Operant conditioning, named by American psychologist Skinner, is a behavioral change caused by stimulation.
The principle established by Skinner's operant conditioning has been confirmed in many animal and human studies. For example, once a pigeon raises its head, it is strengthened and will continue to raise its head thereafter; Occasionally, the baby calls "mom", and the mother smiles and caresses, and the child learns to call "mom". Skinner even successfully trained two pigeons to play a table tennis match according to this principle.
Basic point of view:
1, pay attention to explicit behavior, rather than internal psychological aspects such as demand, motivation and demand satisfaction.
2. Emphasize environmental conditions and stimuli, but do not deny that people have needs, values and beliefs.
3. The focus of the discussion is: the result of the first stimulus-response behavior-behavior.
Extended data
Operating conditioned reflex experiment:
Skinner's experiment on operant conditioning was carried out in the famous Skinner's box, an animal experimental instrument he designed. Put a white mouse or pigeon in the box and set a lever or key. The structure of the box excludes all external stimuli as much as possible. Animals can move freely in the box. When it presses the lever or pecks the key, a mass of food will fall into the plate under the box, and the animals can eat the food. There is a device for recording animal activities outside the box.
Skinner's experiment differs from Pavlov's conditioned reflex experiment in that:
(1) Animals in Skinner's box can move freely instead of being tied to a shelf;
(2) The response of the tested animals is not caused by the known stimulus, and the operation behavior (pressing the lever or pecking the key) is the means to obtain the enhanced stimulus (food);
(3) The reaction is not salivary gland activity, but skeletal muscle activity;
(4) The purpose of the experiment is not to reveal the laws of cerebral cortex activity, but to show the relationship between stimulus and response, so as to effectively control the behavior of organisms.