Myers EXPLORING
Module 19
Operant Conditioning
Operant vs Classical
Conditioning
Operant Conditioning
 Operant Conditioning
 type of learning in which behavior is
strengthened if followed by reinforcement or
diminished if followed by punishment
 Law of Effect
 Thorndike’s principle that behaviors followed
by favorable consequences become more
likely, and behaviors followed by unfavorable
consequences become less likely
Operant Conditioning
 Respondent Behavior
 occurs as an automatic response to
stimulus
 behavior learned through classical
conditioning
 Operant Behavior
 operates (acts) on environment
 produces consequences
Operant Conditioning
 B.F. Skinner (1904-1990)
 elaborated Thorndike’s Law of Effect
 developed behavioral technology
Operant Chamber
 Skinner Box
 chamber with a bar or key that an
animal manipulates to obtain a food or
water reinforcer
 contains devices to record responses
Operant Conditioning
 Reinforcer
 any event that strengthens the
behavior it follows
 Shaping
 operant conditioning procedure in
which reinforcers guide behavior
toward closer approximations of a
desired goal
Superstitious Behavior
A behavior that is unrelated to the
behavior being conditioned but has
inadvertently been reinforced often
enough that it becomes fixed in the
subject's mind as necessary in order to
receive reinforcement.
Operant Conditioning
Principles of
Reinforcement
 Reinforcer
 any event that strengthens the behavior it follows
 Primary Reinforcer
 innately reinforcing stimulus
 i.e., satisfies a biological need
 Conditioned Reinforcer
 stimulus that gains its reinforcing power through
its association with primary reinforcer
 secondary reinforcer
Learning Links
Einstein the bird
Skidboot
B.F. Skinner interview CD#1, Learning,#9
Chain Behavior
An individual response linking two or more
individual behaviors in a specific order, elicited
by a common discriminative stimulus (SD), or
other stimulus. Each response acts as a
conditioned reinforcer for the previous response
and also provides the stimulus for the next
behavior in the chain. The behavior is typically
bridged at the end of the chain; the bridge
serves as a conditioned reinforcer for the entire
chain.
Schedules of
Reinforcement
 Continuous Reinforcement
 reinforcing the desired response each time it
occurs
 Partial (Intermittent) Reinforcement
 reinforcing a response only part of the time
 results in slower acquisition
 greater resistance to extinction
Schedules of
Reinforcement
 Fixed Ratio (FR) Schedule
 reinforces a response only after a
specified number of responses
 faster you respond the more rewards you
get
 different ratios
 very high rate of responding
 like piecework pay
Schedules of
Reinforcement
 Variable Ratio (VR)
 reinforces a response after an
unpredictable number of responses
 average ratios
 like gambling, fishing
 very hard to extinguish because of
unpredictability
Schedules of
Reinforcement
 Fixed Interval (FI)
 reinforces a response only after a
specified time has elapsed
 response occurs more frequently as
the anticipated time for reward
draws near
Schedules of
Reinforcement
 Variable Interval (VI)
 reinforces a response at unpredictable
time intervals
 produces slow steady responding
 like pop quiz
Schedules of
Reinforcement
Number of
responses
1000
Fixed Ratio
Variable Ratio
Fixed Interval
750
Rapid responding
near time for
reinforcement
500
Variable Interval
250
Steady responding
0
10
20
30
40
50
Time (minutes)
60
70
80
Punishment
 Punishment
 aversive event that decreases the
behavior that it follows
 powerful controller of unwanted
behavior
Punishment
Cognition and Operant
Conditioning
 Cognitive Map
 mental representation of the layout of
one’s environment
 Example: after exploring a maze, rats act
as if they have learned a cognitive map of
it
 CD #1, #10
Cognition and Operant
Conditioning
 Latent Learning
 learning that occurs, but is not apparent until
there is an incentive to demonstrate it
Latent Learning
For example, if you are in a car going to school
with a friend every day, but your friend is
driving all the time, you may learn the way to
get to school, but have no reason to
demonstrate this knowledge. However, when
you friend gets sick one day and you have to
drive yourself for the first time, if you can get to
school following the same route you would go if
your friend was driving, then you have
demonstrated latent learning."
A reason for behaving
Motivation
 Intrinsic Motivation
 desire to perform a behavior for its own
sake and to be effective
 Extrinsic Motivation
 desire to perform a behavior due to
promised rewards or threats of
punishments