1. Operant or Instrumental Conditioning
Psychology 3306

2. Introduction Thorndike and his puzzle boxes Guthrie and Horton
Superstitious Behaviour
Interim
Terminal
Adjunctive
Not exactly superstitious or random

3. Shaping Successive approximations Secondary reinforcers
Get closer and closer to behaviour
Secondary reinforcers
Feeder click for example
Behaviour modification

4. Freddie! Coined the phrase ‘Operant conditioning’
The animal operates on the environment
Unlike ‘respondent conditioning’ (Pavlovian)
Pioneered the use of free operants
Pioneered the use of respone rate

5. The Skinner Box Basically this allowed the researcher to walk away
Allowed for a dependent variable that could be easily measured and compared across species too

7. Criticisms of the Skinner box
Is it artificial?
Well duh…
But
Many species can be tested
Real world applications
Therapy
Who cares?

8. Key concepts and terms Discriminative stimulus Three term contingency
Acquisition
Extinction
Spontaneous recovery
Generalization
Conditioned reinforcement
Response chains

9. Constraints Instinctive drift and the Brelands
Autoshaping (Brown and Jenkins, 1968)
Superstitious behaviour?
Form of response depends on reinforcer (Jenkins and Moore, 1973)
Wasserman’s chicks (1973)
Timberlake’s behaviour systems approach

10. Schedules of Reinforcement
You could give a reinforcement after each behaviour you are interested in
This is called CRF or Continuous reinforcement
However this is rarely used
Does not maintain behaviour very well

11. Schedules of Reinforcement
Fixed Interval
First response after a given interval is rewarded
FI Scallop
Variable Interval
Like FI but varies with a given average
Scallop disappears

12. Schedules of Reinforcement
Fixed Ratio
Reinforcement is given after a given number of responses
A little less smooth
Variable Ratio
After a varying number of responses

13. Schedules and their properties
Variable schedules are more robust
PREE, Partial reinforcement extinction effect
Harder to extinguish responding on VI, FI, VR and FR than on CRF
DRL, Differential reinforcement for low rates of responding
DRH, High rates

14. Schedule this…. Concurrent and chained schedules
Behaviour follows the schedule in effect at the time
Allowed people to determine that the post reinforcement pause in FR schedules is due to the present schedule and not the previous one

15. Applications Work with autistic kids Token economies I/O applications
Prompts
Fading
Secondary reinforcers
Token economies
I/O applications
Behaviour therapy

16. These ideas are nothing new…
Most folks are unaware of schedules and contingencies
Systematic application thereof
Who cares?

17. Punishment and avoidance
Behavior
increases decreases
Positive
reinforcement
punishment
Negative
Omission
Stimulus Presented
Stimulus
Removed or
omitted

18. Avoidance Shuttle box Go from escape to avoidance Avoidance paradox
Two factor theory
Avoid by escaping CS
Animals will avoid a CS that predicts shock in another context

19. But…. Does the CS induce fear? Equivocal at best
Maybe avoidance itself is reinforcing
This is the one factor theory
The Sidman test shows that this is true, avoidance itself is reinforcing
But, temporal conditioning

20. Cognitive theories Selligman and Johnston Expectations Animal expects:
No shock if it responds
Shock if it does not respond
This explains the slow extinction
Shock avoidance response blocking, remove the ability to escape, you get extinction

21. More on avoidance Bob Bolle’s idea about SSDRs Learned helplessness
Is it depression?
Suggestive, but not quite I don’t think

22. Punishment Opposite of reinforcement? Sorta
But, to be effective it must be:
Introduced at full intensity
Given immediately
After every behaviour
Motivational effects
Other contingencies and behaviours

23. Bad boys bad boys, watcha gonna do?
Maybe a punisher is an SD?
All that said punishment CAN control behaviour
So, what’s the down side?

24. punishment Fear and anger are bad for learning General suppression
Constant monitoring needed
Avoidance
Reluctance to use it
Bad consequences
It is just plain mean

25. Omission The avoidance of punishment Easily learned
With all this stuff on punishment, remember morality and data are two different things