Schedules of Reinforcement - Psychology Definition of the Week

At first glance, the operant conditioning process seems fairly straight forward. Simply observe a behavior and then offer a reward or punishment. However, B.F. Skinner discovered that the timing of these rewards and punishments has an important influence on how quickly a new behavior is acquired and the strength of the response. Certain schedules of reinforcement may be more effective in specific situations. Read more...

Related Reading:

• What Is Behaviorism?
• Classical Conditioning
• Operant Conditioning

_{Image courtesy Piotr Bizior}