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Psychologist Edward Thorndike developed the law of effect: the idea that responses that are
reinforced are “stamped in” by experience and thus occur more frequently, whereas responses
that are punishing are “stamped out” and subsequently occur less frequently.
B. F. Skinner (1904–1990) expanded on Thorndike’s ideas to develop a set of principles to
explain operant conditioning.
Positive reinforcement strengthens a response by presenting a something pleasant after the
response, and negative reinforcement strengthens a response by reducing or removing something
unpleasant. Positive punishment weakens a response by presenting something unpleasant after
the response, whereas negative punishment weakens a response by reducing or removing
something pleasant.
Shaping is the process of guiding an organism’s behavior to the desired outcome through the use
of reinforcers.
Reinforcement may be either partial or continuous. Partial-reinforcement schedules are
determined by whether the reward is presented on the basis of the time that elapses between
rewards (interval) or on the basis of the number of responses that the organism engages in (ratio),
and by whether the reinforcement occurs on a regular (fixed) or unpredictable (variable)
schedule.
Not all learning can be explained through the principles of classical and operant conditioning.
Insight is the sudden understanding of the components of a problem that makes the solution
apparent, and latent learning refers to learning that is not reinforced and not demonstrated until
there is motivation to do so.
Learning by observing the behavior of others and the consequences of those behaviors is known
as observational learning. Aggression, altruism, and many other behaviors are learned through
observation.
Learning theories can and have been applied to change behaviors in many areas of everyday life.
Some advertising uses classical conditioning to associate a pleasant response with a product.