AP PSYCHOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Skinner in his theory of operant conditioning. In positive reinforcement, a response or behavior is strengthened by rewards, leading to the repetition of desired behavior. The reward is a reinforcing stimulus. Skinner showed how positive reinforcement worked by placing a hungry rat in his Skinner box.

Detailed explanation-2: -While Skinner’s early studies were done using rats, he later moved on to study pigeons. The operant conditioning chamber may be used to observe or manipulate behaviour. An animal is placed in the box where it must learn to activate levers or respond to light or sound stimuli for reward.

Detailed explanation-3: -The purpose of the Skinner box is to analyze animal behavior by detecting when an animal has performed a desired behavior and then administering a reward, thus determining how long it takes the animal to learn to perform the behavior.

Detailed explanation-4: -In operant conditioning, the animal repeats behaviors that have desired consequences and avoids behaviors that lead to undesirable consequences. For instance, bears, raccoons, dogs, and rats raid garbage cans because they have learned through trial and error that doing so leads to finding food.

Detailed explanation-5: -During World War II, B.F. Skinner embarked on what he later called a “crackpot idea, born on the wrong side of the fence intellectually, but eventually vindicated in a sort of middle-class respectability”. His plan, which he called Project Pigeon, was to use trained pigeons to guide armed missiles toward their targets.