Mods 27 Notes

UNIT 6

Learning

UNIT 6

Mod 27 Operant Conditioning
Learning

How Do We Learn?

■ Classical conditioning
– Association of TWO or more stimuli
– Behavior is respondent – in response to events

■ Operant conditioning
– The association in an organism of ACTION and CONSEQUENCE
– Behavior is operant – a conscious choice

Drag and Drop

​

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conditioning is the ​

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between two stimuli. ​

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conditioning is the association of an action and a ​

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. ​

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studied classical conditioning.

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Classical

association

Operant

consequence

Pavlov

shampoo

Skinner

Operant Conditioning

■ Operant conditioning

Operant Conditioning

■ Edward Thorndike’s Law of Effect
– Organisms will pursue actions that give pleasurable/favorable

consequences

– Organisms will avoid actions that give painful/undesirable consequences

■

■ Essentially, thelaw of effect allows for behavior modification – using

reward and punishment to control an organisms behavior

Operant Conditioning – Reinforcement
and Punishment
■ Reinforcement
– A consequence designed to INCREASE the occurrence of a behavior
– Two types of reinforcement:
–
Positive and negative reinforcement

■

Punishment

–
A consequence that discourages unwanted behavior

■

Just like reinforcement, there is positive and negative punishment

Match

Match the following

• any event or object that, when following a response, makes that response less likely to happen again

• in operant conditioning, any event that strengthens the behavior it follows

• a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher

• principle that behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely, and that behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely

• 1. a learning process that occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired: a response which is at first elicited by the second stimulus is eventually elicited by the first stimulus alone.

punishment

reinforcement

operant conditioning

law of effect

classical conditioning

• punishment

• reinforcement

• operant conditioning

• law of effect

• classical conditioning

Operant Conditioning – Reinforcement
and Punishment
■ Reinforcement
– A consequence designed to INCREASE the occurrence of a behavior

Drag and Drop

​ Increasing behaviors by presenting positive stimuli is an example of ​

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​ reinforcement. ​

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behaviors by stopping or reducing negative stimuli is an example of ​ negative ​

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. ​

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positive

Increasing

reinforcement

Decreasing

punishment

negative

Multiple Select

Click all that apply when regards to reinforcement

• Positive Reinforcement INCREASES the chance that a behavior will be repeated

• Negative Reinforcement INCREASES the chance that a behavior will be repeated

• Positive Reinforcement DECREASES the chance that a behavior will be repeated

• Negative Reinforcement DECREASES the chance that a behavior will be repeated

• all of the statements are correct

Operant Conditioning – Reinforcement
and Punishment
■

Primary reinforcer

A reinforcer that satisfies an instinctual biological need (food when hungry,
making a painful headache go away)

■

Conditioned (secondary) reinforcer

–
A reinforcer that becomes associated with the primary reinforcer

–
EX: if we learn that a light coming on signals food, we will work to turn on that
light – the light is a conditioned reinforcer

■

Immediate vs. delayed reinforcers

–
Humans are unusually capable of understanding delayed gratification – the
paycheck at the end of the week, the grade at the end of the quarter

–
However – how can climate change be explained by a lack of delayed
gratification vs. IMMEDIATE gratification?

Match

Match the following

• Reinforcement or punishment that occurs some

  amount of time after the behavior

• Reinforcement or punishment that occurs right after a behavior

• an innately reinforcing stimulus, such as one that satisfies a biological need

• a stimulus that gains its reinforcing power through its association with a primary reinforcer; also known as a secondary reinforcer

Delayed Reinforcement/Punishment

Immediate reinforcerment/punishment

primary reinforcer

conditioned reinforcer

• Delayed Reinforcement/Punishment

• Immediate reinforcerment/punishment

• primary reinforcer

• conditioned reinforcer

Punishment
■ Punishment
– A consequence that discourages unwanted behavior

■ Just like reinforcement, there is positive and negative punishment

Drag and Drop

​ ​

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behaviors by presenting an ​

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(bad) stimuli is an example of a positive ​ ​

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. ​ Decreasing behaviors by stopping or reducing ​

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stimuli is an example of ​ ​

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​ punishment. ​

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Increasing

reinforcement

Decreasing

punishment

negative

aversive

rewarding

Problems of Punishment
■ Punished behavior is not forgotten, merely pushed down

(suppressed)

