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A two-by-two grid. Columns: stimulus added (positive) and stimulus removed (negative). Rows: behavior increases (reinforcement) and behavior decreases (punishment). Top left, positive reinforcement: a treat after a sit. Top right, negative reinforcement: the seat-belt chime stops. Bottom left, positive punishment: a burn after touching a hot pan. Bottom right, negative punishment: losing the car keys after breaking curfew. Extinction sits outside the grid: nothing is added or removed, the reinforcer simply stops.
The four quadrants of operant conditioningThe four quadrants. The column answers "added or removed?"; the row answers "more or less likely?" Positive and negative are arithmetic signs, not judgments.From Examples · SVG · PNG
A rectangular chamber. On the left wall: a stimulus light near the top, a lever at mid-height, and a food tray at the bottom. A speaker sits high on the right wall. The floor is a grid. Outside the chamber, a cumulative recorder draws a rising stepped line on a moving strip of paper.
Schematic of an operant conditioning chamberAn operant conditioning chamber for a rat. A press on the lever can be programmed to deliver a food pellet on any schedule; the light signals when pressing will pay off; the recorder draws responses over time.From The complete guide · SVG · PNG
A chamber inside a sound-attenuating cubicle. On the left wall, from top to bottom: a cue light, a lever, and a food tray. A house light sits at the top of the chamber and a speaker high on the right wall. The floor is a grid of metal rods. Outside the chamber, a cumulative recorder draws a rising stepped line on a moving strip of paper, with small ticks marking reinforcers.
Schematic of an operant conditioning chamber for a ratAn operant conditioning chamber for a rat. A press on the lever can be programmed to deliver a pellet on any schedule; the cue light signals when pressing will pay off; the recorder draws responses against time.From Skinner Box · SVG · PNG
A line that rises from left to right. It begins with steep runs separated by flat pauses, each run ending in a diagonal tick. The pen then resets to the bottom and draws three curved scallops that start flat and accelerate into each tick. Finally, when reinforcement stops, the line rises briefly and then flattens out.
An annotated cumulative recordReading a cumulative record: slope is rate, ticks are reinforcers, flat stretches are pauses, and the curved "scallop" is the fixed-interval pattern. The line only ever goes up; a behavior that has stopped draws a horizontal line.From Skinner Box · SVG · PNG
Four panels. Fixed ratio: steep runs separated by flat post-reinforcement pauses. Variable ratio: a steady steep line. Fixed interval: repeated scallops that start flat and curve upward before each reinforcer. Variable interval: a moderate, steady slope.
Idealized cumulative records for the four basic schedulesIdealized cumulative records. Each upward step is a response; green ticks mark reinforcers. Patterns after Ferster & Skinner (1957).From Schedules of Reinforcement · SVG · PNG
Response rate over time after reinforcement stops: a brief spike (the extinction burst), then a decline toward zero, a rest, and a smaller return of responding (spontaneous recovery) that fades again.
The extinction curveThe shape of extinction. When reinforcement stops, responding briefly rises (the burst), then declines; after a rest it returns at a lower level (spontaneous recovery) and fades again.From Extinction · SVG · PNG
Successive bell-shaped distributions of a behavior's form move rightward across the page; a criterion line steps upward so that only the upper tail of each distribution is reinforced, dragging the next distribution further toward the target.
Shaping as a rising criterionShaping as a moving criterion. Reinforcing only the upper tail of what the animal currently does shifts the whole distribution; the criterion is then raised again. Variability (the width of each curve) is what makes the next step possible.From Shaping · SVG · PNG
Two generalization gradients plotted against wavelength. A dashed curve for birds trained at 550 nanometers only peaks at 550. A taller solid curve for birds trained at 550 with extinction at 555 peaks at about 540, shifted away from the S-minus, and drops steeply on the 555 side.
Peak shift after discrimination trainingSchematic of Hanson's result. After discrimination training against a nearby S−, the peak of the gradient moves away from the S− (here from 550 to about 540 nm) and rises above the control gradient.From Stimulus Control · SVG · PNG
Two timelines. Escape: the aversive stimulus is on, the response occurs, the stimulus ends. Avoidance: a warning signal appears, the response occurs during it, and the aversive stimulus never arrives.
Escape versus avoidanceEscape ends an aversive stimulus that is present; avoidance prevents one that would have come. Both increase the behavior, so both are negative reinforcement.From Negative Reinforcement · SVG · PNG
Left panel: a stimulus precedes a reflexive response; the organism does nothing to produce the stimulus. Right panel: a behavior is followed by a consequence, which changes the future rate of the behavior.
Classical versus operant conditioning as sequencesThe two kinds of learning as sequences. In classical conditioning a stimulus comes to elicit a reflex; in operant conditioning a consequence changes how often a voluntary behavior recurs.From Operant vs. Classical · SVG · PNG
A scatter plot with proportion of reinforcers on the horizontal axis and proportion of responses on the vertical axis. Data points lie close to the diagonal line where the two proportions are equal.
The matching relationSchematic of the matching relation. Real data cluster around the diagonal; systematic departures from it are captured by the generalized matching law below.From Matching Law · SVG · PNG
Two panels of bar charts. Left: a water-deprived rat spends much more baseline time drinking than running, so drinking reinforces running. Right: a running-deprived rat spends more time running than drinking, so running reinforces drinking.
The Premack principle as a reversal of baseline probabilitiesPremack's reversal. Whichever behavior is more probable at baseline can reinforce the other; deprivation changes which one that is.From Premack Principle · SVG · PNG

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