B. F. Skinner studied how behavior is controlled by consequences.
Behavior that is followed by a favorable consequence (a reinforcer) will tend to be repeated,
while behavior that is followed by an unfavorable consequence (a punisher) will tend to not be repeated.
In positive reinforcement, a behavior is followed by the arrival of a pleasant event.
In negative reinforcement, a behavior is followed by the removal of an unpleasant event.
In both cases, the change is positive and they tend to increase the likelihood that the behavior will be repeated.
Skinner developed the operant conditioning chamber, or Skinner box, to carefully study operant conditioning.
Learning is fastest when we use continuous reinforcement, rewarding the desired behavior every time it occurs.
But behaviors learned through continuous reinforcement are easily extinguished when the reinforcement stops.
The Skinner box was particularly useful for studying schedules of reinforcement when the reward is not delivered after every response.
This is partial reinforcement.
Skinner studied for basic types of schedules: Fixed Ratio, Variable Ratio, Fixed Interval, and Variable Interval.
These schedules extinguish much more slowly when the animal is no longer reinforced.
The ratio schedules require the animal to make a certain number of responses to get a reinforcement.
The interval schedules require the animal to make a response after a time period has elapsed.
The fixed schedules are always the same and the variable schedules change from reinforcement to reinforcement.
While Skinner studied rats and pigeons, mostly,
operant conditioning has been found to powerfully affect the learning of human behavior as well.
Just recall the giving of candy when a child says “thank you”.