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B. F. Skinner
Skinner proved through experiments that the animal could be trained to
reveal the desired response whenever a specific stimulus is presented and
this he called instrumental or operant conditioning. He proved that
non-automatic actions can be conditioned. According to Skinner, how
response is conditioned depends on
the process of
reinforcement.
Reinforcement
means positive or negative rewards. Positive reinforcement
helps to establish
and
consolidate the response, whereas, the negative reinforcement eradicates
the response. According to him, reinforcement can be scheduled in
different ways and these scheduled reinforcement affects differently on
the conditioning of response. The schedules of reinforcement can be done
as followed:
FIXED INTERVAL SCHEDULE:
The response is reinforced when the specific period of
time is passed, e.g, after each 5 minutes.
FIXED-RATIO SCHEDULES:
It means that the subject has to produce specified number of responses for
every reward.
VARIABLE-RATIO SCHEDULE:
Reinforcement comes after a
certain number of responses but the number varies irregularly.
MULTIPLE SCHEDULES:
It means presence of two stimuli. But, one schedule of reinforcement is
in force in the presence of one stimulus and a different schedule in the
presence of another stimulus
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