Reinforcement

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Reinforcement

• Consequences that strengthen responses

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Timing

• Reinforcement should be immediate to have the
  greatest effect
• Delayed reinforcement slows the process of
  conditioning

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Primary vs. Secondary

• Primary reinforcers are events that are
  inherently reinforcing because they satisfy
  biological needs
• Examples?
• Secondary or conditioned reinforcers are events
  that become reinforcing because they are
  associated with primary reinforcers. They are
  also called conditioned reinforcers.
• Examples?

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Schedules of Reinforcement

• In real life, organisms (people and animals) are
  seldom reinforced for every correct response
  continuous reinforcement. Rather, reinforcement
  is usually intermittent or partial.

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types of schedules

• ratio based schedule of reinforcement the
  organism is reinforced based on the number of
  responses it makes
• interval based schedule of reinforcement the
  organism is reinforced based on the amount of
  time that has passed.

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Fixed vs Variable

• Either type of schedule (ratio or interval) can
  be described as fixed or as variable.
• In a fixed schedule, the number of responses
  (ratio) or the amount of time passed (interval)
  between reinforcement remains constant.
• In a variable schedule, the number of responses
  (ratio) or the amount of time passed (interval)
  between reinforcement changes or varies.

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Practice time!

• Now I am going to divide you into groups and ask
  you to generate a list of real life
  reinforcements that occur on one of the four
  types of schedules
• Fixed ratio
• Variable ratio
• Fixed interval
• Variable interval

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Concurrent schedules of reinforcement

• In real life organisms have to choose between
  responses that involve different reinforcement
  schedules
• Ex. On a given night to I spend my time grading
  papers, or doing laundry, or going to the movies?

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• Matching law under concurrent schedules of
  reinforcement, organisms relative rate of
  responding to each alternative tends to match
  each alternatives relative rate of reinforcement
• If the size of the reinforcement is changed, the
  organism will adjust its responding to match that
  change

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• Optimal foraging theory the food-seeking
  behaviors of many animals maximize the nutrition
  gained in relation to the energy expended to
  locate, secure and consume various foods.

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Escape learning

• Escape learning involves an organism acquiring a
  response that decreases or ends some unpleasant
  stimulation (negative reinforcement)

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Avoidance learning

• In avoidance learning the organism acquires a
  response that keeps the aversive stimulation from
  happening
• But. Shouldnt the response eventually become
  extinct because the aversive stimulus is never
  deliveredthe reinforcement doesnt really happen

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Two-process theory of avoidance

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