Operant Conditioning

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Operant Conditioning

• Rewards and punishment

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Classical vs. Operant Conditioning
Classical Conditioning Operant Conditioning
Behavior is determined by what PRECEDES it. Behavior is determined by anticipation of what FOLLOWS it.
Involuntary Voluntary
Dog salivates after a tone. Dog sits in anticipation of getting a treat.
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Classical or Operant?

• A very bright (mildly painful) light is turned
  on a rat. The rat has learned that he can turn
  off the light by pressing a lever on the other
  side of his cage. As soon as the light comes on,
  the rat runs across the room and presses the
  lever.

4
Classical or Operant?

• When a mother strokes her infants skin, the
  stroking creates pleasure responses in the baby.
  After this goes on for many days, the baby begins
  to show pleasure responses simply at the sight of
  her mother (even before being touched).

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Classical or Operant?

• Imagine you have a friend who keeps the
  temperature in her home so high that each
  occasion on which you visit her you find yourself
  perspiring. The last time you visited her, you
  noticed that you began to perspire and became
  uncomfortable as soon as you saw her house (even
  before you got inside).

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Classical or Operant?

• A patient in a mental hospital is very disruptive
  at mealtimes. She grabs food from the plates of
  those sitting near her and tries to cram the food
  in her mouth. Because this behavior of stealing
  food is very undesirable, a plan is developed
  whereby every time the patient steals food from
  other plates, she is immediately taken to a room
  without food.

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Classical or Operant?

• Alice leaves her clothes and toys all over her
  room. It seems that the only time she cleans up
  her room is when her mother yells at her. When
  she yells at her, Alice picks up her clothes and
  put away her toys.

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Operant Conditioning

• Positive Reinforcement give you something you
  like or want in order to make a behavior more
  likely () (most like a reward)
• If you work quietly for an hour, Ill let you
  listen to your Ipod at the end of class. ()
• Negative Reinforcement taking away something you
  dont like in order to make a behavior more
  likely (-)
• I wont make you do your chores IF you come to
  your grandmothers this weekend instead of hang
  with your friends

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Operant Conditioning

• Omission Training Removing a thing you like in
  order to make a behavior less likely.
• Grounding you in order to prevent you from
  staying out late.
• Punishments add something you dont like in
  order to make a behavior less likely.
• Ill smack you across the face if you dont stop
  talking in class.

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Mistakes Teachers/Parents Make

• Paying attention to students/kids bad behavior
  (positive reinforcement)
• Not paying attention to good behavior (a form of
  punishment)
• Suspending studentswhy does this almost never
  work? (omission?)
• Trying to use omission (cell phone, groundings)
  as punishment (why does this end up being just
  like punishment?)
• Operant conditioning usually works best in
  elementary school, not high schoolwhy not?

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Problems with Punishment

• it models aggression as a way to solve problems
• breeds anger in the recipient/towards the
  punisher
• doesnt provide an alternative behavior.
  Therefore, the behavior only goes away when the
  punisher is around.

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Reinforcement Schedules

• fixed ratio set number (every three times
  responses you give, you get a chocolate)
• variable ratio unpredictable number of
  responses (slot machine payouts, not knowing what
  assignments will be graded)
• fixed interval set amount of time (pay you
  every hour you work)
• variable interval unpredictable amount of time
  (getting messages on Facebook/text)

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Reinforcement Schedules Effectiveness

• Variable schedules are more resistant to
  extinction
• Continuous reinforcement causes the fastest
  learning.
• Immediate reinforcement is more effective than
  delayed.
• If reinforcement doesnt follow the response, the
  behavior might become extinct.
• If you study and dont get As like you
  thoughtyou might stop studying.

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Skinners Method of Learning

• In Skinner's book The Technology of Teaching, he
  said there are five main obstacles in learning
  People have a fear of failure.
• The task is not broken down into small enough
  steps.
• There is a lack of directions.
• There is also a lack of clarity in the
  directions.
• Positive reinforcement is lacking.
• Skinner suggests that any age-appropriate skill
  can be taught using five principles to remedy the
  above problems
• Give the learner immediate feedback.
• Break down the task into small steps.
• Repeat the directions as many times as possible.
• Work from the most simple to the most complex
  tasks.
• Give positive reinforcement.

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Superstition

• BF Skinner radical behavioralist
• Wanted to demonstrate that uniquely human
  behaviors were the product of conditioning.
• Starved 8 pigeons. Then rewarded them with food
  every 15 s, no matter what they did.

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• Results
• 6 of 8 bird developed superstitions
• Turning counter-clockwise in a circle
• Thrusting head toward a specific corner of cage
• tossing an imaginary ball with its head
• Head bobbing with accompanying steps (2 birds)
• fake pecking

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Superstition (cont)

• Follow up studies
• Gradually increased time between rewards to 1 min
  bird behaviors became more pronounced (head
  bobbing/stepping looked like a dance)
• Removed reward altogether to create extinction
  pigeons showed resistance to extinction (one
  pigeon repeated behavior over 10,000 times before
  quitting).
• What are your superstitions? How are they
  rewarded?

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Overjustification Effect

• Experiment
• Story of boys playing soccer
• Overjustification effect when we are rewarded
  for behaviors that we naturally enjoy, we
  sometimes lose our intrinsic motivation.
• Learning and grades?
• Professional athletes?

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Criticisms of Behavioralism

• Deemphasizes the role of internal thoughts and
  feelings in behavior Presents humans as lacking
  free will
• Ignores biological predispositions

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Support for Criticisms

• Experiments with humans and animals both
  indicate that biological predispositions
  influence conditioning.
• a. Animal training
• b. Human societies built on behavioralist
  principles.

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Support for Criticisms

• 2. Expectations alter the effectiveness of
  conditioning (i.e., alcoholics and
  nausea-producing drug overjustification effect).
• 3. Learning occurs in the absence of rewards or
  punishments (this is called latent learning)
• - mice and cognitive maps

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Observational Learning

• Also known as modeling.
• Albert Bandura Bobo doll experiment

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Modeling

• Prosocial Behavior constructive behavior
• Antisocial Behavior unproductive or destruction
  behavior