Download The Tales of Operant Conditioning

The Tales of Operant
Conditioning
Once Upon A Time, There Was
Operant Conditioning…
 Operant Conditioning was a method of learning for
all the people in the land of Skinnerian that occurred
through rewards and punishment for behavior.
 It was coined by it’s master creator, B.F. Skinner,
which is why the land in which the people lived was
known as Skinnerian, because operant conditioning
was also known as Skinnerian Conditioning.
The Law of Effect for all…
 Its true creator, however, was an
American psychologist named Edward
Thorndike of Thorn County.
 His idea was the Law of Effect which
was a law for all the people of Thorn
County and Skinnerian which stated:
 Behaviors with favorable consequences
will occur more frequently and
behaviors followed by less favorable
consequences will occur less frequently.
 Here, the idea of operant conditioning
originated and began the inspiration
for Skinner’s fundamental principles
and techniques on the subject.
The Master Psychologist…
 Master psychologist, B.F. Skinner
developed a goal for the people of
Skinnerian to understand and control
other organisms through operant
conditioning.

Created the Skinner Box for his
experiments: used rats and pigeons
of the land as testing devices to
understand/control behaviors.

Put his baby girl in a climate
controlled “air crib” (Baby in a Box)
The Obedient Animals…
Pigeon in the Box…
Rat in the Box…
 http://www.youtube.com
 http://www.youtube.com
/watch?v=TtfQlkGwE2U
/watch?v=MOgowRy2W
C0
 Taught pigeons to peck
a disk with their beaks.
 Understanding of
complicated behaviors
in real world.
 Taught rats to press a
lever with their paws.
 Performed these acts in
the “operant chamber”.
 Controlled environment
Punishment’s Praises and Punches
 Punishment: Any consequence that decreases the
future likelihood of a behavior.

Two kinds of Punishment:
1) Positive Punishment- Presentation of unfavorable
event or outcome in order to weaken response it
follows. (Punishment by Application)
2) Negative Punishment- When an unfavorable event
or outcome is removed after a behavior occurs.
(Punishment by Removal)

In both cases, behavior decreases.
The Positive Perspective…
 With Positive Punishment comes many positive
outcomes such as:
 Obedience
 Respect
 Confidence for Future Experiences
 High Self Esteem
 Less Anxiety
 Lack of Fear
 Communication
The Double Negatives…
With Negative Punishment comes many negative
outcomes such as:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUkE9qaVgmo
 Fear
 Anxiety
 Low Self Esteem
 Lack of Communication
 Rebellion
 Intimidation
 Anti-Social Behavior
 Parent/Child Relationship Suffers
Positive Reinforcement…
 Anything that follows a behavior that will more than
likely occur again in the future.
 When a reward/favorable outcome occurs after an
action, that particular behavior will be strengthened.
 Examples: After giving a great presentation in class,
the teacher shouts, “Great Job!” OR Getting a
promotion in the workplace.
 Not always a good thing- child misbehaves in a store
and parent gives him/her candy or toy..teaches child
how to get his/her way.
Negative Reinforcement…
 Response or behavior is strengthened by stopping,
removing or avoiding negative situation.
 Examples: You clean up mess in kitchen to avoid fight
with parents, roommate, etc. OR Before heading out
to the beach, you apply sunscreen to avoid getting
sunburned.
 By eliminating undesirable outcomes, preventative
behaviors become more likely to occur again in
future.
 Negative Reinforcement VS. Punishment- People
confuse the two. Negative Reinforcement is removal
of a negative condition to strengthen behavior.
Punishment is presenting or taking away something
to weaken behavior.
Activity Time!!!
Caught In The Middle…
The Many Faces of Reinforcement
 Schedule Reinforcement- a rule stating which pieces
of behavior will be enforced.
 Goal of reinforcement is to strengthen behavior and
increase likelihood that it will occur again in future.
 Examples: Continuous Reinforcement- reinforced
every time something occurs. (Ex: Every time a little
boy/girl draws a picture, you say, “Oh, how pretty!”
Partial Reinforcement- Response reinforced only part
time. Responses may be slower. (Ex: Gambling)
Cognition +Biology = Operant
Conditioning…
 Cognition is concerned with the processing and




storing of information.
It is how people think, perceive, remember and learn.
Biology is the study of life.
Examples: B.F. Skinner putting his daughter in the
box, us in the classroom studying cereal killers and
the way they process information and think.
This offers a practical and useful way for altering
behavior in families, schools, and workplaces.
Sources…
 www.psychology.about.com
 www.allpsych.com/psychology101/reinforcement.html
 www.biology.about.com
 www.scholarpedia.org
 Thank YOU!!!