Psychology of Learning
B.F. Skinner
Operant conditioning
Reinforcement (+ and -)
Punishment (+ and -)
Dangers of punishments
Alternatives to
punishments
Operant Conditioning
Pavlov and the Dogs
Little Albert
• UCS
• UCR
• Neutral stimulus
• CS
• CR
Classical Conditioning
Stimulus discrimination
Stimulus generalization
Extinction
Spontaneous recovery
Conditioned compensatory
response
Taste aversion
Biological preparedness
Primary reinforcer
Conditioned reinforcer
Discriminative stimulus
Continuous reinforcer
Partial reinforcement
(FR, VR, FI, VI)
Extinction
Shaping
Behavior modification
Instinctive drift
Latent learning
Learned Helplessness
Observational Learning
Cognitive factors to
determine if imitation
occurs
Factors that increase the
likelihood of imitation
Does “Reel” violence…
Description of the Schedules of Reinforcement
Schedule of reinforcement: The delivery of a reinforcer
according to a preset pattern based on the number of responses
(a ratio) or the time interval (interval) between responses.
INTERVAL (time)
RATIO (#)
FIXED
VARIABLE
fixed ratio (FR):
A reinforcement schedule in
which a reinforcer is delivered
after a fixed number of
responses has occurred.
variable ratio (VR):
A reinforcement schedule in
which a reinforcer is
randomly delivered on a
preset ratio.
Example:
A food dispenser drops one
food pellet after a pigeon
pecks at a bar 25 times.
Example:
A pigeon has a 1/25 chance of
receiving a food pellet for
every peck on the bar.
fixed interval (FI):
A reinforcement schedule in
which a reinforcer is delivered
for the first response after a
fixed time interval has
elapsed.
variable interval (VI):
A reinforcement schedule in
which a reinforcer is
randomly delivered for each
time interval.
Example:
A pigeon received a food
pellet after the first press of
the bar after a two minute
interval.
Example:
A pigeon has a 1/120 chance
every second to receive a food
pellet after every press of the
bar.
Examples of each Schedule of Reinforcement
INTERVAL (time)
RATIO (# of responses)
FIXED
VARIABLE
• A food dispenser drops one
food pellet after a pigeon pecks
at a bar 25 times.
• A fictitious lottery that pays
$1000 for the 2000th ticket
bought.
• You win for every six rolls on
a six-sided die.
• A traveling salesman gets a
bonus for every fourth set of
encyclopedias he sells.
• Phil, a real estate broker gets a
bonus for every ten houses
sold.
• Getting paid $30 for every 3
lawns you mow.
• A pigeon gets a food pellet, on
the average every 25 pecks on
the bar.
• A pigeon has a 1/25 chance of
receiving a food pellet for
every peck on the bar.
• The lottery gives out $1000 for
every 2,000 tickets printed.
• You win for every roll of a
“six” on a six-sided die.
• A baseball player with a
batting average of .333 will get
a hit about 1/3 of the time.
• Baseball cards packs have four
"premium card" per box.
• Slot machines payouts.
• A pigeon received a food pellet
after the first press of the bar
after a two-minute interval.
• A fictitious lottery that pays
$1000 for the first purchase
after the 14th day of each
month.
• Health inspects that occur in
January and July.
• Scheduled drug testing
• Levar, an employee at
McDonalds gets paid every
two weeks.
• Receiving $40 for every day
spent collecting signatures for
a constitutional amendment.
• A pigeon receives a food pellet
after the first press of the bar at
about 2 minutes.
• A pigeon has a 1/120 chance
every second to receive a food
pellet after every press of the
bar.
• A fictitious lottery that has a
12/365 chance to pay $1000
each day.
• Random health inspections that
occur twice a year.
• Random drug testing.
The likely effect of a schedule of reinforcement
on behavior
INTERVAL
RATIO
FIXED
VARIABLE
Produces a high rate of
responding that follows a
burst-pause-burst pattern. A
pause after each reinforcer is
obtained is usually occurs.
