_______ is the founder of operant conditioning.
The speed of conditioning depends on a number of factors, such as the nature and strength of both the CS and the US, previous experience and the animal's motivational state Acquisition may occur with a single pairing of the CS and US, but usually, there is a gradual increase in the conditioned response to the CS. Most relevant experiments have used the classical conditioning procedure, although instrumental (operant) conditioning experiments have also been used, and the strength of classical conditioning is often measured through its operant effects, as in conditioned suppression (see Phenomena section above) and autoshaping. Operant conditioning is an aspect of learning theory and is the use of consequences to modify the occurrence and form of behavior. Edward Thorndike B.F. Skinner. Around the turn of the century, Edward Thorndike attempted to develop an experimental method for problem solving ability of cats and dogs. Thorndike created puzzle-boxes and observe how the animals would react when put in the boxes. The influence of classical conditioning can be seen in emotional responses such as phobia, disgust, nausea, anger, and sexual arousal. A familiar example is conditioned nausea, in which the CS is the sight or smell of a particular food that in the past has resulted in an unconditioned stomach upset. Operant conditioning, sometimes called instrumental conditioning or instrumental learning, was first extensively studied by Edward L. Thorndike (1874-1949), who observed the behavior of cats trying to escape from home-made puzzle boxes. When first constrained in the boxes, the cats took a long time to escape. Reinforcement, punishment, and extinction Edit. Reinforcement, and punishment, the core ideas of operant conditioning, are either positive (introducing a stimulus to an organism's environment following a response), or negative (removing a stimulus from an organism's environment following a response). This form of conditioning follows a two-step procedure. First a neutral stimulus (CS1) comes to signal a US through forward conditioning. Then a second neutral stimulus (CS2) is paired with the first (CS1) and comes to yield its own conditioned response. In 1938 Burrhus Friederich (B.F.) Skinner took Thorndike's ideas and invented the Skinner-Box, which closed in the maze and made the rat learn stimulus response in association with different parts of the maze, perhaps in sequence rather than having an internalized map of the maze. Together with operant conditioning, classical conditioning became the foundation of Behaviorism, a school of psychology that dominated psychology in the mid-20th century and is still an important influence on the practice of psychological therapy and the study of animal behaviour (ethology).
Edward L. Thorndike