Meaning of operant conditioning Skinner’s box/maze Laws of learning Operant Conditioning A Skinner’s type of learning

Introduction Skinner is an influential and radical American behaviorist. He believes that: mind is irrelevant in understanding the learning process. Behavior is the result of association between stimulus and response but the association between response and consequence is more important. Meaning: Operant Conditioning is the use of pleasant and unpleasant consequences to change behavior.

Meaning of Operant Conditioning Consequence is the result of operant behavior operating in the environment without using an unconditioned stimulus such as food. In operant conditioning, the learner controls his initial behavior unlike classical conditioning by which the UCR is automatic,. The stimulus events follow rather than precedes the behavior.

Skinner’s experiment Skinner was usually using rats or pigeons. In one of his experiments he used a box or maze containing a simple apparatus. An apparatus consisted of a bar which is easy for the rat to press and a food dispenser. The dispenser contained a pellet of food. The apparatus was set up so that when the rat happened to press a bar it would receive a pellet of food.

After few accidental bar pressing, the rat could start pressing the bar frequently receiving food each time. Wondering aimlessly in the box decreased. The rat’s behavior of bar pressing has been conditioned and was strengthened by the pellet of food the (the consequence). In the experiment: food is a consequence, bar pressing is response, continuous bar pressing is the new behavior which has been conditioned

Stimulus: Anything in the environment that stimulates action (iron bar) Response: Action stimulated by some conditions in the environment (bar pressing). Consequence: condition that follows a behavior and affects the frequency of future behavior. Rein-forcer: pleasurable consequence that maintains or increases the occurrence of behavior (food). Punishment: unpleasurable consequence that follows the response and stops the initiated behavior.

Laws of learning Law of reinforcement Law of punishment Laws of generalization, discrimination and extinction Premack’s principle Law of reinforcement: any behavior contingently followed by a pleasant consequence is likely to occur again in the same way. Types of rein-forcers; primary and secondary rein- forcers

Primary rein-forcer: A consequence that satisfies human needs and important for physical survival; food, security, attachment, water Secondary rein-forcer: their value as rein-forcers are gained through association with primary rein-forcers. Three kinds of secondary rein-forcers: 1. Social: praise, attention, smile, hugs, relationship 2. Activity: games, fun activities, change from regular procedures. 3. Symbolic (token): material things-prizes, grades, marks, money

Rein-forcers can also be categorized into positive and negative rein-forcers. Positive rein-forcer: a pleasant stimulus that when added increases the likelihood of the repetition of the response. Examples of positive rein-forcers Approval in speaking Immediate feedback Teacher attention and support Good grades and valuing students’ work Knowledge of the accomplishment of work

Peer approval Giving tokens Negative rein-forcer: an unpleasant stimulus that when is removed in the situation, increases the probability that the desired response will occur. Example: a teacher says to the student who is interruptive in class, ‘if you do it this again you will spend the whole day outside the class’. Being interruptive (undesired behavior); spending outside the class is unpleasant stimulus.

The student will want to avoid spending outside the class (unpleasant stimulus), so will behave acceptably (being not interruptive). It is a situation to be avoided and in so doing the desired behavior occurs. It should not be overused

Punishment Law of punishment: an unpleasant or painful consequence that stops or reduces the occurrence of initiated behavior. Punishment may be painful physically or/and psychologically. Punishment may be: 1. Denying or removing pleasant stimulus 2. Giving unpleasant stimulus

An ‘unpleasant stimulus’ becomes a punishment only when it stops unwanted behavior. Punishment should not be overused, used frequently or too painful. It must be the last resort, first use positive rein- forcer, then negative rein-forcer and lastly punishment Law of extinction: If a learnt behavior is no longer followed by a rein-forcer, it will stop. To extinguish the unwanted behavior, study and identify the rein-forcer that stimulates the behavior. Then remove the rein-forcer.

Premack principle: If the less desired activity is linked with more desired activity, the organism will likely develop desire with the previously less desired activity. Law of discrimination: An organism is more likely to respond to reinforced activities rather than non- reinforced activities. Children will like the more reinforced subjects than the less reinforced subjects, more reinforcing materials than non-reinforcing materials.

Stimulus generalization: An organism responds to reinforced and non-reinforced responses alike. It is either due to inability to distinguish between reinforced and non-reinforced, or because the stimuli share the same function or they have the same physical features. In school, response to physics may be the same as Math subject, just because they share the same features; may the teacher of both subjects is fair. Response to one book may be generalized with another book just because they have been written by the same author.

Conclusion Important to note on Operant conditioning: It is a bit higher level of learning than classical conditioning. The learner is active. Whatever learnt, the learner must be involved in doing. It is appropriate in learning skills and behavior. It is also intensified by inner drives or needs. It may be ‘temporary’ once you stop giving a rein- forcer, the behavior may stop.

Is intensified by immediacy of consequences. It is more controlled by the trainer and the environment has an upper hand in determining behavior. There is no learner’s judgment and choice Situations where classical and operant conditioning are applied: In school In classroom In organizations and institutions In sports grounds

Application in school In school it is applied in: Behavior therapy Dealing with disruptive behavior Shaping behavior Behavior modification Programmed learning

Testing questions Radical behaviorists like Skinner and Watson believe that: A. Behavior is shaped by both environment and the individual person B. Behavior of the learner is controlled by the external environment C. Punishment is more effective in changing behavior than reinforcement D. Individual’s person behavior changes as a result of thinking In classical conditioning, learning occurs through association between: A. Consequence and response B. Neutral stimulus and unconditioned stimulus C. Neutral stimulus and conditioned stimulus D. Consequence and neutral stimulus

In Pavlov’s experiment of salivating dog, the new behavior is: A. Dog’s salivation in response to the presentation of meat powder B. Lack of response when the bell was rung C. Experimenter’s salivation by the sight of meat D. Dog salivation in response to the sound of a bell The rat response in Skinner’s box is indicated by: A. Aimless movement in the box B. The iron bar C. Pressing the iron bar D. Food pellet