Operant Conditioning Methods And Research - 1620 Words

Introduction In the article, â€Å"Operant Conditioning Methods Applied to Research in Chronic Schizophrenia,† a study is described where experimenters used operant conditioning methods to analyze the behavior of â€Å"non-verbal, lowly motivated, chronic psychotic patients.† (Lindsley 118-119) Before this study can be understood, a brief description of operant conditioning is necessary. Operant conditioning was a method developed by B.F. Skinner in 1938. (121) Prior to this year, Skinner became very interested in analyzing the behavior of laboratory animals. He put the animal(s) in a small enclosure, free to do whatever they wanted. Within the small enclosure, there was a device, such as a light switch, that the animal could operate by turning it on and off. Every time the animal turned the light switch on or off, an item that would reinforce the behavior of turning the light switch on or off, such as a piece of food, would become available to the animal. Skinner believed that by providing a reinforcing item to the animal every time it displayed the desired behavior of turning the light switch on an off, the animal would continuously display the target behavior. Research Questions Since 1938, operant conditioning has been used extensively by many different professionals to control many different types of behavior. In the study in this article, experimenters posed the question, â€Å"How would individuals with schizophrenia behave in an enclosed space with nothing but a stimulusShow MoreRelatedEssay Is Learning a Science?801 Words   |  4 Pageslearning methods. These methods are classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Precisely, what is conditioning? Conditioning is the process of changing behavior in such a way that an action formerly associated with a particular stimulus becomes associated with a new and unrelated stimulus. 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