This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American While second nature to many of us, driving a ...

Operant conditioning is B.F. Skinner’s name for instrumental learning: learning by consequences. Not a new idea, of course. Humanity has always known how to teach children and animals by means of ...

Three things have prevented operant conditioning from developing as a science: a limitation of the method, over-valuing order, and distrust of theory. The method The cumulative record was a fantastic ...