Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik

Module 10: Operant & Cognitive Approaches

Module 10
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Operant & Cognitive Approaches

Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik

Module 10: Operant & Cognitive Approaches

OPERANT CONDITIONING
Thorndikes law of effect
states that behaviors followed by positive
consequences are strengthened, while behaviors
followed by negative consequences are
weakened
Skinners operant conditioning
focuses on how consequences (rewards or
punishments) affect behaviors)
1920s and 1930s gave learning a mighty jolt with
the discovery of two general principles
Pavlovs classical conditioning
Skinners operant conditioning

Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik

Module 10: Operant & Cognitive Approaches

OPERANT CONDITIONING (CONT.)

Principles and procedures
Skinner box
automated to record the animals bar presses and deliver
food pellets
Skinner box is an efficient way to study how an animals
ongoing behaviors may be modified by changing the
consequences of what happens after a bar press
3 factors in operant conditioning of a rat
a hungry rat will be more willing to eat the food reward
operant response: condition the rat to press the bar
shaping: procedure in which an experimenter successively
reinforces behaviors that lead up to or approximate the
desired behavior

Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik

Module 10: Operant & Cognitive Approaches

p215 SKINNER BOX

Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik

Module 10: Operant & Cognitive Approaches

OPERANT CONDITIONING (CONT.)

Shaping
Facing the bar
rat is put in box.
when rat finally faces the bar, food pellet is released
rat sniffs the food pellet
Touching the bar
rat faces and moves towards 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.

Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik

Module 10: Operant & Cognitive Approaches

OPERANT CONDITIONING (CONT.)

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 now push bar
then release pellet.
Rat soon presses bar over and over again to
get pellets.
Rats behavior was reinforced as the rat leads
up to, or approximates, the desired behavior of
bar pressing

Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik

Module 10: Operant & Cognitive Approaches

OPERANT CONDITIONING (CONT.)

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

Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik

Module 10: Operant & Cognitive Approaches

OPERANT CONDITIONING (CONT.)

Examples of operant conditioning
Toilet training
target behavior
preparation
reinforcers
shaping
Food refusal
target behavior
preparation
reinforcers
shaping

Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik

Module 10: Operant & Cognitive Approaches

OPERANT CONDITIONING (CONT.)

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

Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik

Module 10: Operant & Cognitive Approaches

OPERANT CONDITIONING (CONT.)

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)

Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik

Module 10: Operant & Cognitive Approaches

OPERANT CONDITIONING (CONT.)

Operant versus classical conditioning
Classical conditioning
goal: create a new response to a neutral stimulus
involuntary response: physiological reflexes
(salivation, eye blink)
triggered or elicited by some stimulus and
called involuntary responses
elicited response: unconditioned stimulus triggers
or elicits an involuntary reflex response,
salivation, which is called the unconditioned
response

Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik

Module 10: Operant & Cognitive Approaches

OPERANT CONDITIONING (CONT.)

Operant versus classical conditioning
Classical conditioning
conditioned response: neutral stimulus becomes
the conditioned stimulus when alone before the
occurrence of 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 the animal or
human learning a predictable relationship
between stimuli

Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik

Module 10: Operant & Cognitive Approaches

REINFORCERS (CONT.)
Consequences
consequences are contingent on behavior
Reinforcement
consequence that occurs after a behavior and
increases the chance that the behavior will occur
again
Punishment
consequence that occurs after a behavior and
decreases the chance that the behavior will occur
again

Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik

Module 10: Operant & Cognitive Approaches

REINFORCERS (CONT.)
Reinforcement
Positive reinforcement
refers to the presentation of a stimulus that
increases the probability that a behavior will
occur again
positive reinforcer is a stimulus that increases
the likelihood that a response will occur again
Negative reinforcement
refers to an aversive stimulus whose removal
increases the likelihood that the preceding
response will occur again

Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik

Module 10: Operant & Cognitive Approaches

REINFORCERS (CONT.)
Reinforcers
Primary reinforcers
stimulus such as food, water, or sex, that is
innately satisfying and requires no learning on
the part of the subject to become pleasurable
Secondary reinforcers
any 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

Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik

Module 10: Operant & Cognitive Approaches

REINFORCERS (CONT.)
Punishment
Positive punishment
refers to presenting an aversive (unpleasant)
stimulus after a response
Negative punishment
refers to removing a reinforcing stimulus after
a response

Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik

Module 10: Operant & Cognitive Approaches

SCHEDULES OF REINFORCEMENT
Skinners 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

Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik

Module 10: Operant & Cognitive Approaches

SCHEDULES OF REINFORCEMENT (CONT.)

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 following the first response
that occurs after a fixed interval of time

Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik

Module 10: Operant & Cognitive Approaches

SCHEDULES OF REINFORCEMENT (CONT.)

Partial reinforcement schedules
Variable-ratio schedule
a reinforcer is delivered after an average
number of correct responses has occurred
Variable-interval schedule
reinforcer occurs following the first correct
response after an average amount of time has
passed

Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik

Module 10: Operant & Cognitive Approaches

OTHER CONDITIONING CONCEPTS

Generalization
an animal or a 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

Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik

Module 10: Operant & Cognitive Approaches

OTHER CONDITIONING CONCEPTS (CONT.)

Extinction and spontaneous recovery
Extinction
refers to a 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

Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik

Module 10: Operant & Cognitive Approaches

COGNITIVE LEARNING
Three viewpoints of cognitive learning
against: B. F. Skinner
Skinner said, As far as Im concerned, cognitive
science is the creationism (downfall) of
psychology.
in favor: Edward Tolman
explored hidden mental processes
cognitive map
a mental representation in the brain of the layout
of an environment and its features

Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik

Module 10: Operant & Cognitive Approaches

COGNITIVE LEARNING (CONT.)

Three viewpoints of cognitive learning
in favor: Albert Bandura
Bandura
focused on how humans learn through observing
things
Social cognitive learning
results from watching, and modeling and does not
require the observer to perform any observable
behavior or receive any observable reward

Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik

Module 10: Operant & Cognitive Approaches

COGNITIVE LEARNING (CONT.)

Banduras 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 what the model says
or does
Memory
observer must store or remember the information so
that it can be retrieved and used later

Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik

Module 10: Operant & Cognitive Approaches

COGNITIVE LEARNING (CONT.)

Banduras social cognitive theory
Four processes (cont.)
Imitation
observer must be able to use the remembered
information to guide his or her own actions and
thus imitate the models behavior
Motivation
observer must have some reason or incentive
to imitate the models behavior.

Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik

Module 10: Operant & Cognitive Approaches

COGNITIVE LEARNING (CONT.)

Insight learning
Insight
a mental process marked by the sudden and
expected solution to a problem: a
phenomenon often called the ah-ha!
experience.

Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik

Module 10: Operant & Cognitive Approaches

BIOLOGICAL FACTORS
Definition
Biological factors
refer to innate tendencies or predispositions
that may either facilitate or inhibit certain kinds
of learning
Imprinting
refers to inherited tendencies or responses that
are displayed by newborn animals when they
encounter certain stimuli in their environment