Operant Conditioning History And Application Essay

Operant Conditioning Never Goes Out of Style: The History and Application of Operant Conditioning Since the beginning of time people have wanted to control others behaviors and this want is still prevalent in the world. One way people can achieve this is through operant conditioning. Experiments that worked with controlling behavior by awarding or removing a reinforcement or punishment were conducted over one hundred years ago (Chance 1999). Unlike some psychological theories that become irrelevant after further research, operant conditioning aspects are still used to influence behavior today. Operant conditioning is not only being used in experiments conducted by psychologists, but also by many businesses. E.L. Thorndyke’s and B.F. Skinner’s experiments shed light on operant conditioning and their research findings are still applicable. One proponent of operant conditioning was E.L. Thorndike.(Scott, 2009). Thorndike made major contributions to the psychology field, by examining how animals learn. His finding can be found in his dissertation, A n Experimental Study of the Associative Process in Animals, which was released in 1898. In the his experiments, he put hungry cats into a puzzle box and placed food that was visible to the cat outside of the box. The cat was released when it stepped on a lever that would cause the door to open. He collected data from the repeated trials on how the cats behaved while in the box and how long it took for them to escape.Show MoreRelatedSkinner Behavioral Analysis Summary972 Words   |  4 Pagesgenetics. Conditioning According to our text Skinner recognized two forms of Conditioning. One is called classical and the other is operant. In classical conditioning a response is produced in relation to a specific stimulus, so the environment acts on the organism. 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