OPERANT CONDITIONING It is a kind of learning where the organism must operate on or do something to the environment in order to produce a result.

. VARIABLES INVOLVED: 1. Unconditioned Stimulus any stimulus that has the ability to elicit a response without previous training. 2. Conditioned Stimulus stimulus which initially does not elicit the response under study but comes to do so by being paired with the unconditioned stimulus. 3. Unconditioned Response original response to an unconditioned stimulus 4. Conditioned Response learned response to a conditioned stimulus PRINCIPLES OF OPERANT CONDITIONING: 1. Reinforcement. Anything that increases the probability that a particular response will increase in frequency in the for of response by delivery either immediately or shortly after performing the behavior. States that behavior is a function of its consequences. It may either be positive or negative: a. Positive Reinforcer - It increases the likelihood that a particular response will occur. For example, when a student gets a high grade as a reward for his effective study habit, he is likely to increase and consistently follow his rewarded behavior. A teacher gave a reward to a student for better performing a task. If the frequency of better performing a task increases, the reward is a positive reinforcer. After you execute a turn during a skiing lesson, your instructor shouts out, "Great job!"At work, you exceed this month's sales quota so your boss gives you a bonus. For your psychology class, you watch a video about the human brain and write a paper about what you learned. Your instructor gives you 20 extra credit points for your work. b. Negative Reinforcer - It will also increase the likelihood of a particular behavior. In a negative reinforcement, a response or behavior is strengthened by stopping, removing or avoiding a negative outcome or aversive stimulus. For example, if a student came late at class and teacher does not allow him in the class, then it is a negative reinforcement for the student. Before heading out for a day at the beach, you slather on sunscreen in order to avoid getting sunburned. You decide to clean up your mess in the kitchen in order to avoid getting in a fight with your roommate. On Monday morning, you leave the house early in order to avoid getting stuck in traffic and being late for class. NOTE: Positive or negative reinforcers do not connote good or bad. We do not call a positive reinforcer a good reinforcer, nor a negative reinforcer a bad reinforcer. c. Primary Reinforcers reinforcers that are innately reinforcing; they satisfy basic physiological needs. Example: food, water, and air. d. Secondary or Conditioned Reinforcers The power to reinforce is acquired and not innately present. Example: money, grades, praise, and tokens. Terminal Behavior pertains to the end behavior aimed at the goal of operant conditioning; an expected behavior which must be expressed in measurable terms Satiation pertains to the process whereby the effectiveness of a reinforcer decreases with repeated presentation. In the classical laboratory experiments on reinforcement with pigeons as subjects, if the food is continuously given to the pigeon, the pigeon becomes satiated and later no longer responds to the stimuli presented to it. Thus, a certain deprivation is needed; a reinforcer is more effective if it is not given to the subject over and over. 2. Schedule of Reinforcement. a. Continuous Schedule The reinforcement follows every correct response. This is considered to be the quickest way to teach a news response. Only correct responses are to be reinforced. Undesirable responses should not be reinforced, lest this undesirable response increase in its occurrence. b. Ratio Schedule Reinforcers are given only after a particular number of responses have been made. c. Fixed Ratio Schedule Reinforcer is given after a definite number of correct responses. This is illustrated in the practice of giving laborers their wages on a weekly schedule. Production Line Work: Workers at a widget factory are paid for every 15 widgets they make. This results in a high production rate and workers tend to take few breaks. It can, however, lead to burnout and lower-quality work Collecting Tokens in a Video Game: In many video games, you have to collection so many

