2. Operant Conditioning The second great learning theory in modern psychology!

3.  People and animals learn how to do certain things and not others because of the consequences of what they do.  “Everything we do and are is determined by our history of rewards and punishments.” -B.F. Skinner  To what extent do you agree? The main idea of operant conditioning:

4. The Operant Chamber (Or Skinner Box) http://www.twine.com/item/12flkpgdj-fj/youtube-bf-skinner-on-reinforcement-general-psychology

5. Reinforcement is:

6. Types of Reinforcers  Primary reinforcers:  Secondary reinforcers:

7.  Positive reinforcers:  Negative reinforcers: Positive vs. negative

8.  Fixed ratio schedule:  Variable-ratio schedule: Ratio schedules of reinforcement

9.  Fixed interval schedule:  Variable interval schedule: Interval schedules of reinforcement

10.  Teaching complex behaviors to animals by reinforcing small steps in the right direction  “Successive approximations”  Skinner taught pigeons to walk in a figure 8, play ping-pong, etc.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQNHqENd6ls http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQNHqENd6ls Skinner’s Original Experiments: Shaping

11.  At school  Skinner dreamed of a future where teaching machines and textbooks shaped learning in small steps, immediately reinforcing correct responses  https://www.khanacademy.org/? https://www.khanacademy.org/  Sports  Reinforce small successes and gradually increase the challenge Other uses of Skinner’s theory

12.  At work  Reward specific, achievable behaviors, not vaguely defined “merit”  Reinforcement should be immediate  At home  Parents who give in to protests or defiance reinforce whining and arguing  Always notice kids doing something right and commend them for it Other applications (cont.)

13.  Reinforcement increases a behavior; punishment diminishes it.  Punishment tells you what not to do; reinforcement tells you what to do.  Why does punishment often fail and/or create more problems? A word about punishment

14. The downside of Skinner: The Overjustification Effect  “If I have to be bribed into doing this, it must not be worth doing for its own sake.”  Extrinsic rewards can damage intrinsic motivation  Read this:  http://www.psychwiki.com/wik i/The_Overjustification_Effect http://www.psychwiki.com/wik i/The_Overjustification_Effect