■ Punishment teaches discrimination (WHEN and WHO to avoid doing

this behavior around)

■ Punishment can teach fear rather than better behavior

■ Physical punishment has been linked to increased aggression in

children

Match

Match the following

• Positive Reinforcement

• Negative Reinforcement

• Positive Punishment

• Negative Punishment

Getting a weekly paycheck

Being released from jail early for good behavior

A boss yelling at an employee in front of others

Getting fired for repeatedly coming late and performing poorly at work

• Getting a weekly paycheck

• Being released from jail early for good behavior

• A boss yelling at an employee in front of others

• Getting fired for repeatedly coming late and performing poorly at work

Open Ended

List 3 potential problems with punishment

Open Ended

Give an example of a delayed reinforcer. Why do you think delayed reinforcers are difficult for many people?

Reinforcement Schedules
■ Schedule
– When and how often you provide a reinforcement

■ Continuous (constant) vs. partial (intermittent) reinforcement
– Behaviors that are continuously reinforced extinguish quickly

■ Types of schedules:

■ Fixed Ratio

■ Variable Ratio

■ Fixed Interval

■ Variable Interval

Fixed = Consistent
Variable = Random
Interval = Time
Ratio = Attempts

Match

Match the following

• Fixed

• Variable

• Interval

• Ratio

Consistent

Random

Amount of Time

Amount of attempts

• Consistent

• Random

• Amount of Time

• Amount of attempts

Match

Match the following

• Fixed Ratio

• Fixed Interval

• Variable Ratio

• Variable Interval

Every so Many

Every so Often

After an unpredictable number

After an unpredictable amount of time

• Every so Many

• Every so Often

• After an unpredictable number

• After an unpredictable amount of time

Match

Match the following

• a pattern that defines how often a desired response will be reinforced

• reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses/attempts

• reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses/attempts

• reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed

• reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals

reinforcement schedule

fixed-ratio schedule

variable-ratio schedule

fixed-interval schedule

variable-interval schedule

• reinforcement schedule

• fixed-ratio schedule

• variable-ratio schedule

• fixed-interval schedule

• variable-interval schedule

Match

Match the following

• Fixed Interval

• Variable Ratio

• Fixed Ratio

• Variable Interval

A weekly Paycheck

A slot machine

Getting a free coffee after purchasing 10 coffees

Random Drug test at work

• A weekly Paycheck

• A slot machine

• Getting a free coffee after purchasing 10 coffees

• Random Drug test at work

Reinforcement Schedules

Theory Applied – B.F. Skinner
■ B.F. Skinner
– Operant conditioning’s version of Ivan Pavlov and John Watson from

yesterday’s class

– Argued that it was not only possible to cause behavior but also to

control it

■ Operant chamber (aka, a Skinner box)
– A box with a “trial” designed to increase behavior
■

Positive reinforcement ex: press a switch when the light comes on, get food

■

Negative reinforcement ex: press a switch when the light comes on to avoid
being shocked.

Theory Applied – B.F. Skinner
■ Shaping
–
“Approximating behavior”: rewarding the organism as they get closer and
closer to the desired behavior

–
You can’t teach a dog to roll over at first; you have to teach it to sit, stay, and
move at command

–
Successive approximations – behaviors that get closer to the desired one and
are rewarded

■ Practice!
– With your half of the group, come up with a way – without using words

– to “shape” a member of the other team to perform a specific action

Multiple Choice

1) What do we call the kind of learning in which a behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer?

• Operant Conditioning

• Classical Conditioning

• Shaping

• Respondent Conditioning

Multiple Choice

All of the following are examples of primary reinforcers except a

• Rat’s food reward in a skinner box

• A cold drink on a hot day

• A good score on a test that a student studied for

• A hug from a loved one

Match

Match the following

• A small enclosure in which an animal can make a specific response that is systematically recorded while the consequences of the response are controlled

• any event that strengthens the behavior it follows

• any event or object that, when following a response, makes that response less likely to happen again

• a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher

• 1. a learning process that occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired: a response which is at first elicited by the second stimulus is eventually elicited by the first stimulus alone.

Skinner Box

reinforcement

punishment

operant conditioning

classical conditioning

• Skinner Box

• reinforcement

• punishment

• operant conditioning

• classical conditioning