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Chapter 7 Lecture Notes

Modules 21 & 22 – Operant Conditioning & Observational Learning

Operant Conditioning

Operant conditioning - ___________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________ - law stating that if a response is followed by a pleasurable consequence, it will tend to be repeated, and if followed by an unpleasant consequence, it will tend not to be repeated.

Skinner’s Contribution

Behaviorist; wanted to study only observable, measurable behavior.

Gave “operant conditioning” its name.

◦ Operant - any behavior that is voluntary.

Learning depends on what happens after the response — the consequence.

Rather than before, like classical conditioning

Reinforcement

Reinforcement - ________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

◦ Primary reinforcer - any reinforcer that is naturally reinforcing by meeting a basic biological need, such as hunger, thirst, or touch.

◦ Secondary reinforcer - any reinforcer that becomes reinforcing after being paired with a primary reinforcer, such as praise, money, tokens, or gold stars.

Positive and Negative Reinforcement

Positive reinforcement - the reinforcement of a response by the _________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Negative reinforcement - the reinforcement of a response by the _________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

◦ This is ______ punishment! – punishment is the removal of a pleasant or desirable thing

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Shaping

Shaping - ______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

◦ _______________________________ - small steps in behavior, one after the other, that lead to a particular goal behavior.

Other Operant Conditioning Concepts

Extinction – occurs if the behavior (response) is not reinforced.

Operantly conditioned responses also can be generalized to stimuli that are only similar to the original stimulus.

Spontaneous recovery – reoccurrence of a once extinguished response (also happens in classical conditioning).

Schedules of Reinforcement

________________________________ - the tendency for a response that is reinforced after some, but not all, correct responses to be very resistant to extinction.

________________________________ - the reinforcement of each and every correct response.

Ratio schedule – ________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Interval schedule – ______________________________________________________________

Also need to consider if the number of responses (ratio) or interval in time is:

◦ Fixed – same in each case

◦ Variable – different number (ratio) or interval is required each case

Fixed ratio schedule of reinforcement - schedule of reinforcement in which the _____________

______________________________________________________________________________

◦ Fixed schedules are predictable, which allows for rest breaks.

◦ Example: “If professor Conner were teaching a rat to press a lever to get food pellets, she might require 20 lever pushes for each food pellet, or a fixed ratio of 20:1.”

Variable ratio schedule of reinforcement - schedule of reinforcement in which the __________

______________________________________________________________________________

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◦ Variable schedules are not predictable, which does not allow for rest breaks – mechanism for gambling!

◦ Example: Using the previous rat example “the rat might be expected to push the bar an average of 20 times to get reinforcement. That means that sometimes the rat would push the lever only 10 times before a reinforcer comes, but at other times it might take 30 lever pushes or more.”

Fixed interval schedule of reinforcement – schedule of reinforcement in which the __________

______________________________________________________________________________

◦ Not as fast a rate of responding as fixed ratio

◦ Example: “someone who receives a paycheck once every two weeks”

◦ Another Example: studying for a scheduled exam

Variable interval schedule of reinforcement - schedule of reinforcement in which the ________

______________________________________________________________________________

◦ Not as fast a rate of responding as variable ratio

◦ Example: “…fishing in which people put the pole in the water and wait… until a fish takes the bait; only have to put the pole in once, but might refrain from taking it out for fear that when they do, could miss a bite.” (or studying for a possible “pop quiz”)

Punishment

Punishment - ___________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

◦ Punishment by ____________________ - the punishment of a response by the addition or experiencing of an unpleasant stimulus.

This form of punishment should be avoided (especially with children)

Usually only temporarily in its effect

Can cause significant psychological harm

Model for aggression

◦ Punishment by _________________ - the punishment of a response by the taking away of a pleasurable stimulus.

More acceptable form of punishment

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Drawbacks of Physical Punishment

1. Results in ___________________________

2. ________________________________________________________________________

3. ____________________________________

4. Causes unwanted behaviors to reappear in its absence.

5. Causes __________________________________________________________________

6. Causes one unwanted behavior to appear in place of another.

How to Make Punishment More Effective

1. Punishment should ___________________________ the behavior it is meant to punish.

2. Punishment should be _________________.

3. Punishment of the wrong behavior should be ________, whenever possible, ________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Operant Stimuli and Stimulus Control

___________________________ - any stimulus, such as a stop sign or a doorknob, that provides the organism with a cue for making a certain response in order to obtain reinforcement.

