Instrumental and Operant Conditioning and Social Learning Theory

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Instrumental and Operant Conditioningand Social
Learning Theory

• Learning the Consequences of Behaviour
• (Lecture by Janet Jagger)

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• Classical conditioning cannot explain all
  learning
• People also learn associations between responses
  and consequences that follow them
• E.g. a child learns to say please in order to
  get a chocolate
• A headache sufferer learns to take a pill in
  order to escape pain

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Thorndikes Puzzle Box

• While Pavlov was studying classical conditioning
  in animals, Edward Thorndike studied animals
  ability to think and reason
• He placed a hungry animal, usually a cat, in a
  puzzle box where it had to learn a response,
  such as stepping on a pedal or pulling a loop of
  string in order to unlock the door and get to
  some food
• The animal would solve the puzzle, but very
  slowly there did not appear to be any insight
  into the problem

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• So what were Thorndikes cats learning?
• Thorndike argued that any response (such as
  pacing or meowing) that does not produce a
  satisfying effect (opening the door) gradually
  becomes weaker, and any response (pressing the
  pedal) that does have a satisfying effect
  gradually becomes stronger

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Thorndikes Law of Effect

• According to this law, if a response made in the
  presence of a particular stimulus is followed by
  satisfaction (such as a reward), that response is
  more likely to be made the next time the stimulus
  is encountered
• Conversely, responses that produce discomfort are
  less likely to be performed again
• Thorndike called this instrumental conditioning
  because responses are strengthened when they are
  instrumental in producing rewards

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B.F.Skinner

• About 40 years after Thorndike published his
  work, B.F. Skinner extended and formalised many
  of Thorndikes ideas
• Skinner emphasised that during instrumental
  conditioning an organism learns a response by
  operating on the environment
• He called this process of learning Operant
  Conditioning

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• Skinner (1953,1974,1990) was a Harvard University
  psychologist who spent most of his career
  studying simple responses made by laboratory rats
  and pigeons
• Skinner demonstrated that organisms tend to
  repeat those responses that are followed by
  favourable consequences, and that they tend not
  to repeat those responses that are followed by
  neutral or unfavourable consequences
• He studied the concepts of reinforcement,
  extinction and punishment in the learning process

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Operant Conditioning

• This is a form of learning in which voluntary
  responses come to be controlled by their
  consequences
• Operant conditioning probably governs a larger
  share of human behaviour than classical
  conditioning, since most human responses are
  voluntary rather than reflexive

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Reinforcement

• Reinforcement can be either positive or negative
• Positive reinforcement occurs when a response is
  strengthened (occurs more often) because it is
  followed by the arrival of a pleasant stimulus
• Positive reinforcement is synonymous with reward
  and examples of reinforcement are food, money,
  sex, parental or peer approval,

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• Reinforcement guides much of everyday behaviour-
  eg we study in order to pass, or patients comply
  if they hope to recover, children act the fool to
  make other children laugh (attention). Some sick
  role bahaviour may be engaged in, in order to be
  looked after.

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Negative Reinforcement

• Negative reinforcement occurs when a response is
  strengthened (occurs more often)because it is
  followed by the removal of an unpleasant
  stimulus- in other words, to get rid of an
  aversive stimulus
• E.g. we turn up the heating to avoid the cold,
  you clean to avoid living in filth, you take a
  paracetamol to get rid of a headache.

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• Negative reinforcement plays a large role in
  avoidance tendencies- many people avoid that
  which they find difficult to face up to
• avoidance behaviour gets rid of anxiety and is
  therefore negatively reinforced
• Eg we may avoid going to work to avoid the
  stress/anxiety

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Extinction

• This refers to the gradual weakening and
  disappearance of a response
• In operant conditioning, extinction begins when
  a previously reinforced response stops producing
  positive responses
• Eg boy who acts the clown in primary school
  might find that his behaviour elicits scorn as he
  gets older and goes to high school

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Punishment

• Some resonses may be weakened by punishment -
  because of the arrival of an unpleasant stimulus
• nb - students often confuse negative
  reinforcement and punishment.
• In negative reinforcement a behaviour is
  strengthened, in punishment a behaviour is
  usually weakened. Punishment here goes beyong the
  concept of parental discipline

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Cognition in Behaviourism?

• Skinners ideas are still influential, but other
  theorists have gone beyond behaviourism to
  develop cognitive-behavioural models
• Cognition refers to the thought processes
  involved in acquiring knowledge
• One of these models is Albert Banduras Social
  Learning Theory

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Social Learning Theory

• This is a modified version of Behaviourism and
  takes into account how individuals seek out and
  actively process information about their
  environment- therefore it takes account of the
  mind (mental processes)
• The main element is Banduras (1977,1986)
  description of observational learning.
• This occurs when ones behaviours are influenced
  by the observation of others, who are called
  models

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• Bandura asserts that this type of learning is not
  separate from classical and operant conditioning,
  but that both can arise when one observes
  anothers conditioning
• For example, if a child sees another person
  getting a reinforcement - getting what they want-
  by acting aggressively (bullying), they may
  emulate that behaviour.

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• Health care professionals can act as good role
  models, provided they are liked or respected
• Other role models for health related behaviour
  may be peers or celebrities e.g. women seem to
  go on diets that are seen to be successful in
  reducing weight
• Consider body image issues

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• Smoking may receive social approval in certain
  circles and is therefore reinforced
• Drinking alcohol is socially reinforced - it can
  be seen as mature, exciting and glamorous (role
  models)
• Drinking alcohol can act as a negative
  reinforcement- it can temporarily reduce anxiety
  and worry, therefore drinking behaviour may
  increase

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Personality Development

• According to social learning theory, models have
  a great impact on personality development
• Bandura and his colleagues have done a great deal
  of research on how role models influence the
  development of aggressiveness, gender roles, and
  moral standards in children.

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Behavioural Therapies

• It is assumed that behaviour is a product of
  learning
• Therefore, it is assumed that what has been
  learned can be unlearned
• Behaviour therapy and cognitive -behavioural
  therapies are used by psychologists and mental
  health professionals to alter maladaptive
  behaviours.

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Social Skills Training

• Behaviour therapists point out that people are
  not born with social skills or finesse
• Social skills training can help to overcome
  social anxiety, shyness, and depression
• It is a therapy designed to improve interpersonal
  skills- through shaping, modeling and behaviour
  rehearsal