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Unit VI: Learning
Module 27
Operant Conditioning
Operant Conditioning
27-1
Operant Conditioning
• A type of learning in which a behavior is
strengthened if followed by a reward or
diminished if followed by a punisher.
27-1
Skinner’s Experiments
27-1
B. F. Skinner’s experiments extend psychologist
Edward Thorndike’s thinking, especially his law of
effect. This law states that rewarded behavior is
likely to occur again.
Fish was the reward used to entice cats to find their way out of Thorndike’s puzzle box in 1898 .
Operant Chamber
27-1
Skinner developed the operant chamber which contains a bar or
key that an animal manipulates to obtain food or water. The
food or water is a reinforcer, an event that strengthens the
behavior it follows. The bar or key is connected to devices that
record the animal’s response.
Shaping
27-1
Shaping is the operant conditioning procedure in
which reinforcers guide behavior towards the
desired target behavior through successive
approximations.
A rat shaped to sniff mines. A manatee shaped to discriminate
objects of different shapes, colors and sizes.
Types of Reinforcers
27-2
Types of Reinforcers
27-2
A heat lamp
positively
reinforces a
meerkat’s behavior
in the cold.
p. 278
Primary & Conditioned
Reinforcers
1. Primary Reinforcer: An innately reinforcing
stimulus like food (when hungry) or drink
(when thirsty).
2. Conditioned Reinforcer: A learned
reinforcer that gets its reinforcing
power through association with
the primary reinforcer. Money is a
conditioned reinforcer (desire for
money is derived from the desire
for food and other necessities).
27-2
Immediate & Delayed
Reinforcers
27-2
1. Immediate Reinforcer: A reinforcer that occurs
instantly after a behavior. A rat gets a food
pellet for a bar press.
2. Delayed Reinforcer: A reinforcer that is delayed
in time for a certain behavior. A paycheck that
comes at the end of a week.
We may be inclined to engage in small immediate
reinforcers (watching TV) rather than large
delayed reinforcers (getting an A in a course)
which require consistent study.
Reinforcement Schedules
27-3
Reinforcement Schedules
1. Continuous Reinforcement: Reinforces the
desired response each time it occurs (rarely
occurs in real life).
2. Partial Reinforcement: Reinforces
a response only part of the time.
Though this results in slower
acquisition in the beginning,
it shows greater resistance to
extinction later on.
27-3
Ratio Schedules
1. Fixed-ratio schedule: Reinforces a
response only after a specified number
of responses. e.g., a free drink after
every 5 purchased at the local coffee
shop.
2. Variable-ratio schedule: Reinforces a
response after an unpredictable number
of responses. This is hard to extinguish
because of the unpredictability.
(e.g., behaviors like gambling, fishing.)
27-3
Interval Schedules
27-3
1. Fixed-interval schedule: Reinforces a response only after
a specified time interval has elapsed. (e.g., preparing for
an exam only when the exam draws close.)
2. Variable-interval schedule: Reinforces a response at
unpredictable time intervals, which
produces slow, steady responses.
(e.g., pop quiz.)
Schedules of Reinforcement
Figure
27.3,
page 280
27-3
Punishment
27-4
Punishment
Punishment is an event that decreases the
behavior it follows.
27-4
Punishment
27-4
Although there may be some justification for occasional
punishment, it usually leads to negative effects:
1.
Punished behavior is suppressed, not
forgotten – which may reinforce parents’
punishing behavior.
2. Punishment teaches discrimination among
situations.
3. Punishment can teach fear.
4. Physical punishment may increase
aggression by modeling aggression as a way
to cope with problems.