Shaping a person’s behavior does not take one or two attempts. It takes a consistency of applicable methods that would give the longing results that a person desires. Operant conditioning is the prudent method to use to reach such goals. B. F. Skinner, the behaviorist that came up with the operant conditioning theory, began the innovative experiments that led to the detection of the effects of positive and negative reinforcements. These two methods are effective tools that alter behavior in any home, school, or social environment that a person could manifest unpredictable behavior. The schedule of reinforcement is also a vital component of the learning process, which maintains positive behavior and a constant rate of response.
The theory of operant conditioning
Operant conditioning is an acclimatizing method of learning in which an individual’s behavior modifies by the use of positive or negative reinforcement. Therefore, the individual’s behavior changes in use, regularity, and strength. Operant conditioning came to be notable from classical conditioning; entails the conditioning of reflex behaviors, which stimulates by the manifestations of precursor conditions. The difference between the two is that classical conditioning does not uphold its method by the use of reinforcement. Alternatively, operant conditioning uses reinforcement to modify voluntary behavior. American psychologist Burrhus Frederic Skinner, mostly known by B. F. Skinner, was the first to revolutionize the term “operant conditioning.” Skinner develops his theory by creating the operant conditioning box or Skinner box, which he uses in the experimental analysis of behavior. The operant conditioning theory explains that the conditioning of behavior comes from the process of “operating” in the environment (Boeree, 1998). In the sequence of the everyday life, an organism encounters a unique