Untitled Flashcards Set

Operant Conditioning Overview

Operant conditioning is learning based on the association of consequences with behaviors, in contrast to classical conditioning which is based on associations between stimuli. Edward Thorndike and B.F. Skinner are two prominent figures in the development of operant conditioning.

Thorndike’s Law of Effect

• Thorndike’s Puzzle Box Experiment involved a cat in a box, where the cat needed to perform a simple task to access food. The time it took for the cat to escape the box decreased over successive trials.

• This led to Thorndike’s Law of Effect, which states that behaviors followed by pleasant consequences are more likely to be repeated, while those followed by unpleasant consequences are less likely.

B.F. Skinner and the Skinner Box

• Skinner refined Thorndike’s ideas and coined the term operant conditioning.

• He invented the Skinner Box, where animals, like rats or pigeons, can press levers or peck disks to obtain food (reinforcer).

• Reinforcement can be positive (adding something pleasant) or negative (removing something unpleasant).

  • Positive reinforcement: Adding a pleasant stimulus (e.g., food for pressing a lever).

  • Negative reinforcement: Removing an unpleasant stimulus (e.g., stopping a loud noise when the rat presses a lever).

• Punishment: Can decrease the likelihood of behavior.

  • Positive punishment: Adding something unpleasant (e.g., electric shock).

  • Negative punishment (or omission training): Removing something pleasant (e.g., food removal).

Reinforcement Schedules

• Continuous reinforcement: Rewarding the behavior every time it occurs.

• Partial reinforcement: Rewarding intermittently. There are several schedules:

  • Fixed-Ratio (FR): Reinforcement after a set number of responses (e.g., after every 5th lever press).

  • Variable-Ratio (VR): Reinforcement after a variable number of responses (e.g., averaging 5 responses per reward, but the exact number varies).

  • Fixed-Interval (FI): Reinforcement after a fixed amount of time (e.g., after every 3 minutes).

  • Variable-Interval (VI): Reinforcement after a variable time interval (e.g., after an average of 3 minutes).

• Variable schedules lead to higher resistance to extinction compared to fixed schedules.

Shaping & Chaining

• Shaping: Reinforcing successive approximations toward the desired behavior.

• Chaining: Linking together multiple behaviors to create a complex activity (e.g., teaching a rat to run through an obstacle course for food).

Punishment vs. Reinforcement

• Both punishment and reinforcement can achieve the goal of changing behavior. Reinforcement increases the likelihood of a behavior, while punishment decreases it.

• The key difference: Reinforcement makes a behavior more likely to occur again, while punishment aims to decrease it.

Biological Limitations and Instinctive Drift

• Certain biological limits affect what can be learned through operant conditioning. For example, animals may refuse to perform behaviors that contradict their natural instincts. Instinctive drift refers to this tendency for animals to revert to natural behaviors.

Cognitive Learning Theories

Though behaviorists like Skinner emphasized the role of external reinforcement, cognitive psychologists argue that cognitive processes (like expectation) also influence learning.

Contingency Model of Classical Conditioning

• Robert Rescorla revised Pavlov’s contiguity model, which claimed that learning occurred merely by pairing stimuli. Rescorla’s contingency model states that a reliable connection between events (predictability) is necessary for strong learning.

  • Example: If a bell is paired with food consistently (and vice versa), the dog learns to expect food when it hears the bell.

  • The contingency model emphasizes the cognitive role of expecting one event to follow another.

Cognitive Aspect of Operant Conditioning

• Cognitive psychologists argue that subjects are aware of the consequences of their actions and act accordingly to maximize reinforcement or minimize punishment.

Other Types of Learning

In addition to operant and classical conditioning, cognitive theorists have identified several other forms of learning.

Observational Learning

• Observational learning (also called modeling) happens when individuals learn by watching others, a concept studied by Albert Bandura through his social-learning theory.

• Bandura's famous Bobo doll experiment showed that children who observed aggressive behavior from adults were more likely to imitate that behavior, especially when they saw the adults being reinforced for it.

Latent Learning

• Latent learning refers to learning that is not immediately shown but becomes apparent once reinforcement is provided.

  • Edward Tolman demonstrated this with rats in a maze. One group was rewarded throughout the trial, while another group received no rewards initially but was rewarded later. The group that was rewarded later showed a significant improvement in performance once reinforcement began.

Abstract Learning

• Abstract learning involves understanding concepts beyond simple behaviors. For example, pigeons were trained to peck pictures of chairs and learned to recognize categories such as "same" or "different".

Insight Learning

• Insight learning refers to sudden realizations of solutions to problems. Wolfgang Köhler’s study of chimpanzees revealed that they would suddenly solve problems by stacking boxes to reach food, illustrating insight rather than gradual trial-and-error.

Summary

You provided a detailed account of both operant and classical conditioning, integrating reinforcement schedules, punishment, shaping, and chaining with examples. You also highlighted cognitive aspects of learning such as latent learning, observational learning, abstract learning, and insight learning, all of which provide a richer understanding of how we learn beyond behaviorist models.

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