AP PSYCHOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -According to B. F. Skinner’s theory of learning, our behaviors are developed or conditioned through reinforcements. He referred to this process as operant conditioning, with operant referring to any behavior that acts on the environment and leads to consequences.

Detailed explanation-2: -B.F. Skinner (1904–90) was a leading American psychologist, Harvard professor and proponent of the behaviourist theory of learning in which learning is a process of ‘conditioning’ in an environment of stimulus, reward and punishment.

Detailed explanation-3: -Skinner (operant conditioning). Reinforcement theory says that behavior is driven by its consequences. As such, positive behaviors should be rewarded positively. Negative behaviors should not be rewarded or should be punished.

Detailed explanation-4: -Skinner believed that behavior is motivated by the consequences we receive for the behavior: reinforcements and punishments. His idea that learning is the result of consequences is based on the law of effect, which was first proposed by psychologist Edward Thorndike.

Detailed explanation-5: -The theory of B.F. Skinner is based upon the idea that learning is a function of change in overt behavior. Changes in behavior are the result of an individual’s response to events (stimuli) that occur in the environment.