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A type of learning in which the probability of a behavior recurring is increased or decreased by the consequences that follow upon occurrence of the behavior. The three-term contingency represents the simplest conceptual model of operant conditioning (Holland and Skinner 1961).
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Operant conditioning applies many techniques and procedures first investigated by E. L. Thorndike (1898), but was later refined and extended by B. F. Skinner (1938). Although operant conditioning is built on the classical conditioning work of Ivan Pavlov (1927), it is distinguished from classical conditioning in that operant conditioning deals with the modification of “voluntary” (operant) behavior. The operant is behavior that acts on the environment to produce a consequence, which is meted out by the environment in response to the operant. This response encourages the operant to either repeat or cease the behavior. Operant conditioning techniques are...
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References and Further Reading
Holland, J. G., & Skinner, B. F. (1961). The analysis of behavior: A program for self-instruction. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Mazur, J. E. (2006). Learning and behavior (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.
Mednick, S. A., Higgins, J., & Kirschenbaum, J. (1975). Psychology: Explorations in behavior and experience. New York: Wiley.
Pavlov, I. P. (1927). Conditioned reflexes: An investigation of the physiological activity of the cerebral cortex. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Reynolds, G. S. (1975). A primer of operant conditioning (Rev. ed.). Glenview: Scott Foresman.
Robbins, S. J., Schwartz, B., & Wasserman, E. A. (2001). Psychology of learning and behavior (5th ed.). New York: W. W. Norton.
Skinner, B. F. (1938). The behavior of organisms: An experimental analysis. New York: Appleton-Century.
Skinner, B. F. (1953). Science and human behavior. New York: Macmillan.
Thorndike, E. L. (1898). Animal intelligence: An experimental study of the associative processes in animals (Psychological review monograph supplement, Vol. 2, No. 4, Whole No. 8). Lancaster: Macmillan.
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Takada, M. (2018). Operant Conditioning. In: Gellman, M., Turner, J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6439-6_418-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6439-6_418-2
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