What is Operant Conditioning (O C) ?
OC states that much of behavior is under control of it’s consequences. (OC forms an association between doing a particular behavior and a consequence). There are four possible consequences to any behavior. They are: 1.Something Good can start or be presented (positive reinforcement) 2.Something Good can end or be taken away (negative punishment) 3.Something Bad can start or be presented (positive punishment) 4.Something Bad can end or be taken away (negative reinforcement) Consequences have to be immediate or clearly linked to the behavior. With verbal humans, we can explain the connection between the consequence and the behavior, even if they are separated by a long length of time. For example, you might tell a friend that you’ll buy dinner for them since they helped you work on your car last week or a parent might explain that the child can’t go to the movies because of his bad grades. With very young children, other humans who don’t have verbal skills, and animals, you can’t explain
