Study Guide: Operant Conditioning and Reinforcement

1. Thorndike’s Law of Effect vs. Operant Conditioning

  • Law of Effect (Thorndike): Behaviors followed by satisfying consequences are more likely to be repeated; behaviors followed by unpleasant consequences are less likely to be repeated.

  • Operant conditioning (Skinner): Behavior is influenced by its consequences (reinforcements and punishments).

  • Difference: Thorndike emphasized “satisfying vs. annoying” outcomes, while Skinner focused on systematic manipulation of consequences to increase or decrease behavior.

2. Reinforcer vs. Punisher

  • Reinforcer: Stimulus that increases the likelihood of a behavior.

  • Punisher: Stimulus that decreases the likelihood of a behavior.

  • Reinforcement vs. Reinforcer / Punishment vs. Punisher:

    • Reinforcement/punishment = process

    • Reinforcer/punisher = specific stimulus used

3. Discriminative Stimulus vs. Conditioned Stimulus

  • Discriminative stimulus (SD): Signals that a behavior will be reinforced or punished (operant conditioning).

  • Conditioned stimulus (CS): Signals that an unconditioned stimulus will occur (classical conditioning).

  • Three-term contingency:

    • SD → Response → Consequence

    • Example:

      • SD = Green traffic light

      • Response = Press gas pedal

      • Consequence = Car moves forward

4. Positive and Negative Reinforcement

  • Positive reinforcement (add stimulus → increase behavior):

    • Example: Give a child candy for completing homework

    • Diagram: SD → R → +SR (candy delivered)

  • Negative reinforcement (remove stimulus → increase behavior):

    • Example: Buckle seatbelt to stop car buzzer

    • Diagram: SD → R → –SR (buzzer removed)

5. Positive and Negative Punishment

  • Positive punishment (add stimulus → decrease behavior):

    • Example: Spank a child for hitting sibling

    • Diagram: SD → R → +SP (spanking delivered)

  • Negative punishment (remove stimulus → decrease behavior):

    • Example: Take away video game for misbehavior

    • Diagram: SD → R → –SP (video game removed)

6. Negative Reinforcement vs. Positive Punishment

  • Similarity: Both involve aversive stimuli.

    • Negative reinforcement: Removes aversive stimulus → increases behavior.

    • Positive punishment: Adds aversive stimulus → decreases behavior.

  • Often confused because both involve unpleasant events.

7. Immediacy and Reinforcer Strength

  • Principle: The more immediate the consequence, the stronger its effect on behavior.

  • Academic difficulty: Delayed consequences (e.g., final grades weeks later) make reinforcement weak → students may procrastinate.

8. Types of Reinforcers

  • Primary reinforcers: Innate, biologically reinforcing (e.g., food, water).

  • Secondary reinforcers: Learned through association with primary reinforcers (e.g., money, praise).

  • Generalized reinforcers: Associated with multiple reinforcers (e.g., money → food, entertainment, bills).

  • Power of generalized reinforcers: Can be exchanged for many outcomes → highly motivating.

9. Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Reinforcement

  • Intrinsic: Inherent to behavior (e.g., reading for fun).

  • Extrinsic: Comes from external source (e.g., reading for a prize).

  • Effects:

    • Can undermine intrinsic motivation if task feels controlled or pressured.

    • Can enhance intrinsic motivation if feedback emphasizes competence or mastery.

10. Natural vs. Contrived Reinforcers

  • Natural reinforcer: Naturally follows behavior (e.g., eating food when hungry).

  • Contrived reinforcer: Deliberately arranged (e.g., token for completing homework).

  • Usage in behavior modification: Contrived reinforcers are often used initially to establish behavior, with the goal that natural reinforcers will maintain it later.

11. Shaping

  • Definition: Gradually reinforcing successive approximations of a target behavior until desired behavior is achieved.

  • Example: Teaching a dog to roll over → reward lying down → reward partial roll → reward full roll.

  • Advantages of secondary reinforcers (e.g., sound/tone):

    1. Can be delivered immediately → maintains temporal contiguity.

    2. Can be paired with primary reinforcer → facilitates learning complex behaviors.