Download Module 21 Operant Conditioning

Operant Conditioning
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Operant conditioning is a type of learning in which
behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or
diminished if followed by a punisher.
Reinforcement: any event that increases the frequency of
a preceding response.
Shaping: gradually guiding an organism's behavior toward
the desired goal behavior.
Successive approximations: rewarding of responses that
are closer to the desired behavior, and ignoring all other
responses. Note the lack of punishment.
Shaping can help us to understand what nonverbal
organisms perceive.
Discriminative stimulus signal that a response will be
reinforced. (Herrnstein & Loveland, 1964).
Operant Conditioning
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Positive reinforcement any stimulus that, when presented
after a response, strengthens the response.
Negative reinforcement is any stimulus that when
removed after a response, strengthens the response.
Note: negative reinforcement is not punishment.
Primary reinforcer: an innately reinforcing stimulus, such
as one that satisfies a biological need. Eg: food & sex.
Conditionered (or secondary) reinforcer: a stimulus that
gains its reinforcing power through its association with a
primary reinforcer. Eg: money.
Immediate reinforcers are innately satisfying rewards
(food & sex); most humans need to learn delayed
reinforcement as a big step to maturity. (Logue, 1998).
Operant Conditioning
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Reinforcement schedule: a pattern that defines how often
and when a desired response will be reinforced.
Study Fig. 21.3, it will be on the next exam.
Responding is more consistent when reinforcement is
unpredictable than when it is predictable.
Memorize Table 21.2, it will be on the next exam.
Discussion question: As a university student, you have
been placed on a modified varible interval schedule. For
example: Although this course is a fixed length, and
exams are on specified dates, does the timing of your
examinations have anything to do with the number and
difficulties of the skills that you are expected to acquire?
Reinforcement Schedules
Continuous reinforcement is rare in real life.
See Fig. 21.3 Intermittent reinforcement schedules.
See Table 21.2 Types of reinforcment.
Fixed Ratio: Think Travel Miles
Variable Ratio: Think Slot Machines
Fixed Interval: Think Christmas
Variable Interval: (the most complex) Think Development
Project.
All the most successful people on the planet thrive on variable
interval schedules; this is why college courses are designed
on a 12-week timeframe, where the most diffcult material is
delivered sometime in the first 4 weeks, so that the next 8
weeks are implementation of the new knowledge or skill.
Use by movie directors, software designers; automotive
engineers, etc.
Operant Conditioning
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Punishment: an event that tends to decrease the behavior
that it follows.
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Positive punishment: administer an aversive stimulus.
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Negative punishment: withdraw a rewarding stimulus.
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Punished behavior is suppressed, not forgotten.
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Punishment teaches discrimination among situations.
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Punishment can teach fear. A punished child may
associate fear not only with the undesirable behavior but
also with the punisher or the place of punishment.
Physical punishment may increase aggression by
modeling aggression as a way to cope. The greatest
example are the Russian mafia--the Vor y Zhakon-schooled in the Soviet prison system.
Memorize Table 21.4 for the next exam.