Operant Conditioning

B. F. Skinner
1. Skinner’s experiments extend Thorndike’s thinking, especially his law of effect. This law states that rewarded behaviour is likely to occur again.
2. Hypothesized that rats could be conditioned to elicit a certain behavior, in order to obtain a reward
Operant conditioning involves operant behaviour, a behaviour that operates on the environment, producing rewarding or punishing stimuli.
Operant conditioning involves learning how to control one’s response to elicit a reward or avoid a punishment
Primary & Secondary Reinforcers
1. Primary
  1. An innately reinforcing stimulus like food or drink.
2. Secondary
  1. A learned reinforcer that gets its reinforcing power through association with the primary reinforcer.
Immediate & Delayed Reinforcers
1. Immediate
  1. A reinforcer that occurs instantly after a behaviour. e.g a rat gets a food pellet for a bar press.
2. Delayed
  1. A reinforcer that is delayed in time for a certain behaviour. e.g. a paycheck that comes at the end of a week.
Shaping
1. Shaping is the operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behaviour towards the desired target behaviour through successive approximations.
Negative Reinforcement and Punishment
1. Negative Reinforcement
  1. Removing an unpleasant stimulus
2. Punishment
  1. 1. Introducing an unpleasant stimulus
    1. 2. Withholding a pleasant stimulus
  2. An adverse event that decreases the behavior it follows
    1. Negative Punishment
      1. The withdrawal of a pleasant stimulus
    2. Positive Punishment
      1. Introduction of a negative stimulus: spanking
  3. Punishment can result in:
    1. Unwanted fears
    2. Violence
    3. Agression
Reinforcement Schedules
1. Continuous Reinforcement
  1. Reinforces the desired response each time it occurs.
2. Partial Reinforcement
  1. Reinforces a response only part of the time.
    1. This is slower in acquisition, however, it is the hardest to extinguish
Ratio Schedules
1. Fixed-ratio schedule
  1. Reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses. e.g., piecework pay.
2. Variable-ratio schedule
  1. Reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses. i.e. gambling
    1. This is hard to extinguish because of the unpredictability.
Interval Schedules
1. Fixed-interval schedule
  1. Reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed.
2. Variable-interval schedule
  1. Reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals, which produces slow, steady responses.
Motivation
1. Intrinsic Motivation
  1. The desire to perform a behavior for its own sake
2. Extrinsic Motivation
  1. The desire to perform a behavior because of an outside influence: rewards/punishment

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Operant Conditioning

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