Operant Conditioning

Operant Conditioning is conditioning in which an operant response is brought under stimulus control by virtue of presenting reinforcement contingent upon the occurrence of the operant response.

There are 4 different types of operant conditioning effects:

1. Positive Reinforcement- the direction of the behaviour change is up.
                                - an example would be more time reading in class.

2. Negative Reinforcement-the direction of the behavior change is down.
                               - an example would be less talking on the bus.

3. Positive Punishment- adding something to the punishment.
                                  - an example would be telling them that they are getting a phone call home ( adding the phone call).

4. Negative Punishment- an example would be giving more time to study for their finals.

Generalization- you can change the situation slightly, but you will still get the same results.

Extinction- over time reinforcement and punishent stop working; if you over use it.