REVIEW Operant Conditioning

Learning Objectives

Page 266

Test Yourself by taking a moment to answer each of these Learning Objective Questions (repeated here from within the module). Research suggests that trying to answer these questions on your own will improve your long-term memory of the concepts (McDaniel et al., 2009).

Question

20-1 What is operant conditioning?
ANSWER: In operant conditioning, behaviors followed by reinforcers increase; those followed by punishers often decrease.

Question

20-2 Who was Skinner, and how is operant behavior reinforced and shaped?
ANSWER: B. F. Skinner was a college English major and aspiring writer who later entered psychology graduate school. He became modern behaviorism's most influential and controversial figure. Expanding on Edward Thorndike's law of effect, Skinner and others found that the behavior of rats or pigeons placed in an operant chamber (Skinner box) can be shaped by using reinforcers to guide closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior.

Question

20-3 How do positive and negative reinforcement differ, and what are the basic types of reinforcers?
ANSWER: Reinforcement is any consequence that strengthens behavior. Positive reinforcement adds a desirable stimulus to increase the frequency of a behavior. Negative reinforcement removes an aversive stimulus to increase the frequency of a behavior. Primary reinforcers (such as receiving food when hungry or having nausea end during an illness) are innately satisfying—no learning is required. Conditioned (or secondary) reinforcers (such as cash) are satisfying because we have learned to associate them with more basic rewards (such as the food or medicine we buy with them). Immediate reinforcers (such as a purchased treat) offer immediate payback; delayed reinforcers (such as a weekly paycheck) require the ability to delay gratification.

Question

20-4 How do different reinforcement schedules affect behavior?
ANSWER: A reinforcement schedule defines how often a response will be reinforced. In continuous reinforcement (reinforcing desired responses every time they occur), learning is rapid, but so is extinction if rewards cease. In partial (intermittent) reinforcement (reinforcing responses only sometimes), initial learning is slower, but the behavior is much more resistant to extinction. Fixed-ratio schedules reinforce behaviors after a set number of responses; variable-ratio schedules, after an unpredictable number. Fixed-interval schedules reinforce behaviors after set time periods; variable-interval schedules, after unpredictable time periods.

Question

20-5 How does punishment differ from negative reinforcement, and how does punishment affect behavior?
ANSWER: Punishment administers an undesirable consequence (such as spanking) or withdraws something desirable (such as taking away a favorite toy) in an attempt to decrease the frequency of a behavior (a child's disobedience). Negative reinforcement (taking an aspirin) removes an aversive stimulus (a headache). This desired consequence (freedom from pain) increases the likelihood that the behavior (taking aspirin to end pain) will be repeated. Punishment can have undesirable side effects, such as suppressing rather than changing unwanted behaviors; teaching aggression; creating fear; encouraging discrimination (so that the undesirable behavior appears when the punisher is not present); and fostering depression and feelings of helplessness.

Question

20-6 Why did Skinner's ideas provoke controversy, and how might his operant conditioning principles be applied at school, in sports, at work, and at home?
ANSWER: Critics of Skinner's principles believed the approach dehumanized people by neglecting their personal freedom and seeking to control their actions. Skinner replied that people's actions are already controlled by external consequences, and that reinforcement is more humane than punishment as a means for controlling behavior. At school, teachers can use shaping techniques to guide students' behaviors, and they can use interactive software and websites to provide immediate feedback. (For example, the LearningCurve system available with this text provides such feedback and allows students to direct the pace of their own learning.) In sports, coaches can build players' skills and self-confidence by rewarding small improvements. At work, managers can boost productivity and morale by rewarding well-defined and achievable behaviors. At home, parents can reward desired behaviors but not undesirable ones. We can shape our own behavior by stating a realistic goal, planning how we will achieve it, monitoring the frequency of the desired behavior, reinforcing the desired behavior, and gradually reducing rewards as the behavior becomes habitual.

Question

20-7 How does operant conditioning differ from classical conditioning?
ANSWER: In operant conditioning, an organism learns associations between its own behavior and resulting events; this form of conditioning involves operant behavior (behavior that operates on the environment, producing rewarding or punishing consequences). In classical conditioning, the organism forms associations between stimuli—events it does not control; this form of conditioning involves respondent behavior (automatic responses to some stimulus).

Terms and Concepts to Remember

Test yourself on these terms.

Question

operant conditioning (p. 256)
law of effect (p. 256)
operant chamber (p. 257)
reinforcement (p. 257)
shaping (p. 257)
positive reinforcement (p. 258)
negative reinforcement (p. 258)
primary reinforcer (p. 259)
conditioned reinforcer (p. 259)
reinforcement schedule (p. 259)
continuous reinforcement schedule (p. 259)
partial (intermittent) reinforcement schedule (p. 259)
fixed-ratio schedule (p. 260)
variable-ratio schedule (p. 260)
fixed-interval schedule (p. 260)
variable-interval schedule (p. 260)
punishment (p. 261)
in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses.
in operant conditioning, any event that strengthens the behavior it follows.
in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses.
in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed.
a stimulus that gains its reinforcing power through its association with a primary reinforcer; also known as a secondary reinforcer.
an event that tends to decrease the behavior that it follows.
reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs.
Thorndike's principle that behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely, and that behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely.
increasing behaviors by presenting positive reinforcers. A positive reinforcer is any stimulus that, when presented after a response, strengthens the response.
an innately reinforcing stimulus, such as one that satisfies a biological need.
a pattern that defines how often a desired response will be reinforced.
reinforcing a response only part of the time; results in slower acquisition of a response but much greater resistance to extinction than does continuous reinforcement.
in operant conditioning research, a chamber (also known as a Skinner box) containing a bar or key that an animal can manipulate to obtain a food or water reinforcer; attached devices record the animal's rate of bar pressing or key pecking.
in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals.
increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing negative stimuli. A negative reinforcer is any stimulus that, when removed after a response, strengthens the response. (Note: Negative reinforcement is not punishment.)
a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher.
an operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior.

Experience the Testing Effect

Test yourself repeatedly throughout your studies. This will not only help you figure out what you know and don’t know; the testing itself will help you learn and remember the information more effectively thanks to the testing effect.

Question 7.7

1. Thorndike's law of effect was the basis for work on operant conditioning and behavior control.

Question 7.8

2. One way to change behavior is to reward natural behaviors in small steps, as the organism gets closer and closer to a desired behavior. This process is called .

Question 7.9

3. Your dog is barking so loudly that it's making your ears ring. You clap your hands, the dog stops barking, your ears stop ringing, and you think to yourself, “I'll have to do that when he barks again.” The end of the barking was for you a

A.
B.
C.
D.

Question 7.10

4. How could your psychology instructor use negative reinforcement to encourage your attentive behavior during class?
ANSWER: Your instructor could reinforce your attentive behavior by taking away something you dislike. For example, your instructor could offer to shorten the length of an assigned paper or replace lecture time with an in-class activity. In both cases, the instructor would remove something aversive in order to negatively reinforce your focused attention.

Question 7.11

5. Reinforcing a desired response only some of the times it occurs is called reinforcement.

Question 7.12

6. A restaurant is running a special deal. After you buy four meals at full price, your fifth meal will be free. This is an example of a ________ schedule of reinforcement.

A.
B.
C.
D.

Question 7.13

7. The partial reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response after unpredictable time periods is a schedule.

Question 7.14

8. A medieval proverb notes that “a burnt child dreads the fire.” In operant conditioning, the burning would be an example of a

A.
B.
C.
D.

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