Skinners Operant Conditioning

The most influential behaviorist, B.F. Skinner (1904-1990), demonstrated many

uses of operant conditioning. Skinner was an ardent practitioner of parsimony, always
seeking simple explanations in terms of reinforcement histories rather than explanations
in terms of mental states.
Operant. Skinner considers an operant as an act which constitutes an organisms doing
something, e.g., raising the head, walking about, pushing a lever, etc.
Reinforcer and reinforcement.

The concept of reinforcement is identical to the

presentation of a reward. A reinforcer is the stimulus the presentation or removal of

which increases the probability of a response being repeated. Skinner recognizes two
kinds of reinforcers positive and negative.
A positive reinforcer is any stimulus such as food, water, sexual contact, etc. the
introduction of presentation of which increases the likelihood of a particular behaviour.
In the educational context, praise, grades, medals, and other prizes awarded to students
are examples of positive reinforcers.
A negative reinforcer is any stimulus the removal or withdrawal of which
increases the likelihood of a particular behaviour. An electric shock, a loud noise, etc. are
said to be negative reinforcers. In the educational context, one example may be teachers
saying to the students that whoever does drill work properly in the class would be
exempted from homework.
Negative reinforcers and punishment. These two terms should not be taken to have the
same meaning. Whereas reinforcers, positive as well as negative strengthen behaviour,
punishment weakens it. Punishment has consequences which are not reinforcing or, do
not strengthen behaviour and aims at reducing behaviours by imposing unwelcome
consequences. On the other hand, negative reinforcers strengthen desirable behaviour by
withdrawing unpleasant experiences. Here it should be noted that for a measure to be

called a punisher it should invariably seek to reduce the frequency of a behaviour by the
imposition or introduction of unpleasant consequence. For example, in the case of a
student who feels pleased about being outside the class instead of feeling bad to turn him
out of the class would not act as a punisher or a means of behaviour modification.
Similarly, for students who like being scolded because it gains them their teachers
attention and/or enhances their status among their peers, the scolding instead of working
as a punisher is likely to prove to be a reinforcer of their behaviour.
The Schedules of Reinforcement
Skinner put forward the idea of planning of schedules of reinforcement for
conditioning the operant behaviour of the organism. Some important schedules are:
1 Continuous reinforcement schedule.

This is an out and out reinforcement

schedule where provision is made to reinforce or reward every correct response of

the organism during acquisition of a learning. For example a student may be
rewarded for every correct answer he gives to the questions or problems put forth
by his teacher.
2

Fixed interval reinforcement schedule.

In this schedule the organism is

rewarded for a response made only after a set interval of time, eg., every 3 minutes
or every 5 minutes. How many times he has given correct responses during this
fixed interval of time does not matter; it is only at the expiry of the fixed interval
that he is presented with some reinforcement.
3 Fixed ratio reinforcement schedule. In this schedule the reinforcement is given
after a fixed number of responses. A rat, for example might be given a pellet of
food after a certain number of lever presses. A student may be properly rewarded
after he answers a fixed number of questions say 3 or 5. The fixed ratio schedule
is used in some factories, and by employers of casual workers or labourers where
wages are paid on a piece-work basis, i.e., the number of garments sewn or the
number of baskets or boxes packed.

4 Variable reinforcement schedule.

When reinforcement is given at varying

intervals of time or after a varying number of responses, it is called a variable

reinforcement schedule. In this case, reinforcement is intermittent or irregular.
The individual does not know when he is going to be rewarded and consequently
he remains motivated throughout the learning process in the hope of
reinforcement.

The most common example of such a schedule in human

behaviour is the reinforcement operation schedules of gambling devices. Here

rewards are unpredictable and keep the players well-motivated through occasional
returns.