CBSE BoardEnglish MediumSTD 11 HumanitiesPsychologyLearning5 Marks
Question
Explain Operant Conditioning with example.
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Answer
This type of conditioning was first investigated by B.F.Skinner:
Operants are those behaviours or responses, which are emitted by animals and human beings voluntrarily and are under their control.
The term operant is used because the organism operates on the environment. Operant behaviour is called operant conditioning.
e.g. Skinner's Experiments. Rats and pigeons in an Operant chamber.
Skinner conducted his studies on rats and pigeons in specially made boxes, called the Skinner Box.
A hungry rat (one at a time) is placed in the chamber which was so built that the rat could move inside but could not come out. In the chamber there was a lever, which was connected to a food container kept on the top of the chamber.
When the lever is pressed, a food pellet drops on the plate placed close to the lever.
While moving around and pawing the walls (exploratory behaviour), the hungry rat accidentally presses the lever and a food pellet drops on the plate. The hungry rat eats it.
In the next trial, after a while the exploratory behaviour again starts. As the number of trials increases, the rat takes lesser and lesser time to press the lever for the food.
Conditioning is complete when the rat presses the lever immediately after it is placed in the chamber. It is obvious that lever pressing is an operant behaviour.
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