Operant & Cognitive Approaches

Operant conditioning

◦ Also called instrumental conditioning

◦ Kind of learning in which an animal or human performs some behavior

◦ Following consequences (reward or punishment) increases or decreases the chance that an animal or human will again perform that same behavior

Thorndike’s law of effect◦ behaviors followed by positive consequences are

strengthened ◦ behaviors followed by negative consequences are

weakened Skinner’s operant conditioning

◦ Operant response: can be modified by its consequences and is a meaningful, easily measured unit of ongoing behavior

◦ Focuses on how consequences (rewards or punishments) affect behaviors

◦ 1920s and 1930s discovery of two general principles Pavlov’s classical conditioning Skinner’s operant conditioning

Principles and procedures◦ Skinner box

automatically records an animal’s bar presses and delivers food pellets

efficient way to study how an animal’s ongoing behaviors may be modified by changing the consequences of what happens after a bar press

◦ Three factors in operant conditioning of a rat a hungry rat is more willing to eat the food reward can thus condition the rat to press the bar successively reinforced behaviors lead up to or

approximate the desired behavior

Shaping◦ Facing the bar

rat is put in box when rat faces the bar, food pellet is released rat sniffs the food pellet

◦ Touching the bar rat faces and moves toward the bar another pellet is released rat eats then wanders; returning to sniff for a pellet,

another pellet is dropped into the cup; rat places a paw on the bar, and another pellet is released

Shaping◦ Pressing the bar

when rat touches bar, pellet is released; rat eats and then puts paws back on bar and gets another pellet; wait for rat to push bar then release pellet

rat soon presses bar repeatedly to get pellets rat’s behavior reinforced as it leads up to, or

approximates, the desired behavior of bar pressing

Immediate reinforcement◦ Reinforcer should follow immediately after the

desired behavior◦ If reinforcer is delayed, the animal may be

reinforced for some undesired or superstitious behavior

Superstitious behavior◦ Behavior that increases in frequency because its

occurrence is accidentally paired with the delivery of a reinforcer

Examples of operant conditioning◦ Toilet training

target behavior preparation reinforcers shaping

◦ Food refusal target behavior preparation reinforcers shaping

Operant versus classical conditioning

◦ Operant conditioning goal: increase or decrease the rate of some response

voluntary response: must perform voluntary response before getting a reward

emitted response: animals or humans are shaped to emit the desired responses

Operant versus classical conditioning

◦ Operant conditioning contingent on behavior: depends or is contingent on

the consequences or what happens next reinforcer must occur immediately after the desired

response consequences: animals or humans learn that

performing or emitting some behavior is followed by a consequence (reward or punishment)

Operant versus classical conditioning

◦ Classical conditioning goal: create a new response to a neutral stimulus involuntary response: physiological reflexes

(salivation, eye blink) elicited response: unconditioned stimulus triggers or

elicits an involuntary reflex response, salivation, which is called the unconditioned response

Operant versus classical conditioning◦ Classical conditioning

conditioned response: neutral stimulus becomes the conditioned stimulus if it occurs before the conditioned response

expectancy: animals and humans learn a predictable relationship between, or develop an expectancy about, the neutral and unconditioned stimuli classical conditioning leads to learning a predictable

relationship between stimuli

Consequences◦ Consequences are contingent on behavior

Reinforcement◦ Consequence that occurs after a behavior;

increases the chance that the behavior will occur again

Punishment◦ Consequence that occurs after a behavior;

decreases the chance that the behavior will occur again

Reinforcement

◦ Positive reinforcement refers to the presentation of a stimulus that

increases the probability a behavior will occur again◦ Negative reinforcement

refers to an aversive stimulus whose removal increases the likelihood that the preceding response will occur again

Reinforcers

◦ Primary reinforcers stimulus such as food, water, or sex; innately

satisfying and requires no learning on the part of the subject to become pleasurable

◦ Secondary reinforcers stimulus that has acquired its reinforcing power

through experience; secondary reinforcers are learned, such as by being paired with primary reinforcers or other secondary reinforcers

