Transcript Operant Conditioning

Operant Conditioning
The second great learning theory in modern
psychology!
The main idea of operant conditioning:
 People and animals learn how to do
certain things and not others because
of the consequences of what they do.
 “Everything we do and are is
determined by our history of
rewards and punishments.” -B.F.
Skinner
 To what extent do you agree?
The Operant Chamber (Or Skinner Box)
http://www.twine.com/item/12flkpgdj-fj/youtube-bf-skinner-on-reinforcement-general-psychology
Reinforcement is:
Types of Reinforcers
 Primary reinforcers:
 Secondary reinforcers:
Positive vs. negative
 Positive reinforcers:
 Negative reinforcers:
Ratio schedules of reinforcement
Fixed ratio schedule:
Variable-ratio
schedule:
Interval schedules of reinforcement
 Fixed interval schedule:
 Variable interval schedule:
Skinner’s Original Experiments: Shaping
 Teaching complex behaviors to animals by
reinforcing small steps in the right direction
 “Successive approximations”
 Skinner taught pigeons to walk in a figure 8, play
ping-pong, etc.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQNHqENd6ls
Other uses of Skinner’s theory
 At school
 Skinner dreamed of a future where teaching
machines and textbooks shaped learning in small
steps, immediately reinforcing correct responses
 https://www.khanacademy.org/?
 Sports
 Reinforce small successes and gradually increase
the challenge
Other applications (cont.)
 At work
 Reward specific, achievable behaviors, not vaguely
defined “merit”
 Reinforcement should be immediate
 At home
 Parents who give in to protests or defiance reinforce
whining and arguing
 Always notice kids doing something right and
commend them for it
A word about punishment
 Reinforcement increases a behavior; punishment
diminishes it.
 Punishment tells you what not to do; reinforcement
tells you what to do.
 Why does punishment often fail and/or create more
problems?
The downside of Skinner: The Overjustification Effect
 “If I have to be bribed into
doing this, it must not be
worth doing for its own sake.”
 Extrinsic rewards can
damage intrinsic motivation
 Read this:
 http://www.psychwiki.com/wik
i/The_Overjustification_Effect