Operant Conditioning: Skinner’s Radical

Behaviorism

Objectives

• Respondents and operants• The basics of operant learning• Effects of different schedules of

reinforcement• The nature and uses of punishment• Possible origins of superstition• What is meant by terms like fading,

generalization, discrimination, aversive control, and rat

Skinner’s Radical Behaviorism: An Overview

• Basic assumptions– Human behavior follows certain laws– Causes of behavior are outside the

person

• Operant conditioning• The experimental analysis of

behavior

Skinner’s Radical Behaviorism: An Overview

• Respondent and Operant Learning– Respondent: response elicited by a stimulus– Operant: response simply emitted by an

organism

• Prevalence of Operant Behavior• Charles Darwin’s Influence

Skinner’s Radical Behaviorism: An Overview

• Pavlov’s Harness and Skinner’s Box

Skinner’s Radical Behaviorism: An Overview

• Operant Learning– Discriminative stimulus

• Not S-R Learning

Positive and Negative Reinforcement

• Positive reinforcement– Satisfying consequence(contingency) of

a behavior

• Negative reinforcement– Elimination or prevention of annoying

outcome

Punishment

• Two types of punishment– Positive punishment occurs when a

positive contingency is removed– Negative punishment is where a

negative contingency follows a behavior

• Punishment versus negative Reinforcement

Illustration of Reinforcement and Punishment

• Positive Reinforcement (Reward)• Negative Reinforcement (Relief)• Presentation Punishment (Castigation)• Removal Punishment (Penalty)

Primary and Secondary Reinforcers

• Primary reinforcers– Events that are reinforcing without any

learning having taken place

• Secondary reinforcers– Events that are not reinforcing to begin

with but become reinforcing as a result of being paired with other reinforcers

• Generalized reinforcer– Learned reinforcer that appears to

reinforce any of a wide variety of behaviors

Continuous or Intermittent Reinforcement

• Interval or Ratio Schedules• Fixed or Random Schedules• Superstitious Schedules

Effects of Different Reinforcement Schedules

• Cumulative Recording

Effects of Different Reinforcement Schedules

• Effects of Schedules on Acquisition• Effects on Extinction

Effects of Different Reinforcement Schedules

• Spontaneous Recovery

• Extinction and Forgetting– Extinction: outcome is a relatively rapid

cessation of the responses in question– Forgetting: much slower process that also

results in the cessation of a response

Effects of Different Reinforcement Schedules

• Effects on Rate of Responding

Shaping and Chaining• Shaping is the technique used to train animals

to perform acts that are not ordinarily in their repertoire

• Method involving the differential reinforcement of successive approximations

• Chaining is the linking of sequences of responses

• Chains in Shaping– Differentially reinforcing certain responses leading

to the final and complete sequence of responses• Shaping in Human Learning

Fading, Generalization, and Discrimination

• Fading: a process that involves both generalization and discrimination

• Generalization: making similar responses in different situations

• Discrimination: making different responses in similar but discriminably different situations

Relevance to Human Learning

• Generalization and Discrimination

Applications of Operant Conditioning

• Instructional Applications of Positive Contingencies

• The premack principle– Behavior modification

Applications of Aversive Consequences

• The case against punishment• Less objectionable forms of

punishment– Time out– Response cost– Reprimands

• The case for punishment• Negative reinforcement

Other Applications: Behavior Management

• Positive reinforcement and punishment

• Counterconditioning– Psychotherapy

• Extincition• Extinction using noncontingent

reinforcement

Skinner’s Position: An Appraisal

• Master builder of psychology• His system is a well-defined, highly

researched, clear and understandable one.

• Some Philosophical Objections– Operant conditioning does not explain

symbolic processes– His attempts to explain language through

reinforcement theory is not satisfying– He negleted the role of biology in learning

Summary

• Skinners’ radical behaviorism• Operant learning• Reinforcement and schedules– Extinction and forgetting

• Applications of operant conditioning