Operant Conditioning: a form of learning in which voluntary responses come to be controlled by their consequences.
In class today you will run an experiment in Operant Conditioning. Your subjects will be study hall students, or if you experiment requires; random hallway students may also be used for the study. Your goal is to control a voluntary behavior either through reinforcement or punishment. The majority of class time will be spent on the acquisition and shaping processes.
For this social experiment you will need to explain you methods in a short essay. In your essay you should describe what general behavior you intended to control. You should also describe the type of reinforcement or punishment you used as well as the schedule of reinforcement or punishment. You will then need to detail the acquisition and shaping processes. And lastly, you will reflect on the success or the failure of the social experiment. The short essay will be due on the day of the test.
