![]() ![]() ![]() We form an association between the behavior we exhibited and the consequence, whether good or bad. Operant conditioning is built on the foundation of rewards and punishment: when our behavior is rewarded, we are encouraged to repeat or continue that behavior, and when our behavior is punished, we are discouraged from repeating or continuing that behavior. This theory holds that classical conditioning-the phenomenon by which Pavlov discovered that we associate things that happen sequentially as causally related-is too simplistic to explain how behavior is usually influenced, particularly the more complex behaviors (McLeod, 2018). It was in this vein that Skinner developed his theory of operant conditioning. In this view, we are all born with roughly equal potential, barring genetic disorders and other physical limitations or advantages. According to them, just about everything that you could use to describe yourself-whether that is traits, skills, titles, or preferences-comes from your environment. The more hardline behaviorists believed that humans are born as “blank slates” with virtually no pre-existing programming or inherent characteristics. nurture” debate, behaviorists fall firmly on the “nurture” side. The general idea behind behaviorism is that people (and animals) are heavily influenced and directed by outside factors. It was championed by John Watson, but Skinner is the psychologist most often associated with behaviorism thanks to his many theories and experiments (GoodTherapy, 2015). If you’re not familiar with behaviorism, it’s definitely worth a dive into the literature however, for the purposes of this piece, we’ll give a brief overview.īehaviorism was the guiding perspective on psychology for several decades, from around the 1930s to the 1960s. ![]() The theory of operant conditioning was developed by famed behaviorist B. In this theory, “positive” doesn’t necessarily mean “good” and “negative” doesn’t necessarily mean “bad.”ī.F.
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