| A | B |
|---|
| Operant Conditioning | The type of conditioning that is used to change behavior; works best on voluntary behavior. |
| Thorndike | One of the first researchers of Operant Conditioning, he came up with the law that underlies this kind of conditioning. |
| Thorndike's Law Of Effect | The law that underlies Operant Conditioning, which says that if the consequences of a behavior are pleasant, the behavior will continue, and if the consequences of a behavior are unpleasant, the behavior will stop. |
| B.F. Skinner | Researcher who made up the term "Operant Conditioning"; best-known behaviorist. |
| Skinner Box | An experimental cage that holds an animal subject and has a way to deliver food or water, and a mechanism (bar, lever, disk) that needs to be used by the subject to deliver the food/drink. |
| Reinforcement | An element of operant conditioning that is done to strenghten a desired behavior. |
| Positive | Introduction of a stimulus to either reinforce or punish a behavior. |
| Negative | Removal of a stimulus to either reinforce or punish a behavior. |
| Positive Reinforcement | Introduction of something pleasant to strengthen a behavior. |
| Negative Reinforcement | Removal of something unpleasant to encourage a behavior. |
| Positive Punishment | Introduction of something negative to discourage (stop) a behavior. |
| Negative Punishment | Removal of something pleasant to discourage (stop) a behavior. |
| Punishment | An element of operant conditioning done to discourage (stop) a behavior. |
| Avoidance Reinforcement | A type of negative reinforcer in which a behavior is performed to avoid receiving an unpleasant stimulus. |
| Escape Reinforcement | A type of negative reinforcement in which a behavior is performed to get out of a currently-occuring unpleasant situation. |
| Shaping | Reinforcing intermediate behaviors of a subject in Operant Conditioning; the goal is to let the subject move through these steps towads the end goal, a larger behavior or set of behaviors. |
| Chaining | An operant conditioning method of getting a subject to perform a series of behaviors (rather than just one); linking several behaviors to one reinforcer. |
| Extinction | In Operant Conditioning, this occurs when the reinforcer is not given for a behavior. |
| Spontaneous Recovery | In Operant Conditioning, this describes the reapperance of a response behavior after it has been extinguished. |
| Generalization | In Operant Conditioning, this occurs when an organism responds in similar ways to get a reinforcer; a rat pressing things other than the bar in a Skinner Box to get food. |
| Discrimination | In Operant Conditioning this occurs when an organism performs a very specific response (behavior) to receive a reinforcer. |
| Punishment | This method of Operant Conditioning does not build behavior, so it should not be used as a way to get children to behave in a particular way. |
| Primary Reinforcers | Reinforcers that satisfy basic needs like food, water, rest. |
| Secondary Reinforcers | Reinforcers that are rewarding because we attach some value to them; praise, playing a video game are examples. |
| Token Economy | A special kind of reinforcer that can be traded in to get a primary or secondary reinforcer; money, tokens, tickets, points. |
| Reinforcement Schedules | Schedule an Operant Conditioning Experimenter uses to give reinforcers. |
| Fixed-Ratio (FR) Schedule | The reinforcement schedule in which the reinforcer is given after a set number of responses. |
| Continuous Reinforcement | The reinforcement schedule in which the reinforcer is given after every time the response behavior is performed. |
| Variable-Ratio (VR) Schedule | The reinforcement schedule in which the reinforcer is given after a varying number of responses are given. |
| Fixed-Interval (FI) Schedule | The reinforcement schedule in which the reinforcer is given after a fixed time; after this specific period of time, when the response is next given, the reinforcer is given. |
| Variable-Interval (VI) Schedule | The reinforcement schedule in which the reinforcer is given after a varying amount of time |
| Continuous Reinforcement | The schedule of reinforcement that leads to the fastest learning but easiest extinction. |
| Variable Schedules of Reinforcement | The types of reinforcement schedules most resistant to extinction. |
