OPERANT CONDITIONING

Key idea-

Learning through consequences eg rewards and punishments

THORNDIKE law of effect- behaviour followed by positive reward like food is more likely to be repeated but when followed y a negative consequence like a shock is less likely to be repeated

Skinner box to test this more objectively with rats etc

REINFORCEMENT - consequence of behaviour used to encourage repetition

PUNISHMENT- consequence of behaviour used to prevent repetition

POSITIVE- add something

NEGATIVE- remove something

Examples-

Positive reinforcement - sticker

Negative reinforcement - take away iPad ban

Positive punishment - detention

Negative punishment - take away iPad

SKINNER SUPERSTITION IN THE PIGEON - 1948

Superstitious behaviours are those that arise as a consequence of uncontrollable reinforcers

  • Hungry pigeons whose body weights were deliberately reduced to 75% of their normal weight.

  • For a few mins everyday a mechanism fed them at regular intervals

  • The birds developed superstitious behaviour believing that if they acted in a certain way or doing a certain action would mean food would arrive

  • ¾ of the birds had become superstitious. One bird thought that if they turned in the cage 3 times anti clockwise the food would arrive.

  • So he found that pigeons can be conditioned to develop superstitious behaviours in believe they will be fed. More obvious in humans eg avoiding 3 grids/ not walking under a ladder etc

EVALUATE SKINNER-

+apply to schools because if we reward children when we want them to repeat good behaviour this will positively improve the school system

-Pigeons not generalisable to humans

+standardised lab procedure

PRIMARY REINFORCERS- meet basic human need

SECONDARY REINFORCERS- allow people to access a primary reinforcer or satisfy a basic human need

The consequences of behaviour may occur every time the action is performed or only sometimes, this pattern is called a SCHEDULE OF REINFORCEMENT

FLEXIBILITY - OC can create further behaviours or be used to create behaviours - shows the use of reinforcement and punishment has flexibility between individuals

BEHAVIOUR SHAPING - when we shape the desired behaviour in the person or animal in stages along the way

DISCRIMINATION- eg if bird gets food when pecking at disc when green light is on but not when red it learns to discriminate

GENERALISATION- If pigeon gets food when pecking at yellow light they may try similar colours

EVALUATE OPERANT CONDITIONING

-Pavlov said that learning is taught through association, not consequence So doesn’t explain all behaviour

+SKINNER pigeons

-Not the only explanation SLT says we learn by imitation

+apply to schools to reward behaviour

-animal experiments can’t be generalised to humans