Theory of Operant Conditioning

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Main Discussion
Conclusion
References

Introduction

Operant conditioning presents the idea that “behavior is a function of its consequences.” (Robbins & Judge, 2008, p. 55). In other words, people act and behave a certain way to get something they want or to avoid it. This kind of behavior is learned and voluntary unlike the classical conditioning theory that presents the idea that behavior is reflexive and unlearned. To carry out this behavior it has to be learned and that can be done through the introduction of reinforcements. If a good or behavior is reinforced it is highly likely that it will be repeated. (Robbins & Judge, 2008, pp. 55–56).

Main Discussion

B.F. Skinner, the mastermind behind the operant conditioning theory “argued that creating pleasing consequences to follow specific forms of behavior would increase the frequency of that behavior. He demonstrated that people will most likely engage in desired behaviors if they are positively reinforced for doing so; that rewards are most effective if they immediately follow the desired response; and that behavior that is not rewarded, or is punished, is less likely to be repeated” (Robbins & Judge, 2008, p. 56). For example, if your are praised every time you come up with a creative idea at work you will be more likely to be motivated to come up with more ideas and present them without hesitation. Appraisal might give you intrinsic motivation to repeat that behavior whereas if your ideas are ignored and tossed out the window without even being considered, next time you might think twice before presenting an idea even though it might be genius.

There are two types of reinforcers: primary and secondary. Primary reinforcers include food, water, sex, etc. They are physiologically or biologically determined. Secondary reinforcers are praise, recognition, money and etc. They derive their effect from a consistent pairing with other reinforcements in the past.

There are five reinforcement strategies: positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishment and extinction. Positive reinforcement occurs “when a behavior is strengthened as a result of receiving a positive condition.” (Types of Operant Conditioning) In other words, if you perform action x, and the result is action y, and if action y is a good result that makes you feel good or is a positive one, you will do action x more often. For example, when I play tennis, I feel good and energized, so I play more tennis.

“Negative reinforcement happens when a behavior is strengthened as a result of stopping or avoiding a negative condition.” In other words, if partaking in action ‘x’ feels bad and partaking in action ‘y’ feels better, I will probably partake in action ‘y’ more. For example, if I have more fun playing tennis with person ‘a’ and I don’t enjoy playing tennis with person ‘b’ I will probably play with person ‘a’ more than person ‘b’.

“Punishment works when a behavior is weakened as a result of experiencing a negative condition.” (Types of Operant Conditioning) Basically if you do something and consequence is a bad one, you will perform that action less. For example, you get points subtracted from your class participation grade if you’re late for class so you try to come to class on time so you don’t get class participation points deducted.

“Extinction occurs when a behavior is weakened as a result of not experiencing an expected positive condition or a negative condition is stopped.” (Types of Operant Conditioning) This basically means that when an action is performed and there is no response to it, neither negative nor positive which will eventually cause the action to decline. For example, if a professor wants his or her class to stop asking questions during the lecture he can start to ignore students who raise their hands. Eventually when the students get no response from the professor they will stop raising their hand.

My personality and life choices can be explained very well with the Operant Conditioning theory. Intrinsic motivation means more to me than anything else in the world. I am also very motivated by money but intrinsic factors weigh out more than extrinsic motivational factors for me. I’m not a very goal oriented person and I go with the flow of things, trying to accomplish the tasks at hand and then dealing with other situations as they come along my path. The only time I set goals is when I am highly motivated to accomplish a task. Each time I am positively appraised by a professor I get motivated to repeat the same behavior. For example earning a teachers respect is far more important to me than scoring an A grade. When a teacher values me as their student based on what I have to offer to the class and my keen desire to learn instead of evaluating me on the grade I might get on a midterm I am more motivated to excel in the class. Studying and completing assignments seem like tedious activities to me and I usually procrastinate a lot but whenever I know that if I accomplish a certain task my ideas will be appreciated in or outside the classroom I will be more motivated to complete the task. To me appraisal is more important than other factors.

