Operant conditioning

High school (ages 12+)
Thinking & Learning

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/operant-conditioning

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the learning paradigm?A process where voluntary behaviors are modified by their consequences
2. What is the core mechanisms?Reinforcement (positive/negative) increases behavior; Punishment (positive/negative) decreases behavior
3. How does a reward help us learn?When we get a reward after doing something, it makes us want to do it again. This is called positive reinforcement and it makes the behavior happen more often.
4. What is the difference between positive and negative reinforcement?Positive reinforcement gives us something nice after a good action, like praise. Negative reinforcement takes away something bad, like stopping a loud noise, so we keep doing the action that made it stop.

Operant Conditioning Chamber: A laboratory device used to study operant conditioning, often called a Skinner Box.
Positive Reinforcement: Adding a desirable stimulus after a behavior to increase its future occurrence.
Negative Punishment: Removing a desirable stimulus after a behavior to decrease its future occurrence.