Mice and Operant Conditioning

Mice were one of the main animals used in operant conditioning. I believe Skinner used mice for the following reasons:

• Mice are not known to be smart, so people will be more surprised to hear the data that was collected from this experiment.
• Mice are small, and therefore the box was able to be small as well.
• Mice are easy to obtain.

If you click here, you will be taken to an article to explain the experiment with mice and operant conditioning. 

Operant Conditioning

Google defines operant conditioning as a type of conditioning in which an individual's behavior is modified by its antecedents and consequences. 

This video helps to explain the different schedules and things used in operant conditioning. In the video, they use pigeons for an example, but Skinner believed that operant conditioning could be used on any animal, and in some cases, even humans.