Carrying on from the post about classical conditioning lets take a look at operant conditioning. They are more or less the same in that both forms of conditioning involve a trained response, but they have one major difference.
The defining factor in classical conditioning is a trained association between two or more stimuli. In operant conditioning however a reinforcement or punishment system is used.
So I guess now it’s time for some terms. Reinforcement in this case refers to something which is given or taken away after the behaviour you want to increase and can be either positive or negative. Positive reinforcement is when something good is given and negative reinforcement is when something bad is taken away.
Punishment something which happens after the behaviour you want to decrease and it can also be positive or negative. In this case a positive punishment involves giving something bad, and negative punishment involves taking something good.
In summary reinforcement increases behaviour and punishment decreases behaviour. Positive involves giving something and negative involves taking something.
Now that we know what operant conditioning is how about an example of how it works. Since B.F. Skinner was the one who coined the term operant conditioning lets use his experiment simply known as “The Skinner Box”. This experiment consisted of a box with varying types depending on what type of animal was in it. The box also contained a key, button or leaver which the animal could interact with to receive a reward such as food, water or in the case of pigeons, a shiny mirror. These interactions could also be used to remove something bad from the box, in most cases this was an electrified floor (I should probably point out that while the floor would only cause a tingling sensation Skinner conducted these experiments in the 1930s and 1940s so causing animals pain wasn’t as bad as it is now).
Skinner tried an array of reinforcers and punishments with this experiment and it helped him develop the theory of operant conditioning.
And now another video I was shown in first year psychology. The first minute and a half is all accurate although after that it starts getting a little confused. Having said that it’s still worth watching through to the end.
References:
http://psychology.about.com/od/behavioralpsychology/a/introopcond.htm
The Science of Psychology 
Great explanation on operant conditioning and the reward/punishment system as well!
Would I be correct in saying that “Pavlov’s Dog” is an experiment about operant conditioning?
Pavolv’s Dog is actually an example of classical conditioning. It’s actually the example I use in my previous post about classical conditioning.