05/05/14 Operant Conditioning

• Operant Conditioning 
• The learner is not passive
• Learning based on consequence.
• A type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by reinforcement or diminished if followed by punishment.
• Classical v. Operant
• They both use acquisition, discrimination, SR, generalization and extinction.
• Classical conditioning is automatic (respondent behavior). Dogs automatically salivate over meat, then bell- no thinking involved.
• Operant conditioning involves behavior where one can influence their environment with behaviors which have consequences. (Operant behavior.)

• Law of Effect by Edward Thorndike
• Rewarded behavior is likely to reccur.
• B.F. Skinner
• Shaping- a procedure in operant conditioning in which reinforces guide behavior closer and closer towards a goal.
• Reinforcers
• Any event that strengthens the behavior it follows.
• Two types of reinforcment.
• Positive
• Negative
• Positive Reinforcement
• Strengthens a response by presenting a stimulus after a response.
• Negative Reinforcement
• Strengthens a response by reducing or removing an aversive stimulus. 
• Types of Reinforcers
1. Primary Reinforcers
• an innately reinforcing stimulus.
2. Conditiones (Secondary) Reinforcers
• A stimulus that gains its reinforcing power through its association within its primary reinforcement. 
• Punishment
• An event that decreases the behavior that it follows.
• Reinforcement Schedules
1. Continuous Reinforcement
• Reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs. 
2. Partial Reinforcement
• Reinforcing a response only part of the time
• The acquisition process is slower.
• Greater resistance to extinction.
3. Fixed- Ratio Schedules
• A schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses.
• Ex: I give cookie monster a cookie every five times he sings "C is for Cookie."
4. Variable- Ratio Schedules
• A schedule of reinforcement that reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of response.
5. Fxed Interval Schedule
• A schedule of reinforcement that reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed. 
6. Variable Interval Schedule
• A schedule of reinforcement that reinforces a response at unpredictable intervals.