PSYCHOLOGYUnit 3:
Learning“Operant
Conditioning”
What is Learning?
Most learning is...
Associative Learning:
Realization that certain
events occur together.
Learning itself refers to a
relatively durable change
in behavior or knowledge
that is due to experience.
★ Classical Conditioning
★ Operant Conditioning
★ Observational Learning
(Latent, Abstract, Insight)
Behaviorism
Everything you know, everything you
are is the result of human behavior.
In other words, psychology is the
study of behavior, not of the mind!
Picked up steam in the late 1960s and
during the 1970s. A reaction to the
non-scientific work of Freud.
B.F.
Skinner
Instead of antecedents of behavior
(what comes before) a new focus
on consequences of behavior.
BF Skinner argued that, CC did not explain
complex behavior.
2 categories of consequences:
Reinforcement & Punishment
Reinforcement is designed to increase the
probability that a behavior will occur again.
Punishment is designed to decrease the
probability that a behavior will occur again.
Operant
Conditioning
A type of learning in which behavior is strengthened
if followed by reinforcement or diminished if
followed by punishment
in rats:
★
★
★
★
trial and error learning
allows acquisition of motor programs that are not instinctive
behavior shaped by rewards
develops as a result of the association of reinforcement with
a particular response
★ on a proportion of occasions
Trial & Error---------------->Trial & Reward---------->Operant Conditioning
Operant Response
- Reinforcement -
Learned Behavior
Positive reinforcement - when something is given (apply an aversive
stimulus).
Negative reinforcement - when something is removed (remove an aversive
stimulus).
Skinner - punishment should be judicious, immediate, consistent, & severe enough
actually to be a punishment.
http://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=guroaQRFsX4
Positive Reinforcement
Strengthens a response by presenting a
stimulus after a response.
$$$ Getting Paid!
We may continue to go to work each day
because we receive a paycheck on a
weekly or monthly basis.
***AWARDS***
If we receive awards for writing short stories,
we may be more likely to increase the
frequency of writing short stories.
"PRAISE!"
Receiving praise for our karaoke
performances can increase how often we
sing.
Negative Reinforcement
Strengthens a response by reducing or
removing an aversive stimulus.
Driving in heavy traffic is a negative condition for most of us. You
leave home earlier than usual one morning, and don't run into heavy
traffic. You leave home earlier again the next morning and again you
avoid heavy traffic. Your behavior of leaving home earlier is
strengthened by the consequence of the avoidance of heavy
traffic.
The concept of Negative
Reinforcement is difficult to learn
because of the word negative. Negative
Reinforcement is often confused with
Punishment. They are very different,
however.
Negative Reinforcement
strengthens a behavior
because a negative condition
is stopped or avoided as a
consequence of the behavior.
Punishment
Punishment, on the other
hand, weakens a behavior
because a negative condition
is introduced or experienced
as a consequence of the
behavior.
Punishment is often mistakenly confused
with negative reinforcement.
Remember, reinforcement always
increases the chances that a
behavior will occur
and
Punishment always decreases the
chances that a behavior will occur.
Punishment
Positive Punishment: This type of
punishment is also known as "punishment
by application."
Positive punishment involves
presenting an aversive stimulus after a
behavior as occurred.
For example, when a student talks out
of turn in the middle of class, the
teacher might scold the child for
interrupting her.
Punishment
Negative Punishment: This type of
punishment is also known as
"punishment by removal."
Negative punishment involves taking
away a desirable stimulus after a
behavior as occurred.
For example, when the student from the
previous example talks out of turn again, the
teacher promptly tells the child that he will
have to miss recess because of his
behavior.
Punishment also has some notable drawbacks.
First, any behavior changes that result from punishment are
often temporary. "Punished behavior is likely to reappear after
the punitive consequences are withdrawn," Skinner explained
in his book About Behaviorism.
Perhaps the greatest drawback is the fact that punishment
does not actually offer any information about more
appropriate or desired behaviors. While subjects might be
learning to not perform certain actions, they are not really
learning anything about what they should be doing.
Another thing to consider about punishment is that it can
have unintended and undesirable consequences.
For example, while approximately 75 percent of parents in the
United States report spanking their children on occasion,
researchers have found that this type of physical punishment
can lead to antisocial behavior, aggressiveness and
delinquency among children.
For this reason, Skinner and other psychologists suggest
that any potential short-term gains from using punishment
as a behavior modification tool need to be weighed again
the potential long-term consequences.
Punishment
An event that DECREASES the behavior that it follows.
Does punishment work?
Tardies & D-HALLS
The Breakfast Club was released in 1985.
Saturday, March 24, 1984. Shermer High School, Shermer, Illinois. 60062.
Dear Mr. Vernon,
We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday
in detention for whatever it was that we did wrong…
what we did was wrong, but we think you’re crazy to make us
write this essay telling you who we think we are. What do you
care? You see us as you want to see us…
in the simplest terms & the most convenient definitions.
You see us as a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess
& a criminal.
Correct?
That’s the way we saw each other at seven o’clock this
morning. We were brainwashed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpHWRzGSnUs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMG
Rck-fVJ0
A lot of students are confused about negative
reinforcement.
What's the difference between that and punishment?
Remember, it's "reinforcement" so the behavior
increases, and because it's "negative," the reinforcer
is removed after the response.
