In psychology, there are many terms and concepts that are not entirely clear to those far from people working in this field. Such expressions sound rather mysterious, and it seems that something very complex is hidden behind them. However, in reality everything is much simpler and scientific terms usually have simple and well-known processes, phenomena that can often be observed in ordinary life. Just such concepts and refers to "operant conditioning."
What is an operant?
The term consists of a combination of two words, the first of which is key in understanding its meaning. It comes from the Latin operatio, which means "action", "exerted influence."
In such a direction of psychology as behaviorism, the term “operant” is used as an antonym of the term “respondent”. They are characterized by types of behavioral reactions that are devoid of primary stimulus conditions.
The main feature of these behavioral reactions is considered the same way of affecting the environment, which leads to different reaction chains. For example, a mouse or rat placed in a laboratory box “with a button”, regardless of what acts as an irritant, will respond by pressing the built-in “lever”.
How did the concept of “operant conditioning” come about? Who coined the term?
Although the term was introduced into the American scientific dictionary, the world owes its appearance to the Russian scientist. For the first time, this phrase was used to designate certain types of behavioral reactions by B.F. Skinner, professor at Harvard and Minnesota universities, a psychologist, inventor, and writer.
But he did this after familiarizing himself with the work of a Russian scientist. Inspired by one of the most famous psychologists of the last century I.P. Pavlov. Of course, his work and research in the field of reflexes. The American was extremely interested in the study conducted by Pavlov regarding the processes of formation and development of conditioned reflexes that occur when an irritating factor or stimulating effect appears.
Who was Burres Frederick Skinner?
One of the most influential and world-famous American psychologists was born in 1904, March 20. And this man died in 1990, on August 18. That is, he found all the main manifestations of the achievements of technological progress and science, which overwhelmed the past century. He was born in the state of Pennsylvania, in the town of Susquehanna.
Skinner was a follower of behaviorism - a direction in psychology that considers the behavior of people and animals as a result of their interaction with the surrounding reality.
The world famous for this scientist brought the theory of conditioning reflexes. Operand conditioning has become his main "brainchild", the work of a lifetime. In support of his theory, Skinner wrote a number of journalistic articles and literary works in which he considered the possibility of practical use of the psychological technique developed by him. Although these works were not widely known, thanks to them they began to consider the scientist one of the forefathers of social engineering.
What is a Skinner box?
The name of the scientist is laboratory equipment, which is available in almost all institutes and even in circles for children. Of course, if they study behavior, education and fixing reflexes. Of course, we are talking about Skinner's box.
This equipment is a fairly spacious box or box in which the observed animal, usually a rat or mouse, is placed. The box itself is ideally impervious to sound and light. This is necessary to exclude accidental extraneous factors that can affect the purity of the results of the study.
Inside the box there is one “button” or several, as a rule, they are called levers. Technically, the process of modern research looks like this:
- the animal “pushes” a button or lever;
- This switch captures and transfers to the computer.
Of course, before the advent of complex technology, experimental animals were directly monitored. The model of equipment developed by Skinner is suitable for studying behavioral reactions not only in rats or mice. Any animal or bird can be placed in a box.
Is it in demand?
B. F. Skinner developed the ideas set forth in the works of a Russian scientist; moreover, he found practical application for them.
The theoretical principles formulated by the scientist are applied in practice in the following areas:
- behavioral corrective therapy;
- programmed instruction;
- applied behavior analysis.
The methodology of programmed training was developed by Skinner himself. It was received with great enthusiasm in the scientific community and has been successfully applied in various fields since the middle of the last century.
What is it? Definition
Operand conditioning in psychology is a special chain of reactions that forms conditioned, but stable reflexes. The peculiarity of the formation and development of reflex operant reactions is that they are formed by reinforcement rather than stimulation.
Of course, such a factor as an irritant is present. But he is assigned not the key value, but the role of the primary cause of the behavior reaction, that is, he is not involved in the formation of a stable reflex.
What is meant by learning?
