Learning and Language Module 15 Operant Conditioning Module

Learning and Language

Module 15 Operant Conditioning

Module Overview • • The Nature of Operant Conditioning The Law of Effect Reinforcement Punishment Reinforcement Procedures Schedules of Reinforcement New Understandings of Operant Conditioning Click on the any of the above hyperlinks to go to that section in the presentation.

Module 15: Operant Conditioning The Nature of Operant Conditioning

Operant Conditioning • A type of learning in which the frequency of a behavior depends on the consequence that follows that behavior. • The frequency will increase if the consequence is reinforcing to the subject. • The frequency will decrease if the consequence is not reinforcing to the subject.

Operant Conditioning

Operant Conditioning

Operant Conditioning

Module 15: Operant Conditioning The Law of Effect

Edward Thorndike (1874 -1949) • Author of the law of effect, the principle that forms the basis of operant conditioning. • Behaviors with favorable consequences will occur more frequently. • Behaviors with unfavorable consequences will occur less frequently. • Created puzzle boxes for research on cats

Thorndike’s Puzzle Box

B. F. Skinner (1904 -1990) • Behavioral psychologist who developed the fundamental principles and techniques of operant conditioning and devised ways to apply them in the real world. • Designed the Skinner Box, or operant chamber

Skinner Box

Skinner’s Air Crib

Reinforcement/Punishment • Reinforcement - Any consequence that increases the future likelihood of a behavior. • Punishment - Any consequence that decreases the future likelihood of a behavior. • The subject determines if a consequence is reinforcing or punishing

Module 15: Operant Conditioning Reinforcement

Positive Reinforcement • In operant conditioning, anything that increases the likelihood of a behavior by following it with a desirable event or state. • The subject receives something they want • Will strengthen the behavior

Positive Reinforcement

Negative Reinforcement • In operant conditioning, anything that increases the likelihood of a behavior by following it with the removal of an undesirable event or state. • Something the subject doesn’t like is removed • Will strengthen the behavior

Negative Reinforcement

Positive/Negative Reinforcement

Module 15: Operant Conditioning Reinforcement: Immediate Versus Delayed Reinforcement

Immediate/Delayed Reinforcement • Immediate reinforcement is more effective than delayed reinforcement • Ability to delay gratification predicts higher achievement

Module 15: Operant Conditioning Reinforcement: Primary Versus Secondary Reinforcement

Primary Reinforcement • Something that is naturally reinforcing, such as food (if you are hungry), warmth (if you are cold), and water (if you are thirsty). • The item is reinforcing in and of itself

Secondary Reinforcement • Something that you have learned to value, • like money.

Module 15: Operant Conditioning Punishment

Module 15: Operant Conditioning Punishment: The Process of Punishment

Types of Punishment • An undesirable event following a behavior • A desirable state or event ends following a behavior

Types of Punishment

Module 15: Operant Conditioning Punishment: Problems with Punishment

Negative Effects of Punishment • Doesn’t prevent the undesirable behavior when away from the punisher • Can lead to fear, anxiety, and lower self-esteem • Children who are punished physically may learn to use aggression as a means to solve problems.

Positive Effects of Punishment • Punishment can effectively control certain behaviors. • Especially useful if teaching a child not to do a dangerous behavior • Most still suggest reinforcing an incompatible behavior rather than using punishment

Module 15: Operant Conditioning Reinforcement Procedures

Module 15: Operant Conditioning Reinforcement Procedures: Shaping

Shaping • Reinforcement of behaviors that are increasingly similar to the desired one; • the operant technique used to establish a new behaviors.

Module 15: Operant Conditioning Reinforcement Procedures: Discrimination and Extinction

Discrimination • The ability to distinguish between two similar signals or stimuli and • produce different responses. • Learning to respond to one stimuli but not to a similar stimuli

Extinction • In operant conditioning, the loss of a behavior when no consequence follows it. • The subject no longer responds since the reinforcement or punishment has stopped.

Module 15: Operant Conditioning Schedules of Reinforcement

Module 15: Operant Conditioning Schedules of Reinforcement: Continuous Reinforcement

Continuous reinforcement • In operant conditioning, a schedule of reinforcement in which a reward follows every correct response. • Most useful way to establish a behavior • The behavior will extinguish quickly once the reinforcement stops.

Module 15: Operant Conditioning Schedules of Reinforcement: Partial Reinforcement

Partial Reinforcement • In operant conditioning, a schedule of reinforcement in which a reward follows only some correct responses. • Includes the following types: – Fixed-interval and variable interval – Fixed-ratio and variable-ratio

Fixed-Interval Schedule • In operant conditioning, a partial reinforcement schedule that rewards only the first correct response after some defined period. • i. e. weekly quiz in a class

Variable-Interval Schedule • In operant conditioning, a partial reinforcement schedule that rewards the first correct response after an unpredictable amount of time. • i. e. “pop” quiz in a class

Fixed-Ratio Schedule • In operant conditioning, a partial reinforcement schedule that rewards a response only after some defined number of correct responses. • The faster the subject responds, the more reinforcements they will receive.

Variable-Ratio Schedule • In operant conditioning, a partial reinforcement schedule that rewards an unpredictable number of correct responses. • This schedule is very resistant to extinction. • Sometimes called the “gambler’s schedule”; similar to a slot machine

Schedules of Reinforcement

Schedules of Reinforcement

Schedules of Reinforcement

Schedules of Reinforcement

Module 15: Operant Conditioning New Understanding of Operant Conditioning

Module 15: Operant Conditioning New Understanding of Operant Conditioning: The Role of Cognition

Latent Learning • Learning that occurs but is not apparent until the learner has an incentive to demonstrate it. • Tolman and Honzik’s study on maze learning

Tolman and Honzik

Cognitive Map • The mental representation of a place. • Experiments showed rats could learn a maze without any reinforcements

Overjustification Effect • The effect of promising a reward for doing what one already likes to do; • the reward may lessen and replace the person’s original, natural motivation, so that the behavior stops if the reward is eliminated.

Module 15: Operant Conditioning New Understanding of Operant Conditioning: The Role of Biology

Biological Predisposition • Research suggests some species are biologically predisposed to learn specific behaviors

The End

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