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B. F. Skinner studied how behavior is controlled by consequences.

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Behavior that is followed by a favorable consequence (a reinforcer) will tend to be repeated,

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while behavior that is followed by an unfavorable consequence (a punisher) will tend to not be repeated.

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In positive reinforcement, a behavior is followed by the arrival of a pleasant event.

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In negative reinforcement, a behavior is followed by the removal of an unpleasant event.

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In both cases, the change is positive and they tend to increase the likelihood that the behavior will be repeated.

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Skinner developed the operant conditioning chamber, or Skinner box, to carefully study operant conditioning.

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Learning is fastest when we use continuous reinforcement, rewarding the desired behavior every time it occurs.

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But behaviors learned through continuous reinforcement are easily extinguished when the reinforcement stops.

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The Skinner box was particularly useful for studying schedules of reinforcement when the reward is not delivered after every response.

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This is partial reinforcement.

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Skinner studied for basic types of schedules: Fixed Ratio, Variable Ratio, Fixed Interval, and Variable Interval.

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These schedules extinguish much more slowly when the animal is no longer reinforced.

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The ratio schedules require the animal to make a certain number of responses to get a reinforcement.

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The interval schedules require the animal to make a response after a time period has elapsed.

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The fixed schedules are always the same and the variable schedules change from reinforcement to reinforcement.

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While Skinner studied rats and pigeons, mostly,

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operant conditioning has been found to powerfully affect the learning of human behavior as well.

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Just recall the giving of candy when a child says “thank you”.