Operant
conditioning
More on reinforcement and
beyond
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Operant
Conditioning

The kind of learning that applies
to voluntary behavior in animals
and people
Skinner and the
Skinner Box


Skinner is a behaviorist
He followed Thorndike
– Law of Effect

If an action is followed by a pleasurable
consequence, it will tend to be repeated
– We learn how to function in life
Reinforcement
“What is in it for me”
 To
strengthen
 Contributes to behavior
 Follows a behavior, the
behavior will more likely
happen again
The Box
Primary
Reinforcer

Fulfills a basic need
– Water
– Food- a candy bar
– Comfort – praise


Can easily be used with toddlers,
young children and animals
Removing pain can be a primary
reinforcement
Secondary
reinforcer
These must first be
paired with primary
reinforcers to prompt
increases in behaviors

– money
Positive
Reinforcement

Response followed by a pleasurable
consequence will increase the
response happening again
Negative
Reinforcement

Removal of something unpleasant
Getting Pain to stop
Reinforcement
schedules

Two different types of basic
reinforcement schedules:
Continuous-Reinforcement
follows every correct
response
Reinforcement
schedules
 Partial
schedules
– only occasional
correct responses are reinforced
Partial
Reinforcement




Reinforcement after some of the
behavior
Very resistant to extinction
More true to real life
Completed in different patterns
The allure of
intermittent
reinforcement

Continuous Reinforcement quickly
succumb to extinction



Intermittent Reinforcment are quite
resistant to extinction
Lotto
That unpredictable
boyfriend/girlfriend
Interval
Schedule

Timing of the response is more
important
– An event happening once in a certain
amount of time
Ratio Schedule

Certain amount of responses is
required for each reinforcer
Fixed Interval
Schedule
Reinforcement delivered after a fixed
amount of time
 Slow response
 Quicker responses
right before
reinforcement

Variable interval
Reinforcement delivered after a
varying amount of time
 Unpredictable
 Responses are made at
a slow and steady rate
 An astronomer looking for comets

Fixed ratio
Provide reinforcement after only a
fixed number of correct responses
 Marked by a steady response rate
 If many responses are needed to
secure reinforcement, a pause
follows reinforcement

Variable ratio
Reinforcement provided after a
variable amount of responses
 Marked by steady
response rates
 Playing slot machines, lotto, other
types of gambling

Stimulus
generalization
Somewhat similar to classical
conditioning
 If a certain response/behavior
received reinforcement in a
certain situation, you are likely to
make the same response in a
similar situation

discrimination



Some responses gain reinforcement,
others don’t
As you would expect, those that gain
reinforcement will be much more likely
to be repeated
We learn to chose or discriminate
between the two
Discriminative
stimuli
Any stimulus that provides an
organism with a cue for making
a certain response in order
to obtain reinforcement
 Stop signs
 Warm smiles/ eye contact
 Or a frown

Punishment

Different than reinforcement
– Positive reinforcement

Adds something pleasurable
– Candy, money, privileges
– Negative Reinforcement

Removes something painful
– Clean room so mom stops nagging
– Give baby bottle to stop crying
Punishment

Opposite of reinforcement
– Weakens the response
– Takes away

Two forms
– Application

Spanking, yelling, anything unpleasant
– Removal

Something pleasant is taken away
Problems with
Punishment





Punishment gets forgotten
Might avoid punisher
May encourage lying
Creates fear
May provide a role model of
aggressive behavior
Shaping
•Small steps to ultimate goal
•Reinforce the most simple of steps
Latent Learning

Learning that occurs but is not
immediately reflected in a behavior
change
Observational
learning

Learning new behavior through
watching the actions of a model
– We might like what we see
– Or not
Bandura’s
contribution

Albert Bandura realized that Skinner’s
framework was incomplete
We learn from watching
the behavior of others
not just enduring the
consequences
of our own

imitation

Poor Bobo, the adult cursed and beat
on him
– The children that watched


Repeated those actions
Happy Bobo, the adult did not
interact with Bobo
– The Children that watched

The kids did not interact with Bobo
Vicarious
consequences

If the children watched the adult being
disciplined for pounding Bobo
– they didn’t rough him up

They had somehow vicariously
experienced the adult’s punishment
and the behavior never emerged
Vicarious
reinforcement

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Powerball winners
Are they hidden?
No, they are celebrated
We share in their triumph
We can’t wait for our chance
How about all those who lost big?
Self efficacy
“self
esteem”
– We have to believe that we also can
perform the behavior
Self efficacy ii

The belief that you yourself could
perform the task successfully
– A key factor in maximizing potential
– If we believe, we will:
1) start the process,
2) persist despite obstacles, and
3) finish successfully
Encouraging
moral behavior
“Catch them when they
are being good”?


Moral behavior rarely occurs
spontaneously
So, we teach it through …..
modeling

We imitate those we view as:
1) Powerful,
2) Successful,
3) Similar to us, and
4) Warm/Kind.
Modeling ii


We find an individual or character who
fits these criteria and then we show
them displaying the desired quality
It might make an impression