Module 22: Operant Conditioning

Learning

The process of acquiring new and relatively enduring information or behaviors through experience

Associative Learning

Learning that certain events occur together

Stimuli

Any event or situation that evokes a response

Respondent Behavior

Behavior that occurs as an automatic response to some stimulus

Operant Conditioning

A form of associative learning in which a behavior becomes more likely to recur if followed by a reinforcer or less likely to recur if followed by a punisher

Operant Behavior

Behavior that operates on the environment, producing a consequence

B.F. Skinner

Influenced modern behaviorism, elaborated on the law of effect

Law of Effect

Thormdikes’s principle that behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely, and that behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely

Operant Chamber

Also known as a Skinner box, a chamber containing a bar or key that an animal can manipulate to obtain a food or water reinforcer; attached devices record the animal’s rate of bar pressing or key pressing

Reinforcement

In operant conditioning, any event that strengthens the behavior it follows

Shaping

In operant conditioning, a procedure where reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior

Successive Approximations

A method of shaping behavior by reinforcing responses that are closer and closer to the final desired behavior

Discriminative Stimulus

A stimulus that signals a response to be reinforced

Positive Reinforcement

Increasing behaviors by presenting a pleasurable stimulus (any stimulus that, when presented after a response, strengthens the response)

Negative Reinforcement

Increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing an aversive stimulus (any stimulus that, when removed after a response, strengthens the response) NOT a punishment

Primary Reinforcers

Innately reinforcing stimulus, such as one that satisfies a biological need

Conditioned Reinforcers

A stimulus that gains its reinforcing power through its association with a primary reinforcer (AKA secondary reinforcers)

Reinforcement Schedules

A pattern that defines how often a desired response will be reinforced

Continuous Reinforcement

Reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs

Spontaneous Recovery

The reappearance of a previously extinguished conditioned response after a period of time has passed

Partial (intermittent) Reinforcement Schedules

Reinforcing a response only part of the time, not after every instance of the desired response

slower acquisition of a response, but much greater resistance to extinction

Partial reinforcement schedules results in… than continuous reinforcement

Fixed-ratio, variable-ratio, fixed-interval, and variable-interval schedules

4 Schedules of Partial Reinforcement compared by Skinner

Fixed-Ratio Schedules

In operant conditioning, as reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses

Variable-Ratio Schedules

In operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses

Fixed-Interval Schedules

In operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed

Variable-Interval Schedules

In operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals

Positive Punishment

An event that decreases behavior by administering a negative stimulus

Negative Punishment

An event that decreases behavior by removing a reward stimulus

TIme-Out

What is preferred over positive reinforcement (towards children)?

Skinner’s Legacy

Controversy due to methods being:

• Dehumanizing

  • Only focused on external behavior

  • Neglected personal freedom by seeking to control the actions of people