College of Education

School of Continuing and Distance Education 2014/2015 – 2016/2017

PSYC 337

LEARNING

Session 5 – Instrumental and Operant

Conditioning – Part One

Lecturer: Dr. Inusah Abdul-Nasiru Contact Information: iabdul-nasiru@ug.edu.gh

godsonug.wordpress.com/blog

Session Overview

Slide 2

• Sometimes behaviour is learned when one gets

rewarded (positive consequence) immediately after exhibiting such a behaviour

• The same way, if the consequence of following such a

behaviour is not pleasant, there is the likelihood that such a behavior will not be repeated

• This is another example of learning by association, but this time, the association is between a response

and its consequences

Session Objectives

Slide 3

At the end of the session, students will be able to:

– Explain Edward Lee ThorŶdike’s IŶstruŵeŶtal/ Trial-and- Error Learning

– Be conversant with Behurt Frederic SkiŶŶer ’s OperaŶt Conditioning

– Explain strategies used in forming and strengthening

Operant Behaviours

Session Outline

Slide 4

• The key topics to be covered in the session are as

follows:

– Topic One: Edward Lee ThorŶdike’s IŶstruŵeŶtal/ Trial- and-Error Learning

– Topic Two: Behurt Frederic SkiŶŶer ’s OperaŶt Conditioning

– Topic Three: Forming and Strengthening Operant Behaviours

Reading List

Slide 5

• Relevant text/chapters and reading materials are available on

Sakai

Topic One

EDWARD LEE THORNDIKE͛S INSTRUMENTAL/TRIAL-AND-ERROR

LEARNING Slide 6

The Legacy of Edward Lee Thorndike (1874 – 1949)

Slide 7

• Edward Lee Thorndike was the first, American Psychologist in Stimulus-Response theories – Conducted a series of experiments on learning using animals

– Introduced the concept of reward in learning

• This kind of learning referred to as ͞IŶstruŵeŶtal ͟ because – the behaviour of an individual is instrumental in producing

various outcomes, positive or negative

• The learning of reinforced Stimulus-Response connections occurs through trial-and-error

• Gradually, random errors are eliminated

Thorndike and His Puzzle Box

Slide 8

• Thorndike studied the behaviour of cats trying to

escape from home-made puzzle boxes

Mechanism:

• When first constrained in the boxes, the cats took a

long time to escape

• With experience, ineffective responses occurred less

frequently and successful responses occurred more

frequently,

– the cats escaped in less time over successive trials

The Laws of Effect, Exercise and Readiness

Slide 9

• Based on the experiment, three laws were propounded:

1. The Law of Effect

2. The Law of Exercise

3. The Law of Readiness

The Law of Effect

Slide 10

• It states that

– Responses that are followed by pleasant consequences are

strengthened whilst those that are followed by unpleasant consequences are weakened

• Later, Thorndike revised the law to stress that

– the strengthening effect of reward is much greater than

the weakening effect of punishment (Elliot et al., 2000)

The Law of Exercise

Slide 11

• It states that

– Repeated practise of a Stimulus-Response (S-R) association

strengthens it.

• IŶ other ǁ ords, ͞practice ŵakes perfect.͟

• But later, following several experimentation and criticisms,

Thorndike revised the original law of exercise (Elliot et al., 2000).

– He realized that practise alone was not enough for improvement: There must also be feedback.

The Law of Readiness

Slide 12

• It states that

– an individual learns better if the individual is physically and

psychologically prepared.

• Thorndike believed that readiness is an important condition of learning.

• This is because satisfaction or frustration depends on

aŶ iŶdiǀ idual’s state of readiŶess.

Topic Two

BEHURT FREDRIC SKINNER͛S

Slide 13

OPERANT CONDITIONING

Contributions of Skinner to the Study of Learning

Slide 14

• B.F. Skinner (1904 -1990) forŵulated ͞Operant conditioning͟ – a more detailed analysis of ThorŶdike’s coŶceptioŶ of learŶiŶg

• ͚Operant ͛ because – an organism had to operate on his environment to produce a

certain effect • The basic principle behind operant conditioning is the

fact that – If behaviour is repeatedly followed by outcomes that are

pleasing to the learner, the behaviour is likely to be performed more often, under similar conditions.

– On the other hand, if the behaviour is followed by unpleasant consequences, it is less likely to be repeated.

