Download Operant Conditioning Concepts

Operant Conditioning
Concepts
• What is the gumball
that you receive from
the machine called?
• Positive
Reinforcement
• You go back to the
gumball machine
several times and it is
empty each time. Why
will you eventually quit
going?
• Extinction
• What would you call
your behavior if the
dispenser was refilled
and you bought a
gumball again.
• Spontaneous recovery
• Why would you be able
to operate this particular
gumball dispenser, even
if you had never seen
this exact dispenser
before?
• generalization
• Why would you choose to
work a full dispenser
instead of an empty one?
(ok, I know it seems
obvious, but what is the
psychological term )
• discrimination
Vs.
• What would be happening if you
put the quarter in the dispenser,
but didn’t get your gumball until an
hour later?
• Delayed reinforcement
• Is this effective? No.
• Every second time you turn the
dial on the gumball machine you
get a gumball. In other words,
you know that two turns of the
dial= receipt of a gumball. This is
called:
• Fixed-ratio schedule. It always occurs
at the same rate. Produces strong learning,
but learning extinguishes quickly after the
reinforcement schedule goes away.
• If you didn’t get a gumball every
time you put money in, and
instead sometimes got the gum
after three tries, some times
after eight, and it was very
unpredictable this would be:
• Variable ratio schedule. Takes
longer to condition a response,
but learning is resistant to
extinction. (Slot machines are
a good example)
• You walk by the gumball machine at 10:00
one morning and it says “Free Gumballs”.
You walk by at 2:00 and the sign is gone,
but the next morning at 10:00 the “Free”
sign is back. This is an example of
• Fixed interval schedule.
• You pass by the gumball
machine every day, and the
“Free” sign is always
random. You never know
when it is going to be there.
This is
• Variable interval schedule.
(Good example would be a
teacher who gives “pop
quizzes”.
• You give up. You feel like
you will never get a
gumball and quit trying.
This is called
• Learned helplessness.
Reinforcement STRENGTHENS a
behavior.
What is the difference between a
positive reinforcer and a
negative reinforcer.
• Positive reinforcer ______ a pleasurable
stimulus or reward after a desired
behavior.
• Negative reinforcer _______ an
undesirable stimulus.
So… which is positive, which is negative?
• Your coach says “well done” after you make
a big play.
• You take an aspirin to get rid of a headache.
• You hurry home in the winter to get out of the
cold.
• Your mom lets you stay out a ½ hour later
because you received all A’s.
• Saying “uncle” to stop your older brother
from wrestling with you.
• Faking a headache to get out of practice.
In contrast, punishment REMOVES a
behavior by giving an unwanted
consequence
• Because the consequence is unwanted, the fear of this
decreased the behavior.
• Example: getting a spanking when you try to cross the street
without looking.
• Positive punishment: addition of something unpleasant. Ex:
giving a speeding ticket.
• Negative punishment: taking something desirable away…
“omission”.
• Problem with physical and/or positive punishment: does not
teach correct behavior all of the time. For this “omission” is
more effective… (Example: time out in daycare, “when you
learn the correct attitude you can come back and play”).