b. f. skinner is credited for the identification of operant conditioning.
b. f. skinner is credited for the identification of operant conditioning.
who is credited for the identification of operant conditioning?
b. f. skinner
operant conditioning, sometimes called "instrumental learning", was first extensively studied by edward l. thorndike (1874–1949), who observed the behavior of cats trying to escape from home-made puzzle boxes. a cat could escape from the box by a simple response such as pulling a cord or pushing a pole, but when first constrained, the cats took a long time to get out. with repeated trials ineffective responses occurred less frequently and successful responses occurred more frequently, so the cats escaped more and more quickly. thorndike generalized this finding in his law of effect, which states that behaviors followed by satisfying consequences tend to be repeated and those that produce unpleasant consequences are less likely to be repeated. in short, some consequences "strengthen" behavior and some consequences "weaken" behavior. by plotting escape time against trial number thorndike produced the first known animal learning curves through this procedure.
operant conditioning
this phenomenon was not understood until s.l.a. marshall (brigadier general and military historian) undertook interview studies of wwii infantry immediately following combat engagement. marshall's well-known and controversial book, men against fire, revealed that only 15% of soldiers fired their rifles with the purpose of killing in combat. following acceptance of marshall's research by the us army in 1946, the human resources research office of the us army began implementing new training protocols which resemble operant conditioning methods. subsequent applications of such methods increased the percentage of soldiers able to kill to around 50% in korea and over 90% in vietnam. revolutions in training included replacing traditional pop-up firing ranges with three-dimensional, man-shaped, pop-up targets which collapsed when hit. this provided immediate feedback and acted as positive reinforcement for a soldier's behavior. other improvements to military training methods have included the timed firing course; more realistic training; high repetitions; praise from superiors; marksmanship rewards; and group recognition. negative reinforcement includes peer accountability or the requirement to retake courses. modern military training conditions mid-brain response to combat pressure by closely simulating actual combat, using mainly pavlovian classical conditioning and skinnerian operant conditioning (both forms of behaviorism).modern marksmanship training is such an excellent example of behaviorism that it has been used for years in the introductory psychology course taught to all cadets at the us military academy at west point as a classic example of operant conditioning. in the 1980s, during a visit to west point, b.f. skinner identified modern military marksmanship training as a near-perfect application of operant conditioning.lt. col. dave grossman states about operant conditioning and us military training that:it is entirely possible that no one intentionally sat down to use operant conditioning or behavior modification techniques to train soldiers in this area…but from the standpoint of a psychologist who is also a historian and a career soldier, it has become increasingly obvious to me that this is exactly what has been achieved.
operant conditioning