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Operant Conditioning
Learning by associating behaviors with their consequences, where behaviors are shaped by their consequences, either through reinforcement or punishment
Law of effect
States that behavior resulting in positive outcomes become strengthened, while those followed by negative outcomes are weakened
Positive Reinforcement
ADDING something desirable to increase the likelihood of a behavior occurring
Negative Reinforcement
REMOVING something unpleasant to increase the likelihood of a behavior occurring
Primary Reinforcers
Naturally rewarding, because they will satisfy basic needs like food, water, or warmth
Secondary Reinforcement
Learned rewards, often associated with primary reinforcers
Positive punishment
Adding something unpleasant to decrease a certain behavior
Negative punishment
When something desirable is removed to decrease a particular behavior
Discrimination
The individual can tell the difference between which behaviors get rewarded and which dont’
Generalization
The individual applies what they learned through conditioning to similar situations
Reinforcement Discrimination
When an individual learns to respond only to specific cues or signals that indicate when a behavior will be reinforced
Reinforcement generalization
When a response that has been reinforced in the presence of one stimulus also occurs in the presence of a similar stimuli
Shaping
When reinforcement is used to gradually teach a complex behavior by rewarding small steps that lead towards the final desired behavior
Instinctive Drift
Limitation in shaping behaviors, due to the fact that certain natural behaviors are essentially hardwired into an animal
Superstitious behaviors
When people mistakenly believe that an action leads to a certain outcome, even though two things are not actually connected
Reinforcement schedule
When and how often reinforcers are given to an individual for a behavior
continuous Reinforcement
When reinforcement is provided every time a correct behavior is performed
Extrinsic Motivation
When an individual is motivated to preform a behavior because of an external reward or to avoid an external punishment
Intrinsic Motivation
When an individual has a desire to do something for their own sake, there is no external punishment or reward
Partial Reinforcement
When reinforcement does not occur with every correct behavior, making it more resistant to extinction
Fixed interval
When a reinforcement is given to an individual after a set amount of time has passed
Variable interval
when reinforcement is given after an unpredictable amount of time
Fixed ratio
When reinforcement is given after a specific number of behaviors
Variable Ratio
When reinforcement is provided after an unpredictable number of correct behavior, this leads to a high and steady response rate
Learned Helplessness
When an individual or animal believes they cannot influence or change an event in life, even when in reality they can
Note 
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