Operant Conditioning Notes Chpt. 6 E2

Chapter 6: Operant Conditioning: Introduction

Chapter Outline

  • Positive Punishment
  • Negative Punishment
  • Positive Reinforcement: Further Distinctions
    • Immediate Versus Delayed Reinforcement
    • Primary and Secondary Reinforcers
    • Intrinsic and Extrinsic Reinforcement
    • Natural and Contrived Reinforcers
  • Shaping

6.1 Historical Background

  • Thorndike’s Law of Effect
  • Skinner’s Selection by Consequences

6.2 Operant Conditioning

  • Operant Behavior
  • Operant Consequences: Reinforcers and Punishers
  • Operant Antecedents: Discriminative Stimuli

6.3 Four Types of Contingencies

  • Positive Reinforcement
  • Negative Reinforcement
  • Positive Punishment
  • Negative Punishment

Learning Objectives

  • 6-1 Distinguish between operant (instrumental) conditioning and classical conditioning.
  • 6-2 Describe Thorndike’s law of effect and his classic experiment that led to its creation.
  • 6-3 Describe Skinner’s approach to operant conditioning, including his emphasis on observable behavior.
  • 6-4 Define operant behavior, reinforcers, and punishers.
  • 6-5 Explain the role of discriminative stimuli within the three-term contingency, including contingencies of extinction.
  • 6-6 Describe and distinguish among the four types of operant contingencies.
  • 6-7 Describe the different types of reinforcement, including primary/secondary, immediate/delayed, intrinsic/extrinsic, and natural/contrived reinforcement.
  • 6-8 Describe shaping procedures, including situations that require shaping.

Introduction to Operant Conditioning

  • Elicited behavior is controlled by preceding stimuli (classical conditioning).
  • Example: Tone: Food → Salivation; Tone → Salivation.
  • The target response occurs at the end of the sequence.
  • The preceding stimulus is sufficient to elicit the response, making it reflexive.
  • Operant behaviors are motivated by a consequence and influence the environment to produce a consequence.
  • Also called instrumental conditioning because the response is instrumental in producing the consequence.
  • Operant behaviors are influenced by their consequences.
  • Elicited behavior is a function of what precedes it; operant behavior is a function of what follows it.
  • Another name for operant conditioning is instrumental conditioning.

6.1 Historical Background

  • Operant conditioning has been used for thousands of years but was not scientifically analyzed until the 1890s by Edwin L. Thorndike.
Thorndike’s Law of Effect
  • Thorndike studied animal intelligence, particularly cats in puzzle boxes.
  • Hungry cats were enclosed in a puzzle box with food outside; they had to learn to escape (e.g., by stepping on a treadle to open a gate).
  • Initially, the cat would accidentally step on the treadle, and over repeated trials, the cat would learn to escape the box more quickly but there was no ''flash of insight''.
  • Responses that worked (stepping on the treadle) were gradually strengthened, while those that did not work (clawing, chewing) were gradually weakened.
  • Thorndike's law of effect states that behaviors leading to a satisfying state of affairs are strengthened (