Punishment◦ Positive punishment

presenting an aversive (unpleasant) stimulus after a response

◦ Negative punishment removing a reinforcing stimulus after a response noncompliance: refers to a child refusing to obey a

command/request given by a parent or caregiver time-out: removes reinforcing stimuli after an

undesirable response removal decreases the chances that the

undesired response will recur

Skinner’s contributions◦ Schedule of reinforcement

refers to a program or rule that determines how and when the occurrence of a response will be followed by a reinforcer

◦ Continuous reinforcement every occurrence of the operant response results in

delivery of the reinforcer◦ Partial reinforcement

refers to a situation in which responding is reinforced only some of the time

Partial reinforcement schedules

◦ Fixed-ratio schedule a reinforcer occurs only after a fixed number of

responses are made by the subject

◦ Fixed-interval schedule a reinforcer occurs after the first response that

occurs after a fixed interval of time

Partial reinforcement schedules

◦ Variable-ratio schedule a reinforcer is delivered after an average number of

correct responses has occurred

◦ Variable-interval schedule reinforcer occurs after the first correct response after

an average amount of time has passed

Generalization◦ Animal or person emits the same response to similar

stimuli◦ Tendency for a stimulus similar to the original

conditioned stimulus to elicit a response similar to the conditioned response

Discrimination◦ Occurs during classical conditioning when an

organism learns to make a particular response to some stimuli but not to others

◦ Discrimination stimulus; cue that a behavior will be reinforced

Extinction and spontaneous recovery◦ Extinction

procedure in which a conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus

the conditioned stimulus tends to no longer elicit the conditioned response

◦ Spontaneous recovery tendency for the conditioned response to reappear

after being extinguished, even though there have been no further conditioning trials

Cognitive learning: attention and memory◦ Says that learning can occur through observation or

imitation and may not involve external rewards or require a person to perform any observable behaviors

Three viewpoints◦ Against: B. F. Skinner (“As far as I’m concerned,

cognitive science is the creationism (downfall) of psychology”)

◦ In favor: Edward Tolman explored hidden mental processes cognitive map; mental representation in the brain of

the layout of an environment and its features

Three viewpoints◦ Also in favor: Albert Bandura

focused on how humans learn through observing things

Social cognitive learning◦ Results from watching and modeling; doesn’t

require the observer to perform any observable behavior or receive any observable reward

Learning-performance distinction◦ Learning may occur but may not always be

measured by, or immediately evident in, performance

Bandura’s social cognitive theory◦ Emphasizes the importance of observation,

imitation, and self-reward in the development and learning of social skills, personal interactions, and many other behaviors

Four processes◦ Attention

observer must pay attention to the model◦ Memory

observer must store or remember the information◦ Imitation

observer must be able to use the remembered information and imitate the model’s behavior

◦ Motivation observer must have some reason or incentive to

imitate the model’s behavior

Insight learning

◦ Insight a mental process marked by the sudden and

unexpected solution to a problem: a phenomenon often called the “a ha!” experience

Definition◦ Biological factors

innate tendencies or predispositions that may either facilitate or inhibit certain kinds of learning

◦ Imprinting inherited tendencies or responses that are displayed

by newborn animals when they encounter certain stimuli in their environment

◦ Critical or sensitive period a relatively brief time during which learning is most

likely to occur

Behavior modification◦ Treatment or therapy that changes or modifies

undesirable behaviors by using principles of learning based on operant conditioning, classical conditioning, and social cognitive learning

◦ Autism marked by poor development in social relationships great difficulty developing language and

communicating; very few activities and interests long periods of time spent repeating the same

behaviors and following rituals that interfere with more normal functioning

◦ Autism symptoms range from mild to severe usually appear when a child is 2 to 3 years old

◦ Biofeedback training procedure through which a person is made

aware of his or her physiological responses, such as muscle activity, heart rate, blood pressure, or temperature

after awareness of physiological responses, a person tries to control them to decrease psychosomatic problems