Operant Conditioning Pt. 1

Question 1

Classical vs Operant Conditioning

Answer 1

• In classical conditioning the response occurs at the
  end of the stimulus chain
• For example:
• Shock → Fear
• Tone : Shock → Fear
• Tone → Fear
• Study of reflexive behaviors

Question 2

Operant conditioning

Answer 2

• Goal-oriented behavior
• Consequences!
• Organism learns to respond to environment in way that
  produces (+) consequences & avoids (-) ones
• Instrumental Conditioning – response is instrumental in producing the
  consequence

Question 3

Thorndike’s Law of Effect

Answer 3

• If a stimulus is followed
  by satisfaction, the
  response is more likely
  to occur the next time
  the stimulus is
  encountered, but an
  “unpleasant state of
  affairs” leads makes the
  response less likely

Question 4

Skinner

Answer 4

• Didn’t like Thorndike’s emphasis of internal events
  (satisfaction, annoying)
• Subcategories of behavior
• Respondant – involuntary, reflexive (CC)
• Operant – voluntary, controlled by consequences
• Proposed that voluntary behaviors are controlled
  by their consequences (rather than by preceding
  stimuli)
• Operant conditioning
• The future probability of a behavior is affected by the
  consequences of the behavior

Question 5

Operant Behavior

Answer 5

• The consequences that follow a certain response, affect
  the future probability (or strength) of the response
• Press Lever → Food
• Press Lever → Shock
• Operant behaviors are emitted by the organism
  (voluntary) not elicited by stimuli (CC)
• Voluntariness may be illusion
• Operant behavior defined as a class of response
• Exact response could be fast, slow, hard, soft, etc.
• Easier to predict class of behavior than exact response

Question 6

Operant Conditioning

Answer 6

• Reinforcer
• Anything that increases the likelihood that a
  behavior will be repeated
• Press Lever (R) → Food (SR
  )
• Punisher
• Decreases likelihood that a behavior will be repeated
• Press Lever (R) → Shock (SP
  )
• Reinforcement and punishment refer to
• Process or procedure
• Reinforcers and punishers refer to
• Consequences

Question 7

Consequences

Answer 7

• The consequences of the behavior can either be
• Appetitive: a consequence that the organism wants
• Aversive: a consequence the organism wants to avoid
• Reinforcer – increases behavior
• Punisher – decreases behavior
• Positive – adding stimulus
• Negative – removing stimulus

Question 8

Operant Conditioning

Answer 8

• Positive reinforcers (SR+)
• Rewards
• Increase behavior
• Negative reinforcers (SR-)
• Removal of unpleasant
  stimuli
• Increase behavior
• Escape behavior
• End aversive stimulus
• Avoidance behavior
• Before aversive stimulus
  is presented

Question 9

Punishment

Answer 9

Presentation of an
aversive stimulus
(positive) or removal
of pleasant
(negative) stimulus
* Reduces
frequency of
behavior
* Often confused
with negative
reinforcement
* Positive punishment
* Fines, shock,
spanking
* Negative punishment
* Time out, loss of
privileges

Question 10

Negative
Reinforcement
DOES NOT =
Punishment

Answer 10

Negative
Reinforcement
DOES NOT =
Punishment

Question 11

Reinforcement &
Punishment

Answer 11

Positive
Reinforcement
ADD something
GOOD

Negative
Reinforcement
TAKE AWAY
something BAD

Positive
Punishment
ADD something
BAD

Negative
Punishment
TAKE AWAY
something GOOD

Question 12

Finding a reinforcer

Answer 12

a) Consumable Reinforcers: What do you like to eat or drink?
1. What do you like to eat most?
2. What do you like to drink most
b) Activity Reinforcers: What things do you like to do?
1. What do you like to do in your home or residence?
2. What do you like to do in your yard or courtyard?
3. What activities do you like to do in your neighborhood?
4. What passive activities (e.g., watching TV) do you like to do?
c) Manipulative Reinforcers: What kinds of games do you like?
d) Possessional Reinforcers: What kinds of things or objects do
you like to possess?
e) Social Reinforcers: What social rewards do you like?
1. What types of praise statements do you like to receive?
2. What type of physical contact do you enjoy (e.g., hugging)?

Question 13

Operant Contingencies

Answer 13

• Behavior modification is often more effective with
  positive reinforcement than with punishment
• Example
• If attempting to stop a child’s tantrums, it is better
  to positively reinforce behavior when the child is
  not misbehaving, than to punish the child when she
  is misbehaving. The attention he receives during
  the punishment might also be rewarding.

