What is Operant Conditioning?

Operant conditioning, attributed to B.F. Skinner, is behavior controlled by its consequences, either by punishment or reinforcement. Skinner used operant conditioning in his experiment with the “Skinner Boxes” where he used rats and pigeons to study the learning process. In his experiment, “the operant is the person or animal (or organism) ” and the operant “initiates the behavior and the conditioning results from the consequences the organism’s behavior” (Shoesmith, 2015, page 193). So if the animal was rewarded with food, that behavior would be repeated, and if the animal was punished, that behavior would not be repeated.

Concept in Practice

Today, many classroom teachers utilize the tool, Classdojo, to help with behavior management. Classdojo is a “ computer-based method of generating a Behavior Management Chart (BMC)” where students create an avatar and teachers can award “ a positive ClassDojo point and take away a Dojo point for negative behaviors” while also “give or remove Dojo points for a single child or an entire classroom” (Krach, 2016). This tool allows teachers to condition students to make good choices; a good behavior gives a student a positive point while a bad choice might cause a negative point.

Classdojo is based on operant conditioning because “it was designed as a classroom management tool designed to reinforce students’ behaviors to get them to repeat behaviors that earn positive reinforcements and refrain from ones that earn negative reinforcements”(Williamson 2017). If one student receives a positive point, then other students will look at that student and try to mimic that behavior to also receive that positive point. However, if a student receives a negative point for doing a behavior not favored in the class, other students will see that and avoid that behavior so that they also do not get a negative point.

ClassDojo Positive Behavior Points

With this tool, teachers can create their own behavior choices. Pictured above you can see choices that students can receive positive points on. This app allows schools that implement the Positive Behavioral Intervention Supports (PBIS) to collect data while also letting parents know how their child was behaving in school.

References

Krach, S.K., McCreery, M.P. & Rimel, H. Examining Teachers’ Behavioral Management Charts:a Comparison of Class Dojo and Paper-Pencil Methods. Contemp School Psychol 21, 267–275 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40688-016-0111-0

Shoesmith, G. (2015). Principles of Operant Conditioning. In Psychology: A New CompleteGCSE Course: For AQA Specification 4180 (pp. 192-197). Cambridge: The LutterworthPress. doi:10.2307/j.ctt1cg4mcd.34

Williamson, B (2017): Decoding ClassDojo: psycho-policy, social-emotional learning and persuasive educational technologies, Learning, Media and Technology: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2017.1278020