Download Operant Conditioning: Reinforcements and Punishments

CHS AP Psychology
Unit 6: Learning
(Behaviorism)
Essential Task 6.3: Predict the effects of operant
conditioning with specific attention to (primary,
secondary, immediate, or delayed)
positive/negative reinforcement and punishment.
Essential Task 6.4: Predict how practice, shaping
through successive approximations, schedules of
reinforcement (continuous, fixed ratio, variable
ration, fixed interval, variable interval), motivation
(intrinsic and extrinsic), contingency, and time
influence the quality of learning.
Operant Conditioning
• The type of learning in which behaviors
are emitted to earn rewards or avoid
punishments
• In classical conditioning the response
to the stimulus was automatic.
• In operant conditioning the participant
operates in the environment to gain
something desired or avoid something
unpleasant.
• THINKING HAPPENS.
Elements of Operant
Conditioning
• Reinforcer
– A stimulus or event that follows a behavior
and makes that behavior more likely to
occur again
• Punisher
– A stimulus or event that follows a behavior
and makes that behavior less likely to
occur again
Edward L. Thorndike
• Cat placed in puzzle
boxes
• Fish used as a reward
to figure out how to
get out of the box
• Learning by random
trial and error
• Law of Effect –
Thorndike’s principle
that responses are
“stamped in” by
rewards and
“stamped out” by
punishments.
Skinner’s Experiments
Using Thorndike's law of effect as a
starting point, Skinner developed the
Operant chamber, or the Skinner Box, to
study operant conditioning.
Walter Dawn/ Photo Researchers, Inc.
Operant Chamber
The Skinner Box
comes with a bar or
key that an animal
manipulates to
obtain a reinforcer
like food or water.
The bar or key is
connected to
devices that record
the animal’s
response.
Operant Conditioning and
Shaping
Shaping is the operant conditioning
procedure in which reinforcers guide
behavior towards the desired target
behavior through successive
approximations
Rewarding behavior as it
gets closer to desired
response and ignoring the
undesired actions
A rat shaped to sniff mines. A manatee shaped to
discriminate objects of different shapes, colors and sizes.
Types of Reinforcement
• Positive reinforcer
(+)
– Adds something
rewarding
following a
behavior, making
that behavior
more likely to
occur again
– Giving a dog a
treat for fetching
a ball is an
example
• Negative reinforcer
(-)
– Removes
something
unpleasant that
was already in
the environment
following a
behavior, making
that behavior
more likely to
occur again
– Taking an aspirin
to relieve a
headache is an
example
Types of Reinforcers
Any event that strengthens the behavior
it follows.
A heat lamp positively reinforces a
meerkat’s behavior in the cold.
Reuters/ Corbis
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.
– If we notice that the TV is on when food
and drink is prepared, we may want to
turn on the TV in anticipation of food
Immediate & Delayed Reinforcers
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.
Question of the Day
• Jack finally takes the garbage out in
order to get his father to stop pestering
him. Jack’s behavior is being
influenced by
A.positive reinforcement
B.negative reinforcement
C.primary reinforce
D.punishment
Reinforcement Schedules
1. Continuous Reinforcement: Reinforces the
desired response each time it occurs.
a) Does your teacher grade every
assignment?
b) How do you feel when a teacher does
not score all of your work?
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.
Ratio Schedules
1. Fixed-ratio schedule: Reinforces a response
only after a specified number of responses.
e.g., piecework pay.
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.)
Interval Schedules
1. Fixed-interval schedule: Reinforces a
response only after a specified time
has elapsed. (e.g., Going to Taco
Tuesday, since Tuesday is the only day
for tacos at that restaurant.)
2. Variable-interval schedule: Reinforces
a response at unpredictable time
intervals, which produces slow, steady
responses. (e.g., checking Facebook.)
Punishment
An aversive event that decreases the
behavior it follows.
Punishment
• Goal of punishment is to decrease the
occurrence of a behavior
• Effective punishment
– Should occur as soon as possible after the
behavior
– Should be sufficient, i.e., strong enough
– Should be certain, occurring every time
the behavior does
– Should be consistent
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.
Spanking
• Were you spanked as a child?
• What are the reasons parents spank
their children?
• Are there reasons parents would never
spank a child?
• Where is the line between spanking
and child abuse?
• Is spanking successful?
Identifying Contingent
Responses
WHAT DO YOU WANT THE BEHAVIOR TO DO?
Increase?
Give Positive
Stimulus?
Decrease?
Take Away
Negative
PUNISHMENT
Stimulus?
POSITIVE
NEGATIVE
REINFORCEMENT
REINFORCEMENT
• Give Negative
Stimulus
• Take Away
Positive
Stimulus
Operant Conditioning is
Selective
• Operant conditioning techniques work
best with behaviors that would
typically occur in a specific situation
• Superstitious behavior
– Tendency to repeat behaviors that are
followed closely by a reinforcer, even if
they are not related
– For example, a particular pair of socks
might become “lucky” if something good
happened when you wore them
Behavioral Change Using
Biofeedback
• Biofeedback is an operant
conditioning technique that teaches
people to gain voluntary control over
bodily processes like heart rate and
blood pressure
– When used to control brain activity it is
called neurofeedback