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    Operant Conditioning

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    Yunran
    B.F. Skinner expanded on Watson's behaviorist ideas by proposing the theory of operant conditioning, in which future behavior is determined by the consequences of past behavior. Through processes like reinforcement, punishment, and shaping, behaviors can be strengthened or weakened based on whether they are followed by pleasant or unpleasant consequences. Skinner argued that learning occurs through an organism operating on its environment, not through unseen mental processes, and that psychology could be understood purely through studying environmental influences on observable behavior. His theories formed the foundation of modern behaviorism.

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    Operant Conditioning

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    Yunran
    329 views2 pages
    B.F. Skinner expanded on Watson's behaviorist ideas by proposing the theory of operant conditioning, in which future behavior is determined by the consequences of past behavior. Through processes like reinforcement, punishment, and shaping, behaviors can be strengthened or weakened based on whether they are followed by pleasant or unpleasant consequences. Skinner argued that learning occurs through an organism operating on its environment, not through unseen mental processes, and that psychology could be understood purely through studying environmental influences on observable behavior. His theories formed the foundation of modern behaviorism.

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    B.F. Skinner expanded on Watson's behaviorist ideas by proposing the theory of operant conditioning, in which future behavior is determined by the consequences of past behavior. Through processes like reinforcement, punishment, and shaping, behaviors can be strengthened or weakened based on whether they are followed by pleasant or unpleasant consequences. Skinner argued that learning occurs through an organism operating on its environment, not through unseen mental processes, and that psychology could be understood purely through studying environmental influences on observable behavior. His theories formed the foundation of modern behaviorism.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    329 views2 pages

    Operant Conditioning

    Uploaded by

    Yunran
    B.F. Skinner expanded on Watson's behaviorist ideas by proposing the theory of operant conditioning, in which future behavior is determined by the consequences of past behavior. Through processes like reinforcement, punishment, and shaping, behaviors can be strengthened or weakened based on whether they are followed by pleasant or unpleasant consequences. Skinner argued that learning occurs through an organism operating on its environment, not through unseen mental processes, and that psychology could be understood purely through studying environmental influences on observable behavior. His theories formed the foundation of modern behaviorism.

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    The Behaviourist Perspective 3: Operant Conditioning

    You need to be able to:


     Describe the process of operant conditioning
     Outline the theories of B.F.Skinner
     Assess the contribution of the behaviourists to Psychology

    Burrhus F. Skinner and Behaviourist Psychology

    B.F.Skinner was very much influenced by Watson’s behaviourist ideas. However, he also realised that the psychology
    proposed by Watson had some serious shortcomings. In particular, a psychology based wholly on classical conditioning
    assumes that organisms are essentially passive – they just hang around waiting for stimuli to respond to. To Skinner it
    seemed obvious that people and animals actively engage with their environments. Skinner’s important insight was that
    an animal’s – or a person’s – behaviour was determined by the consequences of its past behaviour.

    Skinner’s Main Ideas

    Main Idea What’s This?


    Operant conditioning A type of learning in which future behaviour is determined by the consequences of past
    behaviour. In general, if a behaviour results in something that the organism finds pleasant,
    it is likely to be repeated. Conversely, if behaviour is followed by unpleasant
    consequences, then it is unlikely to be repeated.
    Reinforcement A reinforcement is a consequence that strengthens a behaviour or makes it likely to be
    repeated. Note that reinforcement is not always the same as a reward. A reward is an
    example of positive reinforcement (the presentation of a pleasant stimulus). However,
    behaviour can also be strengthened if it leads to the removal of something unpleasant
    (negative reinforcement).
    Punishment A punishment is a consequence that weakens a behaviour or makes it less likely to be
    repeated. It can involve the presentation of an unpleasant stimulus or the removal or a
    pleasant one (sometimes these are referred to as positive and negative punishment).
    Shaping A process used to teach complex behaviours. A complex behaviour is broken down into a
    series of simple behaviours. These are taught one by one using reinforcement and
    punishment and gradually combined to create the desired complex behaviour. Shaping is
    frequently used to teach tricks to animals.
    Stimulus control The process by which a person or animal learns that a particular behaviour only brings
    reinforcement under particular conditions. For example, a cat may learn that meowing
    results in the presentation of food (positive reinforcement) but only when there is a person
    in the kitchen. It therefore only meows when a person is there – the behaviour (meowing)
    is under stimulus control (a person is in the kitchen).

    Operant Conditioning

    Skinner called learning from consequences ‘operant conditioning’ because it is based on how organisms operate on their
    environment. Essentially, Skinners theory is that the likelihood of future behaviour is determined by the consequences of
    past behaviour. In common with Watson, Skinner did not think it necessary to speculate on what went on in people’s
    minds. He believed that the environment and behaviour were all that was necessary to an understanding of psychology.

    www.psychlotron.org.uk Contributed by Aidan Sammons


    Positive Reinforcement

    So how do the consequences of behaviour affect future behaviour? In Skinner’s terms, three things can happen. If a
    behaviour has no consequence, then the likelihood of that behaviour being repeated in future does not change.
    However, if a behaviour brings about a consequence that the organism finds pleasant, then they behaviour is likely to be
    repeated in future. For example, suppose we take a rat and in its cage we put a lever it can press. The lever is rigged
    up to a mechanism that dispenses food, so when the rat presses the lever it gets a bit of rat-food.

    Sooner or later, the rat will press the lever by accident. When this happens, some food will appear. The rat may or may
    not connect the appearance of the food with the pressing of the lever, but after a few similar occurrences it will. It will
    then start pressing the lever in order to obtain food. So the presentation of food has acted as a positive reinforcement
    for the behaviour of lever pressing.

    Punishment

    Suppose we now play a dirty trick on the rat. We change the mechanism so that when it presses the lever, instead of
    receiving a food pellet it is given an electric shock to its paw. Very quickly, the rat will stop pressing the lever. The
    electric shock has acted as a punishment which had the effect of weakening then extinguishing the lever pressing
    behaviour.

    Negative Reinforcement

    Now we get really cruel. We set up the cage so that the floor can be electrified and alter the mechanism so that the lever
    now switches off the current. Once we electrify the floor of the cage the rat will start bouncing about and will probably
    accidentally hit the lever. This will turn off the electric current. We then repeat the experiment. Eventually, the rat will
    learn to press the lever immediately the current is turned on. We have re-established and strengthened the lever
    pressing behaviour, so we must have been reinforcing it. However, this was not a positive reinforcement, as we were not
    rewarding the rat with something it liked. Rather, we were reinforcing it by taking away something it didn’t like. This is an
    example of negative reinforcement.

    Consequence What it involves Effect on behaviour


    Positive reinforcement Presenting something the organism Strengthened
    likes
    Negative reinforcement Removing something the organism Strengthened
    doesn’t like
    Punishment Presenting something the organism Weakened
    doesn’t like

    www.psychlotron.org.uk Contributed by Aidan Sammons

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