Operant Conditioning

Operant conditioning refers to change in the occurrence of a behavior when the behavior is correlated with a particular consequence. If the consequence is desirable, then the behavior becomes more likely. If the consequence is aversive, then the behavior becomes less likely. Operant conditioning is a form of learning that occurs as a result of the consequences that follow responses.

This type of learning plays a prominent role in educational settings in which teachers, parents, psychologists, and other school personnel have responsibility for teaching or changing behaviors. When operant conditioning is used intentionally, the behavior change agent (the person responsible for the behavior change) provides consequences for the student's behavior that are designed to increase or decrease reoccurrence of the behavior. Often, the teacher will watch for the target behavior to occur and then provide a desirable consequence to encourage future performances of the behavior. If, however, the behavior is to be discouraged, the desired consequence will not be provided, or, in some situations, an aversive consequence intended to discourage future occurrences of the behavior will be delivered.

The consequence stimuli are the primary factor in operant conditioning. Consequence stimuli fall into two broad categories: reinforcement and punishment. Reinforcement is delivered to increase the reoccurrence of the target behavior. Positive reinforcement results in the student receiving what that student perceives as desirable (e.g., teacher attention, peer contact, tangibles), and negative reinforcement results in the student avoiding something that student perceives as aversive (e.g., difficult assignment, peer contact, teacher attention). Behaviors that are followed by punishing consequences, positive or negative, will occur less often. Positive punishment involves the presentation of something the student finds unpleasant or aversive (e.g., added work). Negative punishment, or response cost, involves taking away from the student something that the student wanted to keep (e.g., loss of recess, loss of computer privileges). In general, when educators use operant conditioning, they provide consequences for student behavior that are designed to teach students that appropriate responses will lead to desirable events, such as praise and high grades, as well as allowing them to avoid unpleasant events, such as being scolded or having to give up free time to finish or to redo an assignment.

Operant conditioning affects academic and social behaviors. Students learn that their behavior in classrooms and on the playground can result in pleasant and unpleasant consequences delivered by both fellow students and school staff members. In some cases, the consequences provided by fellow students are more powerful than those provided by school staff members. For example, students may continue to play in spite of having been told by an adult to stop playing and come inside. In this case, the adult may decide to change the type, amount, or timing of consequences, both pleasant and unpleasant, to increase their effectiveness.

...