Download Operant conditioning

Operant conditioning
Zimbardo, P.G. & Johnson, R.L. & McCann,
V. (2009). Learning and human nurture. In S.
Frail (Ed.) Psychology: Core Concepts (pp.
91-114). (6th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson
Education, Inc.
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Operant conditioning
• Voluntary (not just reflexes = CC)
• Reward and punishments
• Consequences of behavior encourage or
discourage behavior
• Consequences = reward or punishment
• More important than classical conditioning
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Behaviorism
• Skinner - consequences
• Thorndike – law of effect
 dog in a box
• Skinner uses law of effect but gets rid of
‘the mind’ = Radical behaviorism
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Reinforcement
• Try to reinforce the behavior; you want
the behavior to happen again, to be
repeated:
 Positive reinforcement
 Negative reinforcement
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Positive Reinforcement
• Positive reinforcer follows and
strengthens a response
 food, money, sex
 smile, praise
• Positive reinforcement  behavior will
happen again
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Negative Reinforcement
• Negative reinforcer is taken away and
strengthens the response
 rain
 noise
• Negative reinforcement  behavior will
happen again
• The Skinner box
• Big Bang
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The Skinner Box or Operant
Chamber
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Time and frequency of
reinforcements
• Crucial
• Continuous reinforcement
 Shaping – The Pony
 Disadvantages:
- Not always a reward for good behavior
- Subject could get full
• Experiment
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Intermittent reinforcement
•
•
•
•
•
Not rewarding all correct responses
Already learned behavior
Social reinforcement – ‘Good dog’
Resistance to extinction (2 slotmachines)
Schedules of reinforcement
 Ratio – reinforcement after a certain number
of responses
 Interval – reinforcement after a certain time
interval
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Time and frequency of
intermittent reinforcements
1.
2.
3.
4.
Fixed ratio
Variable ratio
Fixed interval
Variable interval
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Ratio schedules
• Fixed ratio (FR)
 work faster
 production
 disadvantages?
• Variable ratio (VR)
 less predictable, very effective
 telemarketing
 slot machines
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Interval schedules
• Fixed interval (FI)
 weekly quizzes
 rats in a lab
 paycheck (extension of a weekly contract)
• Variable interval (VI)
 random visits boss
 pop quizzes
 fishing
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B.F. Skinner
• Schedule of reinforcement
• Ping Pong
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Applied to a work situation
• Which of these schedules of reinforcement
is useful for what type of job?
• Paycheck or supervision?
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Primary and secondary
reinforcers
• Primary reinforcers
• Secondary or conditioned reinforcers
• How secondary reinforcers can become
primary ones.
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Biological base in operant
conditioning
• Biological base of operant conditioning
 certain reinforcers (junk food)
 instinctive drift
 Nature vs. Nurture
• Humans and operant conditioning
Token economies
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The Premack Principle
• Desirable activities as a reinforcer
 exercise
 run around
• Experiments
 thirsty rats
 exercise deprived rats
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Reinforcement across cultures
• What is a good reinforcer?
 eating chocolate cake
 taking away the noise of heavy metal music
 going to the gym
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Punishment
• Discourage behavior
• Opposite of reinforcement
 positive punishment
-
Hotplate
Fingers between doors
Cut in your fingers
Using salt instead of sugar
 negative punishment
- Teenagers phone
- No dessert
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Punishment
• Punishment has to change the behavior
- Spanking
- Speeding ticket
- Behavior point deduction
• Continuous (unlike reinforcement)
Employee comes in late (rewarding)
• Different from negative reinforcement
- Rat presses lever to turn off the loud sound
- Rat presses lever and a loud sound starts
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Operant Conditioning
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Punishment
• Does punishment work?
• What are the reasons of punishment?
• Punishment or reinforcer?
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Why do people punish?
• It immediately changes behavior
• Punisher may feel good
But does it work in the long run?
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Effective punishment = difficult
1. Threat goes away
- Supervision
- Police
2. Reward is bigger than the punishment
- Dieting
- Drugs
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Effective punishment = difficult
3. Aggression and escape
- Prison
- Rats in a shock box
- Aggression can be used to influence
4. Stops the learning process
- Learned self-helplessness (depression)
- Focus on what not to do
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Effective punishment = difficult
5. Applied unequally
 boys
 children
 minority groups
Does punishment ever work?
Self-destructive behavior
Logical consequence
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Effective punishment
1.
2.
3.
4.
Immediate
Consistent – every time
Limited time and intensity
Logical consequence of behavior – late for
dinner  eat dinner cold
5. Limited to the situation
6. No mixed messages ‘no hitting in this house’
7. Negative punishment
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Examples of Operant
Conditioning
• Lab rat
• Big Bang
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How to change behavior?
• Positive reinforcement (Premack Principle)
• Punishment
• Negative reinforcement (nagging, allowed
to come out of ‘time out’)
• Extinction – ignoring the behavior
• Combination!
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Classical conditioning
Operant conditioning
First = stimulus
Second = behavior
First = behavior
Second = stimulus
Encourage/discourage
behavior with consequences
(reward or punishment)
No reward or punishment
(pleasant or aversive stimuli)
Reward or punishment
New stimulus produces and
‘old’ (reflexive) behavior
A new stimulus (reinforcer)
produces new behavior
Extinction = withholding UCS
Extinction = withholding
reinforcement
Involuntary responses
(reflexive)
Voluntary responses
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