What Is Instrumental Conditioning?

Psychology is a fairly new scientific field in terms of human intellectual progression. An important discovery during the birth of psychology was instrumental conditioning. It is recognized when a person learns to associate a physical response by receiving meaningful stimulus.

Learning Pioneer: Edward Lee Thorndike

• Edward Lee Thorndike was an American psychologist at Columbia University and American Psychological Association (APA) president in 1912. He helped ground contemporary educational psychology. His experiments demonstrated how basic learning processes are developed. The trials typically involved animals responding and repeating certain actions when introduced to stimuli. His instrumental conditioning hypotheses were born through these learning experiments.

Instrumental Conditioning and the R-O Association

• In every instrumental conditioning instance, the individual responds to stimuli and consequently makes a choice. Repetition of the events solidifies the learning experience. Three processes comprise instrumental conditioning, represented as RSO or R-O Association. The initiatory (R) response develops with the existence of distinctive (S) stimuli. This culminates in the delivery of the increased (O) outcome.

Instrumental Conditioning Procedures

• Positive reinforcement's response generates strong physical desire stimuli and increases response ratio. Positive punishment's response develop apathetic stimuli and diminishes response ratio. Negative reinforcement's response hinders the development of unpleasant stimuli and increases response rate. Omission training's negative response prevents the instances of uncongenial stimuli and diminishes the response ratio.