Psychology : Semester I : Learning and Memory |
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Introduction | Section 1 | Section 2 | Section 3 | Section 4 | Section 5 |
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Psychology : Learning and Memory : Section Two Operant Conditioning
Another theory of learning was put forth by B.F., (Burrhus Fredric) Skinner. This theory of learning states that the consequences of behavior operate or produce effects on the environment. These effects determine whether the behavior will occur again or not. This theory grew out of the work of Edward Thorndike who worked with cats in a “puzzle box”. He observed that cats put into a box would try different strategies to escape. The strategies that worked were strengthened and those that did not work were eliminated. Thorndike called his theory, instrumental learning. Thorndike’s work was elaborated by B.F. Skinner and he called it radical behaviorism at first to distinguish it from Watson’s ideas. Later he changed the name to operant conditioning because he thought it was a more descriptive name. In Skinner’s theory, a response leads to one of two consequences that will determine if the response will be repeated again. The first is reinforcers and it will increase the probability that the behavior will be repeated. The second one is punishment and it decreases the probability that the behavior will occur. There are positive reinforcers, negative reinforcers and punishments. Positive reinforces increase the occurrence of the behavior because they are rewards. Food, praise and money can all work as positive reinforces. For example, giving a child a cookie for picking up their toys is an example of a positive reinforcer. A negative reinforcer increases the behavior because it takes something bad away. For example, you clean your room so that your parents stop nagging you. There is no reward in cleaning but something bad is taken away (being nagged) and the behavior of cleaning your room increases. Punishments are an unwanted response following a behavior. When training a dog, spanking him on his behind for making a mistake in the house is an example of punishment. The spanking is something unwanted and should decrease the behavior. Reinforcers can also be primary or secondary. Primary reinforcers satisfy biological needs (hunger, thirst, and sleep). They are not learned. The second types of reinforcers are secondary since they have to be learned. Examples are praise and encouragement.
B.F. Skinner worked mainly with animals and he constructed a special training box that he called a Skinner box to train animals to perform various activities based on reward and punishment. His animals of choice were pigeons and rats since he did most of his work in laboratories. He got the animals to press bars to dispense food, shocked them to see how strong the food drive was and got them to perform simple routines. He even got a pigeon to play a toy piano.
Skinner also talked about the importance of reinforcement schedules. He stated that when teaching a new behavior, continuous reinforcement is necessary during the acquisition phase. Every target (wanted) behavior is rewarded. After the behavior is learned he would apply one of four intermittent (partial) reinforcement schedules. Two are based on time and two are based on number of responses. Fixed-ratio – A fixed number of target responses must be made before a reward is gained. Buy five, get one free is an example of this. Variable ratio – The number of target behaviors for reward keeps changing. The organism never knows when it will or will not be rewarded. Slot machines are a perfect example. Fixed-interval – The first target response after a fixed interval of time has passed is rewarded. If you are paid once a week on Friday, Fridays become the fixed interval. Variable – interval – The length of time of the interval changes after each time. If you have a class where the teacher can give a pop quiz at any time… that is a variable interval. Which type of reinforcement schedule do you think would work the best once you have taught your dog a new trick to keep him doing it?
Research has shown that the variable-ratio schedule produces consistent high rates of responding that is resistant to extinction.
Generalization would occur if the response has been conditioned in a situation where another reinforcer was present. For example, if you were teaching your dog to sit and you had a cough, you condition the dog to sit at the command “sit” but you also cough each time. Later, when you cough the dog sits. Applications of operant conditioning are extensive. Your educational journey has been lined with rewards and punishments. Teaching and learning machines are based on operant conditioning. Animal training is done by punishment and reward and the use of extreme punishment has been very controversial. Animals are trained to be performers by shaping or the rewarding behaviors in small increments until the whole routine is learned. Their small behaviors are linked together and this is called chaining. Learned helplessness is an idea that is being investigated in many situations. It is a decrease in responding that occurs after exposure to uncontrollable negative events. The organism believes that there is no escape from something negative and gives up. This is being investigated as a possible reason for depression.
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Extinction, discrimination and generalization also occur in operant conditioning. An example of extinction would be if you kept putting money in a candy machine but it would not give any candy. After time (hopefully) you would not keep putting money into the machine. Discrimination would be exemplified by stop lights. The stop lights will have different responses to the different colored lights. 
Crossword Puzzle Try this operant conditioning crossword puzzle: