Introduction
There are several techniques and procedures to study the operant behaviour and after being first studied by Thorndike in 1898, Skinner did clearly define it by mentioning that the classical conditioning is unable to explain the development of certain skills or behaviour based on the environment and deduced Operant conditioning, which is basically a concept that tells us about the way we develop certain behaviour with respect to the environment that we are subjected to. Skinner did multiple experiments to explain environment based behaviour and explained the reasons behind certain behaviours.
Skinner also explains about Reinforcement and mentions that it occurs in case the probability of behaviour is more and the reason behind that is the presentation or removal of some kind of stimulus. Reinforcement is only possible when there is an increase in the behavioural probability and in case if it is caused by presentation of stimulus its positive reinforcement however the one caused by a removal is negative. As an example we can say that, we might think that a candy will be able to reinforce a child to study but that might not happen and in that case the candy is not causing a positive reinforcement but a positive behaviour from the child will mean positive reinforcement and if no candy means decrease in study, then it shows negative reinforcement.
Another procedure which was studied by Skinner was basically about Punishment. Punishment is a reciprocal of reinforcement and in case of a punishment the probability of behaviour is decreased in case if there is a presentation or removal of a stimulus. In case if there is a probability of a decrease in certain behaviour due to presentation of a stimulus it is positive punishment and similarly a decreased behaviour due to removal of stimulus is negative punishment.
Skinner also did a few experiments to explain superstitions as a concept where a rewarding behaviour gets repeated again and it is believed that showing that behaviour will result in a positive result. Hence skinner has successfully used various methods from operant conditioning to explain the way environment controls behaviour.
