Unit 3: Operant Conditioning

Operant Conditioning

a type of associative learning that associates reinforcement and punishment with behaviors

The Law of Effect

the principle that behaviors followed by favorable consequences (reinforcement) become more likely and behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences (punishment) become less likely

Reinforcement

a stimulus that increases a behavior

Primary reinforcer

stimulus that satisfies a biological need (ie: water, food, comfort, love, belonging)

Conditioned reinforcer

stimulus associated with a primary reinforcer (ie: money, good grades, praise, likes)

Reinforcer discrimination

dog learns to sit by the command "sit" and doesn't do action for another word

Reinforcer generalization

dog responds to similar commands "sit down" or "sit there" rather than just "sit"

Punishment

a stimulus that decreases a behavior (ie: dog isn't allowed to sit on couch --> yell at dog)

Positive reinforcement

add pleasant stimulus (ie: want students to be good at hard work = give treats when done)

Positive punishment

add adverse stimulus (ie: yell at students who are distracting)

Negative reinforcement

remove adverse stimulus (ie: having no homework to focus on study habits/skills)

Negative punishment

remove pleasant stimulus (ie: take away phones when used in class)

Shaping

process in which successive steps of conditioning are reinforced until a target behavior is achieved

Instinctive drift

animals have a tendency to revert to instinctual behaviors despite conditioning; occurs when innate behaviors interfere with learned behaviors --> difficult to maintain certain trained responses over time

Superstitious behavior

behaviors are reinforced by associating unrelated factors, especially with performance

Reinforcement schedule

determines strength of the association between the consequence and response

-Continuous: provides reinforcement every time it occurs

-Partial: given only some of the time, more resistant to extinction

Fixed ratio

reinforcement after a set number of responses (ie: get a bonus after selling 10 items)

Variable ratio

reinforcement after a unpredictable/random number of responses (ie: salesperson makes a sale but sometimes after 3 doors, sometimes after 20)

Fixed interval

reinforcement after a fixed time period (ie: salesperson gets paid every 2 weeks)

Variable interval

reinforcement at unpredictable/random time intervals; strongest type of reinforcement (ie: salesperson receives a commission bonus at random times)

Learned helplessness

psychological phenomenon in which an individual stops trying to escape or change a negative situation because previous attempts to make it better have failed