Produces a high rate of
response with hardly any
pauses between trials or
reinforcement. Learning is
more permanent and difficult
to extinguish or eliminate.
Depending on the behavior,
this can be good or bad.
Example: If you get paid $20
for mowing 2 lawns, you tend
to take a break after mowing 2
lawns.
Example: Imagine having a
50% chance of getting paid
$20 for mowing a lawn.
There is no break in behavior.
Produces a pattern of
responses where very few
responses are obtained until
the fixed interval of time
approaches. The rate of
response dramatically
increases at this interval.
Produces a pattern of
moderate and steady
responses. It is not a good
schedule for initial learning,
but produces a highly stable
performance.
Example: Employee
Example: Random and/or
performance increases when
surprise inspections by the
they know their annual review health department.
draws near and decreases just
as soon as it is over. A health
inspection every January and
July.
(1) Reference:
https://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/business/DailyNews
/savingspoll991029.html, Spenders and Savers.
(2) Summary:
According to a Consumer Federation of American and the
financial services firm Primamerica, about _ of Americans
believe that their best chance to build wealth for retirement
is to win the lottery, not patiently saving. People with
incomes less than $35K, this number jumps to 40%. In
addition, 47% of all those surveyed said that saving and
investing their income was the most reliable route to
wealth. However, the odds of winning a big lottery jackpot
is 10 to 20 million to one (you are more likely to be struck
by lightning). Despite these statistics, people continue to
gamble for the future. Unknown to many people is the
power of compound interest. This is especially true for
younger and lower-income Americans, along with women.
If you put away $50 a week ($200/month) at a 9% annual
rate for 40 years, you would get $1,026,853. Very few
people have any savings (over $1000) for the future.
(3) Relation to one of the topics in psychology 202
This article is mostly about people’s misconceptions about
preparing for the future. In Chapter 5, the psychology of
learning, we learned about schedules of reinforcements
such as the variable ratio schedule. The variable ratio
schedule is one where reinforcements (winning a lottery) is
delivered after an average number of responses. This
makes gambling a very persistent behavior that is hard to
extinguish.
(4) Dangers of not recognizing the variable ratio schedule
The variable ratio schedule of reinforcement make it much
more likely that one’s behavior will be quite persistent and
difficult to extinguish. Without realizing this, a person may
overestimate one’s ability to stop their gambling behavior.
(5) Describe how this issue relates to a second psychological
concept
Another psychological concept that is related to this issue
the availability heuristic. The availability heuristic is the
tendency to overestimate the frequency of an event based
on the ease to recall examples of that event. We tend to
remember and recall “winners”. They are talked about and
heard. What is not heard is the enormous number of losers.
(6) Relate this main point of this issue to a different issue or
context.
Another issue that is involves is the public education of
finances. We need to educate the public about managing
their finances. Many people do not know about the power
of compound interest, the dangers of relying on gambling
for the future. In addition, this relates to economics. Many
people in this country do not make a sustainable wage.
While overall wealth has increased, it is limited to a few.
The average income for CEOs increased over 500%, while
for the working class, it has increased on an average of
17%. Working class citizens have a difficult time making
ends meet with wages do no increase with the cost of living
(eg. rent and utilities). In addition, this can tie into the
debate of social security reform (which I won’t go into).
(7) Additional information that would provide some depth or
context
I would like to know how the lives of those who have won
the lottery are faring now. I have heard that some of them
have squandered their money already and are in fact worse
off. Likewise, I would like to know what the financial
burden is on the American government or the children of
parents who have not adequately prepared for the future, or
those who don’t have children to take care of them who are
not adequately prepared for retirement. Whose
responsibility is it to prepare people for retirement? Whose
responsibility is it to teach people for retirement, and what
is being done about it?
In addition, what is the distribution of wealth and the real
costs of living in America, especially in urban areas? Can
people making minimum wage afford $200. A large
number of working individuals in Los Angeles (and many
other cities) find that their citizens are hungry and need
food assistance.