Skinner's Operant Anaylsis

operant behavior

behavior that operates on the environment

law of effect

for E.L Thorndike, principle that behavior is determined by its consequences

in operant conditioning, the principle that a behavior becomes more probable when it is followed by a positive reinforcer and less probable when it is followed by a punisher

What is Skinner famous for?

skinner is famous for using a “Skinner box”, which is a box designed to have rats press a level for food

According to Skinner, what does a behaviorist analyze?

A behaviorist analyzes the events in the environment, past or current, that help produce the behavior. Skinner believed to understand behavior one must perform a functional analysis

Functional analysis of behavior: identifying the environmental conditions that determine if behavior occurs or does not occur.

What did Skinner Believe?

Skinner believed we are ultimately conditioned by external events. That everything we do is caused by the environment

The study of personality

involves the discovery of the unique set of relationships between the behavior of an organism and its reinforcing or punishing consequences.

What did Pavolv develop? What did Skinner develop?

Pavolov developed the concept of classical conditioning, and B.F. skinner developed the concept of operant conditioning.

What is classical conditioning? What is operant conditioning?

Classical conditioning involves learning by association, where as, operant conditioning involves learning by reinforcement(rewards)

Operant Conditioning

the establishment of an association between behavior and its consequences

the occurrence of behavior is made more or less probable by reinforcements or punishments which make it more or less likely that the behavior will occur again

The three-term contingency

refers to the three important components in an operant-conditioning contingency

The three-term contingency involves:

1. The environmental(situational) event in which a response (behavior) occurs. The event that precedes the behavior.

2. The behavior itself

3. The environmental stimuli (consequences) that follow the behavior

Discrimination

responding differently in the presence of certain stimuli (in some situations) and not in others

Stimulus control

the process in which a person’s response is determined by a particular stimuli.

Will respond only when reinforcement will take place

Prompts

antecedent events that help initiate responses

Discriminative stimulus

stimulus whose presence signals an individual to respond because they have learned previously that its presence leads to reinforcing consequences.

stimulus generalization

the process by which behavior that is reinforced in one situation is repeated in other similar situations even if not reinforced.

reinforcement

the principle that behavior will increase in frequency when followed by a positive or negative reinforcer

positive reinforcement

refers to the process of increasing the frequency of a behavior by the presentation of pleasant stimuli or positive reinforcers following that behavior

positive reinforcers

stimuli that, when they follow behavior, increase the frequency of the behavior.

Two types of positive reinforcers

1. Primary(unconditioned): automatically or naturally reinforcing. (food,water)

2. Secondary (conditioned): are reinforcing through their association with primary reinforcers or other conditioned reinforcers. (praise, attention, money, good grades)

Negative reinforcement

refers to increasing the frequency of behavior (response) by removal of an aversive (unpleasant) stimulus following that behavior.

Negative reinforcer

the removal of an aversive stimulus

aversive: unpleasant stimulus

Punishment

the principle refers to a decrease in the frequency of a response when that response is followed immediately by certain consequences (punishers)

punishers: stimuli that are inherently aversive or unpleasant

positive punishment

the presentation of an aversive stimulus (punisher) following a behavior

two types of punishers

1. primary(unconditioned): stimuli that are inherently aversive or unpleasant (spanking, falling down)

2. secondary (conditioned): acquire their aversive properties by being paired with primary punishers or other conditioned punishers (poor grades, criticism, ignored)

negative punishment

the removal of a desirable or pleasant stimulus following a behavior

types of negative punishment

response cost: involves penalty

time-out punishment: removal of all pleasant stimuli for a period of time

two downsides of punishment according to skinner

1. may give rise to emotional responses that are incompatible with appropriate behavior

   1. Can create strong conflict in people when responses have inconsistent results

shaping

teaching a new behavior by reinforcing responses that approximate it and are then reinforced until eventually the goal is achieved

successive approximations: behaviors are increasingly similar to the final goal

schedules of reinforcement

continuous reinforcement: response is followed by a reinforcer consistently

Intermittent reinforcement: response is followed by a reinforcer occasionally or intermittently

self-control process

how the individual acts to alter the conditions that influence their behavior

personality development

skinner believed personality changes overtime due to unique environmental schedules of reinforcement rather than the emergence of maturation stages.