Operant learning is the educational process itself, during which the reflex is developed or acquired. The main semantic load in this term lies on the word "learning." That is, its essence is to "teach" the reflex, a specific reaction, type of behavior.
Of course, operant learning has a foundation on which it is based. The foundation used is behavior, also called operant. This is a special type of manifestation of reactions that affects the environment or the environment. The managerial factor in this type of response is hidden in the consequences of the behavior itself. In simple words, the interest and motivation in the manifestation of the operant type of behavioral reactions lies in the onset of the consequences of the action, as a result of it.
The general scheme of operant analysis
When using the method of analysis, Skinner's operant conditioning determines the basic principles of the same as other scientific areas of psychology.
In a generalized form, the analysis scheme consists of the relationships between the following concepts:
- operant action;
- its consequences;
- the circumstances preceding it, which served as the primary cause of the reaction.
These are the core concepts that make up Skinner's operant conditioning.
What is meant by operand in Skinner's theory?
An operant in this psychological direction is called a chaotic set or a sequence of actions, which is determined by their direct result.
The definition seems confusing at first glance, in fact its meaning is very simple. The operant is determined not by a stimulus, but functionally, that is, by those changes that follow the action. That is, if some act led to pleasant consequences for the person who committed it, he will certainly be repeated again.
The consequences that an action leads to that have the incentive to repeat it are called post-case effects.
What is contingent? What is meant by a condition?
This term causes the greatest difficulties not only for people far from psychology, but also those interested in it, but also for students.
This word refers to the relationships established between the concepts that make up the chain of reactions that characterize operant conditioning. The term also reflects the relationship between behavioral reactions and external factors, events, situations, circumstances. Thus, a generalized analysis scheme is presented in the form of a three-part compound contingent.
A condition in the framework of this psychological direction is factors or their combinations, the presence of which is possible, is not at all necessary. In other words, this concept includes all the variable components that are part of operant conditioning.
About types of conditioning and forms of learning
The concept of operant conditioning contains two large forms that the process of formation of reflexes takes. These include creative and instrumental learning.
Creative learning implies a high degree of activity of the mind and differs from instrumental in a more complex technique of reinforcing the resulting reflex.
For example, if a child answers brilliantly at the blackboard, and the teacher publicly and immediately praises him, this is reinforcement within the framework of operant creative conditioning. But a movie ticket received from parents for a good mark in the diary is an encouragement that does not have a direct relation to the formation of a reflex.
Instrumental learning is a simple reinforcement of a spontaneously occurring action. In other words, the carrot and stick method. The only specificity is that encouragement and punishment follow immediately, immediately after the act.
Does conditioning have to do with learning?
The theory of operant conditioning is the basis of accustoming to something, educating and instilling useful skills. Any educational process takes place through repeated repetition, with the accompaniment of each act with constant reinforcement. This is how a habit is formed - both good and bad.
For example, some children quickly learn to brush their teeth and throughout the rest of their life reflexively repeat this hygienic procedure, without thinking about whether it is needed or not. Others have to constantly remind about the need for oral care, and as they mature, they often forget about it. Why it happens? Because in the first case, operant conditioning was used to instill a habit. That is, the child was praised or otherwise approved, given him attention after brushing his teeth. In the second case, the baby did not see any reaction from adults to the action they committed. Therefore, it did not consolidate, did not transform into a conditioned reflex.
In addition to raising children and instilling certain skills in them, conditioning of reflexes is widely used in training. In fact, any animal training is built specifically on operant conditioning.
For example, when teaching a domestic dog the “sit” command or any other, they get it to perform the desired action, after which they immediately fix the result with praise and dainty. Thus, a habit is developed in the animal or a conditioned reflex is formed. Having heard a certain combination of sounds, the dog immediately sits down, without delay or hesitation. If during training the operant conditioning of reflexes is not involved, then the result is not achieved.
This technique is irreplaceable and, if necessary, the destruction of an existing acquired reflex. That is, if you want to get rid of a bad habit, every abstinence from an undesirable action should be fixed without delay, for example, with praise. Thus, you can quickly wean children to “bite” pencils or pens, or to get rid of some other bad habits.