Operant Conditioning in Psychology of skinner.ppt

1. OPERANT
CONDITIONING

2. DIFFERENT FROM CLASSICAL
 CLASSICAL: Experimenter presents UCS
and CS and then observes the behavior
 OPERANT: Participant / Animal must
behave in a certain way to get a reward or
avoid a punishment
 Def. – Learning in which reinforcement is
contingent upon the subject’s behavior.

3. Figure 8.8 Cat in a puzzle box
Myers: Psychology, Eighth Edition
Copyright © 2007 by Worth Publishers
Thorndike’s Puzzle Box
Law of Effect: Behavior + Consequences = Learned Behavior

4. B.F. SKINNER
 Psychologist most
closely associated
with operant
conditioning

5. SKINNER BOX

6. REINFORCEMENT
 REWARD / PUNISHMENT
 POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT:
 Get a reward or receive something you like for doing
the desired behavior
 Social approval, money, food
 NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT:
 Something unpleasant is taken away for doing desired
behavior
 Homework, chores, sales tax on tax free weekend

7. `
Big Bang Theory

8. REINFORCEMENT cont.
 PRIMARY
REINFORCEMENT:
 satisfies a biological
need such as hunger,
thirst, or sleep, etc.
 SECONDARY
REINFORCEMENT:
 one that has been
paired with a primary
re-inforcer through
classical conditioning.

9. SHAPING
 Technique used to teach animals / people
a more complicated task
 The subject is rewarded for each response
that is closer to the final desired behavior
 Successive approximations

10. SCHEDULES OF REINFORCEMENT
 CONTINUOUS
 RATIO:
 reinforcement is given after a certain
NUMBER of responses.
 FIXED RATIO: reinforcement is given after
the same number of responses each time
 VARIABLE RATIO: reinforcement after
varying number of responses.

11. SCHEDULES cont.
 INTERVAL:
 reinforcement is given after a certain amount
of TIME.
 FIXED INTERVAL: reinforcement is given
after the same amount of time each time.
 VARIABLE INTERVAL: amount of time
changes between reinforcements

12. EXAMPLES
 Typist gets paid $2 per page
 Fixed ratio
 Slot machines
 Variable ratio
 Giving a quiz every Friday
 Fixed interval

14. CHAINING
 Learning simple skills, that when
combined together enable the subject to
perform more complex tasks.
 Examples:
 Reading, writing, math, sports, etc.

15. AVERSIVE CONTROL
 Using an unpleasant stimulus to influence
behavior.
 NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT:
 when an unpleasant stimulus is removed after a
certain behavior.
 ESCAPE CONDITIONING: A person’s behavior causes an
unpleasant event to stop
 AVOIDANCE CONDITIONING: Training of an organism to
withdraw from an unpleasant stimulus before it starts.
Cliff's Buzzer

16. PUNISHMENT
 An unpleasant
consequence occurs
and decreases the
frequency of the
behavior that
produced it
Big Bang Part 2

17. DISADVANTAGES OF PUNISHMENT
 Unwanted side effects: rage, fear,
aggression (spanked children may become
more aggressive)
 Subjects learn to avoid the punisher
 Punishment may suppress rather than
eliminate such behaviors
 Alone it does not teach what is acceptable
behavior

18. EXAMPLES
 Which schedule of reinforcement is being used?
 Factory workers?
 Fixed interval
 Getting paid by the bale for hauling hay?
 Fixed ratio
 Pop quizzes?
 Variable interval

19. Homework from the teacher’s
perspective
 Behavior desired from the student?
 Complete homework assignments
 Reinforcement being offered?
 grades
 Positive or negative?
 Primary or secondary?
 Overworked / underpaid teacher doesn’t want to have to
grade EVERY assignment
 Which schedule of reinforcement would be most
beneficial for the teacher to use?
 Variable ratio

20. POKER CHIMPS
 Shaping was used to get chimps to perform
tasks for food
 Classical conditioning was then used to teach
the chimps to associate poker chips with food.
 Soon the chimps were performing tasks to get
poker chips to exchange for food in the chip-o-
mat
 Generalization and discrimination

21. Which type of rft. is best for. . .?
 . . . introducing a new behavior?
 . . . maintaining a behavior for a long
period of time?