Question

A rat in a Skinner box is reinforced with a food pellet only if the rat moves close to the lever. Next, reinforcement is withheld until the rat stands on its hind legs, then until the rat touches the lever, and finally, until the rat presses the lever. This example best illustrates______________.

Answer 1

This example best illustrates operant conditioning.

What is operant conditioning?

Operant conditioning is a type of learning process where the strength of a certain type of behavior is changed/modified through either punishment or reinforcement. Through this, the subject (which in this case is a rat) learns what behavior is "good" through positive reinforcement (such as giving the rat a food pellet when it does something the human wants) and what behavior is "bad" through negative reinforcement (can't think of a way to punish a rat lol).

Step-by-step explanation:

Answer 2

shaping.

Step-by-step explanation:

When we use reinforcement (which may be positive or negative) to shape the behavior(learning) of an individual it is called Operant conditioning. B.F Skinner was the leading American psychologist and behaviorist of the twentieth century. He viewed that continuous reinforcement strengthens a particular consequence.