Psych 101 1nd Edition Lecture 13 Outline of Last Lecture I Classical Conditioning Outline of Current Lecture II Operant Conditioning Current Lecture 1 Operant Conditioning learning in which a voluntary response is strengthened or weakened depending on its favorable or unfavorable consequences 2 Names associated with operant conditioning a Thorndike s Law of Effect responses that lead to satisfying outcomes will be repeated b Skinner Box rat in a box presses a lever to receive food c Reinforcement process by which a stimulus increases the probability that a preceding behavior will be repeated i Primary reinforcer satisfy biological needs ii Secondary reinforcer associated with a primary recinforcer d Punishment stimulus that decreases the probability that a previous behavior will occur again See Figure 3 pg 181 3 Reasons why reinforcement is better than punishment a Provides more of an alternative b More positive better results 4 Schedules of reinforcement patterns of frequency and timing of reinforcement following desired behaviors a Continuous every time it occurs b Partial reinforcing some but not all the time i Fixed ratio only given after a specific number of responses are made ii Fixed interval only after a certain amount of time has passed iii Variable ratio occurs after a varying number of responses rather than a fixed number iv Variable interval after some varying period of time c Which schedule produces highest results and has lowest rate of response These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute i Variable interval 5 Other terms a Discrimination discriminative stimulus signals the likelihood that reinforcement will follow a response b Generalization stimulus generalization learns a response to one stimulus and exhibits same response to slightly different stimuli c Shaping process of teaching a complex behavior by rewarding closer and closer approximations of desired behavior d Behavior modification formalized technique for promoting frequency of desirable behaviors and decrease incidence of unwanted ones