Chapter 8

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Chapter 8 Learning Operant Conditioning

• Objective Differentiate between reinforcement
  and punishment through notes, discussion and
  practice.

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OPERANT CONDITIONING

• Operant Conditioning a type of learning in
  which behavior is strengthened if followed by a
  reinforcer or diminished if followed by a
  punisher.
• Reinforcement Behavior Encouraged
• Punishment Behavior Discouraged

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People to Know

• Edward Thorndike one of the first psychologists
  to research operant conditioning
• Law of Effect if the consequences of behavior
  are pleasant, the stimulus response will be
  strengthened. If the consequences are unpleasant,
  the stimulus response will be weakened.
• thorndike-puzzle box - YouTube

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People to Know

• B.F. Skinner best known psychologist to study
  operant conditioning (he coined this term)
• Skinner box (operant chamber) - contraption that
  delivers food to an animal and contains a lever
  to press in order to get the food. It also
  contains an electric grid.

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The Skinner Box
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Skinner Box Video

• Are we Conditioned or do we have Free Will?
  YouTube starting at 100 till end?

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Shaping

• Shaping an operant conditioning procedure in
  which reinforcers guide behavior closer and
  closer toward the desired goal.
• Ex. Rat basketball at Discovery Place
• Ex. Sea World, Bird shows, the circus
• Ex. Your Dogs or Cats.
• BF Skinner Foundation - Pigeon Ping Pong Clip
  YouTube
• pigeons - YouTube
• Ex. Hot/Cold Game
• Psychology - Learning-Classical Operant
  Conditioning-2.avi YouTube (100)

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Reinforcement

• Reinforcement anything that makes a behavior
  more likely to occur
• Think.
• POSITIVE ADDING
• NEGATIVE TAKING AWAY

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Positive Reinforcement

• Positive Reinforcement addition of something
  pleasant
• Ex. Rat is given food when it presses a lever
• Ex. Money encourages you to come to work
• Ex. Attention from a parent encourages the child
  to continue crying
• Ex. Receiving a good grade encourages you to
  study
• Positive Reinforcement - The Big Bang Theory
  YouTube. Q Sanding off the edges, tweak?

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Negative Reinforcement

• Negative Reinforcement removal of something
  unpleasant
• Ex. While in a cage, a rat receives a mild shock
  on his feet, the rat presses a lever and the
  shock stops. The rat moves and receives the shock
  again, pressing the lever once again the rat
  removes the undesirable shock. Taking away the
  shock encourages the rat to press the lever.
• Ex. To avoid heavy traffic, you leave an hour
  earlier for work (leaving work earlier is
  encouraged by removing heavy traffic)

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Negative Reinforcement (cont)

• Ex. You do the dishes and your parent stops
  yelling
• Ex. Aspirin takes away a headache you are
  encouraged to take medication by removing the
  headache.
• Ex. You are encouraged to do well at work by
  getting a day off
• Ex. You passed all of your exams during the year
  so you do not have to take the final.
• Positive and Negative Reinforcement - YouTube

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Types of reinforcers

• Primary reinforcers those innately satisfying,
  satisfies a biological need
• Ex. food, relief from shock
• Conditioned / Secondary reinforcers those
  learned
• Become reinforcers through association as the
  secondary and primary reinforcers are paired
  together.
• The conditioned reinforcer is initially neutral
• Ex. Money, praise, attention
• We learn at a young age to associate money with
  fulfilling our needs.

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Punishment

• Punishment anything that makes behavior less
  likely
• Think.
• POSITIVE ADDING
• NEGATIVE TAKING AWAY

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Positive Punishment

• Positive Punishment (oftentimes just called
  punishment) the addition of something
  unpleasant
• Ex. Rat receives shock when it presses a bar. The
  rat becomes less likely to press the bar having
  received the shock.
• Ex. Spanking a child keeps them from repeating a
  behavior
• Ex. Boss complains about your poor work
  performance
• Ex. Run 4 additional laps b/c you were late to
  practice.

