Operant Conditioning Reviewed

Operant conditioning is a learning theory made popular by behaviorist such as B.F. Skinner in the 1950's and 60's. While first tested with pigeons and lab rats, operant conditioning is not just for animals. Performance management is the systematic, data-oriented approach to managing people at work. It relies on the positive reinforcement as the major way of maximizing performance.

Thorndike's Law of Effect states that of the several responses made to a situation, those resulting in pleasurable consequences are more likely to occur. According to behaviorism, there are 4 types of consequences:

• The reinforcers make a behavior more likely to occur. Positive reinforcers are an addition (or "reward"), such as cheese to a rat or a bonus to a worker. Negative reinforcers are the removal of something unwanted, such as turning down loud music.
• The punishments make a behavior less likely to occur. A typical punishment is the addition of something negative, such as an electric shock to a lab animal or being grounded for a kid. A "negative punishment" is the removal of something pleasant, such as getting your license revoked or loosing some other privilege.

Reinforcers are generally seen as more effective and safer than punishments. In fact, when punishments are given alone , there is always a chance that one unwanted behavior will be replaced by another equally unwanted, or worse, behavior.

Often, reinforcers are used to shape behavior by rewarding successive approximations. (For instance, you would not expect an infant to run, but instead encourage crawling, then standing, and then walking before moving on to movements requiring greater skill.)

Schedules of Reinforcement Shedules are important because they determine patters of behavior and rates of extinction. There are literally hundreds of possible schedules. The following are just the most common and well-known:

Continuous: The reinforcer is given every time the behavior is carried out. Continuous reinforcement is necessary during the learning process, but will quickly lead to satiation once the behavior has been mastered.

Fixed Interval: A certain amount of time has to occur before a behavior is reinforced. This leads to scalloping, where the behavior is not performed until right before the reinforcement is expected as is the case with studying for a test, or writing a monthly report. In a work environment, this is obviously a poor reinforcer.

Variable Interval: On average, a certain amount of time has to pass before a reinforcement to occur. This gets a slightly higher rate of response than the Fixed Interval schedule.

The copyright of the article Operant Conditioning Reviewed in Psychological Theories/Cases is owned by Isaac Ferguson. Permission to republish Operant Conditioning Reviewed in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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