Chapter 31, Problem 5A

Summary Introduction

To write:

The type of behavior that involves an animal associating its response with a reward or punishment.

Introduction:

A learned behaviour is one that the body learns as a result of experience. Learned habits contrast with inherited habits that are naturally hardwired and can be learned without previous knowledge or training.

Explanation of Solution

In operant conditioning, an animal learns to associate its response to a stimulus with a reward or punishment. When an animal receives an award after doing something, then it tends to repeat the behaviour and when an animal gets punished, it tends to not repeat the same behaviour.

For Example- A rat is kept inside the box. As the rat explored the box, he accidentally hit the lever and a plate of food came inside. At first, the rat ignored the lever but eventually it learned to associate the lever with getting food.

The rat was rewarded positively (plate of food), for its response (pressing the lever) to the stimulus (the lever).

Conclusion

Operant conditioning is the type of behavior that involves an animal associating its response with a reward or punishment.