Classical Conditioning Review
A young child who reaches out to pet a
barking dog is bitten by the dog & cries.
Every time she hears a dog bark, she
whimpers.
UCSUCRCSCR-
Operant Conditioning
(Instrumental
Learning)
Learning where a behavior
is followed by a
consequence (reward or
punishment)
Thorndike’s Cats in a Puzzle
Box
 Law
of effect- behaviors followed by a
positive consequence strengthens
behavior & negative consequence
weakens behavior
Thorndike’s Cats in a Puzzle Box
http://www.vids4students.com/other-28/psychology-70/thorndike___law_of_effect400-play.html
Skinner’s Experiments
 Operant
Box
Chamber/Skinner
Skinner Box
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_ctJqjlrHA&p=6BB1DBB37151DACD
Skinner (cont.)
(Acquisition Stage) – reinforce
any behavior leading up to the desired
behavior
 Shaping
 Cumulative
Recorder- attached to the
Skinner box and it graphs the organisms
response rate


Steep slope- fast response rate
Shallow slope- slow response rate
Consequences
 Reinforcement
(R)- increases chance
behavior will occur again
 Primary reinforcement- necessary
for survival, such as food
 Secondary reinforcement- anything
else, such as money, praise, a sticker
 Punishment
(P)- decreases chance
behavior will occur again
Types of Consequences
R
Positive
+
P
•Add
pleasant stimulus •Add unpleasant
to increase behavior
stimulus to
decrease behavior
Negative •Remove unpleasant
stimulus to increase
behavior
•Escape & Avoidance
Learning
•Remove
pleasant
stimulus to
decrease behavior
The Big Bang Theory- Positive Reinforcement
http://blogs.cornell.edu/gp08ha1115/2010/04/04/93/
http://blogs.cornell.edu/gp08ha1115/files/2010/04/Big-Bang-Theory-OB-21.mp4
The Simpsons- Negative Reinforcement
http://blogs.cornell.edu/gp08ha1115/2010/04/04/the-simpsons-negative-reinforcement/
Using Punishment to Discipline:
 Can
have unwanted effects (anger,
hostility, anxiety)
 Physical punishment leads to aggression
 Better to reinforce desirable behavior
 Behavior modification (treatment approach, based on
the principles of operant conditioning, that replaces undesirable behaviors with
more desirable ones through positive or negative reinforcement/punishment)
and Token economy (system emphasized reinforcing
positive behavior by awarding "tokens" for meeting positive behavioral goals.)
Guidelines to Effective Punishment
 Don’t
delay
 Explain the punishment
 Use least severe punishment (minimize
physical punishment)
 Follow through
Examples:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
A rat presses a bar and receives a food
pellet.
A teenager can’t use the car for a week
because she stayed out past curfew.
You party all night and get an F.
You are caught speeding and are given a
ticket by a police officer.
Every time the 2 year old uses the toilet
his parents praise him.
Schedules of Reinforcement
 Continuous
Reinforcement- behavior is
always reinforced
 Intermittent/Partial Reinforcementbehavior is sometimes reinforced
Fixed- set amount
Ratio-
Variable- random
amount
FR
Based on •FR-15 (reinforcer
certain # of every 15th
responses response)
•Paid
by the job
Interval
FI
Based on • FI-15 (reinforcer
time
after every 15
seconds if 1 correct
response is made)
•Paid by the hour
VR
• VR-15 (reinforcer over an
average of 15 responses,
not every 15
•Gambling
•Hardest to extinguish
VI
•
VI- 15 (reinforcer over
an average interval of
15 seconds)
•Pop quiz
The Premack Principle

How do you find a reinforcer that will "work" with a
particular individual?

One technique is to observe what the individual
chooses to do voluntarily. As a rule, preferred
behaviors can be used to reinforce unpreferred
behaviors. This is called the Premack principle after
psychologist David Premack who proposed the rule.

A formal statement of the Premack principle is as
follows: high-probability behaviors (those performed
frequently under conditions of free choice) can be
used to reinforce low-probability behaviors.
Premack Principle Examples


If a rat likes to run on a wheel, you can reinforce a bar-press
by allowing it to run on its wheel only after a bar-press. If you
have a hamster that always wants to escape from its cage,
then you can reinforce the hamster for climbing onto your
hand by offering your hand as a way to escape from the cage.
The preferred behavior (escaping) is a reinforcer for the nonpreferred behavior (climbing onto the hand of a human). This
actually works.
Parents sometimes use a variation of the Premack principle. If
they want children to eat vegetables (sometimes a nonpreferred behavior) they can make a rule that vegetables
must be consumed before the children get to eat a desert
(usually a preferred behavior). Similarly, children may be
asked to do their homework (sometimes a non-preferred
behavior) before watching TV or playing video games (usually
a preferred behavior).
Examples:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Paid 10 dollars for every 20 puzzle
solved
Doing 20 push ups to help stay fit
A strike in bowling
Surfer waiting for the perfect wave to ride
in
Getting a pay check at the end of 2
weeks
Rules for Analyzing Examples to
Determine if Operant Conditioning
Occurred.





The following questions can help in determining whether
operant conditioning has occurred.
a. What behavior in the example was increased or
decreased?
b. Was the behavior increased (if yes, the process has
the be either positive or negative reinforcement), or
decreased (if the behavior was decreased the process is
either response cost or punishment).
c. What was the consequence / stimulus that followed
the behavior in the example?
d. Was the consequence / stimulus added or removed?
If added the process was either positive reinforcement or
punishment. If it was subtracted, the process was either
negative reinforcement or response cost.
MemoryHow we retain information
over time
Three Processes
1.
2.
3.
Encoding- making mental
representations of information
Storing- place info into mental storage
Retrieving- getting info later
Types of Memory
Short-Term/Work Memory
1.
a)
b)
c)
Limited Duration (2-30 sec.)
• Maintenance rehearsal- repeating info
Limited Capacity (7-8 items)
• Interference- new info pushes out old
Chunking- way to increase amount of #s you
can remember
Types of Memory
Long Term Memory- stores unlimited info
for unlimited amount of time
2.
•
•
All memory can be retrieved but not always
accurate
Memory TEST!!!
Memory
 Primacy
Effect- remembering beginning
 Recency Effect- remembering end
False Memories
 Loftus’


Gave adults 3 memories from their childhood
(1 false)
29% remembered the false memory
 Ceci’s


Study: Implanting False Memories
Study: False Memories in Children
Children ages 3-6 read list of events & asked
them which ones happened to them
34% said they experienced the fictitious event
Problems with Eyewitness
Testimony:
1.
Not accurate & reliable
a)
b)
2.
3.
Weak correlation between witness
confidence & correct identification
Errors due to law enforcement asking
misleading or biased questions
a)
4.
Own-race Bias
State of Stress
Loftus’ Stop/Yield Sign Experiment
Jury’s perception of the eyewitness