Reward Punishment

Reinforcement/Punishment

•Four Possible Consequences

There are four possible consequences to any behavior.

They are:

Something Good can start or be presented PR;

Something Good can end or be taken away NP;

Something Bad can start or be presented PP;

Something Bad can end or be taken away NR.

•Something Good can start or be presented, so behavior increases = Positive Reinforcement

(R+)

•Something Good can end or be taken away, so behavior decreases = Negative Punishment (P-)

•Something Bad can start or be presented, so behavior decreases = Positive Punishment (P+)

•Something Bad can end or be taken away, so behavior increases = Negative Reinforcement

(R-)

Negative reinforcement – Active Avoidance

Dennis says it all……..

• Dennis, if you don’t stop bothering Mr. Wilson, you can’t listen to MTV=NP

HOW COMPLEX BEHAVIORSARE LEARNED

• Successive approximation/shaping = reinforcing behaviors as they come to approximate the desired behavior

• Superstitious Behavior = when persistent behaviors are reinforced coincidentally rather than functionally

• .5

Prevent a dog from escaping electric shocks, and it will stop trying to get away.

Applications for abused women and children

Learned Helplessness Paradigm Seligman

“Triadic” Design

Group A: Escapable Shock

Group B: Yoked Inescapable Shock

Group C: Exposure to apparatus only

Phase 1 Phase 2

Escape/Avoidance training

(For Group A shock can be terminated by rotating a wheel.)

Learned Helplessness – Seligman, Peterson, et al.

• Dogs exposed to unavoidable shocks

• Following exposure, when placed in a situation where they can now jump to avoid the shock, they fail to make the escape response.

• Learned helplessness occurs when one perceives that one’s actions (e.g., working hard) does not lead to the expected outcome (e.g., high grade).

Possible Explanations

• Learned Helplessness: Organisms learn that their behavior is ineffectual

• Poverty of activity: inescapable shock reduces the variability in behavior that is so crucial for operant conditioning

• Inattention: animals stop attending to their own behavior

Battered Spouse Syndrome

• Learned helplessness

• Victim Mentality

• Increased dependency on abuser

•Psychological: Behavioral Results

•Learned Helplessness:

•Seligman’s experiments with rats and dogs

•Learned helplessness in humans linked with attributions of a lack of control after experiences of being in an impotent position Environment which lacks positive reinforcement > reduction in activities and withdrawal

Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome (1956, 1976, 1985)

P

AlarmReaction•Fight orflight

Resistance•Arousal highas body triesdefend andadapt.

Exhaustion•Limitedphysicalresources;resistanceto diseasecollapses;death

If stress continues ….

Fixed

Variable

RatioInterval