Operant Conditioning

Story

Terms

animal research
antecedent
atheoretical
behavior
class of behavior
consequence
continuous
criticisms
difficulties
don’t punish
fiction
fixed interval
fixed ratio
functional analysis
generalized conditioned reinforcers
Gramma’s law
negative punishment
negative reinforcement
one subject at a time
operants
operational definition
person-centered
phone answering
positive punishment
positive reinforcement
primary reinforcer
punishment
reinforcement
schedules of reinforcement
secondary reinforcer
Skinner
Thorndike
variable interval
variable ratio

Quiz

1. Skinner’s approach was:
a. psychoanalytic
b. atheoretical
c. deduction
d. statistical

2. Instead of looking at intent, Skinner looks at behavior. This is called a:

a. decentralized approach
b. deferential analysis
c. functional analysis
d. fiction

3. Giving a verbal insult is called:

a. negative reinforcement
b. positive reinforcement
c. negative punishment
d. positive punishment

4. A reward impacts:

a. selected negative behaviors
b. the whole class of behavior
c. selected positive behaviors
d. conditioned stimuli

5. Which eliminates behavior:

a. negative reinforcement
b. negative punishment
c. positive punishment
d. none of the above

1. Skinner’s approach was:

a. psychoanalytic
b. atheoretical
c. deduction
d. statistical

2. Instead of looking at intent, Skinner looks at behavior. This is called a:

a. decentralized approach
b. deferential analysis
c. functional analysis
d. fiction

3. Giving a verbal insult is called:

a. negative reinforcement
b. positive reinforcement
c. negative punishment
d. positive punishment

4. A reward impacts:

a. selected negative behaviors
b. the whole class of behavior
c. selected positive behaviors
d. conditioned stimuli

5. Which eliminates behavior:

a. negative reinforcement
b. negative punishment
c. positive punishment
d. none of the above

Notes

What make me likely to pick up a barbell again? Isn’t it all a matter of thinking?

Skinner proposed that what happens after a behavior is more important than the behavior itself. The consequence determines whether a behavior is more or less likely to reoccur. It is consequences, not thinking that matters.

Consequences which increase the likelihood of a behavior occurring are said to have been reinforced. Consequences which result in a behavior being less likely to occur are call punishments.

Here are 5 things we’ll cover:

Skinner
Operant
Reinforcement
Self-reinforcement
Extinction

There are five things we are going to look at:

Skinner
Operant
Reinforcement
Schedules of Reinforcement
Punishment

1. Skinner

atheoretical
operational definition
built on Thorndike
fiction
functional analysis
animal research
one subject at a time
antecedent
behavior
consequence

2. Operant

class of behavior
phone answering
person-centered
functional analysis
criticisms

3. Reinforcement

primary
secondary
generalized conditioned reinforcers
Gramma’s law
positive reinforcement
negative reinforcement

4. Self Reinforcement

Intrinsic motivation
Being bad can be fun

5. Extinction

burst
spontaneous recovery
difficulties
reinstatement

Get Prepared

To do well in this class it is important that you come to class prepared. Class is to help clarify the material. It is not the primary delivery system.

Before coming to class, here is what you need to do. Read the assigned posts, articles and book chapters. Watch the videos. And get an overview of the material with a mind map. It will help you understand how the components relate to each other.

Take notes on all of this material. Come up with three questions you want to ask. Submit your two questions on Canvas and get two points. Ask one in class, if I don’t cover it.

Mind Map

A mind is a diagram of information. It helps you see hierarchies, paths and interrelationships. Mind maps have a circle in the middle and spokes that radiate out. All of the arms relate back to the central point but can intersect with each other. They can be simple or quite complex.

Here is the TOPIC mind map.

Videos

Some things are better presented in video. Films can cover the same material as a book but produce vastly different experiences. I’m disable with poor vision, so TV, films and videos work much better for me. My doctoral program would have been much easier if journal articles had been made into movies.

Here are the LINK TO videos.

Readings

Some things are better presented in words. I’m sorry I don’t have audio recordings of all the material you need to cover. But I’ve had pretty good luck getting my computer to read to me.

If you happened to be one of those sighted folk, you’ll find these sources even easier to access.

In general, read these quickly, like a novel. I’ll tell you what you need to know. These readings are to give you another voice, the same material but presented in different way.

Here they are the assigned readings in order of importance:

Class

Go to class.

Five Things To Know

Here are 5 things you need remember from this class session. Each class covers a lot of material but I want you to focus on only a few items. Everything is valuable but some things are more important

Read all of the supplemental material you want. Explore everything that catches your fancy but here are five things you need to know:

Skinner
Operant
Reinforcement
Schedules of Reinforcement
Punishment

Notes

Here are the class notes for TOPIC.

Key Terms

Here are the terms you need to know about TOPIC.

Quiz

It is important to check your progress. Here’s a short quiz for you: TOPIC Quiz

Discussion

Check on Canvas to see if there is a discussion due.

Progress Check

Check on Canvas to see if there is a progress check due this week.

Links to Explore

If you want more information on this topic, here are some links to sites you that might interest you.

These are starting places for you, not destinations. Read the posts, look at the resources listed in them and then read those articles. Enjoy!

Wikipedia:
And