PSYCH 1101: Operant Conditioning Notes

Operant conditioning was developed by B.F. Skinner (1904–1990).
Operant Conditioning Definition: A form of learning in which behavior is impacted due to its consequences. Certain behaviors lead to specific consequences.
Thorndike's Law of Effect:
- If a behavior is followed by a "satisfying effect", the behavior is more likely to be repeated.
- If a behavior is followed by a "discomforting effect", the behavior is less likely to be repeated.

Operant Conditioning Reinforcement and Punishment Matrix

Primary Reinforcers: Reinforcers that are innately desired because they fulfill a biological need.
Secondary Reinforcers: Reinforcers that are associated with primary reinforcers and are not inherently desired on their own.

Operant Extinction: If a consequence stops following a behavior, the conditioning stops.
Extinction Burst: When a consequence is removed, the targeted behavior temporarily increases in duration, intensity, and/or frequency before eventually fading.
- Example: Texting someone constantly after being ghosted to get their attention.

Shaping: A procedure in which reinforcement gradually guides an organism's actions toward a desired behavior.

Effectiveness: Punishment can powerfully change behavior; however, the underlying behavior is NOT replaced.
Mandatory Usage Guideline: Punishment MUST be used in tandem with reinforcement.
Physical Punishment and Spanking:
- Spanking is used as discipline, but major professional organizations such as the American Psychological Association (APA) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) have official policies against physical punishment.
- Physical punishment will stop behavior in the short-term, but it has severe negative long-term effects.
- Long-Term Effects: Increased aggression, behavior problems, poor parent-child relationships, and poor mental health.

Observational Learning: Learning that occurs through watching others.
Social Learning Theory: Developed by Albert Bandura (1925–Present).
Modeling: The process of observing and imitating behavior.
- Example: Learning how to serve in pickleball via a TikTok tutorial.

Attention: Noticing and attending to the model. Identifying with the model leads to increased attention.
Retention: Remembering what the model did.
Reproduction: Having to attempt to copy the behavior.
Motivation: The want or desire to do the behavior.
- Motivation is influenced by observed consequences:
  - Vicarious Reinforcement: Increases desire and motivation to perform the behavior.
  - Vicarious Punishment: Decreases desire and motivation to perform the behavior.
- After imitation occurs, direct reinforcement or direct punishment also affects ongoing motivation.

Aim: Showcased the relationship between observational learning and media violence.
Findings: Children imitated an adult model by beating up a Bobo Doll when left alone in a room.
Consequence Effect: Children were significantly more likely to imitate the behavior if the adult model was rewarded or experienced no consequences, compared to when the adult model was punished.
Model Consistency: This pattern held true whether using a live model or a symbolic model.
Media Connection: Media frequently contains violent images where acts of violence are left unpunished or are even rewarded.

Short-Term Impact: Media violence directly increases short-term aggression (YES).
Long-Term Impact:
- There is a strong correlation between the amount of violence watched and aggression exhibited at school and home in children and teenagers.
- Higher exposure correlates with increased violent crimes as adults.
- Longitudinal studies confirm that media violence exposure predicts aggression in adults.
Methodological Note: A distinction must be maintained between cause and correlation.

Cognition: Mental activity associated with thinking, communicating, and remembering.
Problem-Solving: A process of cognition that occurs when a goal must be reached by thinking and behaving in certain ways.

Algorithm: A precise set of rules applied in order to solve a problem.
- Characteristics: Slow and takes a lot of effort, but guarantees an exact solution.
Heuristics: Quick cognitive strategies and mental shortcuts used to solve problems quickly while expending little effort.
- Characteristics: Fast, but much more likely to be wrong.

System 1:
- Fast, subconscious, automatic, used for everyday decisions, and error-prone.
- Active mostly in daily life.
- Produces more cognitive flaws.
System 2:
- Slow, conscious, effortful, used for complex decisions, and reliable.
- Takes deliberate effort to activate.

Availability Heuristic: The tendency to estimate the likelihood or importance of something based on how easily we can think of an example.
Representative Heuristic: The assumption that any object or individual sharing characteristics with the members of a particular category is also automatically a member of that category.
- Forms the cognitive basis for stereotypes.
Anchoring Heuristic: The tendency to focus disproportionately on the first piece of information encountered when problem-solving or assessing value.
- Example: Seeing an initial price tag of $500$ reduced to $350$ creates an anchor where $350$ is perceived as an exceptional deal ("What a deal!").

Mental Set: The tendency to only see or try solutions that have worked in the past.
Functional Fixedness: A specific type of mental set where an individual fails to solve a problem because they get stuck thinking only of an object's usual or primary function.