Operant Behavior
Publication Type: |
Journal Article |
Year of Publication: |
1963 |
Authors: |
B. F. Skinner |
Publication/Journal: |
American Psychologist |
Keywords: |
operant behavior, operant behaviour, operant conditioning |
Abstract:
“Reinforcement may be contingent, not only on the occurrence of a response, but on special features of its topography, on the presence of prior stimuli, and on scheduling systems. Operant techniques are important in defining the behavioral effects of physiological variables—surgical, electrical, and chemical—in specifying what aspects of behavior are to be attributed to hereditary endowment, in tracing features of mature behavior to early environment, and so on. They are important in clarifying the nature of defective, retarded, or psychotic behavior.” Within the field of human behavior “the contingencies of reinforcement which define operant behavior are widespread if not ubiquitous. In its very brief history, the study of operant behavior has clarified the nature of the relation between behavior and its consequences and has devised techniques which apply the methods of the natural science to its investigation.”