Behavior Resistant to Conditioning

Instinctive drift - ________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

◦ Each animal comes into the world (and the laboratory) with certain genetically determined instinctive patterns of behavior already in place.

◦ These instincts differ from species to species.

◦ There are some responses that simply cannot be trained into an animal regardless of conditioning.

Behavior Modification

Behavior modification - __________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

_____________________ - type of behavior modification in which desired behavior is rewarded with tokens.

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Time-out - a form of mild punishment by removal in which a misbehaving animal, child, or adult is placed in a special area away from the attention of others.

◦ Essentially, the organism is being “removed” from any possibility of positive reinforcement in the form of attention.

____________________________________ – modern term for a form of behavior modification that uses shaping techniques to mold a desired behavior or response.

Biofeedback and Neurofeedback

Biofeedback - the use of feedback about biological conditions to bring _____________________ such as blood pressure and relaxation under ________________________.

◦ Example: a person who suffers from high blood pressure can be taught to lower that blood pressure by being given feedback about his or her muscle tension

Neurofeedback - form of biofeedback using brainscanning devices (e.g., EEG) to provide feedback about brain activity in an effort to ________________________.

◦ Example: a young boy with attention problems was able to make a car on a screen go faster or slower in response to his own changing brain activity, which reflected his mental state of relaxation or excitement

Cognitive Learning Theory

Early days of learning – focus was on behavior.

1950s and more intensely in the 1960s, many psychologists were becoming aware that cognition, the mental events that take place inside a person’s mind while behaving, could no longer be ignored.

______________________ – early cognitive scientist.

Latent Learning

Edward Tolman’s best-known experiments in learning involved teaching three groups of rats the same maze, one at a time (Tolman & Honzik, 1930).

◦ Group 1 – rewarded each time at end of maze. Learned maze quickly.

◦ Group 2 – in maze every day; first rewarded on 10th day. Demonstrated learning of maze almost immediately after receiving reward.

◦ Group 3 – never rewarded. Did not learn maze well.

Latent learning - ________________________________________________________________

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Learned Helplessness

Learned helplessness - ___________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

◦ In other words, eventually there is the option to escape, but no attempt is made

◦ An explanation for depression

Intrinsic Motivation

Intrinsic Motivation - ___________________________________________________________

Extrinsic Motivation – The desire to perform a behavior due to promised rewards or threats of punishments

Insight

Insight - _______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

◦ Cannot be gained through trial-and-error learning alone.

◦ “Aha” moment.

Summary of Classical & Operant Conditioning

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Observational Learning

Observational learning - __________________________________________________________

Learning/performance distinction - referring to the observation that learning can take place without actual performance of the learned behavior.

Neuroscientists discovered mirror neurons in the brains of animals and humans that are active during observational learning.

◦ Mirror neurons – _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Albert Bandura & the Bobo Doll Study

Four Elements of Observational Learning

1. _______________ – To learn anything through observation, the learner must first pay attention to the model – people pay attention more to those people they perceive as similar to them and to people whom they perceive as attractive.

2. _______________ – The learner must also be able to retain the memory of what was done, such as remembering the steps in preparing a dish that was first seen on a cooking show.

3. _______________– The learner must be capable of reproducing, or imitating, the actions of the model.

4. _______________ – Finally, the learner must have the desire to perform the action – i.e., actually care

Television and Observational Learning

Research shows that viewing media violence __________________________________________

◦ Remember: correlation does not imply causation!

Perhaps aggressive children prefer violent programs

Perhaps abuse or neglected children are both more aggressive and more often left in front of the television

Perhaps violent programs simply reflect , rather than affect, violent trends

Gentile et al., (2004) (and many other studies) shows that children in elementary school who are exposed to violent television, videos, and video games express increased aggression.

Real World Example

Training a cat to use the toilet will involve:

◦ Shaping; Preparing “the training arena”; Positive reinforcement on a variable schedule.