Chapter 3 Learning (II)

Operant (Instrumental) Conditioning

Definition

— A form of learning in which a behavior becomes more or less probable, depending on its consequences

Respondent behavior Operant behavior — behavior

that operates on the environment, producing consequences.

Skinner’s Experiment

Law of effectSkinner BoxComparison of Classical C. &

Operant C.

Principles of Reinforcement

Reinforcer Positive reinforcer Negative reinforcer Escape and Avoidance L. Primary and secondary reinforcer

(conditioned reinforcer) Immediate and delayed

reinforcer

Delayed gratificationLearned helplessnessOverjustification Functional autonomy

Why do behaviors have been positively reinforced not occur continually?

1. Behavior is controlled by discriminative stimuli, a process that Skinner calls Stimulus control (mooncake)

2. Because the individual has relative degree of satiation in regard to the reinforcer

response deprivation

Shaping and Chaining

Successive approximations

Shaping a teacherForward chainingBackward chaining

Schedules of Reinforcement

Continuous Schedules—is subjected to repaid extinction when reinforcement stops

Partial Schedules—because they produce less-predictable reinforcement, they are more resistance to extinction than are ~

Fixed-ratio Schedules (FR)Variable-ratio Schedules (VR)Fixed-interval Schedules (FI)Variable-interval Schedules

(VI)

Ratio schedules produce faster response rates than do interval schedules, because the number of responses, not the length of time, determines the onset of reinforcement

Variable schedules produce steadier response rates than do fixed schedules, because the individual does not know when reinforcement will occur

Punishment Two kinds of punishment The difference between

Punishment and negative reinforcement

The effectiveness of punishment1. Timing, consistency, intensity2. Using punishment wisely3. Side effects of punishment pp. 310-311

Application of Operant Conditioning

In parenting and educationIn the marketBehavior modification

(flooding, systematic desensitization……)

A Clockwork Orange (1971)……In daily life