E.L. Thorndike

Law of Effect

Law of Effect

Organisms learn through the consequences of their actions

B.F. Skinner

Wrote Behavior of Organisms (1938) & Walden Two (1948)

B.F. Skinner

Experimental Analysis of Behavior

B.F. Skinner

Operant Conditioning -

Operant Chamber/Skinner Box

B.F. Skinner

Verbal behavior &

Private Events

B.F. Skinner

Radical Behaviorism

Operant Conditioning

A-B-C

S-R-S

S-R-C

Operant Behavior

Acts on the environment & results from movements of the skeletal frame (striated muscles

Consequence

Stimulus or event that occurs after a response

Reinforcement

Environmental change which follows a response and increases or maintains the future frequency of that behavior

Reinforcement

Consequence reinforces responses not organisms

Reinforcement

Is a descriptive term and NOT an explanation

Reinforcement

Contingency between the response and the consequence must exist

Reinforcement

Environmental change must occur immediately after the response

Punishment

Environmental change which follows a response and decreases the future frequency of that behavior

Positive Reinforcement

An environmental change in which a stimulus is added (presented) or magnified following a response, which increases or maintains the future frequency of that behavior

Positive Reinforcer

A stimulus that when presented following a response increases or maintains the future frequency of that behavior

Includes – tangibles, attention, and activities

Reinforcer Shift

What is reinforcing at one time for an organism may not be reinforcing at other times

(depends on Establishing/Motivating Operations)

Competing Reinforcers

The value of a reinforcer depends on competing reinforcers that are available for the same behavior and for competing reinforcers

Reinforcers and Effort

A reinforcer may effectively reinforce one response and not reinforce a different response.  The amount of effort involved in responding is often a determining factor

Premack Principle

 If the opportunity to engage in a preferred or high probability behavior is made contingent on engaging in a less preferred behavior, the future frequency of the less preferred behavior will increase

Unconditioned Reinforcer

SR+ or SR-

A stimulus that usually is reinforcing without any prior learning, due to phylogenic provenance

Primary Reinforcers – i.e., Food, water, and sexual activity

Conditioned Reinforcer

Sr+ or Sr-

A stimulus that initially has no innate reinforcing properties, but acquires reinforcing properties through pairing with unconditioned reinforcers or strongly conditioned reinforcers

Generalized Conditioned Reinforcers

A conditioned reinforcer that has been paired with a variety of other reinforcers and which is effective for a wide range of behaviors

Generalized Conditioned Reinforcers

Less susceptible to the effects of deprivation and satiation

Ex – praise, money, tokens

Negative Reinforcement

An environmental change in which a stimulus is subtracted (removed/attenuated) following a response, which increases or maintains future frequency of that behavior

An irritant/aversive antecedent condition Must exist!

Escape

A behavior that terminates an aversive stimulus; thus it is maintained by negative reinforcement

Avoidance

Terminates or delays a warning stimulus (a conditioned aversive stimulus whose presence is correlated with the upcoming onset of an unconditioned aversive stimulus)

Socially-mediated positive reinforcement

Attn, edibles, tangibles,

Access to preferred

activity

Socially-mediated negative reinforcement

Escape from task, having to comply with request, setting, people

Automatic positive

Reinforcement

Attn, edibles, tangibles,

Access to preferred

Activity,

Proprioceptive Feedback

Automatic negative

Reinforcement

Escape from pain/discomfort,

Escape from task, having to comply with request, setting, people

Operant Extinction

The process by which a previously reinforced behavior is weakened by withholding reinforcement

Extinction Burst

When a behavior is no longer reinforced, it will immediately and temporarily increase in frequency, duration, and intensity before it decreases

Extinction of behavior maintained through positive reinforcement

The reinforcer is withheld

(not presented)

Extinction of behavior maintained through negative reinforcement

The aversive antecedent stimulus is NOT withdrawn (not terminated or removed)

Sensory Extinction

Masking the sensory consequences of the behavior (padding the table for head banging)

Extinction

The procedure of non-reinforcement of a previously reinforced behavior

Spontaneous Recovery

The process in which, when an operant behavior has ceased following extinction, the behavior may reoccur at a later time n the same circumstances in which it was previously reinforced

Automaticity of

Reinforcement

Reinforcement works without any need for verbal-mediation

Automaticity of

Reinforcement

We cannot refer to hypothetical constructs such as expectancy, understanding, knowing, and awareness

Punishment

An environmental change that follows a response which decreases the future frequency of that behavior

Positive Punishment

An environmental change in which a stimulus is added (presented) or magnified following a response, which decreases the future frequency of that behavior

Positive Punisher

A stimulus that when presented following a response decreases the future frequency of that behavior

Unconditioned Punisher

A stimulus that usually is punishing without any prior learning; that is, due to phylogenic provenance

Conditioned Punisher

A stimulus that initially has no punishing properties, but acquires them through pairing with unconditioned punishers; that is, due to ontongenic provenance

Negative punishment

An environmental change in which a stimulus is subtracted (withdrawn, removed) or attenuated following a response, which decreases the future frequency of that behavior

(appetitive condition whose removal would be punishing has to exist)

Time-out from positive reinforcement

A type of negative punishment procedure in which a response starts a timer; while the time is running; the organism cannot access reinforcers

Recovery from punishment

The process by which a previously punished behavior is strengthened by withholding punishment

Differential Reinforcement

Consists of two operations: reinforcement and extinction (not reinforcing)

Differential Reinforcement

Reinforce some responses and not reinforcing other responses.  Leads to differentiation

Differentiation

If differential reinforcement consists of reinforcing a response when certain stimuli are present and not reinforcing the same response when those stimuli are not present; differential reinforcement leads to differentiation – R-S contingency (different responses

Discrimination

S-R-S contingency that leads to

Discrimination

(different simuli)

Shaping

The differential reinforcement of successive approximations to a target behavior

Shaping

Leads to differentiation and is used to establish a novel topography or dimension of a behavior