A Skinner box operant chamber is a structure that is big enough to fit a rodent or bird and that contains a bar or key that the organism can press or peck to release food or water. A rat placed in the chamber reacted as one might expect, scurrying about the box and sniffing and clawing at the floor and walls.
Eventually the rat chanced upon a lever, which it pressed to release pellets of food. The next time around, the rat took a little less time to press the lever, and on successive trials, the time it took to press the lever became shorter and shorter.
Soon the rat was pressing the lever as fast as it could eat the food that appeared. As predicted by the law of effect, the rat had learned to repeat the action that brought about the food and cease the actions that did not. Skinner studied, in detail, how animals changed their behaviour through reinforcement and punishment, and he developed terms that explained the processes of operant learning Table 8. Skinner used the term reinforcer to refer to any event that strengthens or increases the likelihood of a behaviour, and the term punisher to refer to any event that weakens or decreases the likelihood of a behaviour.
And he used the terms positive and negative to refer to whether a reinforcement was presented or removed, respectively. Thus, positive reinforcement strengthens a response by presenting something pleasant after the response, and negative reinforcement strengthens a response by reducing or removing something unpleasant.
For example, giving a child praise for completing his homework represents positive reinforcement, whereas taking Aspirin to reduce the pain of a headache represents negative reinforcement. In both cases, the reinforcement makes it more likely that behaviour will occur again in the future. Reinforcement, either positive or negative, works by increasing the likelihood of a behaviour.
Punishment , on the other hand, refers to any event that weakens or reduces the likelihood of a behaviour. Positive punishment weakens a response by presenting something unpleasant after the response , whereas negative punishment weakens a response by reducing or removing something pleasant.
A child who is grounded after fighting with a sibling positive punishment or who loses out on the opportunity to go to recess after getting a poor grade negative punishment is less likely to repeat these behaviours. Although the distinction between reinforcement which increases behaviour and punishment which decreases it is usually clear, in some cases it is difficult to determine whether a reinforcer is positive or negative.
On a hot day a cool breeze could be seen as a positive reinforcer because it brings in cool air or a negative reinforcer because it removes hot air. In other cases, reinforcement can be both positive and negative. One may smoke a cigarette both because it brings pleasure positive reinforcement and because it eliminates the craving for nicotine negative reinforcement.
It is also important to note that reinforcement and punishment are not simply opposites. The use of positive reinforcement in changing behaviour is almost always more effective than using punishment. This is because positive reinforcement makes the person or animal feel better, helping create a positive relationship with the person providing the reinforcement. Types of positive reinforcement that are effective in everyday life include verbal praise or approval, the awarding of status or prestige, and direct financial payment.
Punishment, on the other hand, is more likely to create only temporary changes in behaviour because it is based on coercion and typically creates a negative and adversarial relationship with the person providing the reinforcement. When the person who provides the punishment leaves the situation, the unwanted behaviour is likely to return.
Perhaps you remember watching a movie or being at a show in which an animal — maybe a dog, a horse, or a dolphin — did some pretty amazing things. The trainer gave a command and the dolphin swam to the bottom of the pool, picked up a ring on its nose, jumped out of the water through a hoop in the air, dived again to the bottom of the pool, picked up another ring, and then took both of the rings to the trainer at the edge of the pool.
The animal was trained to do the trick, and the principles of operant conditioning were used to train it. But these complex behaviours are a far cry from the simple stimulus-response relationships that we have considered thus far. How can reinforcement be used to create complex behaviours such as these?
One way to expand the use of operant learning is to modify the schedule on which the reinforcement is applied. To this point we have only discussed a continuous reinforcement schedule , in which the desired response is reinforced every time it occurs ; whenever the dog rolls over, for instance, it gets a biscuit.
Continuous reinforcement results in relatively fast learning but also rapid extinction of the desired behaviour once the reinforcer disappears. Most real-world reinforcers are not continuous; they occur on a partial or intermittent reinforcement schedule — a schedule in which the responses are sometimes reinforced and sometimes not. In comparison to continuous reinforcement, partial reinforcement schedules lead to slower initial learning, but they also lead to greater resistance to extinction.
Because the reinforcement does not appear after every behaviour, it takes longer for the learner to determine that the reward is no longer coming, and thus extinction is slower. The four types of partial reinforcement schedules are summarized in Table 8. Partial reinforcement schedules are determined by whether the reinforcement is presented on the basis of the time that elapses between reinforcement interval or on the basis of the number of responses that the organism engages in ratio , and by whether the reinforcement occurs on a regular fixed or unpredictable variable schedule.
