Operant Conditioning

What is operant conditioning?

Operant conditioning is learning through consequences of actions, ie what happens after a behaviour will determine if it is repeated (strengthened) or will stop (weakened)

Positive Reinforcement

Rewarding the subject by adding something it likes encouraging that behaviour to be repeated.

e.g. getting more screen time for cleaning your room

Negative Reinforcement

Rewarding the subject by removing an aversive stimulus to encourage the behaviour to be repeated.

e.g. removing a child’s time out if they pack away their toys

Positive Punishment

Punishing the subject by adding an aversive stimulus to discourage a behaviour from being repeated.

e.g. Adding more time in detention if a student doesn’t complete their homework.

Negative Punishment

Punishing the subject by removing a desirable stimulus to discourage a behaviour from being repeated.

e.g. Taking a child’s phone if they talk back to their parents

Primary Reinforcer

Reinforcers that are rewarding as they have biological significance. They occur naturally and do not need to be learned.

e.g. food, water and shelter

Secondary Reinforcer

Reinforcers that are rewarding due to their association with primary reinforcers. They do not directly satisfy survival needs but have the means to do so.

e.g. money to buy food

Behaviour Modification

A therapy to change the frequency of a behviour.

• extinguishes an undesirable behaviour by removing the reinforcer

• replace the original behaviour with a desirable behaviour and reinforce it

Behaviour Shaping

The method of successive approximations is used to change behaviour. Very general desired behaviours are rewarded and then behaviours closer to the ultimate desired behaviour are rewarded. Complex behaviours are broken into simple behaviours that are taught one by one.

Continuous Reinforcement

When a desired behaviour is reinforced every time it is displayed.

e.g. giving a dog a treat every time they sit down

Partial Reinforcement

When a behaviour is only reinforced part of the time. The behavior takes longer to learn but will be more consistent and resistant to extinction.

Fixed Interval

The first behaviour is rewarded only after a specified amount of time.

e.g. a child is given pocket money for completing all their chores at the end of the day.

Variable Interval

Occurs when a behaviour is reinforced in varying average time intervals. This causes a slow steady rate of response.

e.g. instead of rewarding a dog sitting for 8s, reward it after 4s, 8, and 12s. The average is 8s meaning there is a VI 8 schedule of reinforcement.

Fixed Ratio

Where a behaviour is reinforced only after a specified amount of times it is displayed.

e.g. giving a dog a treat every time it sits 5 times in a row.

Variable Ratio

When a behaviour is rewarded after an unpredictable number of times.

e.g. gambling as there is an unpredictable amount of success and reinforcement

Strength of Operant Conditioning

I: There is supportive evidence that behaviour is learnt through operant conditioning from Skinners Box Study.

J: A rodent learns to press a lever when a light shows to get a food pellet (positive reinforcement) and to stop getting shocked (negative reinforcement).

E: As this experiment is highly controlled, a cause and effect relationship can be established between learning and punishment and reinforcement. Studies done on humans based on the same principles have led to consistent conclusions.

Weakness of Operant Conditioning

I: It can only explain how existing behaviours are strengthened or weakened, not where they originate from.

J: In skinners box study, the reason why the rat presses the lever more is explained but not how it learned to press things to begin with.

E: While operant conditioning explains how a wider range of behaviours a learned than classical conditioning it is still not a full explanation for behaviours.