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Operant Chamber
• Thorndike's law of effect = starting point for
Skinner
• Skinner developed the Operant chamber,
Skinner box, to study operant conditioning.
Walter Dawn/ Photo Researche
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Shaping
• Shaping = process of guiding animal to
desired behavior
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Types of Reinforcers
• Reinforcer or Reinforcement
• 2 Types…
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Primary & Secondary Reinforcers
1. Primary Reinforcer: An innately reinforcing
stimulus like food or drink.
2. Conditioned Reinforcer: A learned
reinforcer that gets its reinforcing power
through association with the primary
reinforcer.
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Immediate & Delayed Reinforcers
1. Immediate Reinforcer:
– Ex: Dog gets treat for sitting down
– Instant Gratification
2. Delayed Reinforcer
– Ex: A paycheck
– Delayed Gratification
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Reinforcement Schedules
1. Continuous Reinforcement:
2. Partial Reinforcement:
• Which one leads to quicker learning?
• Which one is more resistant to extinction?
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Ratio Schedules (Partial
Reinforcement)
1. Fixed-ratio schedule: reinforcer after fixed #
of responses
2. Variable-ratio schedule: Reinforcer after an
unpredictable number of responses.
• Impact of unpredictability?
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Interval Schedules (Partial Reinforcement)
1. Fixed-interval schedule: Reinforcer
after a specified time has elapsed.
2. Variable-interval schedule: Reinforcer
at unpredictable time intervals
• Impact of unpredictability?
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Schedules of Reinforcement
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Punishment
An aversive event that decreases the behavior it
follows.
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Cognition & Operant Conditioning
• BF Skinner shunned cognition during
conditioning
– Many people disagreed
• Examples of cognition during conditioning:
– Cognitive Map
– Latent Learning
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Motivation
Intrinsic Motivation:
The desire to perform a
behavior for its own
sake.
Extrinsic Motivation:
The desire to perform a
behavior due to
promised rewards or
threats of punishments.
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Biological Predisposition
Biological constraints
predispose organisms to
learn associations that
are naturally adaptive.
Photo: Bob Bailey
Marian Breland Bailey
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Operant vs. Classical Conditioning
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Punishment
Although there may be some justification for
occasional punishment (Larzelaere & Baumrind,
2002), it usually leads to negative effects.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Results in unwanted fears.
Conveys no information to the organism.
Justifies pain to others.
Causes unwanted behaviors to reappear in its
absence.
5. Causes aggression towards the agent.
6. Causes one unwanted behavior to appear in
place of another.
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Learning by Observation
©Herb Terrace
The monkey on the
right imitates the
monkey on the left in
touching the pictures in
a certain order to obtain
a reward.
© Herb Terrace
Higher animals,
especially humans,
learn through observing
and imitating others.
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Mirror Neurons
Reprinted with permission from the American
Association for the Advancement of Science,
Subiaul et al., Science 305: 407-410 (2004)
Neuroscientists discovered mirror neurons in
the brains of animals and humans that are active
during observational learning.
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Meltzoff, A.N. (1998). Imitation of televised models by infants.
Child Development, 59 1221-1229. Photos Courtesy of A.N. Meltz
Imitation Onset
Learning by observation
begins early in life. This
14-month-old child
imitates the adult on TV
in pulling a toy apart.
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Bandura's Bobo doll
study (1961) indicated
that individuals
(children) learn
through imitating
others who receive
rewards and
punishments.
Courtesy of Albert Bandura, Stanford University
Bandura's Experiments
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Applications of Observational Learning
Unfortunately,
Bandura’s studies
show that antisocial
models (family,
neighborhood or TV)
may have antisocial
effects.
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Positive Observational Learning
Bob Daemmrich/ The Image Works
Fortunately, prosocial (positive, helpful) models
may have prosocial effects.
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Gentile et al., (2004)
shows that children in
elementary school
who are exposed to
violent television,
videos, and video
games express
increased aggression.
Ron Chapple/ Taxi/ Getty Images
Television and Observational Learning
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Modeling Violence
Children modeling after pro wrestlers
Glassman/ The Image Works
Bob Daemmrich/ The Image Works
Research shows that viewing media violence
leads to an increased expression of aggression.
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