PSY 301 1st Edition Lecture 19 Outline of Last Lecture I Learning II Classical Conditioning III Biological Bases of Learning IV The Unconditioned Pair V Garcia Study Outline of Current Lecture I Operant Conditioning II Reinforcement III Positive Reinforcement IV Negative Reinforcement V Punishment VI Extinction VII Biological Constraints Current Lecture Differences between Classical Operant Conditioning 1 What is learned A classical the relationship between two stimuli B operant the relationship between a response and an outcome 2 How a response is made A classical the response is involuntarily elicited by the stimulus B operant the response is voluntarily selected from a possible set of responses 3 The relationship between response and reinforcement A classical reinforcement is independent of the animal s response B operant reinforcement depends on the animal s response Operant or Instrumental Conditioning the processes involved in learning the relationship between environmental events and the animal s voluntary actions 1 involves a three term contingency a antecedents cues indicating whether some consequence will occur for a behavior b response the behavior being made c consequences the reaction to the response Initial research on animal thought was stimulated by Darwin s ideas Thorndike turned to experimental research on problem solving in animals 1 the law of effect the effect of a response determines whether the tendency to perform that response is strengthened or weakened The operant chamber or Skinner box comes with a bar or key that an animal manipulates to obtain a reinforcer like food or water The bar or key is connected to devices that record the animal s response Operant conditioning is based on the cocnept of reinforcement Reinforcement an environmental outcome which makes the associated response more probable in the future by definition reinforcement makes a response more likely Positive reinforcement a good environmental outcome to a response which makes that response more likely in the future 1 whether an outcome is good depends upon the person animal Negative reinforcement ends or avoids a bad environmental situation which makes that response more likely in the future 1 whether a situation is bad depends upon the person animal Punishment a negative environmental outcome produced by a response which makes that response less likely to occur in the future 1 not a type of reinforcement 2 two kinds of punishment a positive punishment the response is followed by an aversive stimulus b negative punishment the response is followed by the withdrawal of a desirable stimulus Reinforcement is more effective with 1 More pairings of the response and the reinforcement 2 Shorter delays between the response and the reinforcement Extinction eliminating reinforcement eventually eliminates the response 1 an extinguished response can be rapidly reconditioned 2 an extinguished response can be spontaneously recovered Discrimination animals learn to discriminate between responses that will and will not be reinforced Shaping gradually training an animal to make a response that is not normally in its repertoire reinforcing through successive approximations Conditioned reinforcement conditioned secondary reinforcers have the same impact on behavior as primary reinforcers An initially neutral stimulus becomes a secondary reinforcer in operant conditioning as a result of being paired with a primary reinforcer during classical conditioning Schedules of reinforcement 1 continual reinforcement reinforcing every response a produces the fastest learning 2 partial reinforcement reinforcing behavior only part of the time a produces the greatest resistance to extinction 1 Fixed ratio schedule Reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses 2 Variable ratio schedule Reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses a hard to extinguish because of the unpredictability Interval Schedules 1 Fixed interval schedule Reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed 2 Variable interval schedule Reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals which produces slow steady responses Biological constraints a response is most easily learned if it is naturally related to the reinforcement 1 animals responses that are naturally made to a stimulus are easier to reinforce 2 humans learn arbitrary relationships better than animals Characteristics of the learner also influence the ease of conditioning 1 introverts extraverts 2 antisocial personality disorder
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