Positive or Negative Reinforcement?
Cleaning the house to get rid of the disgusting
mess and/or to stop your mother from nagging
Positive or Negative Reinforcement?
Cleaning the house to get rid of the disgusting mess and/or to stop your mother
from nagging
NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT
Strengthens a response by reducing or removing an aversive stimulus.
Nagging/Mess as negative reinforcer to cleaning.
Positive or Negative Reinforcement?
Taking aspirin to relieve a headache
Positive or Negative Reinforcement?
Taking aspirin to relieve a headache
NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT
Strengthens a response by reducing or removing an aversive
stimulus.
headache as negative reinforcer to taking medication.
Positive or Negative Reinforcement?
Listening to your favorite music after studying for an hour
Positive or Negative Reinforcement?
Listening to your favorite music after studying for an hour
POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT: Strengthens a response by
presenting a stimulus after a response.
Positive or Negative Reinforcement?
Leaving the movie theater if the movie is bad
Positive or Negative Reinforcement? -- Leaving the movie theater if the movie is bad
Negative Reinforcement strengthens a behavior because a negative condition is
stopped or avoided as a consequence of the behavior.
Positive or Negative Reinforcement?
Giving in to an argument or to a child or dog’s begging
Positive or Negative Reinforcement?
Giving in to an argument or to a child or dog’s begging
Negative Reinforcement strengthens a behavior because a
negative condition is stopped or avoided as a consequence
of the behavior.
Negative reinforcement is NOT the same as punishment!
Negative reinforcers, like all reinforcers, increase the frequency
of the responses that they follow.
(Punishment, in contrast, decreases the frequency of
responses.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0ad
2NSwGb0
Fixed-ratio Schedules
A schedule that reinforces a
response only after a specified
number of responses.
Examples in natural environments:
Jobs that pay based on units delivered.
Employees often find this schedule undesirable because it
produces a rate of response that leaves them nervous and
exhausted at the end of the day.
They may feel pressured not to slow down or take rest breaks,
since they feel that such will costs them money. This is an example
of how a schedule can produce a high rate of response even
though the response rate is aversive to the subject.
Examples in video games:
Collecting tokens.
Many games require the player to collect a fixed number of
tokens to advance to the next level, obtain a new life point, or
receive some other reinforcers.
Attaining a new level in an RPG. Some RPG's clearly indicate how
much experience is required to achieve the next level.
A high degree of certainty as to the level of work that
Variable-ratio Schedule
A schedule of reinforcement that
reinforces a response after an
unpredictable number of responses.
Slot machines:
Slot machines are programmed on VR schedule.
The gambler has no way of predicting how many times he must
put a coin in the slot and pull the lever to hit a payoff but the
more times a coin is inserted the greater the chance of a
payout.
People who play slot machines are often reluctant to leave
them, especially when they have had a large number of unreinforced responses. They are concerned that someone else
will win the moment they leave.
Playing golf:
It only takes a few good shots to encourage the player to keep
playing or play again. The player is uncertain how good each
shot will be, but the more often they play, the more likely they
are to get a good shot.
Door to door salesmen:
It is uncertain how many houses they will have to visit to make
a sale, but the more houses they try, the more likely that they
will succeed.
Fixed-interval Schedule
A schedule of reinforcement that
reinforces a response only after a
specified time has elapsed.
An example might be getting a raise every year
and not in between.
A major issue with this schedule is that people
tend to improve their performance right before
the time period expires so as to "look good" when
the review comes around.
Example:
I give Bart a Butterfinger every ten minutes after he
moons someone.
"HAHA!"
In the Real World: A weekly paycheck is a good
example of a fixed-interval schedule. The employee
receives reinforcement every seven days, which
may result in a higher response rate as payday
approaches.
Variable-interval Schedule
A schedule of reinforcement that
reinforces a response at unpredictable
time intervals.
Reinforcing someone after a variable
amount of time is the final schedule.
If you have a boss who checks your work
periodically, you understand the power of this
schedule. Because you don’t know when the next
‘check-up’ might come, you have to be working
hard at all times in order to be ready.
In this sense, the variable schedules are
more powerful and result in more
consistent behaviors.
This may not be as true for punishment since
consistency in the application is so important,
but for all other types of reinforcement they tend to
result in stronger responses.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7k47
hLVBYuY
Shaping
A procedure in Operant Conditioning reinforces & guides behavior closer and
closer towards a goal.
Reinforcers guide behavior, step-by-step.
Closer and closer to the target behavior
through successive approximations.
“Baby Steps”
Reinforcers
Any event that STRENGTHENS the behavior it
follows.
There are + and – reinforcers.
+ Positive Reinforcers: Strengthens a
response by presenting a stimulus after a
response.
- Negative Reinforcers: Strengthens a
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCU
WHP4YDgU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncFCdCjBqcE
Classical vs. Operant
They both use acquisition, discrimination, SR,
generalization and extinction.
Classical Conditioning:
automatic (respondent behavior).
Ex.) Your dog gets sick and
requires several painful trips to the
vet. Now he hides every time he
hears you rattle your keys.
Automatic.
Operant Conditioning: behavior
where one can influence their
environment with behaviors which
have consequences (operant
behavior).
Ex.) Teacher comments on test.