Operational conditioning, also called instrumental conditioning, is a learning method that uses the combination of reinforcements (rewards) and punishments with a particular behavior or pattern of behavior, through operational conditioning an association is established between a behavior and a consequence of such conduct.
Operational conditioning was first described by behavioral psychologist Burrhus Frederic Skinner as a learning method to increase or decrease the likelihood of future behavior.
- Operational conditioning is based on a simple premise: actions taken by the reinforcement will tend to be repeated.
- While actions resulting in punishment or adverse consequences will be weakened and less likely to be repeated in the future.
An example: when a lab mouse presses a blue button, it receives a tablespoon of food as a reward, but when you press the red button, it receives a slight electric shock, as a result, it learns to press the blue button, but avoids the red button.
Operational conditioning is not only something that happens in experimental environments when training laboratory animals, but also plays an important role in daily learning, strengthening and punishment occur almost daily in natural environments as well as in more structured environments.
Skinner used the term “operational” to refer to any “active behavior that operates in the environment to generate consequences”. In other words, Skinner’s theory seeks to explain how we acquire much of the range of behaviors we exhibit every day.
Skinner thought it was not really necessary to observe internal thoughts and motivations to explain the behavior, but suggested that we should only examine the external and observable causes of human behavior.
Skinner’s theory of surgical behavior was strongly influenced by the work of psychologist Edward Thorndike. Thorndike proposed what he called the “law of effect. “According to this principle, actions followed by desirable results are more likely to be repeated, while actions followed by undesirable results. results are less likely to be repeated.
Skinner distinguishes between two types of behavior: instinctive responses and operational behaviors.
Although conventional conditioning may explain the behaviors of those involved in the study, Skinner realized that he could not explain everything we learned, so he suggested that operational conditioning was important to explain how we proceed: humans, as a rule, tend to repeat the actions that have led to success.
Does the promise or possibility of reward cause an increase in the frequency or intensity of the behavior we think of?(Because this has happened in the past) that will lead us to achieve it, however, the conditioning operation can also be done to decrease the elimination of a desirable result or the application of a negative consequence can be used to decrease or prevent undesirable behavior.
In this sense, Skinner has identified two key aspects of the conditioning process: reinforcement and punishment; strengthening is used to increase behavior, while punishment is used to reduce it; In addition, we find that variable reinforcement can be much better than constant reinforcement. as the acquired behavior becomes more resistant to extinction.
He also identified two different types of reinforcement and two different types of punishment.
Although conductism lost much of its importance during the early part of the 19th century, active conditioning remains an important tool and is often used in behavioral training processes; in fact, many parents use it without knowing the theory behind it.
So is operating packaging a way to build partnerships? With an impact on the behavior we can easily recognize in our daily lives, both in the education we receive and in the education we offer our children or in the training we do with our pets, for example.
Advertising and marketing actions also use operational packages in their strategies to sell products and services to consumers.