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Negative Punishment

• Negative Punishment the removal of something
  pleasant
• Ex. Remove the rats food when it presses a
  lever. The rat is less likely to press the lever.
• Ex. Teen is grounded for a week for making bad
  grades. Fun has been removed and bad grades
  become less likely.
• Ex. Boss reduces expense account after poor
  performance
• Ex. Youre excluded from gym class because you
  were late.

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Reinforcement and Punishment Review

• Complete Reinforcement vs. Punishment exercise

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Reinforcement Timing

• Timing of Reinforcement
• If the reinforcement occurs directly after the
  wanted behavior, conditioning is more likely to
  occur. (especially with animals)
• Humans CAN learn with delayed presentation of
  reinforcement.
• Paycheck, good grades, trophies
• all are delayed gratification

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Parts of operant conditioning

• Operant Conditioning contains the parts of
  Acquisition
• Extinction
• Spontaneous recovery
• Generalization
• Discrimination

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Reinforcement Schedules

• Continuous (all the time)
• Partial (sometimes)
• Fixed (constant)
• Variable (changing)
• Ratio (responses)
• Interval (time)

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Reinforcement Schedules

• Reinforcement schedules
• Continuous reinforcement reinforcing desired
  behavior every time it occurs
• With this schedule, extinction occurs quickly.
• Partial Reinforcement reinforcing response only
  part of the time
• Acquisition is slower
• Greater resistance to extinction than continuous
  reinforcement

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Fixed Ratio Reinforcement

• Fixed Ratio Schedules reinforcing respondent
  only after a specified number of responses
• Produces a high rate of response
• Ex. Rat receives a food pellet every 7 times he
  presses the bar

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Variable Ratio Reinforcement

• Variable- Ratio Schedule reinforcing respondent
  after an unpredictable number of responses
• High rate of response, very resistant to
  extinction
• Ex. Slot machines pay money in unpredictable
  intervals

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Fixed Interval Reinforcement

• Fixed-Interval Schedule reinforcing a response
  after a specified amount of time has elapsed
• Responses tend to increase at time for next
  reinforcer and then drop after reinforcement
• Ex. Monthly paycheck performance improves close
  to paycheck time

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Variable Interval Reinforcement

• Variable-Interval Schedule reinforcing a
  response after an unpredictable amount of time
  has elapsed.
• Relatively low response rate, but realistic since
  we cannot always predict when reward will come.
• Ex. Pop quizzes (reinforcing studying on a varied
  schedule)
• Ex. Youve Got Mail encourages you to check
  your email.

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Reinforcement schedules Review

• B.F. Skinner - Operant Conditioning and Free Will
  YouTube
• (begin at 100)

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Token Economy

• Used just like at carnivals. This experiment took
  place at a middle school. Students were given
  tokens for good behaviors and have tokens taken
  away for bad behaviors. Tokens are cashed in for
  prizes or extra recess time etc.
• Q What were the results?

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Token Economy (continued)

• Q. Do we use operant conditioning in schools?
• Schools- Criticism in schools. This may undermine
  intrinsic motivation- led to open and
  Montesourri schools where students receive little
  or no grades/have few rules NWSchool of Arts.
• Pay for Performance..Teachers and extrinsic
  motivation

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Overjustification effect

• the effect of promising a reward for doing what
  one already likes to do.
• Person or Animal begins to have extrinsic
  motivation rather than intrinsic motivation.
• Ex. Do you go to work to contribute to society or
  to get a paycheck?

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Overjustification Effect

• Ex. Do you study to learn or to get good grades?
• Ex. College Athletes vs. Professional Athletes
• Ex. Study with Kindergartners and good
• player badges.
• RSA Animate - Drive The surprising truth
  about what motivates us - YouTube

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CMS (now NC) / Pay for Performance

• Lose of intrinsic value
• With increased testing teachers will teach to the
  test, task will involve much less creativity,
  mastery. Incentives will have difficulty
  measuring creativity, are not designed to measure
  higher level thinking skills.

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Instinctive Drift

• There is a limit to what we can teach with
  operant conditioning
• Animals will not perform behaviors that go
  against their natural inclinations.
• Ex. Rats will not walk backwards