Psychology 001
Introduction to Psychology
Christopher Gade, PhD
Office: 621 Heafey
Office hours: F 3-6 and by apt.
Email: gadecj@gmail.com
Class WF 7:00-8:30 Heafey 650
Operant Conditioning
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The process of learning to associate a behavior with a
consequence, in order to behave in a manner that maximizes
reinforcing and minimizes punishing events.
– Reinforcement: any event that increases the future
probability of the most recent behavior.
– Punishment: any event that decreases the frequency of the
preceding behavior
– What makes something reinforcing or punishing?
– Biologically useful
– Intrinsically satisfying
– Restores equilibrium
* Disequilibrium principle: any behavior that leads to a return to
equilibrium will be reinforcing.
Edward Thorndike (1874-1949)
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Originated the idea of instrumental learning.
•
Studied cats and other animals learning by trial and error to
escape from puzzle boxes.
The Thorndike Laws
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Law of Effect: Behaviors followed by
favorable consequences become more
likely; behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences
become less likely.
Law of Readiness: A series of responses can be chained
together if they belong to the same action sequence and
will result in annoyance if blocked.
Law of Exercise: Connections become strengthened with
practice and weakened when practice is discontinued.
B. F. Skinner (1904-1990)
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Skinner attempted to expand on
Thorndike’s original theories of
instrumental learning. He proposed
that the learning process has a very predictable
response to rewards and punishments. His work
set out to show how those responses to behavior
influenced future behaviors (e.g. operant
conditioning).
The majority of Skinner’s work was done on rats
and pigeons in elaborate boxes that he designed.
These boxes were called “Skinner Boxes”.
15:30
But there’s more…
Not only are there reinforcements and punishments in operant
conditioning, but these responses are either positive (adding
something), or negative (taking something away).
The 2x2 Matrix of Operant Conditioning:
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•
•
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Positive reinforcement: an introduction of a pleasurable stimulus, which
will increase the likelihood of the future occurrence of the behavior (e.g.
chocolate cake).
Negative reinforcement: a removal of an aversive stimulus, which will
increase the likelihood of the future occurrence of the behavior (e.g.
nagging).
Positive punishment: an introduction of an aversive stimulus, which will
decrease the likelihood of the future occurrence of the behavior (e.g.
spanking).
Negative punishment: a removal of a pleasurable stimulus, which will
decrease the likelihood of the future occurrence of a behavior (e.g.
taking away your allowance).
What type of reinforcement is this?
What about this one?
A final review of the 2x2 matrix…
A review of other related
behavioral concepts…
•
Extinction: behavior
without reinforcement.
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Stimulus Generalization:
responding to a stimulus that
is similar to the originally
reinforced stimulus.
•
Discrimination: not
responding to a stimulus that
does not result in
reinforcement.
Different Schedules of Reinforcement
• Continuous reinforcement: reinforcement for every correct response
• Partial/intermittent reinforcement: occasional reinforcement for a
correct response
a. Fixed ratio: Reward for a behavior after “X” responses. Causes
faster responders to get more rewards. Produces high rates of responding,
but quick extinction when the reinforcement is removed.
b. Variable ratio: Reward for a behavior after a variable and
unpredictable numbers of responses. Gambling is a great example of this
reward system. It is very hard to extinguish after the connection is made.
c. Fixed interval: Reward for a behavior after “X” amount of time
has passed. The responses are rather sparse in down time, but get more
vigorous right before time X.
d. Variable interval: Reward for a behavior after a variable and
unpredictable amount of time. This causes slow, steady responding.
Responses x Time Diagram
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
Effectiveness of Reinforcement
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All things being equal, most people learn fastest with
immediate reinforcement or immediate punishment
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Punishment tends to be ineffective except for
temporarily suppressing undesirable behavior

Mild, logical and consistent punishment can be
informative and helpful

Though vicarious reinforcement can be effective,
vicarious punishment is often not
And now…
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After learning about how we take in information,
we’re going to examine how we keep that
information in our head.
Namely, this next series of lectures is going to
discuss memory, and the way the mind stores
information.
See you in the next class.