tokens, object, or points in order to receive some type of reward. d. Variable-ratio Schedule Reinforcement is given after a varying number of responses. This schedule is used to increase and maintain a steady rate of specific responses. This schedule is best for maintaining a behavior. For example, Slot machines: Players have no way of knowing how many times they have to play before they will win. All they know is that eventually a play will win. This is why slot machines are so effective and players are often reluctant to quit. There is always the possibility that the next coin they put in will be the winning one. e. Interval Schedule dependent on time unlike the ratio schedule; BOTH time and response must be considered 2 conditions must be met in order for reinforcement to be considered under this type: - A particular interval of time must elapse since the last reinforcement. - A correct response must occur after the first interval. 2 kinds of interval schedule Fixed-Interval schedule Reinforcement is given after a fixed time or duration. For example, when a child is given chocolate only after he eats vegetables, the chocolate becomes a reinforcer for eating vegetables. In a Lab Setting: Imagine that you are training a rat to press a lever, but you only reinforce the first response after a ten-minute interval. The rat does not press the bar much during the first 5 minutes after reinforcement, but begins to press the lever more and more often the closer you get to the ten minute mark. In the Real World: A weekly paycheck is a good example of a fixed-interval schedule. The employee receives reinforcement every seven days, which may result in a higher response rate as payday approaches. Variable-Interval Schedule Reinforcers are administered invariably without any fixed time. For example, compliments are not given every time a correct response is made but are given sparingly. Checking Your Email: Typically, you check your email at random times throughout the day instead of checking every time a single message is delivered. Your Employer Checking Your Work: Does your boss drop by your office a few times throughout the day to check your progress? This is an example of a variable-interval schedule. These check-ins occur at unpredictable times, so you never know when they might happen. 3. Shaping or the Method of Successive Approximation. The terminal behavior cannot be attained with just one conditioning session. Shaping is the process whereby the responses are successively conditioned gradually in an everincreasing fashion to resemble the terminal behavior. 4. Extinction. The reinforcement is withdrawn resulting in a gradual decline in response frequency until it goes back to its pre-conditioning frequency. It is usually employed to terminate an undesirable behavior. 5. Punishment. Punishment may occur in two ways: (1) The presentation of an unpleasant event, like spanking a child child after a child's display of an undesirable behavior, and (2) the removal of a pleasant event as in the withholding of chocolate if the child does not eat vegetables. Both decrease the frequency of the undesirable behavior. Timmy is supposed to clean his room every Saturday morning. Last weekend, he went out to play with his friend without cleaning his room. As a result, his father made him spend the rest of the weekend doing other chores like cleaning out the garage, mowing the lawn and weeding the garden, in addition to cleaning his room. Because Timmy didn't clean his room, his father assigned a punishment of having to do extra chores. THE COMPARISON CLASSICAL CONDITIONING OPERANT CONDITIONING (Respondent Conditioning) (Instrumental Conditioning) -U.S. -Russia A signal is placed before a reflex Works with involuntary behavior A reinforcing or punishing stimulus is given after a behavior Works with voluntary behaviors

 Behavior is said to be elicited Typified by Pavlov's dog Learner is passive and still can be reinforced

Behavior is said to be emitted Typified by Skinner Box Learner must reinforced be active to be

