Operant Conditioning - AP Psychology

When Skinner developed the operant conditioning box, it famously became known as the Skinner box. When a stimulus was presented, the box was designed such that a reward (or punishment) could be delivered depending on the subject's reaction to the stimulus. For example, when a light was shown, a mouse could push a lever and receive food.

Although placebos are used in a great deal of experiments, the Skinner box was developed to study the impact of reinforcement and punishment on learning and behavior.

Positive reinforcement rewards actions by presenting a positive stimulus, while negative reinforcements rewards actions by removing a negative stimulus. Positive punishment introduces a negative stimulus, while negative punishment removes a positive stimulus.

Negative reinforcement occurs when a negative stimulus (in this case, the homework) is removed in response to the desired behavior (behaving well in class).

B.F. Skinner believed that the best way to understand behavior is to look at the causes of an action and its consequences. This ideal forms the basis of operant conditioning.

In operant conditioning, there are two primary methods of conditioning behavior: positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement. Positive reinforcement is aimed at increasing a particular behavior, while negative reinforcement is designed to decrease a behavior.

In positive reinforcement, the subject either seeks to attain a positive stimulus, escape a negative stimulus, or actively avoid the prospect of a negative stimulus. In negative reinforcement, the subject may be threatened with a negative stimulus or the removal of a positive stimulus.

Examples of positive reinforcement include presenting food or removing an uncomfortable environmental factor. Examples of negative reinforcement include electrical shocks or removing a toy.

Because the passage of time is the only factor governing the release of the food pellets, this is an interval-based schedule; because the food is released regularly every twenty minutes, it is a fixed interval schedule.

Positivereinforcement involves the introduction of a new stimulus, whether that stimulus is pleasing or harmful. A reward refers to any pleasing reinforcement, either the awarding of something desired or the removal of something unwanted.

Because Mr. Jones is reinforcing class participation by giving his students something they want (extra credit on the next exam), he is giving them a positive reward.

A fixed-interval reinforcement schedule reinforces responses after a standardized period of time. In the correct answer, Mike is reinforced with a candy every 15 minutes that he completes the desired behavior of staying on task in class.

Punishment is an attempt to decrease unwanted behavior. It is the opposite of reinforcement, which is used to strengthen or increase behavior. Punishment does not, however, indicate that the subject has forgotten about their bad behavior. Because no positive reinforcement has been added, Billy has simply been told what not to do, there has been no indication of what he should do. It follows that, rather than learning from his mistake, Billy may simply become afraid of further punishment.

Because Timmy's performance of the target behavior (cleaning his room) is always reinforced, we know that this is a continuous reinforcement schedule.

Negative punishment refers to taking away something pleasant in order to change a certain behavior (i.e. - the parents take away the video games in order to get Joseph to take out the trash). Positive punishment refers to adding something unpleasant (so if the parents spanked Joseph or forced him to have to play his video games with his younger sister). Negative reinforcement involves taking away something in order to encourage the continuation of a certain behavior. Shaping is a technique in which someone/thing is gradually rewarded only when it does certain things but not others so that it will reach a desired behavior.

Classical conditioning was illustrated by Pavlov's dog experiment. Pavlov observed canine reflexively as they salivated at the site of food. He used an initial neutral stimulus and was able to condition the dogs to associate the once neutral (now conditioned) stimulus with the site of food. Ultimately the dogs would no longer require the actual site of food to salivate because the conditioned stimulus sufficed to induce the response. Conversely, operant conditioning was illustrated in Skinner and Thorndike's law of effect, where behaviors that were rewarded were more likely to be repeated than those that had negative consequences.

This is operant conditioning because behaviors are controlled through reinforcement. In this case, a reward, or positive reinforcement, is being presented. This is a variable-interval schedule because reinforcement is presented after varying intervals of time.

In operant conditioning there are two kinds of reinforcements - positive and negative reinforcement.

Reinforcement is a method that strengthens a desired response. The difference between negative and positive reinforcements is simply that one requires taking something away (negative) and the other adds something (positive). For positive reinforcement, a usually pleasurable stimulus is presented after the desired response. For example, after a dog successfully completes a trick, such as rolling over, we might present the dog with a tasty treat.

Because this question is focused on the definition of a term, primary reinforcement would not be correct. This is a reinforcer that is unlearned, such as satisfying a biological need. One common example is eating when hungry.

For the same reason as primary reinforcer, reinforcement schedule would also be incorrect. This is in regards to how often a response is reinforced. This is not particular to the type of reinforcer being used - positive or negative reinforcement could be used.

Reinforcement is the process by which usually desired behaviors are strengthened. Continuous reinforcement is simply reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs. Because it "directly" reinforces a behavior at every occurrence, it promotes rapid learning. This rapid learning in turn promotes a quick mastering of the desired behavior. For instance, if a mouse is rewarded a piece of cheese after pushing a bar every time, the mouse will master the technique of pushing that bar. In this case, the mouse will have experienced positive continuous reinforcement.

Intermittent reinforcement is simply when there is partial reinforcement. This means that a response will only be reinforced sometimes. While this may not entail rapid learning, such as continuous reinforcement with reinforcing every desired behavior, the slow acquisition allows for greater resistance from extinction. Extinction is the process by which the conditioning is forgotten. Therefore the two options pertaining to continuous reinforcement would be incorrect.

Primary reinforcers pertain to unlearned biological processes. A common example is food as a stimulus when one is hungry. This provides a pleasurable satisfaction to the biological need hunger. Therefore the two answers pertaining to primary reinforcers would also be incorrect.

Reinforcement schedules are patterns that define how often reinforcement will occur for a desired behavior.

For a fixed-ratio schedule in operant conditioning, the desired behavior is reinforced only after a particular number of responses. For instance, a frozen yogurt shop may reward us with a free cup of frozen yogurt after 10 purchases. A simple way to remember the difference between ratio and interval schedules is to keep in mind ratio refers to "n" number of responses while interval refers to time. These terms are modified by the schedule being specified as variable or fixed.

Reinforcement schedules are patterns that define how often reinforcement will occur for a desired behavior.

For a variable-ratio schedule in operant conditioning, the desired behavior is reinforced only after what seems like an unpredictable number of responses. For instance, individuals playing slot machines experience this kind of reinforcement. Because the reinforcers increase with the number of responses, this type of schedule receives high rates of responding. A simple way to remember the difference between ratio and interval schedules is to keep in mind ratio refers to number of responses while interval refers to time. These terms are modified by the schedule being specified as variable (varying) or fixed (specified).

Reinforcement schedules are patterns that define how often reinforcement will occur for a desired behavior.

For a variable-interval schedule in operant conditioning, the desired behavior is reinforced after what seems to be unpredictable amount of time. This resembles receiving a rewarding text message after persistently checking one's phone. There's no way of being able to determine how long the waiting period will be between texts. A simple way to remember the difference between ratio and interval schedules is to keep in mind ratio refers to number of responses while interval refers to time. These terms are modified by the schedule being specified as variable (varying) or fixed (specified).