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Wize University Psychology Textbook > Learning

Operant Conditioning

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Principles of Operant Conditioning


Law of Effect - behaviours that produce satisfying consequences will increase in frequency and behaviours that produce dissatisfying consequences will decrease in frequency

Reinforcement - a consequence that increases the probability of a behaviour reoccurring

Punishment - a consequence that decreases the probability of a behaviour reoccurring


Watch Out!
It doesn't matter what the consequence giver intends - it only matters what the effect on the behaviour is.

If it increases, it's reinforcement. If it decreases, it's punishment

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Types of Reinforcement



Positive reinforcement - adding something, resulting in an increase in the probability of a behaviour

Positive punishment - adding something, resulting in an decrease in the probability of a behaviour

Negative reinforcement - taking something away, resulting in an increase in the behaviour

Negative punishment - taking something away, resulting in a decrease in the behaviour




Wize Tip
It helps to think of "positive" as a plus sign and "negative" as a minus sign - it is about adding vs taking away, not good vs. bad


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Primary reinforcers - things that are reinforcing based on their ability to fulfill a biological need

Example: food, water, sleep, shelter, sex

Secondary reinforcers - things that are reinforcing because we have learned that they have a benefit

Example: money, grades, watching tv


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Reinforcement Schedules


Continuous reinforcement
  • Reward is given following every behaviour
  • Fast acquisition (learning)
  • Fast extinction

Intermittent or partial reinforcement
  • Reward is given following only some behaviours
  • Slower acquisition than continuous reinforcement
  • Slower extinction than continuous reinforcement
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Partial Reinforcement Schedules


Fixed schedules have lower resistance to extinction than variable schedules

Ratio schedules produce higher rates of responding than interval schedules
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Punishment, Escape, & Avoidance Learning


Punishment is generally less effective than reinforcement, and can produce negative consequences

Escape conditioning - person/animal learns to escape the punishing situation

Example: A child learns to run and hide when their parent is yelling


Avoidance conditioning - person/animal learns to avoid the punishment by responding to a precursor behaviour/signal which is acquired through classical conditioning

Example: A child learns that when their parent is stomping around the house and slamming doors, an outburst of anger is likely to follow, so as soon as the parent starts stomping around the child goes outside to avoid the parent


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Shaping & Chaining



Some behaviours are too complex to learn during simple operant conditioning

Shaping - rewarding successive approximations of the goal behaviour

Example: You reward a 4 year old for anything that vaguely resembles letter shapes


Chaining - teaching a sequence of behaviours by rewarding the first behaviour, then the first and second, etc.

Example: Teaching a dog an agility course. Once the first trick is mastered, the dog has to do the first and second trick in order to get a reward

Practice: Types of Reinforcement

Which of the following is an example of negative reinforcement?

Practice: Reinforcement Schedules

Melody works very hard at her job in order to earn attention and approval from her supervisor. She is responsible for a weekly budget report and puts in tremendous effort to be sure she has it on the supervisor's desk every Friday by 4:30pm. About once a month her supervisor is pleased and rewards Melody by letting her go home early. Many weeks this does not happen and her supervisor barely seems to notice the punctual delivery of the report. Which of the following would you expect in terms of Melody's behaviour?

Practice: Punishment, Escape, and Avoidance Learning

Trent's boss loves to yell at employees who are slacking. Trent has learned to discriminate between the footsteps of his boss and those of other coworkers, so that when his boss is approaching he can stop playing on his phone and pretend to work. This is an example of:


checklist
Mark Yourself Question
  1. Grab a piece of paper and try this problem yourself.
  2. When you're done, check the "I have answered this question" box below.
  3. View the solution and report whether you got it right or wrong.

Practice Question: Shaping & Chaining

Describe how a trainer could use shaping to get a client in shape to run a marathon.
checklist
Mark Yourself Question
  1. Grab a piece of paper and try this problem yourself.
  2. When you're done, check the "I have answered this question" box below.
  3. View the solution and report whether you got it right or wrong.

Practice: Principles of Operant Conditioning


Whenever Colleen bothers her sister, their mom tries to punish her by sending her to her room. Colleen actually really likes being alone in her room.

Explain what will likely happen to Colleen's behaviour, based on the above scenario.