Operant Conditioning

1. Reward and Punishment Operant Conditioning

2. Thorndike’s cats – trial and error

3. Thorndike’s cats – trial and error • Cats escape from box to get a treat • At first its all trial and error • When successful the behaviour is rewarded • This good consequence strengthens the behaviour • Law of effect – good consequence more likely to be repeated, bad consequence not • Instrumental learning – the cat is active in achieving its own escape and reward

4. Operant Conditioning A form of learning for which the likelihood of a particular response occurring is determined by the consequences of that response. A response that has a desirable consequence will tend to be repeated and a response that has an undesirable consequence will tend not to be repeated.

5. The three-phase model of Operant Conditioning The Stimulus (S) that precedes (comes before) the operant response. The Operant Response (R)to the stimulus. The Consequence (C) to the operant response. Stimulus Operant Response Consequence

6. The Skinner Box

7. The Skinner Box

8. Operant Conditioning - Skinner • American Psychologist, B.F Skinner (1904 – 1990) believed behaviour can be reduced to the relationships between the behaviour, its antecedents and its consequences. • http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8956355585286146382#

9. Elements of Operant Conditioning • Reinforcement: Any stimulus that strengthens or increases the likelihood of a response that it follows. Can either involve receiving a pleasant stimulus or ‘escaping’ an unpleasant one. • Reinforcer: Any stimulus that increases the frequency or likelihood of a response that it follows.

10. TYPES OF REINFORCEMENT AND PUNISHMENT

11. Positive Reinforcement GOOD • ADDITION of a DESIRED stimulus • A stimulus which strengthens a response by providing a pleasant or satisfying consequence EG) • Skinners experiment = food pellets • Money • Grades

12. Negative Reinforcement BAD • MINUS an AVERSIVE stimulus • A stimulus that strengthens a response by the removal or prevention of an unpleasant stimulus. EG) • Skinners experiment = electric shock • Taking Panadol to relieve headache • Driving slow to avoid fine

13. Pos vs Neg Reinforcement • Positive reinforcement add good • Negative reinforcement take away bad • Both STRENGTHEN a response

14. Punishment • The delivery of an unpleasant consequence following a response, or the removal of a pleasant consequence following a response. • Weakens/decreases the response reoccurring.

15. Response cost – negative/positive punishment • Positive punishment - the delivery of a stimulus following an undesirable response • Negative punishment – the removal of a stimulus following an undesired response • Negative punishment often referred to as response cost: When a valued stimulus removed • Eg. If you drink drive we will take away your licence

16. Factors Effecting Reinforcement and Punishment • Order of presentation – Reinforcement needs to occur after the desired response not before! So the organism associates the reinforcement with the behaviour • Timing – Reinforcers need to occur as close in time to the desired response as possible. Most effective reinforcement occurs immediately after the desired response • Appropriateness of the reinforcer– For a stimulus to be a reinforcer it must provide a pleasing or satisfying consequence for its recipient.

17. Schedules of Reinforcement • Continuous Reinforcement necessary for a response to become learned • Partial Reinforcement can be more effective at maintaining a response

18. Schedules of Reinforcement Fixed Ratio • Fixed numberof correct responses • Being paid $5 for every 100 newspapers delivered Variable Ratio • Variablenumberof correct responses • Poker machines Fixed Interval • Fixed time period • Teachers at WRSC paid every fortnight Variable Interval • Variable time period • Fishing

19. Variable Ratio • The variable ratio schedule is the most resistant to extinction • It leads to the fastest rate of responding • Gambling addiction is explicable through variable ratio reinforcement

20. Schedules of Reinforcement

21. Stimulus Generalisation and Discrimination • Stimulus generalisation- occurs when the correct response is made to another stimulus which is similar to the stimulus for which reinforcement is obtained • Stimulus discrimination - organism makes response to a stimulus for which reinforcement is obtained but not for any other similar stimulus

22. Extinction and Spontaneous Recovery • Extinction – The gradual decrease in the strength or rate of responding after a period of non- reinforcement. Extinction occurs after the termination of reinforcement • Spontaneous recovery – The response is (after a rest period) again shown in the absence of reinforcement

23. Classical Vs Operant Conditioning

24. Shaping • Shaping – A strategy in which a reinforcer is given for any response that successively approximates and ultimately leads to the final desired response. • Used to train behaviours that are unlikely to occur spontaneously • http://www.monkeyhelpers.org/

25. Token Economies • The consistent use of Operant conditioning to alter behaviour over time • Use of tokens as rewards that can be ‘cashed in’ for bigger rewards later