4.1.3 operant conditioning Flashcards
What is operant conditioning
Operant conditioning is the idea that we learn through consequences, it was devised by Skinner any event at the skinner box in 1948. It is a type of learning that takes place because of actions and rewards; the consequences are made between an action and reward called reinforcer
What is a positive reinforcement
A desirable consequence, you get something nice and the behaviour is reinforced
What is negative reinforcement
A desirable consequence, Something unpleasant is removed and the behaviour is reinforced
What is punishment
Something unpleasant happens and the behaviour is weakened
In terms of punishment and how it weakens behaviour, it is defined as the opposite of reinforcements since it is designed to weaken or eliminate a response rather than increase it. However there are many problems with using punishment such as the fact that punished behaviour is not forgotten, it is suppressed so behaviour returns when punishment is no longer present. Also it has been shown they causes increased aggression as aggression is a way to cope with problems, and it creates fear that can generalise to undesirable behaviours. And it does not necessarily guide to war desired behaviour whereas reinforcement tells you what to do and punishment only tells you what not to do
What is a primary reinforcer
Used to satisfy basic needs like food, water and warmth. It is a reward which makes a good situation even better
what is a secondary reinforcer
Only for filling because they are associated with the primary reinforcer for example money to buy food. It is a reward which takes away and unpleasant situation
Evaluate operant conditioning in terms of credibility
support: There is a lot of research into operant conditioning and this research isn’t just from the 20th century either, it continues until the present day. For example scientists have identified that within the brain, there are reward centres that activate during positive reinforcement and these are also linked to the brains motivational centres. Moreover this research is very scientific, as it was carried out on animals in lab conditions using brain imaging techniques like MRI which does increase his credibility. Also Skinner in particular controlled variables and was very precise with measurements. Also the fact that the theory only looks at behaviour rather than cognitions, Means that every single step in the conditioning process is able to be observed which also adds to the credibility since you can see the conditioning occurring with your own eyes
weakness: Although the scientific research on animals like rats and pigeons does show conditioning taking place, generalise in the conclusions to human learning is definitely not so clear cut. For one thing there are other learning theories like classical conditioning on social learning theory, and in fact is usually very difficult to tell whether one or the other is largely responsible when something is learned
Evaluate operant conditioning in terms of its real-world application
support: operant conditioning has always had huge applications for therapy, especially the treatment of more deliberate problems like addictions and crime. Operant conditioning can be used to explain a wide variety of behaviours, from the process of learning, to addiction and language acquisition. It also has practical applications such as token economy which can be applied in classrooms, prisons and psychiatric hospitals as they have produced improvements in self-care I’m pro social behaviour. Parents and teachers frequently use positive reinforcement to encourage and condition desirable behaviour and punishment detention or grounding to extinguish undesirable behaviours
weakness: operant conditioning generally fails to take into account a lot of other factors and roles. For example it actually fails to take into account the role of inherited and cognitive factors in learning, and thus could be described as an incomplete explanation of the learning process in humans and animals which could even reduce is real life application. Furthermore it also focuses entirely on the nurture side of the nature/nurture debate as it is possible people are just born with predispositions towards behaviour, rather than learning them through conditioning. Lastly it also focuses entirely on just behaviours and ignores conditions.
evaluate operant conditioning in terms of ethics
Ethical issues or a concern especially with skinners research. The animals involved are exposed to stressful and harmful conditions and many would argue that many of his procedures were unnecessary. The adverse conditions that they were exposed to may have affected how they reacted to the experimental situation affecting the validity of the results
In terms of differences and similarities, evaluate operant conditioning
operant conditioning has many similarities with classical conditioning as both were based on lab studies done on animals and both also generalise about learning to human beings. Both of them have produced effective treatments for problem behaviours like aversion therapy and systematic desensitisation
Explain to weaknesses of behaviour modification
One weakness of behaviour modification is that it only treats behaviour and does not discover the underlying process or reasoning for the bad or just behaviour in general. In most cases, it’s probably more effective to find out why from sample the student is not completing classwork, then to just rely on affective rewards. Moreover the facts behaviour model K even relies on affective rewards is a weakness due to the fact that opinions differ on what is a reward. Moreover another weakness of behaviour modification is that the improvements in behaviour do not generalise be on the institution in the long term and this is a weakness as behaviour is only earned when given the reward rather than a just learned behaviour
What are Schedules of reinforcement
Schedules of reinforcement are the precise rules that are used to present or to remove reinforces or punishes following a specified operant behaviour, different schedules of reinforcement produce distinctive effects on operant behaviour
What is the fixed interval reinforcement
One reinforcement is given after a fixed time interval providing at least one correct response has been made. An example is being paid by the hour
response and extinction rate is medium
Describe the variable interval reinforcement
Providing one correct response has been made, reinforcement is given after an unpredictable amount of time has passed e.g. on average every five minutes
Response rate is fast and extinction rate is slow
What is fixed ratio reinforcement
behaviour is reinforced only after the behaviour occurs a specified number of times e.g. a child receives a star every five words spelt correctly.
Response rate is fast and extinction rate is medium
