Operant Conditioning Concepts

• What is the gumball that you receive from the machine called?

• Positive Reinforcement

• You go back to the gumball machine several times and it is empty each time. Why will you eventually quit going?

• Extinction

• What would you call your behavior if the dispenser was refilled and you bought a gumball again.

• Spontaneous recovery

• Why would you be able to operate this particular gumball dispenser, even if you had never seen this exact dispenser before?

• generalization

• Why would you choose to work a full dispenser instead of an empty one? (ok, I know it seems obvious, but what is the psychological term )

• discrimination

Vs.

• What would be happening if you put the quarter in the dispenser, but didn’t get your gumball until an hour later?

• Delayed reinforcement

• Is this effective? No.

• Every second time you turn the dial on the gumball machine you get a gumball. In other words, you know that two turns of the dial= receipt of a gumball. This is called:

• Fixed-ratio schedule. It always occurs at the same rate. Produces strong learning, but learning extinguishes quickly after the reinforcement schedule goes away.

• If you didn’t get a gumball every time you put money in, and instead sometimes got the gum after three tries, some times after eight, and it was very unpredictable this would be:

• Variable ratio schedule. Takes longer to condition a response, but learning is resistant to extinction. (Slot machines are a good example)

• You walk by the gumball machine at 10:00 one morning and it says “Free Gumballs”. You walk by at 2:00 and the sign is gone, but the next morning at 10:00 the “Free” sign is back. This is an example of

• Fixed interval schedule.

• You pass by the gumball machine every day, and the “Free” sign is always random. You never know when it is going to be there. This is

• Variable interval schedule. (Good example would be a teacher who gives “pop quizzes”.

• You give up. You feel like you will never get a gumball and quit trying. This is called

• Learned helplessness.

Reinforcement STRENGTHENS a behavior.

What is the difference between a positive reinforcer and a

negative reinforcer.• Positive reinforcer ______ a pleasurable

stimulus or reward after a desired behavior.

• Negative reinforcer _______ an undesirable stimulus.

So… which is positive, which is negative?

• Your coach says “well done” after you make a big play.

• You take an aspirin to get rid of a headache.

• You hurry home in the winter to get out of the cold.

• Your mom lets you stay out a ½ hour later because you received all A’s.

• Saying “uncle” to stop your older brother from wrestling with you.

• Faking a headache to get out of practice.

In contrast, punishment REMOVES a behavior by giving an unwanted

consequence • Because the consequence is unwanted, the fear of this

decreased the behavior.• Example: getting a spanking when you try to cross the street

without looking.• Positive punishment: addition of something unpleasant. Ex:

giving a speeding ticket.• Negative punishment: taking something desirable away…

“omission”.• Problem with physical and/or positive punishment: does not

teach correct behavior all of the time. For this “omission” is more effective… (Example: time out in daycare, “when you learn the correct attitude you can come back and play”).