Question 14

Immediate vs. delayed
reinforcement

Answer 14

• The more immediate the reinforcer, the stronger its
  effect on behavior
• Dickinson, Watt & Griffith (1992)
• Rats were trained to press a lever to obtain food
• Delayed the time between pressing lever and
  obtaining food between 2 & 64 seconds
• An increase in the delay of food for just
  a few seconds resulted in considerably
  less responding
• Responding almost ceased by 64
  seconds
• Results initially interpreted as a memory
  deficit – i.e., the rats forgot which
  response produced the food
• Subsequent studies have shown that
  rats have excellent memory. The
  problem is that the rats could not figure
  out which response produced the food
• Reinforcement delay allowed rats time
  to engage in other behaviors

Question 15

• Long-delay reinforcements

Answer 15

• Strengthened due to rules or instructions either from ourselves or others
• Learn delayed consequences
• E.g., working on my essay early will probably get me a better
  grade than if I write it the night before. You won’t get the
  consequence until you get your grade
• Example 1
• You are potty training your puppy. When they go to the
  bathroom outside. It is best to immediately reinforce
  the behavior; delaying the reinforcement enables the
  puppy to engage in some other inappropriate behavior,
  which could inadvertently be reinforced by the delay.
• Example 2
• May explain why people smoke cigarettes. Short-term
  reinforcing properties (e.g., reduced anxiety) outweigh
  delayed reinforcing properties (e.g., live longer)

Question 16

Primary reinforcers

Answer 16

• Do not require special training for their properties to be
  reinforcing
• Naturally appetitive reinforcers are those that are
  necessary for the survival of the species (e.g., food,
  water, sex)
• Effectiveness is influenced by deprivation & satiation
• Researchers in the 1950s accumulated evidence that
  not all primary reinforcers were necessary for survival
  (and this type of primary reinforcer was NOT influenced
  by deprivation & satiation)
• Psychological stimulation
• Butler (1954)
• Monkeys placed in enclosed cage with two wooden
  doors
• Blue door = can see experimental room for 30 seconds
  (visual stimulation)
• Yellow door = opaque screen (no sensory stimulation)
• Monkeys continually pushed blue door (one subject
  responded on every trial for 19 hours straight!!!)
• Suggests that sensory stimulation is also a primary
  reinforce

Question 17

Secondary reinforcers

Answer 17

Learned by being associated with some other
reinforce
* Generalized reinforcers are associated with
multiple other reinforcers
* Examples: money, points to redeem for reward,
tickets to redeem for prizes, prestige/status, etc.

• Wolfe (1936)
• Trained 6 chimpanzees to place tokens (poker chips) in a
  machine (“chimp-o-mat”) to obtain grapes& bananas, etc.
• They had to operate a heavy lever to obtain tokens
• Wolfe found that they would work as hard to obtain tokens
  as they would to obtain direct access to grapes
• Chimps would also hoard their chips (save them for later)
• Blue token for 2 grapes, and white token for 1 grape –
  chimps learned to value blue tokens more
• When tested in pairs the dominant ape would push aside
  subordinate ape to work lever; dominant ape would also
  steal tokens from subordinate ape

Question 18

• Operant behaviors can also become reinforcing

Answer 18

• Example
• Aid workers who visit foreign countries in times of
  crisis (R) are praised in the media for their work
  (SR). Over time, the act of helping becomes
  reinforcing even in the absence of external praise.

Question 19

• Strength of Backup Reinforcers
• Variety of Backup Reinforcers
• Simple Conditioned Reinforcer – paired with a single backup
  reinforcer
• Generalized Conditioned Reinforcer – paired with many
  different kinds of backup reinforcers
• Strength depends in part on number of different backup
  reinforcers available for it.
• Schedule of Pairing with Backup Reinforcer
• More effective if does not follow each occurrence
• Extinction of the Conditioned Reinforcer
• Must continue to pair conditioned reinforcer with backup
  reinforcer, at least occasionally

Answer 19

• Strength of Backup Reinforcers
• Variety of Backup Reinforcers
• Simple Conditioned Reinforcer – paired with a single backup
  reinforcer
• Generalized Conditioned Reinforcer – paired with many
  different kinds of backup reinforcers
• Strength depends in part on number of different backup
  reinforcers available for it.
• Schedule of Pairing with Backup Reinforcer
• More effective if does not follow each occurrence
• Extinction of the Conditioned Reinforcer
• Must continue to pair conditioned reinforcer with backup
  reinforcer, at least occasionally

Question 20

Intrinsic and extrinsic
reinforcement

Answer 20

• Intrinsic reinforcement
• Reinforcement is provided by the act of performing the
  behavior
• Example: do quilting because you find is
  satisfying/enjoyable
• Extrinsic reinforcement
• The reinforcement provided by the external
  consequences of the behavior
• Example: Child who cleans up his room in order to
  receive praise from parents.
• Example: Juggle balls 20 times in a row to receive 25
  cents.