Like any individual I make a lot of mistakes and as I go over them I can classify many of my life incidents either according to negative reinforcement or punishment. The distinction between negative reinforcement and punishment is that in the former “the aversive consequence is used to increase the future occurrence of a wanted behavior” whereas in the latter the “aversive consequence is used to decrease the future occurrence of an undesired behavior.” Negative reinforcement increases the probability of the desired behavior by escape and avoidance. When it comes to making decisions I sometimes use the escape method. I let the guilt ring on and only do something about it once I can’t handle it anymore. For example I recently ordered a product through a friend and later decided that I want to cancel the order. The friend hadn’t taken any advance money from me and hadn’t proceeded with making the order. I badly wanted to cancel the order but I felt bad because I had put her through quite a lot of trouble when I was going through the decision making process before placing the order. Henceforth, the embarrassment of wanting to cancel the order kept on driving me crazy until I finally called her one day and explained my situation to her and apologized for the inconvenience. I finally felt better and relieved because I had escaped the situation.

Punishment is one aspect where the operant theory fails to explain my personality and the life choices I have made. According to the Operant Theory of Conditioning punishment decreases behavior whereas in my case it has always led to increased behavior. This phenomenon that B. F. Skinner forgot to incorporate is called rebelliousness. To be told that I will be punished a certain way has never worked on me. In elementary school punishment for a bad behavior would be asked to stand in a corner, in middle school it might mean detention, and in high school it might mean something more consequential. If we look back at our high school days when was it ever that detention helped a student improve his grades or behavior. The kids who got detention were already doing poorly to begin with. Punishing someone is usually not the answer to get a specific behavioral response. Punishment can have many side effects such as rebelliousness especially if a person is being punished on unreasonable grounds. Growing up we have all felt that we were unfairly punished by our parents. For some of us this tactic worked and lead us to become highly successful individuals whereas for some of us this led to massive acts of rebellion such as dyeing our hair pink and red, get face and body piercing, getting permanent tattoo’s, staying out after curfew and breaking so many other rules. Obviously other social theories like the ones of deviance and control also play a part into rebellious activities that Operant Conditioning Theory fails to explain this dilemma even partially.

Sometimes punishments can also be given on false premises and without complete knowledge of the situation for example punishing an entire group of friends because on kids act of deviance. I have also experienced that when I get punishment by loosing access to money I am not too bothered but when I get punished by being looked down upon by someone I respect it makes a huge difference to me. Cheating in a class and getting caught by my favorite professor would be a punishment in itself and will motivate me to never do the same thing again. This happened with me quite a few years ago and caused me to quit cheating all at once for a very long period of time. If I am punished for sloppy work or get a late work penalty by getting a lower pay I am not too bothered because in the end all I’m loosing is money. Money, good grades, or any such rewards are of very less importance to me and never motivate me to increase to decrease a particular type of behavior.

The theory of extinction is somewhat more valid than the theory of punishment. When I look back I can observe that whenever my suggestions or opinions in a classroom have been ignored I have slowly opted away from making any suggestions at all. Ignoring someone usually does cause the other party to stop whatever action he or she is repeating. As I dig deeply into the matter I feel that there can be two explanations of why people fit in with the theory of extinction and why some people don’t. The first factor has to do with confidence, someone who is very confident and believes in him or her self very highly then he might be persistent in repeating his actions if he or she is ignored. Another theory could be that he or she is simply ignorant and fails to asses the situation around him well. A person who succumbs to extinction might either be low on confidence, which is something I feel I am at time or is very intelligent and knows that holding ones tongue at appropriate times can be more beneficial than harmful. Although the extinction aspect of the Operant Conditioning Theory is applicable in my case it might not be in someone else’s case.

Conclusion

In conclusion, although the Operant Conditioning Theory successfully explains many ideas concerning behavior it fails to give importance to social concepts like deviance and control, rebelliousness, self esteem and confidence issues. The Operant Conditioning Theory is simple a ‘very simple’ way of categorizing behavioral patterns that in reality might be far more complex and deep rooted in other concepts.

References

Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2008). Essentials of organizational behavior. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Education International.
Types of Operant Conditioning. Web.

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Theory of Operant Conditioning

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