In a fixed-interval schedule , reinforcement occurs for the first response made after a specific amount of time has passed. For instance, on a one-minute fixed-interval schedule the animal receives a reinforcement every minute, assuming it engages in the behaviour at least once during the minute.
As you can see in Figure 8. Most students study for exams the same way. In a variable-interval schedule , the reinforcers appear on an interval schedule, but the timing is varied around the average interval, making the actual appearance of the reinforcer unpredictable.
An example might be checking your email: you are reinforced by receiving messages that come, on average, say, every 30 minutes, but the reinforcement occurs only at random times. Interval reinforcement schedules tend to produce slow and steady rates of responding. In a fixed-ratio schedule , a behaviour is reinforced after a specific number of responses. A variable-ratio schedule provides reinforcers after a specific but average number of responses. Winning money from slot machines or on a lottery ticket is an example of reinforcement that occurs on a variable-ratio schedule.
For instance, a slot machine see Figure 8. Ratio schedules tend to produce high rates of responding because reinforcement increases as the number of responses increases. The sound of the drill is enough to produce a feeling of anxiety, tensed muscles, and sweaty palms in that person even before the dentist has begun to use the drill. Classical conditioning: A type of conditioning or learning in which a stimulus that brings about a behavioral response is paired with a neutral stimulus until that neutral stimulus brings about the response by itself.
Operant conditioning: A type of conditioning or learning in which a person or animal learns to perform or not perform a particular behavior based on its positive or negative consequences. Primary reinforcers: Stimuli such as food, water, and shelter that satisfy basic needs. Secondary reinforcers: Stimuli that have come to provide reinforcement through their association with primary reinforcers. Stimulus: Something that causes a behavioral response.
In classical conditioning, the learned responses are reflexes, such as salivating or sweating. The stimuli food or a dentist's drill bring about these responses automatically. In operant conditioning, the learned behavioral responses are voluntary.
A person or animal learns to perform or not perform a particular behavior based on its positive or negative consequences.
American behavioral psychologist B. Skinner — conducted experiments during the s and s to prove that human and animal behavior is based not on independent motivation but on response to reward and punishment. Skinner designed an enclosed, soundproof box equipped with tools, levers, and other devices. In this box, which came to be called the Skinner box, he taught rats to push buttons, pull strings, and press levers to receive a food or water reward.
This type of procedure and the resultant conditioning have become known as operant conditioning. The term "operant" refers to behaviors that respond to, or operate on, the surrounding environment. From his experiments, Skinner developed the theory that humans are controlled stimulated solely by forces in their environment.
Rewarded behavior positive reinforcement is encouraged, and unrewarded behavior negative reinforcement is terminated. Toggle navigation. Photo by: pavel siamionov. Words to Know Classical conditioning: A type of conditioning or learning in which a stimulus that brings about a behavioral response is paired with a neutral stimulus until that neutral stimulus brings about the response by itself.
User Contributions: 1. Lisa Meade. I was wondering, I have a paer due this week about classical conditioning and operant conditioning. The examples I want to use are money for cleaning my personal bathroom as a child and for operant I want to use the example of horseback riding after school.
Can someone help with finding the UCR, UCS, US,CR, CS, reinforcers, reinforcement schedules, fixed-ratio, interval-ratio,acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalization, and discrimination, shaping procedures. I really need help with this! This will help students who are from nonpsychology background to learn in a right way.
Add some more organizational examples to these. I am writing a paper on the differences of classical and oprerant conditionoing. Unsure of how to go about it so if there is amyon out there that can help, would gretly appreciate it. Psych is not my cup of tea but have to pass it seeing that it is a prereq and I am not sure how to go about starting this paper.
I am interested in analysing this article for my senior year Psychological Assessment task, however I need to be able to reference an author and do a little bit of research about the author as part of my references.
If you would be able to provide a name as well as other details, I would greatly appreciate it, as this article suits my task very well. Thank you. Eric Amen Wilson. I'm bit confused about the negative reinforcement,how come,that you remove something unpleasant,so,in the classroom situation how do you remove something unpleasant?
I will be very happy,if someone could explain all and with examples. Faye Gelder. The difference between negative reinforcement and punishment is simple. Negative Reinforcement strengthens a behavior because a negative condition is stopped or avoided as a consequence of the behavior. Rahul Sharma.
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