Sequence: US UR (reinforcement) Sequence: US UR R R (reinforcement) LAWS OF LEARNING 1. The Law of Effect (Thorndike) - Responses which are followed by satisfying aftereffects tend to be learned and repeated. It is the idea that if you get punished for an action, you'll be less likely to repeat it, but if you get rewarded for an action, you'll be more likely to repeat it. EXAMPLE: CHEATING IN TESTS. GETTING GOOD GRADES. a.) Law of Primacy (Watson): Acts or impressions learned first will be better remembered than acts or impressions learned later. EXAMPLE: KINDERGARTEN For the teacher, this means that what they teach the first time must be correct. If a subject is incorrectly taught, it must be corrected. It is more difficult to un-teach a subject than to teach it correctly the first time. b.) Law of Belongingness (Thorndike): Associations are easily formed if they belong meaning, relatedness, meaningfulness, and integration, into a unified frame or reference; only relevant responses that "belong" to the learning situation are learnt. 2. The Law of Readiness (Thorndike): - Responses preceded by readiness are more satisfying than otherwise. :It stresses the need for adequate motivation and preparation of the learner through building up the proper background and fostering the proper mind-set. Example: I went to school the other day with all kinds of silly stuff on my mind - like what to do on the big date I had that evening: what to wear, how far I should push things, etc. I didn't learn much that day because I wasn't ready to learn - I was distracted. Things went really well on the date, and I she said she admired my mind and thought I was a good learner. The following day I was all fired up about learning things in order to impress her. I was ready to learn and did much better that day as a result!! a.) Law of Mind-set: This law has reference at to the mental set of the learner at the time that the response is to be made. b.) Law of Apperception (Herbart): It refers to the recognition of relationships between what is presented and existing body of knowledge. refers to the application of past experiences of the pupil in forming a new connection or integrating his past experience with the new situation. A rich child and a poor child walking together come across the same ten dollar bill on the sidewalk. The rich child says it is not very much money and the poor child says it is a lot of money. The difference lies in how they apperceive he same event the lens of past experience through which they see and value (or devalue) the money. 3. The Law of Exercise (Thorndike) - Practice makes perfect. This law operates only indirectly through the fact that practice permits the law of effect to reinforce the correct responses and to the extent that it allows the law of effect to operate, i.e., unmotivated drill is futile a.) Law of Association (Kant): Learning occurs through the connection or functional relationship between two psychological phenomena established through experience or learning. b.) Law of Use and Disuse (Gates): The generalization that all factors being equal, an association which is practiced or used will be strengthened; that which is not practiced or used is weakened. c.) Law of Frequency and Recency (Watson): Things most recently learned are best remembered, while the things learned some time ago are remembered with more difficulty. It is sometimes easy, for example, to recall a telephone number dialed a few minutes ago, but it is usually impossible to recall a telephone number dialed a week ago. Review, warm-ups, and similar activities are all based on the

principle that the more recent the exercise, the more effective the performance. Practicing a skill or new concept just before using it will ensure a more effective performance. Instructors recognize the law of recency when they plan a lesson summary or a conclusion of the lecture. Repeat, restate, or reemphasize important matters at the end of a lesson to make sure that trainees remember them instead of inconsequential details. d.) Law of Intensity (Carr): It states that the strength of any behavior or experience has a corresponding relation to learning. The more intense the material taught, the more likely it will be retained. A sharp, clear, vivid, dramatic, or exciting learning experience teaches more than a routine or boring experience. The principle of intensity implies that a student will learn more from the real thing than from a substitute. For example, a student can get more understanding and appreciation of a movie by watching it than by reading the script. Likewise, a student is likely to gain greater understanding of tasks by performing them rather than merely reading about them. e.) Law of Forgetting (Ebbinghaus): It is related to the law of disuse. It states that the ability to reproduce or recollect what has been previously learned is in direct proportion to the opportunities to use such abilities hence, we tend to forget those acts which we have had no opportunity to use or repeat. THE SKINNER BOX Burrhus Frederic Skinner in his Skinner box experiment took a hungry rat and placed it in a specially set-up box.. The rat moves about restlessly and happens to press a bar attached to a food magazine resulting in the dropping of pellets. The rat eats and soon presses the bar again. After repeated trials, the rat soon learns that in order to get food, it must operate something . The food pellet reinforces the bar pressing. If the reinforcement ceases, the operant response undergoes extinction. A subsequent experiment utilizes a light bulb attached to the food magazine. If the light is on and the bar is pressed, the food pellets drop. The rat can eat the food only if the response is made when the light is on. This discrimination leads to responses made only in the presence of light. NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT VS. PUNISHMENT Negative reinforcement and punishment are not the same. Punishment is a specific act designed to decrease a certain behavior, such as taking away a childs TV privileges because he hasn't finished his homework. Negative reinforcement, on the other hand, is believed to perpetuate behavior. For instance, say that your child does not want to do homework and tries to tear up his textbook. You take away his textbook to prevent him from destroying property, but you are using negative reinforcement because the next time he does not want to do homework, he knows that if he acts destructively, you will take away his study materials, thus giving him what he wants -- not to do his work. In such an instance, letting the child destroy the book then making him complete chores to pay for its reinforcement. replacement would constitute a punishment rather than negative