Why We Made This:
Operant conditioning is essential to understanding behavior change, but its terms and techniques can be confusing—especially when preparing for the EPPP. Many individuals struggle to distinguish between reinforcement and punishment, navigate complex schedules, or understand how concepts such as shaping, chaining, and the Premack Principle apply in both clinical and everyday settings. We created this PDF to simplify those topics through clear definitions, step-by-step breakdowns, and practical examples. This guide organizes key operant learning strategies in a way that helps build real understanding—not just memorization—and confidently apply behavioral concepts.
 
Learning Objectives:
Define operant conditioning and differentiate it from classical conditioning
Identify and distinguish between positive/negative reinforcement and positive/negative punishment using real-life and clinical examples.
Understand how different reinforcement schedules (fixed/variable ratio and interval) impact behavior and motivation.
Describe concepts such as stimulus control, discriminative stimuli, behavioral contrast, and the Premack Principle.
Apply behavior modification techniques, including fading, thinning, shaping, and chaining, to promote or reduce specific behaviors.
Differentiate between fading vs. thinning, shaping vs. chaining, and escape vs. avoidance conditioning.
Compare and contrast classical and operant conditioning based on learning mechanisms and behavioral outcomes.