SkiŶŶer ’s Experiments (Courtesy: Rubin, 2006)

Slide 15

SkiŶŶer’s EdžperiŵeŶts

Slide 16

• Skinner used this box in his experiments.

Mechanism:

• A hungry rat was put in Skinner box and after roving

about; it will accidentally press a lever, which allows it to move out to get food in another chamber

• Skinner observed that after a period of time, the rat could get the food quickly by pressing the lever in a

short time to get out.

Basic Components of Operant Conditioning

Slide 17

• Skinner then identified the following components which facilitate operant conditioning.

• Reinforcer: Any event that follows behaviour and

strengthens the behaviour – Reinforcers may be positive or negative

• Positive reinforcer: an event whose presentation follows

an operant behaviour and increases the likelihood of that behaviour occurring again under the same circumstances – E.g. ŵakiŶg ͞A͟ iŶ a test ǁ ould likelLJ iŶcrease LJour desire to

learn hard to receive more good grades.

Basic Components of Operant Conditioning

Slide 18

• Negative Reinforcers: It is an aversive event whose

removal follows an operant behaviour and increases

the likelihood of that behaviour occurring again

under the same circumstances

– E.g Taking care of a headache in a football player gets him/her to play better than when the headache was on.

• Note: Reinforcers, whether positive or negative, always strengthen behaviour

Basic Components of Operant Conditioning

Slide 19

• Primary reinforce: It is an innately satisfying stimulus

– Primary reinforcers satisfy biological needs

• Examples are food, water and sex.

• Secondary reinforce: It is a conditioned reinforcer or an event that gains its reinforcing power through its

association with a primary reinforcer

– For instance, money is a secondary reinforcer because you

can use it to acquire primary reinforcers such as food and

water

Basic Components of Operant Conditioning

Slide 20

• Punisher : It is an aversive stimulus which decreases the

behaviour it follows

• Punishers may be positive or negative

• Positive Punishers: It is a stimulus, whose presentation

decreases the operant response it follows

– A positive punisher adds aversive stimuli to the environment and ensures that it deters you from repeating the behaviour that warranted it

Basic Components of Operant Conditioning

Slide 21

• Negative Punisher: It is any stimulus whose

removal weakens the response it follows

– Negative punishers take away pleasant stimuli

from the environment, so as to weaken certain

behaviours.

• For instance, parents take away certain privileges away

from their children when they misbehave, to minimize

or stop the unruly behaviour.

Basic Components of Reinforcement/Punishment

Basic Paradigms of Reinforcement/Punishment

Slide 22

Operant Response

Increases Operant Response

Decreases

Stimulus Presentation

Positive Reinforcement Positive Punishment

Stimulus Removal

Negative Reinforcement

Negative Punishment

Topic Three

FORMING AND STRENGTHENING

Slide 23

OPERANT CONDITIONING

Forming and Strengthening Operant Conditioning

Slide 24

A: Shaping/The Method of Successive Approximation • The most important mechanism used in forming operant

behaviour is shaping – This refers to the use of selective reinforcement to bring about certain

desirable changes in the behaviour of an organism

• It is a procedure in which reinforcers guide behaviour toward

a desired goal • To use shaping, break down the final expected complex

behaviour into a number of smaller steps • Reinforce each sub-skill and reinforce improvements in

performance till the expected behaviour is exhibited

Forming and Strengthening Operant Conditioning

Slide 25

B: Timing of Reinforcement

• When should you reinforce an appropriate behaviour?

• There should be close temporal proximity between

response and reinforcement so that the person sees

the relationship between his/her behaviour and the

reinforcement

Forming and Strengthening Operant Conditioning

Slide 26

C: Size of Reinforcement

• The size is equally important in forming operant conditioning

• If the size, or amount, of the consequence is large

enough, it will increase the rate at which an

individual will form the operant behaviour

Forming and Strengthening Operant Conditioning

Slide 27

D: Type of Reinforcement Used

• Some reinforcers may be much more appealing to

certain individuals than others.

• It is therefore important to know what appeals to the

person and use that as a reinforce

Forming and Strengthening Operant Conditioning

Slide 28

E: Superstitious Behaviour in Learning

• A superstitious behaviour is one that becomes established due to its

association with a correct response and is therefore accidentally reinforced

• It is the linking or associating of two behaviours which occur closely

together with the belief that the first action caused the second action

• It is said to be superstitious because one cannot prove really that the first

caused the second action to occur – For instance, it cannot be proven that it is the colour of the jersey worn that makes

a team win a particular game