Fisheries Extension Education (2+1)

Conditioning

1. Classical Conditioning : Developed by Russia Psychologist Petrocitch Pavlov

2. Operant Conditioning : Developed by American Psychologist B.F. Skinner.

• It established the laws of behaviour through the study of operant learning.
• An operant is an emitted response.
• Experiments conducted in Skinner Box
• In the Skinner box be experimental animal was maintained free from distracting stimuli. In the experiment, the animal can receive reinforcement upon emitting the proper operant.
• In the experiment the operant was a bar press and the reinforcement was a pallet of food.
• The fundamental law of operant conditioning is that if the occurrence of an operant is followed by a reinforcing stimulus, it will increase the rate of responding.
• The reinforces may be positive or negative.
  • positive reinforcers – eg. Food, wafer or sexual contact
  • negative reinforcers – eg. Electric shocks, bright lights and loud noiserd.