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Positive psychology and humanistic psychology

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An exam question on research methods: Part 1

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Operant conditioning

Matt Jarvis looks at the best online resources for reading around psychology in general, and for focused work in operant conditioning in particular

A baby in a Skinner box

Operant conditioning is learning by the consequences of our actions. Frequency of a behaviour increases if it is reinforced and decreases if it is punished. You can read a good general introduction to operant conditioning at simplypsychology.org: www.tinyurl.com/7wxntsf. You can also see a short video of B. F. Skinner talking about operant conditioning, including his classic experiment with pigeons, here: www.tinyurl.com/2w38xkx. There are a number of other videos of Skinner at the same site. You might also want to read about how operant conditioning is applied in psychological therapy in the form of token economies, here: www.tinyurl.com/pswz8x2.

Now, what if you want to do some operant conditioning online? For a simple demonstration try starting with www.tinyurl.com/pn8b3oj, where you can modify the behaviour of Fuzzy the alien. For something a bit more advanced, try this simulation where you can train a bird to peck by using food rewards: www.tinyurl.com/ngka2se.

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Positive psychology and humanistic psychology

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An exam question on research methods: Part 1

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