Operant Conditioning

Operant Conditioning associations are formed between a completely voluntary response and the stimulus associated with the consequences of the response. Animal training in which behavior is created by rewarding or punishing acts, is an example of operant conditioning. The American psychologist, B. F. Skinner, studied operant conditioning in rats by placing them in an apparatus, called a Skinner Box. As the rat explored the box, it would occasionally press a lever by accident, causing a pellet of food to appear. At first, the rat would ignore the lever, eat the food pellet, and continue to move about. The rat rapidly learns that pressing the lever results in the appearance of the food pellet. This kind of learning consisting of trial and error with a reward for success, can also work for far more complex tasks.