner developed the ideas set forth in the works of the Russian scientist, moreover, he found practical application for them.

Theoretical principles formulated by the scientist are applied in practice in the following areas:

• behavioral corrective therapy;
• programmed learning;
• applied behavior analysis.

Programmed learning was developed by Skinner himself. It has been received with great enthusiasm by the scientific community and has been successfully applied in various fields since the middle of the last century.

What is this? Definition

Operant conditioning in psychology is a special chain of reactions that forms conditioned but stable reflexes. The peculiarity of the formation and development of reflex operant reactions is that they are formed by reinforcement, not stimulation.

Of course, there is such a factor as an irritant. But it is not assigned a key role, but the role of the primary cause of the occurrence of a behavioral reaction, that is, it is not involved in the formation of a stable reflex.

What is meant by learning?

Operant learning is directly the educational process itself, during which a reflex is developed or acquired. The main semantic load in this term lieson the word "learning". That is, its essence is to "teach" a reflex, a certain reaction, a type of behavior.

Of course, operant learning has a basis on which it is based. As a foundation, behavior is used, also called operant. This is a special type of manifestation of reactions that affects the surrounding reality or the environment. The managerial factor in this type of response is hidden in the consequences of the behavior itself. In simple words, interest and motivation in the manifestation of the operant type of behavioral reactions are concluded in the onset of the consequences of the action, in its result.

General scheme of operant analysis

When using the method of analysis, Skinner's operant conditioning uses the same basic principles as other scientific branches of psychology.

In a generalized form, the analysis scheme consists of relationships between the following concepts:

• operant action;
• its consequences;
• preceding circumstances leading to the reaction.

These are the core concepts that make up Skinner's operant conditioning.

What is meant by an operant in Skinner's theory?

The operant in this psychological direction is called a chaotic set or sequence of actions, which is determined by their immediate result.

The definition only seems confusing at first glance, in fact itthe meaning is very simple. The operant is determined not by the stimulus, but functionally, that is, by those changes that follow the action. That is, if some act led to pleasant consequences for the person who committed it, it will definitely be repeated again.

The consequences that an act leads to, which have an incentive force to repeat it, are called postcendental influences.

What is a contingent? What is meant by a condition?

This term causes the greatest difficulties not only for people who are far from psychology, but are interested in it, but also for students.

This word refers to the relationships that are established between the concepts that make up the chain of reactions that characterize operant conditioning. The term also reflects the relationship between behavioral reactions and external factors, events, situations, circumstances. Thus, the generalized scheme of analysis is represented as a tripartite composite contingency.

A condition within the framework of this psychological direction is factors or their combinations, the presence of which is possible, not at all necessary. In other words, all variable components included in operant conditioning fall under this concept.

On types of conditioning and forms of learning

The concept of operant conditioning has two major forms that the process of reflex formation takes. These include creative and instrumental learning.

Creative learning implies a high degree of activity of the mind and differs from instrumental learning morea complex technique for reinforcing the emerging reflex.

For example, if a child answers brilliantly at the blackboard, and the teacher publicly and immediately praises him, this is a reinforcer within the framework of operant creative conditioning. But a movie ticket received from parents for a good mark in the diary is an encouragement that has no direct relation to the formation of a reflex.

Instrumental learning is a simple reinforcement of a spontaneously occurring action. In other words, the "carrot and stick" method. The only specificity is that reward and punishment follow without delay, immediately after the deed.

Does conditioning have to do with learning?

The theory of operant conditioning is the basis of accustoming to something, education and instilling useful skills. Any educational process takes place by repeated repetition, with the accompaniment of each act by constant reinforcement. This is how a habit is formed, both good and bad.

For example, some children quickly get used to brushing their teeth and reflexively repeat this hygienic procedure for the rest of their lives, without thinking about whether it is needed or not. Others, on the other hand, have to be constantly reminded of the need for oral care, and as they grow up, they often forget about it. Why is this happening? Because in the first case, when inculcating a habit, operant conditioning was used. That is, the child was praised or otherwise shown approval, paid attention to him after he finished brushing his teeth. In the second case, the baby did not see any reaction from adults to the action he committed. That's why it didn't fixate, didn't transform into a conditioned reflex.

In addition to raising children and instilling certain skills in them, reflex conditioning is widely used in training. In fact, any animal training is built precisely on operant conditioning.

For example, when teaching a domestic dog the “sit” command or any other command, they are forced to perform the desired action, after which they immediately fix the result with praise and treats. Thus, a habit is developed in the animal or a conditioned reflex is formed. Hearing a certain combination of sounds, the dog immediately sits down, without delay or hesitation. If during training the operant conditioning of reflexes is not involved, then the result is not achieved.

This technique is indispensable and, if necessary, the destruction of an already existing acquired reflex. That is, if you want to get rid of a bad habit, each abstinence from an undesirable action should be immediately reinforced, for example, with praise. In this way, you can quickly wean children from “nibbling” pencils or pens, or get rid of some other bad habits.