5.1.3 Types of Reinforcement & Skinner’s Research

Operant conditioning is learning which take place due to consequences that shapes both human and animal behaviour

• There are 3 types of reinforcement: 
• Positive reinforcement
  • Receiving a reward when performing a certain behaviour, e.g. the teacher rewarding the student for handing their homework in
• Negative reinforcement
  • Performing a certain behaviour to avoid something negative, e.g. the student completing their homework to avoid receiving a detention 
• Punishment
  • Receiving an unpleasant consequence for your behaviour, e.g. the student receiving a detention for not completing their homework
• Both positive and negative reinforcement encourage the behaviour, increasing its likelihood, whereas punishment discourages the behaviour, decreasing the likelihood of it being repeated

• B.F. Skinner (1953) suggested learning is an active process whereby humans and animals operate in their environment 
• Skinner studied how animals learn from the consequences of their actions 

The Skinner box experiment 

• Skinner devised a box known (unsurprisingly) as the 'Skinner Box' 
• Inside the box, Skinner placed one rat at a time 
• Each box contained different stimuli, including a lever that released food and an electroplated floor
• Rats were placed in these boxes consecutively and would learn how to release food by pressing a lever (reward = positive reinforcement)
• The rats also learned to avoid the electric shock (punishment) by pressing the lever when the light came on (avoiding punishment = negative reinforcement)

The Skinner box - a place of pleasure or pain for the poor rat!