Operant conditioning is the use of a behavior's antecedent and/or its consequence to influence the

occurrence and form of behavior. Operant conditioning is distinguished from classical conditioning (also
called respondent conditioning) in that operant conditioning deals with the modification of "voluntary
behavior" or operant behavior. Operant behavior "operates" on the environment and

Restricted to the laboratory. Naturally occurring consequences can also be said to reinforce, punish, or
extinguish behavior and are not always delivered by people.

 Reinforcement is a consequence that causes a behavior to occur with greater frequency.

 Punishment is a consequence that causes a behavior to occur with less frequency.
 Extinction is the lack of any consequence following a behavior. When a behavior is
inconsequential, producing neither favorable nor unfavorable consequences, it will occur with less
frequency. When a previously reinforced behavior is no longer reinforced with either positive or
negative reinforcement, it leads to a decline in the response.

What is added or subtracted may be either reinforcement or punishment. Hence positive punishment is
sometimes a confusing term, as it denotes the "addition" of a stimulus or increase in the intensity of a
stimulus that is aversive (such as spanking or an electric shock). The four procedures are:

1. Positive reinforcement (Reinforcement): occurs when a behavior (response) is followed

by a stimulus that is appetitive or rewarding, increasing the frequency of that behavior. In
the Skinner box experiment, a stimulus such as food or sugar solution can be delivered when the
rat engages in a target behavior, such as pressing a lever.
2. Negative reinforcement (Escape): occurs when a behavior (response) is followed by the
removal of an aversive stimulus, thereby increasing that behavior's frequency. In the Skinner box
experiment, negative reinforcement can be a loud noise continuously sounding inside the rat's
cage until it engages in the target behavior, such as pressing a lever, upon which the loud noise
is removed.
3. Positive punishment (Punishment) (also called "Punishment by contingent stimulation"):
occurs when a behavior (response) is followed by a stimulus, such as introducing a shock or loud
noise, resulting in a decrease in that behavior.
4. Negative punishment (Penalty) (also called "Punishment by contingent withdrawal"):
occurs when a behavior (response) is followed by the removal of a stimulus, such as taking away
a child's toy following an undesired behavior, resulting in a decrease in that behavior.

Also:
  Avoidance learning is a type of learning in which a certain behavior results in the cessation of
an aversive stimulus. For example, performing the behavior of shielding one's eyes when in the
sunlight (or going indoors) will help avoid the aversive stimulation of having light in one's eyes.
 Extinction occurs when a behavior (response) that had previously been reinforced is no longer
effective. In the Skinner box experiment, this is the rat pushing the lever and being rewarded with a
food pellet several times, and then pushing the lever again and never receiving a food pellet again.
Eventually the rat would cease pushing the lever.
 Noncontingent reinforcement refers to delivery of reinforcing stimuli regardless of the
organism's (aberrant) behavior. The idea is that the target behavior decreases because it is no longer
necessary to receive the reinforcement. This typically entails time-based delivery of stimuli identified
as maintaining aberrant behavior, which serves to decrease the rate of the target behavior.[2] As no
measured behavior is identified as being strengthened, there is controversy surrounding the use of
the term noncontingent "reinforcement".[3]
 Shaping is a form of operant conditioning in which the increasingly accurate approximations of a
desired response are reinforced.[4]

Chaining is an instructional procedure which involves reinforcing individual responses occurring in a

sequence to form a complex behavior.