WHS AP Psychology

Unit 5: Learning (Behaviorism)

Essential Task 5-3: Predict the effects of operant conditioning with specific attention to (primary, secondary, immediate, or delayed) positive/negative reinforcement and punishment.

Essential Task 5-:

• Predict the effects of operant conditioning with specific attention to

• Reinforcement increases behavior– Positive and Negative– Primary Reinforcers vs. Secondary Reinforcers– Immediate vs. Delayed Reinforcers

• Punishment decreases behavior– Positive an Negative

Outline

Operant Conditioning

• The type of learning in which behaviors are emitted to earn rewards or avoid punishments

• In classical conditioning the response to the stimulus was automatic. In operant conditioning the participant operates on the environment to gain something desired or avoid something unpleasant.

Elements of Operant Conditioning• Reinforcer

– A stimulus or event that follows a behavior and makes that behavior more likely to occur again

• Punisher– A stimulus or event that follows a

behavior and makes that behavior less likely to occur again

Edward L. Thorndike• Animals placed in puzzle

boxes• String pulled, latch

released, animal jumps out and receives food

• Learning by random trial and error

• Law of Effect – Thorndike’s principle that responses are “stamped in” by rewards and “stamped out” by punishments.

Skinner’s ExperimentsSkinner’s experiments extend

Thorndike’s thinking, especially his law of effect. This law states that rewarded

behavior is likely to occur again.

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niversity Library

Operant Chamber

Using Thorndike's law of effect as a starting point, Skinner developed

the Operant chamber, or the Skinner box, to study operant conditioning.

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awn/ Photo R

esearchers, Inc.

Operant Chamber

The operant chamber, or Skinner

box, comes with a bar or key that an

animal manipulates to obtain a reinforcer

like food or water. The bar or key is

connected to devices that record the

animal’s response.

Shaping

Shaping is the operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior towards

the desired target behavior through successive approximations.

A rat shaped to sniff mines. A manatee shaped to discriminateobjects of different shapes, colors and sizes.

Types of Reinforcement

• Positive reinforcer (+)– Adds something

rewarding following a behavior, making that behavior more likely to occur again

– Giving a dog a treat for fetching a ball is an example

• Negative reinforcer (-)– Removes something

unpleasant that was already in the environment following a behavior, making that behavior more likely to occur again

– Taking an aspirin to relieve a headache is an example

Types of Reinforcers

Any event that strengthens the behavior it follows. A heat lamp positively reinforces a meerkat’s

behavior in the cold.

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orbis

1. Primary Reinforcer: An innately reinforcing stimulus like food or drink.

2. Conditioned Reinforcer: A learned reinforcer that gets its reinforcing power through association with the primary reinforcer.

Primary & Secondary Reinforcers

1. Immediate Reinforcer: A reinforcer that occurs instantly after a behavior. A rat gets a food pellet for a bar press.

2. Delayed Reinforcer: A reinforcer that is delayed in time for a certain behavior. A paycheck that comes at the end of a week.

Immediate & Delayed Reinforcers

We may be inclined to engage in small immediate reinforcers (watching TV) rather than large delayed reinforcers

(getting an A in a course) which require consistent study.

Punishment

An aversive event that decreases the behavior it follows.

Punishment

• Goal of punishment is to decrease the occurrence of a behavior

• Effective punishment– Should occur as soon as possible after the

behavior– Should be sufficient, i.e., strong enough– Should be certain, occurring every time the

behavior does– Should be consistent

Punishment

1. Results in unwanted fears.2. Conveys no information to the organism.3. Justifies pain to others.4. Causes unwanted behaviors to reappear

in its absence.5. Causes aggression towards the agent.6. Causes one unwanted behavior to appear

in place of another.

Although there may be some justification for occasional punishment (Larzelaere & Baumrind,

2002), it usually leads to negative effects.

Operant Conditioning is Selective

• Operant conditioning techniques work best with behaviors that would typically occur in a specific situation

• Superstitious behavior– Tendency to repeat behaviors that are followed

closely by a reinforcer, even if they are not related

– For example, a particular pair of socks might become “lucky” if something good happened when you wore them

Learned Helplessness

• Failure to try to avoid an unpleasant stimulus because in the past it was unavoidable

• Possible model for depression in humans

Behavioral Change Using Biofeedback

• Biofeedback is an operant technique that teaches people to gain voluntary control over bodily processes like heart rate and blood pressure

• When used to control brain activity it is called neurofeedback

Outline