OPERANT CONDITIONING:Learning the Consequences of Behavior

OPERANT CONDITIONING the process through which an organism learns to respond to the environment in a way that produces positive consequences and avoids negative ones.

Edward Thorndike’s PUZZLE BOX

using a cat in a box with several strings and levers, Thorndike devised a “puzzle box” in which the animal had to perform tasks ranging from simple to complex to escape from the box and receive a reward.

The cat had to correctly figure out what behaviors would allow it to get out of the box and receive the food on the other side.

Thorndike believed the behaviors that didn’t result in escape and reward would be stamped out (weakened) and those that DID have a positive result would be stamped in (strengthened) and remembered forever and utilized in future similar situations.

This is the basis of the theory known as the law of effect which states behaviors resulting in rewards are strengthened while behaviors that do no result in rewards are weakened.

Thorndike described this kind of learning as instrumental conditioning because responses are strengthened when they are instrumental (essential or influential) in producing rewards.

A Puzzle Box

OPERANT CONDITIONING:Learning the Consequences of Behavior

OPERANT CONDITIONING the process through which an organism learns to respond to the environment in a way that produces positive consequences and avoids negative ones.

B. F. Skinner’s SKINNER BOX

Skinner expounded upon Thorndike’s theory by emphasizing that an organism learns a response by trying actions that operate on the environment (operant conditioning)

An operant is a response or a behavior that affects the world; it is a response that “operates” on the environment.

Skinner devised the “Skinner box” to analyze how behavior is changed by its consequences.

In the Skinner box, learning was measured in terms of whether an animal successfully completed a trial (got out of the box).

The Skinner box measured learning in terms of how often an animal responded during a specified period of time.

A Skinner Box

OPERANT CONDITIONING:Learning the Consequences of Behavior

According to Skinner, how a subject interacts with it’s environment is based primarily on the reinforcement or punishment the subject received.

PUNISHMENT a stimulus that, when made contingent on a behavior, decreases the strength of the exhibited behavior

acts as a deterrent to behavior

e.g., ______________________________

REINFORCER a stimulus that, when made contingent on a behavior, increases the strength of the exhibited behavior, increases the strength of the exhibited behavior

necessary for the continuation of a behavior

primary reinforcers any reinforcing stimuli that satisfies a biological need (food, water, sex, warmth, etc.)

secondary (conditioned) reinforcers any previously neutral stimuli that have gained reinforcement value after being associated with another reinforcer (grades, money, praise, etc.)

OPERANT CONDITIONING:Learning the Consequences of Behavior

Skinner believed ALL behavior could be explained in one of four ways: positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, and negative punishment.

Positive Reinforcementpresenting a liked stimulus, behavior INCREASES

EXAMPLES:money for good grades

pay raise for good job performancepraise and recognition for good behaviors

Positive Punishmentpresenting a disliked stimulus, behavior DECREASES

EXAMPLES:spanking for misbehavior

washing mouth out with soap for using foul languagescolding and criticism for poor behaviors

Negative Punishment (Omission)removing a liked stimulus, behavior DECREASES

EXAMPLES:grounded for breaking curfew“timeout” for bad behavior

losing recess time for not having homework

Negative Reinforcementremoving a disliked stimulus, behavior INCREASES

EXAMPLES:fewer chores for doing well on a test

early parole for good behavior in prisonsemester test exemption for perfect attendance

“Skinner Squares”Appetitive (Desirable Stimulus) Aversive (Undesirable Stimulus)

The Big Bang Theory

OPERANT CONDITIONING:Escape and Avoidance Conditioning

ESCAPE CONDITIONING occurs as an organism learns to respond to stop an aversive stimulus.

e.g., To “terminate” intense cold, person may turn up the heat in his home.

e.g., ______________________________

AVOIDANCE CONDITIONING occurs when an organism responds to a signal in a way that avoids exposure to an aversive stimulus that has not yet arrived.

e.g., To avoid the intense cold of winter, a person may fly to a warmer environment when the leaves have fallen from the trees but before it turns cold.

e.g., ______________________________

Avoidance conditioning is one of the most important influences on everyday behavior.

Why? ______________________________

Avoidance is a very difficult habit to break, partly because avoidance responses are often reinforced by fear reduction. Avoidance also prevents learning of alternative behaviors.

e.g., People who avoid escalators never find out they are safe.

e.g., ______________________________

OPERANT CONDITIONING:Discriminative Stimuli and Stimuli Control

STIMULUS DISCRIMINATION occurs when an organism learns to make a particular response in the presence of one stimulus but not another.

When this occurs, the response is under stimulus control.

e.g., Although you are repeatedly rewarded for telling jokes during lunch, you are not likely to do so at a funeral.

e.g., ______________________________

STIMULUS GENERALIZATION occurs in operant conditioning when organisms perform a response in the presence of a stimulus that is similar (but not identical) to the one that previously signaled the availability of reinforcement.

e.g., You might hold the door open for different people (of different ages, gender, ethnicity) as you enter the building the same time they do.

e.g., ______________________________

Stimulus discrimination and stimulus generalization work together in operant conditioning. We sometimes differentiate our behaviors based on the particular circumstance (discrimination), but we also categorize some behaviors because the rewards for those behaviors are similar (generalization).

OPERANT CONDITIONING:Forming Operant Behavior

SHAPING

Forming operant behavior may require multiple trials during which SHAPING is important.

SHAPING involves creating a new behavior based on a sequence of rewarding behaviors that come closer and closer to the ultimate behavioral goal (successive approximations)

e.g., teaching a child to make his bed competently

1. reward for pulling up covers

2. then reward for pulling up covers smoothly

3. then reward for pulling up covers and bedspread

4. finally reward for pulling up covers and bedspread without wrinkles

OPERANT CONDITIONING:Forming Operant Behavior

SECONDARY REINFORCEMENT

PRIMARY REINFORCERS (food, water) are innately rewarding.

SECONDARY REINFORCERS are rewards people or animals learn to like.

A secondary reinforcer (also known as a conditioned reinforcer is a previously neutral stimulus that when paired with a stimulus that is already reinforcing will take on reinforcing properties.

Secondary reinforcers can greatly enhance the power of operant conditioning BUT vary in effectiveness from person to person and from culture to culture.

e.g., Money alone has no innate value but having it allows a person to buy food and other comfort items.

OPERANT CONDITIONING:Forming Operant Behavior

DELAY AND SIZE OF REINFORCEMENT

The timing of reinforcement is important.

In general, the the effect of a reinforcer is stronger when it comes soon after a response occurs.

The size of the reinforcement is also important.

In general, operant conditioning creates more vigorous, or intense, behavior when the reinforcer is large than when it is small.