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 ...

The field of behavioural psychology investigates the ways in which reinforcement schedules shape actions across both human and non-human subjects. By systematically varying the contingencies of ...

I have written previously about the fact that in today’s increasingly digital world, not every person who is compulsive with pornography is a traditional (trauma-driven) compulsive person. (See my ...

Eunice Framm, senior keeper of barnyard animals at the Cincinnati Zoo, has taught pigs to bowl, goats to paint, and red pandas to receive vaccines. She, and all other keepers, do so through the zoo’s ...

Classical conditioning is a type of unconscious learning. It occurs when a person or animal experiences an automatic response whenever they encounter a specific stimulus. Simply put, it is learning ...