Lesson 3 - Approches - Operant Condiitoning And Skinners Research Flashcards
Operant conditioning definition
A Rom o learning in which behaviour is shaped and maintained by consequences
What are the three consequences that can be used in operant conditioning
Positive reinforcement
Negative reinforcement
Punishment
Positive reinforcement
Receiving a reward when carrying out a behaviour for example getting a reward sticker, when you complete your hwk to a high standard
negative reinforcement
- perform a behaviour in order to avoid smth unpleasant and therefore the behaviour continues in the future e.g. complete hwk to avoid detention
Punishment definition
Unpleasant consequence caused by certain behaviour e.g teacher shouts at you for not doing hwk
What two animals did skinner conduct research on
Pigeons and rats
What is the name of the cage
The Skinner box
Describe the Skinner box
A cage with loud speakers, lights, a lever, a door and a floor which could be electrified
Describe the Skinner box experiment using positive reinforcement
- One HUNGRY rat placed in Skinner box and allowed to run around freely
- The rat may accidentally press the lever
- the rat would be rewarded by a food pellet which would drop into the Skinner box (positive reinforcement)
- The rat continues to press the lever and the rat would be rewarded by a food pellet
- soon learn that pressing leads to reward
Describe the Skinner box experiment using negative reinforcement
Rat presses lever to avoid an electric shock
The rat will learn that pressing the ever gets rid of the electric shock
Extinction
When rat presses lever and no longer receives a reward, rat will learn that pressing the lever leads to no rewards, and thus will stop pressing the lever
Spontaneous recovery
Following extinction, if rat presses lever and does receive food, rat will quickly relearn that pressing the lever results in reward
Schedules of reinforcement definition
This means there are different methods of reinforcement that might occur
Examples of schedules of reinforcement
Continuous reinforcement
Fixed interval
Fixed ratio
What is continuous reinforcement?
Every time the rat presses lever they will always receive a food pellet
What does fixed interval mean?
The rat presses the lever and only receives a food pellet during a fixed time only
Fixed ratio
The rat must press the lever a fixed number of times to get a reward
Positive of operant conditioning - token economy and Paul and lentz
- research evidence in real world
- token economy used in prisons and hospitals
- rewarding appropriate behaviour with tokens which can be exchanged for privileges
- Paul and lentz used token economy to treat patients who had schizophrenia, and it was found that there behaviour became more appropriate
Negative of operant conditioning - ethics
- rats and pigeons were placed in stressful and aversive situations, which could have neg affects on psychological and physical health of the animals
- issue about generalisation,
- animals very different to humans, thus results may not be applicable to humans
Positive of operant conditioning - controlled
- skinner relied on experimental method
- he used highly controlled conditions to discover the relationship between variables to establish a cause and effect relationship
Positive of operant conditioning - nurture
- skinners research is on the nurture side
- learning takes place due to environmental factors rather than Nature and biology
- therefore by manipulating factors in environment can effect learning and behaviour, and is supported by nurture
Negative of operant conditioning
- focuses on behaviourisnt approach and thus the biological approach is ignored,
- bio approach argues that behaviour cannot be learnt and is heavily influenced by genes
- thus other approaches must also be considered when examining the influence of behaviour
- and operant conditioning cannot explain all behaviours.
