Skinner's Operant Analysis

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

• 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 environment

Criticism regarding Skinner theory:

• Research was performed on lower animals

• The human environment cannot be so easily manipulated as 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 the behavior of an organism and its reinforcing or punishing consequences

Operant conditioning: The establishment of an association between behavior and its consequences

• The occurrence of behavior is made more or less probable

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

Contingency: a rule stating that some event will occur if and only if another event occurs

The three term contingency involves:

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

   1. 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

Stimulus control: the process in which a person's response is determined by 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

Prompts: antecedent events that help initiate responses (Instructions, directions, examples & models)

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

Stimulus generalization: process by which behavior that is reinforced in one situation is repeated on other similar situations even if not reinforced

• This is the opposite of discrimination

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 a 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:

• 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

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)