WEEK 2

Lecture Overview

• Classical Conditioning
• Operant Conditioning
• Using Conditioning &
Learning Principles
 Introductory Definitions

• Learning: relatively permanent change in

behavior or mental processes resulting
from practice or experience

• Conditioning: Is associating something in

the environment and then your response
to it. So conditioning is a form of learning
 Classical Conditioning

• Ivan Pavlov
• Classical Conditioning:
learning that occurs when a
previously neutral stimulus
(NS) is paired (associated)
with an unconditioned
stimulus (UCS) to elicit a
conditioned response (CR)
 Classical Conditioning
• So classical conditioning occurs when a neutral
stimulus. This stimulus can be almost anything
this objects didn't mean anything before. used
to be neutral, it didn't mean anything.
• But once conditioning takes place, this neutral
stimulus brings about some kind of response
because it is paired it is associated with a
stimulus that already produces a similar
response.
©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010
Pavlov’s Experiments
Pavlov’s Experiments
Pavlov’s Experiments
Pavlov’s Experiments
©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010
©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010
©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010
©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010
©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010
 Little Albert Experiment
• The Little Albert Experiment | Watson &
Rayner (1920) – YouTube
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xjzf5B0cc
tQ

©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

 Six Basic Principles of Classical
Conditioning
• Acquisitions Assessment
• Extinction
• Spontaneous Recovery
• Renewal Effect
• Stimulus Generalization
• Stimulus Discriminations
©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010
©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010
 Classroom Implications

Technology can be used too help students be

classically conditioned! Music and Computers are used
here.
Classroom Implications
Classroom Implications

©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

 Operant Conditioning
• An operant is an observable behavior that an organism
uses to “operate” in the environment.

• Operant Conditioning: A form of learning in which the

probability of a response is changed by its
consequences…that is, by the stimuli that follows the
response.
 Personal Application

• Clapping 3 times to get class quite.

• Counting down from twenty to get class to clean up.
• Have certain songs played representing where
students should be (ie; “reading song” playing means
go to reading corner).
• Flashing the lights twice to get the class to return to
their seats.

In the classroom, I hope to use classical conditioning

to teach my students expected behaviors for routine
activities without having to daily tell them what I’m
wanting. ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010
 Operant Conditioning

• Operant
Conditioning:
learning in which
voluntary
responses are
controlled by their
consequences
 Many classical conditioning theories are based on lab
animal studies. But humans are not lab animals.

• Learning by association is a lot more complicated when

applied to humans because our behavior is often motivated
by more than just the environment
• For instance, over-praising may not be a good thing.
Whenever possible, parents should utilize intrinsic motivation
to entice learning in children rather than extrinsic motivation.
• To account for more than just involuntary classical
conditioning, psychologist B.F. Skinner proposed the operant
conditioning theory that later became another pillar in
behaviorism psychology.

©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010
©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010
©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010
©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010
©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010
©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010
©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010
 Operant Conditioning

•Learning a behaviour is strengthened if followed by reinforcement or

diminished if followed by punishment.

•Classical conditioning involves respondent behaviour that occurs as an

automatic response to some stimulus.
•Operant conditioning involves operant behaviour, a behaviour that
operates on the environment producing rewarding or punishing stimuli.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFu7ZEF_pqk

©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

 Extending Skinner’s Understanding
Cognition and Operant Conditioning.
• Intrinsic Motivation
• • Internal
• • Behavior for its own sake
• Extrinsic Motivation
• • External
• • The desire to perform a behaviour due to
promised rewards or threats of punishments.

©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

 DISCUSSION

• What are the similarities between classical

and operant conditioning?
• What are the differences between classical
and operant conditioning?

©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

Operant Conditioning : Trying New
responses
• Behavior like responses or action is simply a word for
what a person does in a particular situation.
Conceptually, we may think of a behavior as
sandwiched between two sets of environmental
influences: those that precede it (its antecedents)
and those that follow it (its consequences).

©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

 Operant Conditioning : Types of
consequences

• 1) REINFORCEMENT : Although reinforcement is commonly

understood to mean “reward”. This term has a particular
meaning in psychology. A reinforcer is any sequence that
strengthens the behavior it follows.
• When you see a behaviour increasing over time, you can
assume the consequences of that behaviour are reinforcers
for the individual involved.

CONSEQUENCE EFFECT

Behavior  Reinforcer  Strengthened or repeated behaviour.

©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

 Operant Conditioning : Types of
consequences
• 2) PUNISHEMENT : Negative Reinforcement is often confused
with punishment. To avoid the mistake, please remember that
the process of reinforcement (positive or negative) always
involves strengthening behavior.
• Punishment on the other hand involves decreasing or
suppressing behavior. A behaviour followed by punisher is less
likely to be repeated in similar situations in the future.

• CONSEQUENCE EFFECT
• Behavior  Reinforcer  Weakened or decreased behaviour.

©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

 Punishment

• Although there may be some justification for

occasional punishment (Larzelaere & Baumrind,
2002) it usually leads to negative effects.
• ❑ Punishment can result in unwanted fears.
• ❑ Conveys no information to the organism.
• ❑ Justifies paint to others.
• ❑ Unwanted behaviors reappear in its absence.
• ❑ Aggression towards the agent.
• ❑ One unwanted behaviour appears in place of
another.
©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010
Operant Conditioning’s Basic Principles
(Continued)
• Primary Reinforcers: • Secondary Reinforcers:
normally satisfy an learned value (e.g.,
unlearned biological money, praise)
need (e.g., food)
Operant Conditioning’s Basic Principles: Four
Partial Schedules of Reinforcement

1. Continuous Reinforcement (CRF)

2. Fixed Ratio (FR): reinforcement occurs after
a predetermined set of responses; the ratio
(number or amount) is fixed (e.g. every two
times rat bar presses, food appears).
3. Variable Ratio (VR): reinforcement occurs on
average; the ratio (number or amount)
varies, but averages two.
Operant Conditioning’s Basic Principles: Four
Partial Schedules (Continued)

3. Fixed Interval (FI): reinforcement occurs after

a predetermined time has elapsed; the
interval (time) is fixed (e.g., paycheck)

4. Variable Interval (VI): reinforcement occurs

unpredictably; the interval (time) varies
(e.g., pop quiz)
 Operant Conditioning’s Basic
Principles (Continued)

• Shaping:
reinforcement is delivered after
successive approximations of the desired
response

©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

Operant Conditioning’s Basic Principles
(Continued)

• Punishment: weakening a
response
–Positive and negative
punishment
 Uses and Abuses of Punishment

• Punishment often produces an immediate change in behavior,

which ironically reinforces the punisher.

• However, punishment rarely works in the long run for four reasons:

1. The power of punishment to suppress behavior usually disappears

when the threat of punishment is gone.

2. Punishment triggers escape or aggression

3. Punishment makes the learner apprehensive: inhibits learning.

4. Punishment is often applied unequally.