Operant Conditioning

Learning the
Consequences of Behavior
Instrumental Conditioning
 The Law of Effect-Thorndike
• Behaviors followed by favorable
consequences become more likely, and that
behaviors followed be unfavorable
consequences become less likely.
• Instrumental Conditioning
• A procedure in which an organism learns that
certain responses are instrumental in producing
desired effects in the environment
Operant Conditioning
 Operant Conditioning
• A synonym for instrumental conditioning
• Comes from Skinner’s emphasis on how an organism
learns to “operate on” its environment to produce an
effect
 Operant (behavior)
• Is a behavioral response that has some effect
(consequence) on an organism’s environment
 Operant Chamber- Skinner Box
• A chamber containing a bar or key that an animal can
manipulate to obtain a food or water reinforcer, with an
attached devices to record the animal’s rate of response
Skinner and Skinner Box
 Image- Courtesy of B.F. Skinner
Foundation
Components of Operant
Conditioning

• Reinforcers
• A consequence that increases the probability that a response
will occur again (strengthens the behavior it follows
• Positive Reinforcers
• Positive stimuli that act like rewards
• Negative Reinforcers
• Removal of an unpleasant stimuli
• Escape conditioning
• Occurs when an organism learns that a particular response
will terminate an aversive stimuli
• Avoidance Conditioning
• Occurs when an organism responds to a signal in a way that
prevents an aversive stimuli
Punishment
 Presents an aversive stimuli or removes a
pleasant stimuli to decrease the frequency of a
behavior
 Disadvantages
• It doesn’t eliminate behavior merely suppresses it
• Not effective unless it immediately follows the behavior
• Punishment becomes associated with the punisher-so the
punisher is feared
• Organism being punished may learn to relate to others in an
aggressive way
• Punishment makes clear what behaviors are incorrect, but
doesn’t provide any demonstration of desired behaviors
Punishment
 Can work if used wisely…
• Punish the behavior not the person
• Punish immediately
• Use a severe enough punishment to eliminate
the behavior
• Explain and reinforce more appropriate
behaviors
Punishment or Negative
Reinforcement?
Forming and Strengthening
Operant Behavior
 Shaping
• An operant conditioning process in which successive
approximations of a behavior are reinforced until the
desired behavior pattern emerges.
 Secondary Reinforcement (Conditioned)
• Primary reinforcers-an innately satisfying reinforcing
stimulus, such as one that satisfies a biological need
(food,water, pain relief)
• Conditioned or secondary reinforcer- a stimulus that gains
its reinforcing power through its association with a primary
reinforcer. (MONEY)
 Delay and size of reinforcement
• Operant conditioning is strongest when the delay in
receiving a reinforcer is short and the reinforcer is large
Schedules of Reinforcement
Schedules of Reinforcement
 Continuous reinforcement schedule
• Every correct response receives a reward
 Partial or Intermittent reinforcement schedule
• Reinforcement is received only some of the time
• Fixed Ratio Schedules (FR)
• Give a reward after a fixed number of responses
• Variable-Ratio Schedules (VR)
• Give a reward after an average number of responses
• Fixed-Interval Schedules (FI)
• Reward the first response displayed after a fixed time interval
• Variable-Interval Schedule (VI)
• Reward the first response displayed after a varying time interval
• Schedules and Extinction
• The partial reinforcement extinction effect
• Demonstrates that it is more difficult to extinguish an operant
behavior learned under a partial rather than a continuous
reinforcement schedule
Cognition and Operant
Conditioning
 Latent learning
• Learning that occurs but is not apparent until there is
some reason to demonstrate it
 Cognitive map
• A mental representation of the layout of one’s
environment. For example, after exploring a maze, rats
act as if they have learned a cognitive map of it. (Tolman)
 Overjustification effect
• The effect of promising a reward for doing what one
already likes to do. The person may now see the reward,
rather than the intrinsic interest, as the motivation for
performing the task.
Other cognitive processes in
learning
 Learned Helplessness
• Occurs when an organism believes that behaviors are
not related to consequences
• When people’s past experience leads them to believe
that nothing they can do will change their lives, they
tend to stop trying.
 Insight
• The sudden grasp of new relationships that are
necessary to solve a problem and that were not
learned in the past.
• Kohler’s studies of chimpanzee problem-solving