Operant conditioning and designated studies

What this note covers

1. Operant conditioning changes behaviour through consequences
2. Reinforcement, punishment, shaping and extinction are distinct
3. Schedules of reinforcement create different response patterns
4. Thorndike’s 1898 work established the law of effect
5. Skinner’s 1938 research analysed operants experimentally
6. Evaluation traces the actual contingency and measured change

6 sections · 10 key terms & formulas · 6 common mistakes