Operant conditioning, sometimes called instrumental conditioning or Skinnerian conditioning, is a method of learning that uses rewards and punishment to modify behavior. Through operant conditioning, ...

Operant conditioning is B.F. Skinner’s name for instrumental learning: learning by consequences. Not a new idea, of course. Humanity has always known how to teach children and animals by means of ...

This refers to a form of learning wherein certain forms of voluntary behaviour are either encouraged or discouraged through the appropriate use of rewards and punishment. Such learning happens because ...

While I appreciate David P. Barash’s fine essays, I take exception to his latest (“B.F. Skinner, Revisited,” The Chronicle Review, April 1). In it, he manages to misrepresent the views of not one but ...

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American While second nature to many of us, driving a ...

Burrhus Frederic Skinner was one of the preeminent American psychologists of the 20th century. B.F. Skinner founded “radical behaviorism”—a twist on traditional behaviorism, a field of psychology that ...

B.F. Skinner gave us concepts like “conditioned behavior,” “positive reinforcement,” and even “time-outs” for children. But he was also a radical among psychologists who cast aside notions of dignity ...

Operant conditioning is B.F. Skinner’s name for instrumental learning: learning by consequences. Not a new idea, of course. Humanity has always known how to teach children and animals by means of ...