Transcript Operant Conditioning Basics - New Providence School District

Operant Conditioning Basics
• A form of learning in which responses
come to be controlled by their
consequences
Operant Conditioning Basics
• Shaping
• The process of reinforcing closer
and closer approximations of a
desired response
Operant Conditioning Basics cont.
Signal
•
•
Behavior
Consequence
Discriminative stimulus:
Signal or cue in the environment that
indicates the probable consequence of a
response (behavior)
• Differences between Operant Cond. and CC
 Behavior is mostly voluntary instead of
mostly reflexive as in CC
 Behavior depends largely on what comes
after it, instead of what precedes it in CC
Operant Conditioning Basics cont.
Possible Consequences of Behaviors
• Reinforcement – increases the probability of a
behavior being repeated; also increases the
rate of response
 Positive Reinforcement – give something
desirable (reward)
 Ex: A biscuit when your dog gives you his paw
 Negative Reinforcement – take away something
unpleasant
 Ex: Annoying dinging stops when you fasten
your seatbelt
Both result in an increase in the rate of
response!
Operant Conditioning Basics cont.
Possible Consequences of Behaviors
• Punishment – decreases the probability of a
behavior being repeated; also decreases the rate
of response
 Positive Punishment – give something unpleasant
 Ex: A smack in the face for a child who swears
 Negative Punishment – take away something the
organism desires
 Ex: No PSP for you because you stayed out too
late
Both result in a decrease in the rate of response!
Reinforcers and Punishers
Increase Behavior
Pleasant
Stimulus
Decrease Behavior
Positive
Reinforcement
Negative
Punishment
Ex: Give a sticker for a
good test
Ex: Take away child’s
toys
Negative
Reinforcement
Positive
Punishment
removed
Ex: Electric shock
applied
Aversive
(Unpleasant)
Stimulus
Ex: Electric shock
Classify the Consequence
1. A rat runs to the end of the maze and
receives an electric shock
• Positive punishment
2. Student studies to avoid failing an exam
• Negative reinforcement
3. Misbehavior results in a child not being
allowed to watch his or her fav. TV show
• Negative punishment
4. Employee receives praise for a job well
done
• Positive reinforcement
Classify the Consequence
5. Rat turns an activity wheel to terminate
electric shock
• Negative reinforcement
6. Rat presses lever and causes a scheduled
delivery of a food pellet to be skipped
• Negative punishment
7. Rat presses lever and receives a food
pellet
• Positive reinforcement
8. Political figure is caught cheating on his
wife and suffers public contempt
• Positive punishment
Classify the Consequence
9. A teenager has his or her car keys taken
away for staying out past his or her
curfew
• Negative punishment
10. You swat your dog with a newspaper
after he pees on the floor
• Positive punishment
11. You stop twisting your little brother’s arm
when he says “uncle”
• Negative reinforcement
Schedules of Reinforcement
• Continuous reinforcement
 Each and every target behavior is
reinforced
 Intermittent Schedules
• Fixed ratio
 Reinforcement only after a certain fixed
number of correct responses
 EX: Payment of $1.00 for every ten pairs of
Nike sneakers you work on
• Variable ratio
 Reinforcement after a varying number of
correct responses
 EX: Playing a slot machine
Schedules of Reinforcement
• Fixed interval
Reinforcement for a particular behavior
after a fixed amount of time has passed
EX: Getting paid $7.25 an hour
• Variable interval
Reinforcement for a particular behavior
after a variable amount of time has
passed
EX: Random pop quizzes based on
homework
Other Operant Conditioning Principles
• Extinction
The response slows
and disappears
because it is no
longer reinforced
• Resistance to
extinction
The degree to which
a response continues
despite the fact that it is
no longer reinforced
Impact of reinforcement schedules on
rate of responding and resistance to
extinction
• Continuous reinforcement
Fast response rate, but low
resistance to extinction
• Fixed vs. variable schedules
Variable produce a steadier response
rate, and are more resistant to extinction
• Ratio vs. interval schedules
Ratio produces a faster response rate
Generalization vs. discrimination
• Generalization
 Responding to a new stimulus as if it
were the original (in expectation of a
reinforcer)
 EX: A dog runs to his food bowl
 when he hears the pans clattering
• Discrimination
 Not responding to a somewhat
similar stimulus
 EX: A dog knows the difference
between the sound of food hitting his
bowl and of plates being unloaded
from the dishwasher
Concurrent Schedules of Reinforcement
Two Process Theory of Avoidance Learning
Conditioned Taste Aversion