Determinants of Operant Conditioning

Operant or instrumental conditioning is a form of learning in which behaviour is learned, maintained, or changed through its consequences. These consequences are called reinforcers — a reinforcer is defined as any stimulus or event that increases the probability that a desired response will occur again. Reinforcement can be of two broad types. Positive reinforcement involves stimuli with pleasant consequences — such as food, water, praise, money, status, or useful information — that satisfy a need and strengthen the response that produced them. Negative reinforcement, by contrast, involves unpleasant or painful stimuli; responses that allow an organism to escape from or avoid such painful stimuli are said to be negatively reinforced. For example, people learn to wear woollen clothes or use heaters to escape unpleasant cold, and drivers learn to wear seatbelts to avoid injury or being fined. It is important not to confuse negative reinforcement with punishment: punishment reduces or suppresses a response, whereas a negative reinforcer actually increases the probability of the avoidance or escape response that removes it. Punishment, moreover, is generally not permanent in its effect — mild or delayed punishment has little effect, and while stronger punishment produces a more lasting suppression, this too is not permanent, and punishment can sometimes backfire by making the punished person develop dislike or hatred for whoever administered it. …