Instrumental conditioning is most closely associated with which psychologist?

• A. Sigmund Freud
• B. John B. Watson
• C. B. F. Skinner
• D. Ivan Pavlov

Answer: (C)

Instrumental conditioning focuses on learning that happens because of the consequences that follow a behavior—reinforcement makes the behavior more likely to occur again, while punishment makes it less likely. This concept is most closely tied to B. F. Skinner, who formalized operant conditioning and showed how reinforcement schedules shape behavior. Pavlov is associated with classical conditioning, where a neutral stimulus becomes linked with a reflexive response. Freud’s work comes from psychoanalysis, not conditioning, and Watson was a behaviorist who emphasized observable behavior but didn’t develop the instrumental conditioning framework. So the psychologist most closely connected to instrumental conditioning is Skinner.