Question 21

• Natural reinforcer

Answer 21

• Expected within certain settings

Question 22

• Contrived (artificial) reinforcer

Answer 22

• Arranged to modify a behavior; not typical consequence

Question 23

• Natural reinforcers are more efficient

Answer 23

• Contrived reinforcers used until natural ones can take over

Question 24

Theories of reinforcement

Answer 24

• In the effort to answer the question, “What makes
  reinforcers work?”, researchers have developed
  some theories.
• Drive reduction theory
• The Premack principle
• Response deprivation hypothesis
• Behavioral bliss point approach

Question 25

Hull Drive Reduction

Answer 25

• If you are hungry and go looking for food and eat
  some, you will feel more comfortable because the
  hunger has been reduced.
• The desire to have the uncomfortable “hunger
  drive” reduced motivates you to seek out and eat
  the food
• Biological needs (e.g., nutrients) lead to physiological drive
  states (e.g., hunger)
• A stimulus acts as a reinforcer to the extent that it is
  associated with a reduction in some physiological drive (e.g.,
  hunger, thirst, sex)
• For example, food deprivation produces a hunger-drive that
  makes the animal seek out food – when food is obtained the
  hunger is reduced
• Example:
• If a hungry rat in a T-maze turns right and finds food, the
  behavior of turning right is strengthened because it reduces
  the hunger-drive
• Animals will repeat behaviors that produced stimuli that
  reduce the drive

Question 26

Incentive motivation

Answer 26

• Sometimes, we just do things because they are
  FUN!
• When this happens, we can say that motivation is
  coming from some property of the reinforcer itself
  rather than from some kind of internal drive
• Examples include playing games and sports, putting
  spices on food, etc

Question 27

Premack (1965, 1971) – Premack
Principle

Answer 27

Premack (1959)
* Observed children with free access to a candy dispenser and
pinball machine to determine which behaviors were preferred
* Some children preferred playing pinball to eating candy, whereas
the reverse was true for other children
* Premack found that he could increase the likelihood of children’s
less preferred behavior by following it with the opportunity to
engage in their more preferred behavior
* For example, children who preferred candy could be conditioned
to play pinball more if the reward was candy
* Bobby, you can read those comic books once you have mowed
the grass!
* He also demonstrated that the opportunity to perform the less
desired response (e.g., pinball) did not function to reinforce the
more desired behavior (e.g., eating candy)
* Premack also suggested that behavior preferences are not
static
* Preferences are influenced by:
* Response deprivation (depriving the organism the opportunity of
making a response increases the desire of the organism to make
that response)
* Response satiation (the preference for particular response can be
decrease when the response has been allowed to occur)
* Response deprivation and response satiation experiments
have shown that low probability behaviors can sometimes
be used to reinforce high probability behaviors (e.g., Mazur,1975)
* Limitation – need to know the probabilities of two behaviors
to determine whether one can be used to reinforce the
other

Question 28

Response deprivation hypothesis

Answer 28

• A behavior can serve a reinforcer when (1) access to the
  behavior is restricted, (2) when frequency falls below
  preferred level
• Example:
• A rat runs in a spinning wheel for 30 mins per day (its
  preferred duration of running). If running time is restricted
  (e.g., 10 mins per day) it is unable to reach its preferred
  duration for that activity (response deprivation). The rat will
  likely be willing to work (e.g., lever press) to obtain more
  time on the running wheel.
• Premack Principle – frequency of one behavior relative to
  another behavior
• Response deprivation – frequency of one behavior relative
  to its baseline

Question 29

Behavioral Bliss Point

Answer 29

• The Response Deprivation Hypothesis makes an
  assumption that there is an optimal or best level of
  behavior that a person or animal tries to maintain
• If you could do ANYTHING at all you wanted to do,
  how would you distribute your time?
• This would tell you your “behavioral bliss point” for
  each activity or behavior
• If free access to more than one behavior, the organism will
  distribute activities to maximize overall reinforcement
• Example:
• A rat prefers to run in a spinning wheel for 30 mins per day
  and explore a maze for 1 hour per day (optimal level of
  reinforcement).
• If performance of one activity is contingent on performance
  of the other, the optimum distribution may be unattainable.
• Example:
• The rat is required to do 2 minutes of spinning wheel
  running to receive 1 minute of maze exploration. In this case
  the rat will redistribute its activities in such a way as to
  maximize overall reinforcement
• In other words, if you can do anything you want,
  you will spend time on each thing you do in a way
  that will give you the most pleasure
• This means that you can almost never achieve your
  “behavioral bliss point”
• So you have to compromise by coming as close as
  you can, given your circumstances