[Experiment] The Skinner Box and operant condition

[Experiment] The Skinner Box and operant conditioning

 

1. To conduct the experiment, begin by placing a hungry rat inside of the box. Every time the rat presses a lever inside the box, it will receive a pellet of food. The rat will soon come to learn that by pressing the lever, it will get food (a positive condition), and thus a behavior is strengthened by positive reinforcement.

 

2. Next, place a rat into the box and then give it a slight electrical shock (a negative conditoin) to its feet. If the rat presses the lever, the shock will stop. Then send another slight electrical shck to the rat's feet. Once again, when the rat presses the lever, the electrical shock stops. Every time the rat is given an electrical shock, the rat learns that in order to stop it, it must press the lever. This is an example of negative reinfrcement, because the rat is learning a behavior in order to stop a negative condition.

 

3. Place a rat into the box give it a slight electrical shock (the negative condition) on its feet each time it presses the lever. The behavior of pressing the lever will be weakened because of the negative conditon: this is an example of pushment.

 

4. Now, place the rat into the box and do not tive it food or an electrical shock whenever the lever is pressed. The rat will not associate a positive or negative condition to the behavior or pressing the lever, and thus this behavior will be weakened. This is an example of extinction.