1. Operant Conditioning  An ‘operant’ is a spontaneous behavior that affects the environment so as to produce a consequence (reinforcing or punishing).  Reinforcement: Increases the behavior (in the future).  Punishment: Decreases the behavior (in the future).

2. Behavior Present Stim. Remove Stim. IncreasePositiveReinforcementNegativeReinforcement DecreaseAversivePunishment Response Cost (Punishment)

3. Reinforcement and Punishment Example

4. The Situation: A child reaches out and grabs a candy bar. The father takes it away. The child cries and has a temper tantrum. The father buys the candy. The child stops crying.

5. The child’s grabbing the candy was ______ by the father taking the candy away? The father’s taking the candy away has been _____ by the child’s crying and tantrum? The child’s crying and tantrum was _____ by the father’s buying of the candy? The father’s buying the candy was ______ by the child’s stopping the crying and tantrum? Choose from the following: positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, aversive punishment, response cost (punishment).

6. Important Concepts  Immediate reinforcement is more effective than delayed reinforcement.  Shaping: reinforcing successive approximations toward a final response.

7. Also in Operant Conditioning:  Extinction  Spontaneous Recovery  Generalization  Discrimination

8. Partial Reinforcement  Fixed-Ratio Schedule  Variable-Ratio Schedule  Fixed-Interval Schedule  Variable-Interval Schedule