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Learning
Chapter 8
Part 2
Operant conditioning
Respondent
behavior - occurs as an
automatic response to stimulus
Behavior operates on the
environment producing rewarding or
punishing stimuli
Law of effect - rewarded behavior is
likely to recur
Skinner box
AKA
“operant chamber”
Box has bar or lever that animal
presses or pecks to release a reward
Device to record responses
Shaping behavior
Reinforcers
gradually guide actions
toward a desired behavior
By shaping nonverbal organisms to
discriminate between stimuli, a
psychologist can also determine what
they perceive,(can a dog distinguish
colors?)
Con’t
Successive
approximations = you
reward responses that are ever
closer to the desired behavior
Sometimes we unintentionally
reinforce unwanted behaviors (Billy
example pg 328)
Types of reinforcers
Reinforcement
= any behavior that
strengthens or increases the
frequency of a preceding response.
Positive reinforcers = tangible
rewards, praise or attention.
Reinforcers are not always positive
Positive reinforcement
Presenting
a typically pleasurable
stimulus after a response
Food, praise, attention, approval,
money, prizes, etc
Negative reinforcement
Strengthens
response by removing or
reducing an aversive,
(undesirable),stimulus.
Taking aspirin to relieve pain, pushing
the snooze button, smoking a
cigarette for an addict, studying to
reduce test anxiety, etc)
Primary and secondary
reinforcers
Food
when hungry, being relieved of pain,
for example = primary
Conditioned reinforcers - secondary (ie:
learned through association with primary
reinfocers) = money, prestige,
acknolwlegement
Reinforcement schedules
Continuous
- learning occurs rapidly but so
does extinction
Partial (intermittent) - sometimes
reinforced, sometimes not
Fixed-ratio = behavior reinforced after a
set number of times. Ex = give pigeon food
ever 3 times it pecks dot
Con’t
Variable-ratio
= reinforcers after
unpredictable number of responses
Ex = give pigeon food after 2 pecks,
then 1 peck, then 4 pecks, then 3
pecks, etc
gambling
fixed-interval
Reinforce
after a set amount of time
Ex = check mail as delivery time
approaches
Does not produce steady rate of
response (choppy, start-stop)
Variable-interval
Reinforces
first response after
varying time
Produces slow, steady responding
See chart 8.10 on page 331
punishment
Opposite
of reinforcement
Punishment DECREASES behavior
Issues with human punishment
Spanked children are at increased
risk for aggression and depression.
Or - are kids who are aggressive and
depressed get spanked more?
Punishment implications
Child
may avoid behavior only when threat
of punishment is near (temporary
repression of behavior)
Physical punishment may increase that
behavior by observing that type of
modeling of coping skill.
Does not guide one to desirable behavior
Skinner
“what
punishment teaches is how to
avoid it)
Now and then punishment is
necessary. Minimal use is best
Cognition and operant
conditioning
Cognitive maps
Latent learning
Can you recall all
of the stores in Rancho
strip?
Knowing more than you thought you knew is
latent learning…learning is apparent only
when there is some incentive to
demonstrate it
motivation
Intrinsic
= desire to perform a
behavior effectively for it’s own sake
Extrinsic = desire to behave in
certain ways to gain external rewards
Tiger woods example (not most
recent - yikes!)
Biological predispositions
Animals
and humans can be trained
more easily and retain behavior if it is
biologically instinctive.
Answer “ask yourself” on page 340
Learning by observation
Learning
by viewing others
Animals do it too
Modeling = observing and imitating
specific behaviors
Mirror neurons - empathy, brain scan
Albert Bandura
Bobo
doll experiment/aggression
Prosocial models also work
TV and observational learning
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