operant conditioning

views updated

operant conditioning(instrumental conditioning) Conditioning in which an animal forms an association between a particular behaviour and a result that reinforces the behaviour, its behaviour being operant (or instrumental) in producing the result. For example, a bird that turns over dead leaves may find food beneath them, so it may come to associate turning over dead leaves with finding food. The process may be negative, as when an animal learns to associate a particular activity with an unpleasant result.

More From encyclopedia.com