Week 3 - Perspectives on behaviourism (operant conditioning)

Question 1

What is operant conditioning?

Answer 1

Like classical conditioning, operant conditioning is a process of learning by association. Through operant conditioning, an individual learns to associate their behaviour with a particular consequence from the environment. If the consequences positive, then the behaviour will be reinforced (I.e., encouraged); and if the consequences negative, then the behaviour will be discouraged. In operant conditioning, there are three types of reinforcement

Question 2

What are the three types of reinforcement?

Answer 2

1) Positive reinforcement
2) Negative reinforcement
3) Punishment

Question 3

What is positive reinforcement?

Answer 3

Positive reinforcement because when the individual’s behaviour is associated with a positive consequence in the form of a reward. For example, praise from a teacher for answering a question correctly.

Question 4

What is negative reinforcment?

Answer 4

Negative reinforcement occurs when an individual learns to associate their behaviour with the avoidance of an unpleasant consequence in the environment. For example, when a student hands in an essay so as not to be told off, the avoidance of something unpleasant is the negative reinforcement.

Question 5

What is punishment?

Answer 5

Punishment is an unpleasant consequence of a behaviour. Unlike negative reinforcement, which reinforces a behaviour (i.e., increases the likelihood of the behaviour), punishment decreases the likelihood although behaviour. For example, being shouted at by the teacher for talking during a lesson decreases the likelihood of talking.

Question 6

What was Skinner’s research into operant conditioning? (Skinner box)

Answer 6

• Skinner conducted experiments with rats, and sometimes pigeons, in specially designed cages called Skinner boxes. The animal inside a Skinner box would be tested on its ability to learn a simple behavior, such as pressing a lever/not pressing a lever.
• Skinner provided evidence of positive reinforcement by showing that by rewarding the animal with a pellet of food each time it pressed the lever, lever pressing would be reinforced (meaning the animal would press the lever more).
• Skinner provided evidence of negative reinforcement by showing that the animal would be more likely to press the lever if doing so helped it avoid an unpleasant consequence, such as an electric shock.
• Skinner also provided evidence of punishment by showing that the animal would be less likely to press the lever if doing so resulted in an electric shock.

Question 7

What is a cumulative recorder?

Answer 7

This where a roller drives a pen a fixed distance across paper, every pick causes the pen ti step up and this records the behaviour

Question 8

What is the difference between classical and operant conditioning?

Answer 8

• Both explain learning as occurring through association. In classical conditioning the learner forms an association between two stimuli (the conditioned and unconditioned). In operant the learner forms an association between their own behaviour (e.g., pressing a lever) and a consequence (e.g., a reward).
• A difference is the type of learning: active or passive. In classical conditioning learning is passive. For example, Pavlov’s dog learnt by simply being exposed to two stimuli and learning an association. In operant conditioning learning is active. Skinner’s rat learnt by actively engaging with its environment (e.g., pressing the lever).
• Classical conditioning is involuntary whereas operant conditioning is voluntary and involuntary

Question 9

What is the continuity principle?

Answer 9

The laws of learning that apply to humans also apply to animals

Animals were easier and cheaper to study

Question 10

What does personality tell us?

Answer 10

Consistent behaviour patterns that summaries our reinforcement history

Question 11

What effect does culture have?

Answer 11

Different cultures reinforce different behaviour patterns

Question 12

What is behaviour analysis?

Answer 12

• Behaviour analysis is a natural science approach to understanding behaviour
• Proper subject matter of psychology is observable behaviour and all behaviour is controlled by environmental events
• A science concerned with the behaviour of people - what people do and say
• It attempts to understand, explain, describe, predict and control behaviour

Question 13

What are the basic principles of behaviour analysis?

Answer 13

ABC

Antecendent - behaviour - consequence
A - (what happened before)
B - (What did you see or hear?)
C - (What followed?)

A - Discriminative stimulus
B - Defining and measuring behaviour
C - Positive and negative reinforcement

Question 14

What are some applications of behaviour analysis?

Answer 14

Education - Direct instruction, precision teaching, personalised instruction

Business & industry - Many fortune 500 companies now train managers in these approaches

Public health / community intervention - Littering, energy and water conservation, and recycling

Clinical psychology - Behavioural therapy, used to treat a variety of human problems and train clinical psychologists

Sports psychology - Improve athletic performance

Gerontology - Help deal with health related behaviours, social interactions, Alzheimer’s disease, dementia