Skinner's Operant Conditioning

Final Exam

Operant Behavior:

Behavior that operates on the enviornment

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

Skinner is famous for using a _______

“Skinner Box”, a box designed to have rats press a level for food

Scientific Behaviorism:

According to Skinner, a behaviorist analyses the events in the environment, past or current, that help produce the behavior. Skinner believes to understand behavior one must perform a functional analysis.

Functional analysis of behavior:

identifying the environmental conditions that determines if
behavior occurs or does not occur. States that behavior is caused by the operation of environmental factors.

Skinner believed we are ultimately 

conditioned by external events. That everything we do is caused by the enviornment.

Criticism regarding Skinner’s theory:

• research performed on lower animals

• human enviornment cannot be so easily manipulated that of animals

• he sought to manipulate people without them being aware of it

• he set himself up as an arbiter of good and evil

The study of personality:

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

Ivan Pavlov developed the concept of

classical conditioning and B. F. Skinner developed the
concept of operant conditioning.

Classical conditioning involves

learning by association(connections) but operant conditioning involves learning by reinforcement (rewards) and punishment

Operant conditioning:

he 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.

3- term contingency:

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

Contingency:

a rule stating that some events will occur if and only if another events occurs (ill only do this under these circustances)

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.

When some behavior is rewarded or punished in one situation yet not in another.

(kid throwing tantrum in public with friends vs at home)- Discrimination is an act

Stimulus control

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

• will respond only when reinforcement will take place.

• we react to various cues in our environment

• ex: child gets candy when requested in front of mommy’s friend lol

• stimulus= whether or not friends are there

Prompts:

antecedent events that help initiate responses (instructions, directions, examples, and models) ex: “are u sure u want to act like that right now?”

Discriminative stimulus:

stimulus whose presense 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.
(kid thinks they will get away with it with everybody)

• This is the opposite of discrimination.

Reinforcement:

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

• to strenghten a behavior or increase the likehlood of the behavior

Positive reinforcement

• increasing the frequency of a behavior by the
  presentation of a pleasant stimuli or positive
  reinforcers following that behavior.

• giving something- the person is getting something

ex: kid cleans the house extra- heres 75 dollars instead of 50

Positive reinforcers:

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

Two types of positive reinforcers:

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

• 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 the removal
  of an aversive (unpleasant) stimulus following
  that behavior.
  - Negative reinforcer: the removal of an aversive
  stimulus.
  - Aversive: unpleasant stimulus

• something is being taken away from the person

kid cleans house extra- now u don’t have to clean tomorrow (still a reward)

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:
Primary (unconditioned): stimuli that are
inherently aversive or unpleasant (spanking,
falling down)
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 a penalty of some kind.
(child curses, loses a toy, speed/ticket, late fees)
Time-out punishment: removal of all pleasant
stimuli for a period of time. (no tv, computer)

Two downsides of punishment according to
Skinner:

1. May give rise to emotional responses that are
incompatible with appropriate behavior. (if u want ur kid to act better but u hit tje kid, you teach the kid that if ur mad u get physical. ur inflicting pain even tho u are trying to help)

2. 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.

(if u want child to write letter ‘a’ but they make triangle, you reinforce it cause they got the three lines right. continue to reinforce until they write it properly)

Successive approximations:

behaviors are increasingly similar to the final goal.

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.

1. Physical restraints
2. Physical aids
3. Changing the stimulus conditions
4. Manipulating emotional conditions
5. Performing alternative responses
6. Positive self-reinforcement
7. Self-punishment

Personality Development:

Skinner believed personality changes over time
due to unique environmental schedules of
reinforcement rather than the emergence of
maturation stages.

Skinner believed there is no….

qualitative difference between so-called normal and abnormal
individuals.

• Believed the same set of principles can account for
  all behavior.
  

• Believed the focus should be more on the
  environmental determinants of behavior rather
  than inner ones.

Assessment techniques:

Skinner focused on specific behaviors and those
environmental events considered to be
controlling influences.

• Ultimately sought to discover a cause-and-effect
  relationship between events.

Implications for Therapy:

Behavior modification: attempt to change behavior by the application of learning principles derived (primarily) from reinforcement principles and (less often) by punishment principles.

John B. Watson….

was a major proponent of the
behavioral school. According to Watson,
behaviorists study observable animal and human
behaviors, instead of states of consciousness.

One of Watson’s best-known experiments was with
his graduate assistant, Rayner, and an 11-month-old
child named Albert B (“Little Albert”). He and
Rayner conditioned the child to fear rats and other
furry animals.

This experiment made the list the psychology’s
most unethical experiments.

Despite watsons contributions….

behaviorism is
associated primarily with the name of B. F.
Skinner, who made his reputation by testing
Watson’s theories in the laboratory. Skinner’s
studies led him to reject Watson’s almost
exclusive emphasis on reflexes and conditioning

All info….

Similar to Watson, Skinner denied that the mind or
similar to Watson, skinner denied that the mind or feelings play any part in determining human
behavior. Instead, our experience of reinforcements
determines our behavior.

Skinner maintained that operant conditioning could
explain even the most complex of human behaviors.
His theory became known as radical behaviorism
because he focused on the functional analysis of
behavior—the relationship between environmental
events and a particular response.

Radical behaviorism makes no allowance for
cognitive processes.

Both Skinner and E.L. Thorndike are associated
with operant conditioning.

They began their studies around the time that
Pavlov completed his.

Although Thorndike’s studies on learning were
quite important, it is Skinner’s name that is most
often associated with operant conditioning.

Behavior therapy has been criticized because it involves
control and manipulation by the therapist, treats
symptoms rather than causes, ignores relational factors in
therapy, and does not produce client insight.

Contributions and Criticisms of Behaviorism
It is one of the most evidence-based therapies in
existence.

It has led to the development of a strong self-
management focus in therapy.
It has been used to treat a wide range of psychological
conditions such as phobias, eating disorders, addictions
of all types, OCD, PTSD, and behavioral disorders.

behaviorists dont care what is causing the behavior - ur behavior is unhealthy how do we change that behavior