HAVE YOU EVER wanted to change someone’s behavior or even your own? Fortunately, behavior modification is feasible. However, before you can successfully modify a behavior, you must first understand what triggers the behavior, and what type of consequence will either increase or decrease the targeted behavior.
Human operant behavior is a voluntary (and generally goal-directed) behavior. (Woolfolk, 2004) The learning process involved in operant behavior is called operant conditioning because we learn to behave in certain ways by observing the effects of our behavior. Consequently, we learn which behaviors lead to certain desired outcomes.
Understanding operant behavior can be quite advantageous in many avenues of life. With a good understanding of operant conditioning, you will be more successful at understanding and modifying human operant behavior. In fact, "Research in operant conditioning shows that operant behavior can be altered by changes in the antecedents, the consequences, or both." (Woolfolk, 2004, p.203)

Kimberly Nichols