1. OPERANT CONDITIONING

2. Operant Conditioning Learning in which a certain action is reinforced/punished, resulting in an increase or decrease of that action Different from Classical Conditioning because the participant operates on their environment in some way. The participant associates their own behavior with a certain outcome Ex. a student studies for an exam. She gets an ‘A’. She does this a few more times with the same result and learns to associate her behavior (studying) with the reward (the ‘A’)

3. B.F. Skinner Behavioral Psychologist who studied the effects of reinforcement on behavior. Studied rats and pigeons because their simple brains/behaviors give us a clear view of conditioned behaviors Would place them in a “Skinner Box” where they had to complete a simple task in order to receive the reinforcement.

4. Reinforcement Reinforcement: stimulus or event that occurs after a behavior to increase its likelihood in the future Positive: adding something, like food Negative: taking away something, like pain, discomfort Primary Reinforcer: satisfies a biological need like hunger, thirst, sleep Secondary Reinforcer: stimulus that is rewarding because of its link to our biological needs. Ex. Money, Driver’s License, Scholarship

5. Reinforcement Reinforcers need to occur quickly after the target behavior if you wan the connection to be made The simpler the action, the shorter you should make the time between behavior and reward The more complex the behavior, the more delayed a reward can be Pay-check at the end of the week for fast food jobs, every two weeks for Mr. Phelps, Major CEOs paid in stock options/etc. less frequently Humans in general are better than other animals at delaying gratification.

6. Punishment Punishment: an unpleasant consequence that leads to a decrease in the frequency of the associated behavior Positive punishment: a negative stimulus is added Your coach gives you additional laps for being late to practice, in the hopes of you arriving on time in the future Negative punishment: when a desired item (including emotional support) is taken away. A smart parent takes away the car keys when their teen’s grades begin to drop.

7. Problems with Punishment Punishment can lead to side effects: rage, aggression, fear. Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate; hate leads to suffering. I sense much fear in you.” Yoda Spanking has been linked to increased tendency towards aggression towards other children People avoid the punisher, makes it difficult to build a relationship of trust. Ultimately, reinforcements and modeling are better methods of teaching.

8. Schedules of Reinforcement Timing and frequency of reinforcement is critical. Continuous: behavior is reinforced every time. Not nearly as effective as partial schedules because participant loses interest in the reinforcement

9. Schedules of Reinforcement Partial: behavior reinforced part of the time. Slower to change behavior, but the change is stronger Fixed-ratio: specific number of correct responses is required. Ex. every tenth sub earns you a free one on your Subway card! Fixed-interval: first correct behavior after a set amount of time is reinforced. Ex. Wrapping up in aluminum foil only earns you a free burrito at Chipotle on Halloween.

10. Schedules of Reinforcement Variable Ratio: unpredictable number of correct responses is required before reinforcement. Ex. slot machines! Just one more pull…

11. Schedules of Reinforcement Variable-interval: reinforcer will be given at a random time This is why you check Facebook so consistently: you never know when there might be a new ‘important’ thing on your newsfeed.

12. Shaping Shaping: Rewarding behavior that is closer and closer to the desired behavior until it is achieved. Ex. Reward freshmen for having their homework page, then writing their name on it, then filling it in, then grading it for correctness.

13. Practice Scenarios: Operant Conditioning For each scenario, write out whether it is positive/negative punishment/reinforcement. Then identify the reinforcement schedule 1. Brenda checks her email 7 times a day. Sometimes, there is a new email there from a friend 2. George is shouted at every time he passes his boss’s office. Now, he avoid the boss 3. Mike is a house painter. He drives into work every other Friday (payday) because his employer buys everyone pizza 4. Celina hundreds of the same type of enemy in World of Warcraft in the hopes of finding a rare axe