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 ...

Another one of my pet peeves is the fact that many people – civilians and scientists alike – use the phrase “negative reinforcement” to mean “punishment.” The two are not at all the same; in fact, ...