Operant Conditioning In The Great Gatsby By Lorraine Hansberry

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The quote stated by Lorraine Hansberry in the second prompt is basically an embodiment of B. F. Skinner’s theories. The quote states “It’s simple. You read books—to learn facts—to get grades—to pass the course—to get a degree. It has nothing to do with thoughts.” Skinner, the father of Behaviorism, invented many terms used in psychology today. One of which is operant conditioning. Operant conditioning is the process by which people make responses because they have learned that positive or negative consequences are dependent on the response. This basically means that we humans will have a fixed response to a specific stimuli that is followed by something negative or positive. This quote is saying that we read books only for specific reasons,