Skinner’s Experiments

Law of Effect (Edward Thorndike): Rewarded behavior tends to be repeated.
Skinner Box (Operant Chamber): An enclosed box with a bar or key that an animal can press/peck to get a food or water reward, while measuring devices record their responses.
Reinforcement: Any event that strengthens (increases the frequency of) a preceding response.

What it is: Gradually guiding an animal's (or human's) actions closer and closer to a desired behavior by rewarding successive approximations.
How it works: Give a reward for small steps toward the goal (e.g., walking toward a bar, then touching it) while ignoring other actions.
Real-World Uses: Animal training, teaching pigeons to spot tumors on medical scans, and training dogs to sniff out drugs or explosives.

Positive Reinforcement: Adding a desirable stimulus to increase a behavior (e.g., giving a dog a treat when it comes).
Negative Reinforcement: Removing an unpleasant stimulus to increase a behavior (e.g., taking an aspirin to end a headache, or fastening your seat belt to stop annoying beeps).
- Note: Negative reinforcement is NOT punishment. It provides relief by getting rid of something bad.

Primary Reinforcers: Unlearned and innately satisfying (e.g., getting food when hungry).
Conditioned (Secondary) Reinforcers: Learned through association with primary reinforcers (e.g., money, good grades, social media "likes").

Immediate Feedback: Works best for animals and fast learning (e.g., immediate food pellet for a rat).
Delayed Reinforcers: Humans can wait for delayed rewards like end-of-the-week paychecks, good grades, or future goals. Delaying gratification leads to greater success.

Continuous Reinforcement: Rewarding the behavior every single time it occurs.
- Result: Fast learning, but fast extinction if the reward stops.
Partial (Intermittent) Reinforcement: Rewarding the behavior only sometimes.
- Result: Slower learning, but much greater resistance to extinction (e.g., slot machines, fishing, social media notifications).

Fixed-Ratio: Reinforcement after a set number of responses (e.g., buy 10 coffees, get 1 free).
Variable-Ratio: Reinforcement after an unpredictable number of responses (e.g., slot machines, fishing). Produces high, steady rates.
Fixed-Interval: Reinforcement after a fixed time period (e.g., Tuesday discount prices; checking mail more often right as delivery time nears).
Variable-Interval: Reinforcement after unpredictable time intervals (e.g., checking phone updates). Produces slow, steady persistence.

Punishment: Any consequence that decreases the frequency of the behavior it follows.
- Positive Punishment: Adding an unpleasant stimulus (e.g., giving a traffic ticket).
- Negative Punishment: Taking away a pleasant stimulus (e.g., taking away driving privileges).

Punished behavior is suppressed, not forgotten (it stops only when the punisher is around).
Physical punishment does not teach alternative behavior (doesn't show what to do instead).
Teaches discrimination (children learn not to misbehave in front of specific people).
Can teach fear (children may fear the parent/teacher or avoid the location).
May increase aggression by modeling violence as a way to solve problems.

Better Alternative: Focus on reinforcement (praise what people do right) and use time-outs (removing access to attention) combined with clear expectations for positive behavior.