Operant Conditioning

B. F. Skinner 1904-1990
 Never took a psychology course
before enrolling in Harvard’s graduate
psych school.
 Behavioral Psychologist.
 Famous for Operant Conditioning.
Operant Conditioning
 Definition: Type of learning in which
behavior is strengthened if followed by a re-
enforcer or diminished if followed by a
punishment.
 Discriminate between them!
 Through classical conditioning we learn to
associate different stimuli we do not control and
we respond Automatically
 Through operant conditioning we associate our
own behaviours with actions that operate on the
environment to produce consequences. It is a
type of learning in which behavior is
____________________ if followed by a
reinforcer or ____________________ if followed
by a punishment.
Skinner’s work
 Skinner used Edward Thorndike’s Law of effect as a basis for
his work.
 Law of effect: Rewarded behavior is likely to recur.

 Skinner developed the Operant Chamber (Skinner Box)

to conduct his work in.
Skinner Box – soundproof box, with a bar or key that an
animal presses to release a reward of food or water.
Skinner’s Work
 Skinner put pigeons or rats in his operant chamber.
 Inside the box, the animal had to learn to press a bar for food or water.
 The 1st time the animal pressed the bar, it was probably an accident, but received
the food.
 Gradually the animal learned that the bar was the source of food.
 Punishments such as electric shocks were also used in his boxes.
Skinner’s Operant Box
 Timing is very
important as after 30
seconds you will not
be reinforcing the
behaviour you want to
affect
Skinner & Shaping
Skinner’s work explored the conditions that
foster efficient and enduring learning. He used
shaping to achieve his results.
 Shaping (Successive Approximation) – reinforcers
guide behavior toward closer approximations of a
desired goal.

Psychologists can use shaping to see what animals

perceive as well as to help people achieve goals.
Reinforcement
Reinforcement: any event that strengthens the
behavior.

Positive Reinforcement: innately reinforcing

stimulus, such as one that satisfies a biological need
– think of it as adding a positive.
Negative reinforcement: a reinforcement strategy
where an aversive stimulus is removed and this
increases a desired behaviour – think of it as taking
away a negative
Operant Conditioning

 Hunger  Presses
Bar
Rat Stimulus Response
to Stimulus

 Receives Food
Reinforcer of behavior
Reinforcement Schedules
1) Continuous reinforcement: desired response
is rewarded every time it occurs

2) Partial (intermittent) reinforcement:

responses are only sometimes reinforced
and results in slower acquisition but has
greater resistance to extinction
Types of Partial Reinforcement
1) Fixed-ratio schedules: reinforced behavior after a set
number of responses.
i.e. Piece work.
Types of Partial Reinforcement

2) Variable – ratio schedules: provides reinforcer with an

unpredictable number of responses.
i.e. gambling
Types of Partial Reinforcement
3) Fixed-interval schedules: reinforces the first
response after a fixed time period. Responses
occur more frequently closer to the time
i.e. checking for the mail

4) Variable-interval schedules: reinforces the first

response after a varying time period. This
produces slow, steady responses.
i.e. email response or checking Facebook
Conditioned Reinforcement
 Conditioned reinforcement: a stimulus that gains its
reinforcing power through its association with a primary
reinforcer (secondary reinforcer).
 i.e. Money
 Money itself is not reinforcing but what it can achieve is
reinforcing
Punishment
Punishment: an event that decreases the behavior that it
follows. Usually by administering an undesirable
consequence (positive punishment) or withdrawing a
desirable one (negative punishment).

Think of it in terms of adding something you don’t like like

writing lines, or taking away something good, like your phone
Punishment – Should you spank your
children?
 Punished behavior is not forgotten, it is only suppressed
 The suppression reinforces the punisher’s behavior
 The punished behavior usually reappears in a safe setting, away from the
punisher
 Physical Punishment may increase aggressiveness by demonstrating that
aggression is a way to cope with problems
C.C. Vs. O.C.
Classical conditioning – associations are formed
between stimuli. It needs Respondent behavior –
behavior that is an automatic response to stimuli.

Operant Conditioning – needs operant behavior

– behavior that operates on the environment,
producing consequences.
Skinner
Died believing that cognitive processes – thoughts, perceptions,
expectations do not have a place in psychology.

He believed that thoughts and emotions are behaviors that followed

the same laws as other behaviors.

He is criticized for his dehumanized view but added a great deal to

psychology.
Applying Psychology: Token Economy
 A token economy is an operant conditioning procedure that
rewards a desired behaviour in order to create behavioural
change
 Earn tokens that can later be exchanged for privileges or treats
Try your hand…
 Decide upon a behaviour you want to change and create
a token economy for yourself.

 Set the reinforcement schedule, choose the reinforcer and

set the goal
Latent Learning
Cognitive Map: mental representation of the layout
of one's environment.

Latent Learning: learning that occurs but is not

apparent until there is an incentive to
demonstrate it.
Overjustification
Overjustification effect: promising a reward for doing
what one already likes to do.
The person then sees the reward, rather than intrinsic
motivation for performing the task.
Motivation
Intrinsic motivation: desire to perform a behavior
for its own sake and to be effective.

Extrinsic motivation: desire to perform a behavior

due to promised rewards or threats of
punishment.