operant conditioning

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

operant conditioning
    n 1: conditioning in which an operant response is brought under
         stimulus control by virtue of presenting reinforcement
         contingent upon the occurrence of the operant response

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

operant conditioning \op"er*ant con*di"tion*ing\, n. (Psychol.)
   A process for causing animals to behave in a specific manner
   by rewarding or punishing the animal each time it performs a
   certain act; after a time, the animal comes to associate the
   reward or punishment with the act, and will increase or
   decrease the frequency of performing that act.
   [PJC]