OPERANT CONDITIONING - EDWARDS THORNDIKE

Edward Thorndike (1874 - 1949) is famous in psychology for his work on learning theory that lead to the development of operant conditioning within behaviorism.

Whereas classical conditioning depends on developing associations between events, operant conditioning involves learning from the consequences of our behavior.  Skinner wasn’t the first psychologist to study learning by consequences. Indeed, Skinner's theory of operant conditioning is built on the ideas of Edward Thorndike.

Thorndike (1898) studied learning in animals (usually cats).  He devised a classic experiment in which he used a puzzle box (see fig. 1) to empirically test the laws of learning. He placed a cat in the puzzle box, which was encourage to escape to reach a scrap of fish placed outside.  Thorndike would put a cat into the box and time how long it took to escape.  The cats experimented with different ways to escape the puzzle box and reach the fish.

Eventually they would stumble upon the lever which opened the cage.  When it had escaped it was put in again, and once more the time it took to escape was noted.  In successive trials the cats would learn that pressing the lever would have favorable consequences and they would adopt this behavior, becoming increasingly quick at pressing the lever.

Edward Thorndike put forward a “Law of effect” which stated that any behavior that is followed by pleasant consequences is likely to be repeated, and any behavior followed by unpleasant consequences is likely to be stopped.

Operant conditioning (or instrumental conditioning) is a type of learning in which an individual's behavior is modified by its consequences; the behaviour may change in form, frequency, or strength. Operant conditioning is a term that was coined by B.F Skinner in 1937Operant conditioning is distinguished from classical conditioning (or respondent conditioning) in that operant conditioning deals with the modification of "voluntary behaviour" or operant behaviour. Operant behavior operates on the environment and is maintained by its consequences, while classical conditioning deals with the conditioning of reflexive (reflex) behaviours which are elicited by antecedent conditions. Behaviours conditioned via a classical conditioning procedure are not maintained by consequences.

 

EXAMPLES OF OPERANT CONDITIONING

We can find examples of operant conditioning at work all around us. Consider the case of children completing homework to earn a reward from a parent or teacher, or employees finishing projects to receive praise or promotions.

In these examples, the promise or possibility of rewards causes an increase in behavior, but operant conditioning can also be used to decrease a behavior. The removal of an undesirable outcome or the use of punishment can be used to decrease or prevent undesirable behaviors. For example, a child may be told they will lose recess privileges if they talk out of turn in class. This potential for punishment may lead to a decrease in disruptive behaviors.