Operant Conditioning

I. The Basics  Discovered by Edward Thorndike and made popular by B.F. Skinner  If a response is followed by a reward, that response is more likely to be used again in the future.  Rewards are used to increase the use of behaviors  Punishments are used to decrease the use of behaviors  The individual must operate on the environment to get the reward or avoid the punishment

II. B.F. Skinner  Skinner Box  A small cage containing a lever that can be pushed by a rat or a disk that can be pecked by a pigeon. (most of Skinner’s research involved rats & pigeons)

II. Skinner Cont.  Skinner Box  The box can be programmed in a variety of ways  Examples:  Pressing the lever or pecking the disk results in food = the animal learns to make the response  A light may signal when pressing or pecking will result in the delivery of food = the animal can be trained when to press or peck.  There may be a grid on the floor through which the animal can be shocked = the animal can be trained to press a lever to turn off a painful shock.

The case of the pigeon & the guided missile  Role in Human Behavior

III. Skinners view of society  B.F. Skinner saw the world as one big Skinner box and the Skinner box as a model of society.  Skinner wrote a novel outlining how rewards and punishments could be used to create a utopian society.  Experimental communities were created based on his ideas  One of these still exists. An upbeat attitude is instilled in children by only rewarding positive statements like “I like it” and “I’m happy.” Negative statements are ignored.  Behavioral engineering

IV. Token Economies  Psychologists use operant conditioning to teach hospitalized psychiatric patients to use more normal behaviors. Specifically, whenever the patients behave in normal ways they are given tokens which they can later exchange for rewards such as additional television time, better living accommodations, or hospital passes. This is known as a “token economy.”

V. Reinforcement and Punishment  Reinforcement: what is given to an individual after a response to increase the likelihood the response will be used again.  Two types: 1.Positive Reinforcement: increases the likelihood that a response will be used again. (Praise) 2.Negative Reinforcement: something which when it is terminated increases the likelihood that a response will be used again. (mother stops nagging once a child complies, will increase compliance to avoid nagging)

V. Reinforcement and Punishment Cont.  Punishment: Something that reduces the use of a behavior. (speeding ticket may prevent that person from speeding in the future)  Punishment behaviors are not unlearned or forgotten. Rather, they are suppressed. When the possibility of punishment is withdrawn, the behavior likely will return.  It is better to reinforce desired behaviors than to punish undesirable behaviors

Operant Conditioning Demonstration

VI. Avoidance Conditioning  Punishment can be used to increase behaviors  This is achieved when behaviors enable an individual to avoid punishment  Skinner box/electric shock  Avoidance Conditioning is why students study.  They study to avoid getting a bad grade

VII. Shaping  Successive Approximations