Operant Conditioning

Operant Conditioning

Operant Conditioning • Learning in which a certain action is reinforced/punished, resulting in an increase or decrease of that action • Different from Classical Conditioning because the participant operates on their environment in some way. • The participant associates their own behavior with a certain outcome • Ex. a student studies for an exam. She gets an ‘A’. She does this a few more times with the same result and learns to associate her behavior (studying) with the reward (the ‘A’)

B.F. Skinner • Behavioral Psychologist who studied the effects of reinforcement on behavior. • Studied rats and pigeons because their simple brains/behaviors give us a clear view of conditioned behaviors • Would place them in a “Skinner Box” where they had to complete a simple task in order to receive the reinforcement.

Reinforcement • Reinforcement: stimulus or event that occurs after a behavior to increase its likelihood in the future • Positive: adding something, like food • Negative: taking away something, like pain, discomfort • Primary Reinforcer: satisfies a biological need like hunger, thirst, sleep • Secondary Reinforcer: stimulus that is rewarding because of its link to our biological needs. • Ex. Money, Driver’s License, Scholarship

Reinforcement • Reinforcers need to occur quickly after the target behavior if you wan the connection to be made • The simpler the action, the shorter you should make the time between behavior and reward • The more complex the behavior, the more delayed a reward can be • Pay-check at the end of the week for fast food jobs, every two weeks for Mr. Phelps, Major CEOs paid in stock options/etc. less frequently • Humans in general are better than other animals at delaying gratification.

Punishment • Punishment: an unpleasant consequence that leads to a decrease in the frequency of the associated behavior • Positive punishment: a negative stimulus is added • Your coach gives you additional laps for being late to practice, in the hopes of you arriving on time in the future • Negative punishment: when a desired item (including emotional support) is taken away. • Asmart parent takes away the car keys when their teen’s grades begin to drop.

Problems with Punishment • Punishment can lead to side effects: rage, aggression, fear. • Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate; hate leads to suffering. I sense much fear in you.” Yoda • Spanking has been linked to increased tendency towards aggression towards other children • People avoid the punisher, makes it difficult to build a relationship of trust. • Ultimately, reinforcements and modeling are better methods of teaching.

Schedules of Reinforcement • Timing and frequency of reinforcement is critical. • Continuous: behavior is reinforced every time. Not nearly as effective as partial schedules because participant loses interest in the reinforcement

Schedules of Reinforcement • Partial: behavior reinforced part of the time. Slower to change behavior, but the change is stronger • Fixed-ratio: specific number of correct responses is required. Ex. every tenth sub earns you a free one on your Subway card! • Fixed-interval: first correct behavior after a set amount of time is reinforced. Ex. Wrapping up in aluminum foil only earns you a free burrito at Chipotle on Halloween.

Schedules of Reinforcement • Variable Ratio: unpredictable number of correct responses is required before reinforcement. • Ex. slot machines! Just one more pull…

Schedules of Reinforcement • Variable-interval:reinforcerwill be given at a random time • This is why you check Facebook so consistently: you never know when there might be a new ‘important’ thing on your newsfeed.

Shaping • Shaping: Rewarding behavior that is closer and closer to the desired behavior until it is achieved. • Ex. Reward freshmen for having their homework page, then writing their name on it, then filling it in, then grading it for correctness.

Practice Scenarios: Operant Conditioning For each scenario, write out whether it is positive/negative punishment/reinforcement. Then identify the reinforcement schedule • Brenda checks her email 7 times a day. Sometimes, there is a new email there from a friend • George is shouted at every time he passes his boss’s office. Now, he avoid the boss • Mike is a house painter. He drives into work every other Friday (payday) because his employer buys everyone pizza • Celina hundreds of the same type of enemy in World of Warcraft in the hopes of finding a rare axe

Operant Conditioning