Operant Conditioning Flashcards
Operant Behaviour
•According to Skinner, operant behaviour is determined by the consequences of the behaviour
•The nature of the consequences of the behaviour modifies a person’s tendency to repeat the behaviour in the future
•e.g. Riding a bicycle is a voluntary, learned response that is not linked to any specific stimuli
•Operant conditioning is a form of associative learning which explains much of our day-to-day behaviour
–Widely used in a variety of contexts
•e.g. Parenting, schools, mental hospital and prisons
•Operant conditioning can be considered to be a type of learning in which voluntary(controllable, non-reflexive) behaviour is strengthened through reinforcement but weakened when that behaviour is punished
•An additional difference between classical and operant conditioning is the fact that, in classical conditioning, the stimulus leading to conditioning comes before the behaviour, but in operant conditioning, the stimulus comes after the behaviour
reinforcement
The essence of operant conditioning is reinforcement -> Reinforced behaviour tends to be repeated and non-reinforced or punished behaviour tends not to be repeated or is stopped altogether
Learning and Conditioning
•Learning theory is rooted in the work of:
–B. F. Skinner
•Operant Conditioning Theory
–Learning happens as a result of the responses that people obtain to their actions »e.g. Rewards or Punishments
•B. F. Skinner is most renowned for his contribution to understanding and shaping behaviour through operant conditioning and schedules of reinforcement (and punishment)
Law of Effect
Skinner’s theory of operant conditioning grew out of the work of Edward Thorndike who developed the Law of Effect
–This essentially said that actions that are reinforced are repeated
reinforcer
anything which increases the likelihood of the behaviour being repeated
Operant conditioning differs from classical conditioning in that
–The behaviours studied in the latter are reflexive
•e.g. Salivating
–Whereas the behaviours studied and governed by the principles of operant conditioning are non-reflexive
•e.g. Disciplining children, gambling or dog training
Learning
- Learning is achieved when the person continues to behave in ways that are reinforced (e.g. by a reward like money or food) or avoids such behaviours that bring about punishment (e.g. being scolded or paying a fine)
- Unlike for classical conditioning, people have greater control, in that their preferences affect what is experienced as reinforcement or punishment
The Skinner Box
•An empty cage with a light, and chutes for food and water
•It also contains a lever which when pressed releases food pellets down the chute
•A hungry rat is placed in the box and eventually presses the lever
•A pellet is released
•The rat scurries over to the chute and eats the pellet
•After grooming for a bit, the rat resumes its exploration of the cage and again presses the lever
•Another pellet is released and the rat goes to eat
•After this happens a few times, the rat learns that pressing the lever releases the food
–Note that it has not learned a new skill (it could already press the lever), but it has learned to apply the skill in a specific way or with a different frequency
Shaping
- The process starts by establishing the participant’s preferred reward
- The participant is then rewarded for each small advance that is made in the direction of the desired behaviour
- Once an advance has been made, the participant will not be rewarded for simply repeating that behaviour, but only for advancing to the next milestone
- Finally, the participant is only rewarded for performing the utterly new behaviour in its entirety
- In the empty Skinner box, it could take a while for the rat to ‘find’ the lever and then press it
- So Skinner and his associates found that they could teach a rat to approach the lever by giving the rat a rewardfor each behaviour it performed that brought it closer to pressing the lever
Principles of Reinforcement
- Skinner proposed that there are two types of reinforcement, both of which encourage the repetition of the desired behaviour, as they result in the participant experiencing a beneficial outcome
- Positive reinforcement is when something pleasant(like a reward) is delivered to the participant, while negative reinforcement is when something unpleasantis removed from the participant
- the point of reinforcement is to increase the frequency or probability of a desired response occurring again
‘negative reinforcement’
–It does not refer to punishment, nor does it imply that negative or bad behaviour is encouraged
•Reinforcement always seeks to increase the frequency or probability of the behaviour, and this can be achieved through negative reinforcement when the organism experiences the benefit of having something disagreeable removed from its environment
two types of reinforcers
- Primary reinforcers
2. Secondary reinforcers
Primary Reinforcers
–A stimulus that naturally strengthens any response that precedes it without the need for any learning on the part of the organism
»These reinforcers tend to be biologically based, such as the satisfaction that comes from receiving food, water, and sex
Secondary Reinforcers
Previously neutral stimuli that acquire the ability to strengthen responses because the stimuli have been paired with a primary reinforcer
•Note the similarity to the processes of classical conditioning, with the key differences being that the organism still has control over its voluntary behaviour and that the behaviour must occur before the delivery of the reinforcement
•Typical secondary reinforcers are money, approval, and exam marks
–These can often be exchanged for something of practical value
•e.g. Money can buy a necessary or desired item, and good exam marks might lead to a monetary reward
different schedules of reinforcement
–This term refers to when and how often a response is reinforced and these variations can have quite an important impact on behaviour
