operant conditioning Flashcards
what is operant conditioning concerned with?
voluntary behaviours such as pressing a lever
when does learning occur in operant conditioning?
learning occurs due to the consequences of an action
how fid they discover the theory?
-E.L Thorndike created various puzzle boxes in which animals would be placed.
-outside the box he placed food
-in order to escape and reach the food they had to perform some act such as pulling a string or lever.
-after some time in the box the animals managed to pull the string or pless the lever and escape.
-next day were put back inside and timed, after a few trials they escaped immediately
explain the Thorndike (1911) experiment?
-conducted an experiment where he put a cat in the cage with a latch on the door and a piece of salmon outside.
-after first trying to reach through the cage the cat hit the latch and was able to escape.
-qith the repetition of this experiment, the amount of time and effort spent on the futile activities of reaching and scratchung by the cats decreased and the releasing of the latch occured sooner.
what was Thorndike analysis of the behaviour seen?
was that the behaviourthat produced the desired effect became dominant and therefore, occured faster in the next experiments.
explain the law of effect?
Thorndikea assumed that the animals learned the association between a stimulus and a response because escaping and eating gave them pleasure.
explain ‘skinner boxes’ 1948?
Animals placed in box were required to press a lever which released a food pellet into a food tray. the box also had lights and speakerd that could be used to trigger a behaviour and a shock generator was connected to the floor. E.g, if the animal pressed the lever when a red light was on it was shocked. Skinners rats soon learnt to press the lever
what did Skinner learn?
-a number of things apart from food or escape would act as rewards and not all animals would respond in the same way.
-the stimulus response assosciation was only learnt if the consequence of the pairing was was a positive one
-a negative consequence would weaken the stimulus response link
-discomfort might also act as a reinforcer
what is a reinforcer?
the event that leads to the increased likelihood of the behaviour being repeated
what is a primary reinforcer?
this is when a reward has a biological significance, e.g food, sex, shelter
what is a secondary reinforcer?
this is when the rewards become assosciated with a primary reinforcer, e.g, money which buys food
what is a positive reinforcer?
when something pleasant is being introduced after a behaviour, e.g, smile or praise after holding open a door
what is a negative reinforcer?
when something unpleasant is removed after a behaviour, e.g, leaving a loud cafe
what is a punishment?
this is when an event following a behvaiour makes it less likely to occur/repeat again
what is a positive punishment?
takes place when something unpleasant is intrpoduced following a behaviour, e.g, getting into an argument and getting slapped
what is a negative punishment?
when something nice is removed following a behaviour, e.g, phone being taken away
schedules of reinforcement?
Skinner stopped reinforcing the animals everytime they gave correct responses. instead they were given reinforcement every other time or every third time. There are five possible ways of reinforcing
continuous reinforcement?
where the desired effect is reinforced every time it occurs, e.g, dog training, dog given treat everytime it sits to reinforce behaviour
fixed ratio reinforcement?
such as every fifth, tenth, twelfth or any other such regular correct response is reinforced, e.g, loyalty cards, free coffee every five items
variable ratio reinforcement?
where the number of necessary correct responses is constantly altered, e.g, gambling, rewards are unpredictable
fixed interval reinforcement?
reinforcement made once every fixed number of minutes as long as there has been at least one correct response during that time, e.g, salary based jobs, you get paid for every month you work just for showing up almost.
variable interval reinforcement?
where the time between reinforcements is varied, e.g, spot checking homework.
how can gambling behaviour be explained by operant conditioning?
Skinner found that we are much more motivated by reinforcements which are not predictable but which we know we will get eventually, for example, variable ratio reinforcement which is where the number of necessary correct responses is altered which is used in gambling.
biological approach too, dopamine released when gambling.
explain behaviour shaping?
Skinner believed that complex behaviours, e.g, language, can be learned through operant conditioning through the process of behaviour shaping. a complex behaviour is broken down into a series of simple behaviours, that are then taught one by one using reinforcement and punishment and gradually combined.
- Initially any behaviour which vaguely resembles what we are looking for is reinforced.
- Reinforcements become more selective, only given to behaviours whuch closely resmble what we are looking for.
