operant
/ˈɒp(ə)r(ə)nt
/Psychology
adjective
Involving the modification of behaviour by the reinforcing or inhibiting effect of its own consequences.Although its influence on the behavior modification procedures relatable to operant formulations has been negligible, Skinner has attempted to define the term....
- In education these operant techniques include token economies, contingency contracting, behavior modification, and various forms of programmed instruction.
- Historically, there has been an emphasis on behavioral, operant techniques to control the behavior of learning disabled and emotionally handicapped students.
noun
An item of behaviour that is not a response to a prior stimulus but something which is initially spontaneous, which may reinforce or inhibit recurrence of that behaviour.A simple answer is that the verbal behaviors of a patient or subject do not cease to be operants, governed by all the variables involved in operant behavior, when the person becomes a patient or an experimental subject....
- Consider instruction designed to teach students the aforementioned distinction between operants and respondents.
- Such analysis of available alternatives suggests that many behavior patterns society finds disruptive and labels pathological are not maladjusted or maladaptive, but are highly successful operants.
Origin
Late Middle English: from Latin operant- 'being at work', from the verb operari.