Operant Conditioning
Operant Conditioning
• A type of learning in which behavior is
strengthened if followed by reinforcement
or diminished if followed by punishment.
Classical v. Operant
• They both use acquisition, discrimination,
SR, generalization and extinction.
•Classical Conditioning is automatic
(respondent behavior). Dogs automatically
salivate over meat, then bell- no thinking
involved.
•Operant Conditioning involves behavior
where one can influence their environment
with behaviors which have consequences
(operant behavior).
Is the organism learning associations
between events that it doesn’t control?
Classical Conditioning
Is the organism learning associations
between its behavior and resulting
events?
Operant Conditioning
Edward Thorndike
• Law of Effect:
rewarded
behavior is
likely to recur.
B.F. Skinner
Shaping
• A procedure in Operant Conditioning in
which reinforcers guide behavior closer
and closer towards a goal.
Operant Conditioning Chamber
Conditioning
Reinforcer
• Any event that STRENGTHENS the
behavior it follows.
Two Types of Reinforcement:
Positive and Negative
Positive Reinforcement
• Strengthens a response by presenting a
stimulus after a response.
Negative Reinforcement
• Strengthens a response by reducing or
removing an aversive stimulus.
Skinner’s Experiments
Types of Reinforcers
• Reinforcer
–Positive reinforcement
–Negative reinforcement
Types of Reinforcers
Primary Reinforcer
• An innately reinforcing stimulus
Conditioned (Secondary)
Reinforcer
• A stimulus that gains it reinforcing
power through its association with a
primary reinforcer.
Immediate v. Delayed
Reinforcers
Reinforcement
Schedules
Continuous
Reinforcement
• Reinforcing the desired response every
time it occurs.
Quick Acquisition
Quick Extinction
Partial Reinforcement
• Reinforcing a
response only part
of the time.
• The acquisition
process is slower.
• Greater resistance
to extinction.
Fixed-ratio Schedules
• A schedule that reinforces a response only
after a specified number of responses.
Example: I give cookie monster a cookie
every FIVE times he sings “C is for cookie”.
Variable-ratio Schedule
• A schedule of
reinforcement that
reinforces a
response after an
unpredictable
number of
responses.
Example: I give Homer a donut at random
times when he says “DOH!!!”
Fixed-interval Schedule
• A schedule of
reinforcement
that reinforces a
response only
after a specified
time has elapsed.
Example: I give Bart a Butterfinger every ten
minutes after he moons someone.
Variable-interval Schedule
• A schedule of
reinforcement that
reinforces a
response at
unpredictable time
intervals.
Pop Quizzes
Skinner’s Experiments
Reinforcement Schedules
Skinner’s Experiments
Reinforcement Schedules
Punishment
• An event that
DECREASES
the behavior
that it follows.
Does punishment work?
Skinner’s Experiments
Punishment
• Punishment
–Positive punishment
–Negative punishment
Skinner’s Experiments
Punishment
• Negatives of using punishment
– Punished behavior is
suppressed not forgotten
– Punishment teaches
discrimination
– Punishment can teach fear
– Physical punishment may
increase aggression
Contrasting Classical and
Operant Conditioning
Biological Constraints on
Conditioning
Biological Constraints on Conditioning
Limits on Classical Conditioning
• John Garcia
–Conditioned Taste Aversion
–Biologically primed associations
• Natural Selection and
Learning
–Genetic predisposition
Biological Constraints on Conditioning
Limits on Classical Conditioning
Biological Constraints on Conditioning
Limits on Operant Conditioning
• Naturally
adapting
behaviors
• Instinctive drift
Cognition’s Influence on Conditioning
Cognitive Processes and
Classical Conditioning
• Predictability of an event
–Expectancy
• Stimulus
associations
Cognition’s Influence on Conditioning
Cognitive Processes and
Operant Conditioning
• Latent learning –
learning that occurs but
is not apparent until
there is an incentive to
demonstrate
– Cognitive map –
mental representation
of the layout of one’s
environment
Cognition’s Influence on Conditioning
Cognitive Processes and
Operant Conditioning
• Insight – sudden realization of a
problem’s solution
• Intrinsic motivation - a desire to perform
a behavior effectively for its own sake
• Extrinsic motivation – a desire to
perform a behavior to receive promised
rewards or avoid punishment
Influences on Conditioning
Learning and Personal Control
• Cope – alleviating stress using emotional,
cognitive, or behavioral methods
• Problem-focused coping – attempting to
alleviate stress directly – by changing stressor
• Emotion-focused coping – attempting to alleviate
stress by avoiding or ignoring stressors and
attending to emotional needs related to one’s
stress reaction
Learning and Personal Control
Learned Helplessness
• Learned helplessness (Martin Seligman) – the
hopelessness and passive resignation learned when
unable to avoid repeated aversive events
Learning and Personal Control
Learned Helplessness: Internal
Versus External Locus of Control
• External locus of control – the perception that chance
or outside forces determine or fate
• Internal locus of control – the perception that you
control your own fate
Learning and Personal Control
Learned Helplessness: Depleting
and Strengthening Self-Control
• Self-control – ability to control impulses and delay
short-term gratification for greater long-term rewards
Mirrors and Imitation in the
Brain
• Observational learning –
learning by observing others
– Social learning
– Modeling – the process of
observing and imitating a
specific behavior
– Bandura’s Bobo
Doll Experiment
Mirrors and Imitation in the
Brain
Mirrors and Imitation in the
Brain
• Mirror neurons – frontal lobe neurons that some
scientists believe fire when performing certain
actions or when observing another doing so
• May cause empathy and imitation
Mirrors and Imitation in the Brain
• Cognitive imitation
Applications of Observational Learning
Prosocial versus Antisocial
Effects
• Prosocial effects – positive, constructive,
helpful behavior
• “Do as I say”
Applications of Observational Learning
Prosocial versus Antisocial
Effects
• Antisocial effects
• Violence doubled after intro of TV
• Between 1998-2006 TV violence increased 75%
• 74% unpunished, 58% didn’t show victims pain, 50%
justified violence, 50% perps attractive