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Understanding Operant Conditioning: Effects of Reinforcement and Punishment

This article explores the principles of operant conditioning, specifically the effects of positive and negative reinforcement, immediate and delayed reinforcement, and punishment. Learn how behaviors are shaped and reinforced through various schedules. Discover the importance of effective punishment and its potential negative effects.

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Understanding Operant Conditioning: Effects of Reinforcement and Punishment

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  1. CHS AP Psychology Unit 6: Learning (Behaviorism) Essential Task 6.3: Predict the effects of operant conditioning with specific attention to (primary, secondary, immediate, or delayed) positive/negative reinforcement and punishment.

  2. Operant Conditioning • The type of learning in which behaviors are emitted to earn rewards or avoid punishments • In classical conditioning the response to the stimulus was automatic. In operant conditioning the participant operates in the environment to gain something desired or avoid something unpleasant. THINKING HAPPENS.

  3. Elements of Operant Conditioning • Reinforcer • A stimulus or event that follows a behavior and makes that behavior more likely to occur again • Punisher • A stimulus or event that follows a behavior and makes that behavior less likely to occur again

  4. Edward L. Thorndike • Cat placed in puzzle boxes • Fish used as a reward to figure out how to get out of the box • Learning by random trial and error • Law of Effect – Thorndike’s principle that responses are “stamped in” by rewards and “stamped out” by punishments.

  5. Skinner’s Experiments Using Thorndike's law of effect as a starting point, Skinner developed the Operant chamber, or the Skinner Box, to study operant conditioning. Walter Dawn/ Photo Researchers, Inc.

  6. Operant Chamber The Skinner Box comes with a bar or key that an animal manipulates to obtain a reinforcer like food or water. The bar or key is connected to devices that record the animal’s response.

  7. Operant Conditioning and Shaping Shaping is the operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior towards the desired target behavior through successive approximations. Rewarding behavior as it gets closer to desired response and ignoring the undesired actions A rat shaped to sniff mines. A manatee shaped to discriminate objects of different shapes, colors and sizes.

  8. Positivereinforcer (+) Adds something rewarding following a behavior, making that behavior more likely to occur again Giving a dog a treat for fetching a ball is an example Negative reinforcer (-) Removes something unpleasant that was already in the environment following a behavior, making that behavior more likely to occur again Taking an aspirin to relieve a headache is an example Types of Reinforcement

  9. Types of Reinforcers Any event that strengthens the behavior it follows. A heat lamp positively reinforces a meerkat’s behavior in the cold. Reuters/ Corbis

  10. Primary & Secondary Reinforcers • Primary Reinforcer:Aninnately reinforcing stimulus like food or drink. • Conditioned Reinforcer: A learned reinforcer that gets its reinforcing power through association with the primary reinforcer. • If we notice that the TV is on when food and drink is prepared, we may want to turn on the TV in anticipation of food

  11. Immediate & Delayed Reinforcers • Immediate Reinforcer:A reinforcer that occurs instantly after a behavior. A rat gets a food pellet for a bar press. • Delayed Reinforcer:A reinforcer that is delayed in time for a certain behavior. A paycheck that comes at the end of a week. We may be inclined to engage in small immediate reinforcers (watching TV) rather than large delayed reinforcers (getting an A in a course) which require consistent study.

  12. Reinforcement Schedules • Continuous Reinforcement:Reinforces the desired response each time it occurs. • Does your teacher grade every assignment? • How do you feel when a teacher does not score all of your work? • Partial Reinforcement: Reinforces a response only part of the time. Though this results in slower acquisition in the beginning, it shows greater resistance to extinction later on.

  13. Ratio Schedules • Fixed-ratio schedule: Reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses. e.g., piecework pay. • Variable-ratio schedule: Reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses. This is hard to extinguish because of the unpredictability. (e.g., behaviors like gambling, fishing.)

  14. Interval Schedules • Fixed-interval schedule: Reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed. (e.g., Going to Taco Tuesday, since Tuesday is the only day for tacos at that restaurant.) • Variable-interval schedule: Reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals, which produces slow, steady responses. (e.g., checking Facebook.)

  15. Punishment An aversive event that decreases the behavior it follows.

  16. Punishment • Goal of punishment is to decrease the occurrence of a behavior • Effective punishment • Should occur as soon as possible after the behavior • Should be sufficient, i.e., strong enough • Should be certain, occurring every time the behavior does • Should be consistent

  17. Punishment Although there may be some justification for occasional punishment (Larzelaere & Baumrind, 2002), it usually leads to negative effects. • Results in unwanted fears. • Conveys no information to the organism. • Justifies pain to others. • Causes unwanted behaviors to reappear in its absence. • Causes aggression towards the agent. • Causes one unwanted behavior to appear in place of another.

  18. Spanking • Were you spanked as a child? • What are the reasons parents spank their children? • Are there reasons parents would never spank a child? • Where is the line between spanking and child abuse? • Is spanking successful?

  19. Identifying Contingent Responses WHAT DO YOU WANT THE BEHAVIOR TO DO? Increase? Decrease? Give Positive Stimulus? Take Away Negative Stimulus? PUNISHMENT • Give Negative Stimulus • Take Away Positive Stimulus NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT

  20. Operant Conditioning is Selective • Operant conditioning techniques work best with behaviors that would typically occur in a specific situation • Superstitious behavior • Tendency to repeat behaviors that are followed closely by a reinforcer, even if they are not related • For example, a particular pair of socks might become “lucky” if something good happened when you wore them

  21. Behavioral Change Using Biofeedback • Biofeedbackis an operant conditioning technique that teaches people to gain voluntary control over bodily processes like heart rate and blood pressure • When used to control brain activity it is called neurofeedback

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