Psychology
What is Operant conditioning?
Operant conditioning is learning through consequences: behaviors followed by rewards are repeated, and behaviors followed by punishments fade. B.F. Skinner described how rewards and penalties shape voluntary behavior.
See it, don’t just read it.
Watch a 2-minute lesson with voice + animation that explains operant conditioning.
Key things to understand
- 1Reinforcement (reward) increases a behavior; punishment decreases it.
- 2'Positive' means adding something; 'negative' means removing something.
- 3It explains habits, animal training, and app/game design.
- 4It differs from classical conditioning, which links stimuli to automatic responses.
Frequently asked questions
- What's the difference between operant and classical conditioning?
- Operant changes voluntary behavior through consequences; classical links a stimulus to an automatic reflex.
- What is reinforcement?
- Anything that increases the likelihood of a behavior — a reward (positive) or removing something unpleasant (negative).
- Who discovered operant conditioning?
- Psychologist B.F. Skinner, building on earlier work by Edward Thorndike.