Psychology: An Introduction to Operant Conditioning PDF

## An Introduction to Psychology ### Experiment * Skinner used a device, now known as "Skinner box", to investigate the relationship between the events of instrumental conditioning. * He placed a rat inside the Skinner box. * It contained a lever and a food tray. * The animal was allowed t...

## An Introduction to Psychology ### Experiment * Skinner used a device, now known as "Skinner box", to investigate the relationship between the events of instrumental conditioning. * He placed a rat inside the Skinner box. * It contained a lever and a food tray. * The animal was allowed to explore the box freely. * After doing many actions, it pressed the lever and a pellet of food automatically dropped into the tray. * Pressing the lever was the response to be learned (the operant response) and food was stimulus consequence (reinforcer). * Skinner discovered that by rewarding the rat with food, on each trial, the rate of presses increased dramatically. * The rat learned the instrumental response by being reinforced. * Skinner conducted similar experiment on pigeons also; negative reinforcement and avoidance behaviour was studied on dogs. ### Basic Components of Operant Conditioning **Operant** * A response that has some effect on the world. * It is a response that operates on the environment. **Reinforcer** * Increases the probability that an operant behaviour will occur again. * The term reward is used for reinforcement also. * But reward is limited to positive occurrences. * Reward differs from a reinforcer because reinforcer can be positive or negative. * Both reinforcer and reward increase the probability that a preceding response will occur again. * The term reinforcer and reinforcement are defined empirically, in terms of their effect on changing the probability of a response. * Any event that increases the behaviour it follows. * May be a tangible reward. * May be praise or attention. * May even be a preferred activity. * Skinner gave a precise meaning to rewards. He used the term reinforcement. Researchers and animal trainers gradually shaped the complex behaviour with suchers and animal trainers gradually shape good table manners by praising. ### Types of Reinforcement * Classified into two basic kinds of reinforcement: Positive and Negative reinforcement. * Most people think of reinforcers as they strengthen behaviour. * Actually positive and negative reinforcers have the same effect; they strengthen behaviour. **Positive Reinforcement** * Strengthens a response by presenting a positive stimulus after a response. * Food is a positive reinforcer for animals; attention, approval and money are positive reinforcers for most people. * Positive means onset, presenting a stimulus to strengthen the behaviour. **Negative Reinforcement** * Negative means offset, withdrawing a stimulus. * Negative reinforcer is stimulus not received after a response, decreasing the probability of that response occurring. * The condition of not receiving an aversive stimulus is called negative reinforcement. * Strengthens a response by reducing or removing an unpleasant stimulus. * Reduce or switch off the electric shock is rewarding for an animal, which is actually a negative reinforcement. ### Primary and Secondary Reinforcement **Primary Reinforcement** * An innately reinforcing stimulus such as food, drink, shelter. * Satisfies some biological need and works naturally, regardless of a person's prior experience, food for the hungry person and warmth for the cold person would be classified as primary reinforcement. **Secondary Reinforcement** * Learned. * They get their power through association with primary reinforcers, for example, money, good grades, a pleasant tone of voice, a word of praise; each of which has been linked with more basic rewards. * Greatly enhance our ability to influence one another. * Often operant conditioning begins with the use of primary reinforcers but sometimes it will no longer act as an effective reinforcer. * Previously natural stimuli that, if paired with a stimulus that is already reinforcing, will itself take on reinforcing properties. * Rewards that people learn to like. * What becomes a secondary reinforcement can vary a great deal from person to person and culture to culture. * Money is the most obvious secondary reinforcer. * Some people will do anything for it. * Its reinforcing power lies in its association with the many rewards it can buy. * Smiles and other forms of Social approval are also important secondary reinforcers for human beings. ### Stimulus Discrimination * Organism can learn when to make a previously successful response and when not to, by learning to recognize the signals that tell whether reinforcer will or will not be available if a response is made. * These relevant predictor signals, that may reinforce future responses, are called discrimination stimuli. ### Avoidance Conditioning * When organism responds to a signal in a way that avoids exposure to an aversive stimulus, avoidance conditioning has occurred. * One of the most important influences on everyday behaviour. * Most people go to school or work, even when they would rather stay in bed. * They stop on red signal even when they are in a hurry. * Each of these behaviours reflect avoidance conditioning, because each behaviour allows people to avoid a negative consequence, such as losing a job or being fined. ### Escape Conditioning * The effect of negative reinforcement can be studied through escape conditioning. * Takes place when an organism learns to make a response in order to end an aversive stimulus or negative reinforcer. * Dogs learn to jump over the bar to escape shock. ### Stimulus Generalization * Occurs in operant conditioning. * Organisms often perform a response in the presence of a stimulus that is similar to the reinforced previously. ### Difference between Operant and Classical Conditioning * Classical and operant conditioning both involve acquisition, extinction spontaneous recovery, generalization and discrimination; yet their differences is straightforward #### Classical Conditioning 1. Involves respondent behaviour. 2. Controlling stimulus comes before the response; the consequence is contingent on the animal's behaviour. 3. Reinforcement depends upon the presented conditioned stimulus, whether the animal performs a trick and obtain food. #### Operant Conditioning 1. Involves operant behaviour i.e. voluntary action. 2. Controlling stimulus comes before the response; the consequence is contingent on the animal's behaviour. 3. In operant conditioning, reinforcement depends upon the proper response. For classical conditioning, unconditioned stimulus is presented regardless of what the animal does. (The meat powder arrives, whether the dog salivates to the sound or not). ### Extinction * In classical conditioning, extinction is the weakening of the conditioned response in the absence of the unconditioned stimulus. * Without continued association with the unconditioned stimulus (UCS), the conditioned stimulus (CS) loses its power to elicit the conditioned response (CR). * Extinction is not always the end of a conditioned response (Brooks, 2000). * Conditioned response can recur after a time delay without further conditioning. * After the extinction, when Pavlov took the dog to the laboratory and rang the bell, the dog started to salivate without food, which is called spontaneous recovery. ### Operant Conditioning * Second type of conditioning and considered basic type of learning, presented by B.F. Skinner. * A kind of learning in which the consequences of behaviour influence whether a person or animal will perform the same behaviour in the future. * In 1930, Skinner began publishing a series of papers. * He extended and formulized many of Thorndike's ideas. * Emphasized that during instrumental conditioning an organism learns a response by operating the environment, so he called it operant conditioning. * His primary aim was to analyze how behaviour is changed by its consequences. * His work has led to the identification of the basic elements and laws of operant conditioning. * He is the leading figure in the field of operant conditioning. * Contributed a lot in analyzing, predicting and controlling behaviour. * His pioneering efforts have led to the development of an entire philosophy of behaviour, known as functional analysis, because of its emphasis on the functions and the consequences of behaviour. * His discoveries have been the foundation for a whole new technology of behaviour modification, which has already had enormous success in its application and has been one of the most controversial developments in the history of psychology. * Studied the behaviour of pigeons, rats and human beings including his own children. * He has made operant conditioning famous. * An operant is a response or class of responses that act upon the environment in the same way each time. * Skinner contrasted operant with respondents. * Respondents are behaviours elicited by recognized stimuli. * Operants play a key role in the conditioning process of operant conditioning. * As psychologists explain it, the response is emitted by the organism, which means response is produced spontaneously without any immediately identifiable stimulus.