Operant and Classical Conditioning

 Learning is involved in almost every phenomenon psychologists study and occurs in many different ways.  Every person uses learning techniques and processes to perform day-to-day functions.

 Operant conditioning is a method of learning that occurs through rewards and punishments for behavior.  Through operant conditioning, an association is made between a behavior and a consequence for that behavior.

 Operant conditioning was coined by behaviorist B.F. Skinner. As a behaviorist, Skinner believed that internal thoughts and motivations could not be used to explain behavior. Instead, he suggested, we should look only at the external, observable causes of human behavior. B.F. Skinner  Skinner used the term operant to refer to any "active behavior that operates upon the environment to generate consequences" (1953). In other words, Skinner's theory explained how we acquire the range of learned behaviors we exhibit each and every day.

Rewards can increase a behavior:  Your mom pays you 20$ for every ‘A’ you get on your report card.  Your teacher brings your class donuts because your class has had perfect attendance this month. Punishment can decrease a behavior:  You swear at your teacher and have to go to see the principal.  You come home past your curfew and get your car taken away.

 A Punishment is the presentation of an adverse event or outcome that causes a decrease in the behavior it follows  A reinforcer is any event that strengthens or increases the behavior it follows

 Positive Punishment: the addition of something unpleasant to make a behavior less likely. I want you to stop talking in class, so I flick you with a rubber band every time you open your mouth.  Negative Punishment: the removal of something pleasant to decrease a behavior. Your Mom does not let you watch Gray's Anatomy because you swore at the dinner table.

 Positive Reinforcement: the addition of something pleasant to increase a behavior. If I want you to study more and give you chocolate for studying, the chocolate is the positive reinforcement because it is pleasant and meant to increase your behavior.  Negative Reinforcement: the removal of something unpleasant to increase a behavior. If you have a headache and I want you to study, I may give you a Advil. The Advil is the negative reinforcement because it is removal something unpleasant (headache) and increasing your behavior (studying).

 A Skinner box is used to train animals and usually has a way to deliver food to an animal and a lever to press or disk to peck in order to get the food. The food is called a reinforcer, and the process of giving the food is called reinforcement. Remember: A reinforcer is anything likely to increase a behavior.

 BF Skinner used positive and negative reinforcements to change the behavior of rats He changed behavior in is small successive steps that he called shaping. For example, let’s say you want to teach your dog to go fetch your slippers from the closet and you wanted to use positive reinforcement to do so. You would first give your dog a treat when he goes to your closet (that may take a couple of days). Then you would reinforce him again when he picks up your slippers. Then you give him a treat once again when he brings them to your feet.

 Operant Conditioning Video Operant Conditioning Video

 Classical conditioning is a technique used in behavioral training. A naturally occurring stimulus is paired with a response. Then, a previously neutral stimulus is paired with the naturally occurring stimulus. Eventually, the previously neutral stimulus comes to evoke the response without the presence of the naturally occurring stimulus. The two elements are then known as the conditioned stimulus and the conditioned response.

 Tomato soup is your favorite food. One night you eat a bowl of tomato soup then later that night you wake up with the stomach flu and start vomiting.  Now a few weeks later you have noticed that whenever you smell tomato soup it makes you feel nauseous.  You have developed a conditioned response to tomato soup.

 The unconditioned stimulus is one that unconditionally, naturally, and automatically triggers a response. For example, when you smell one of your favorite foods, you may immediately feel very hungry. In this example, the smell of the food is the unconditioned stimulus.unconditioned stimulus

 The conditioned stimulus is previously neutral stimulus that, after becoming associated with the unconditioned stimulus, eventually comes to trigger a conditioned response.  For example, suppose that the smell of food is an unconditioned stimulus and a feeling of hunger is the unconditioned response. Now, imagine that when you smelled your favorite food, you also heard the sound of a whistle. While the whistle is unrelated to the smell of the food, if the sound of the whistle was paired multiple times with the smell, the sound would eventually trigger the conditioned response. In this case, the sound of the whistle is the conditioned stimulus.

 In classical conditioning, the conditioned response is the learned response to the previously neutral stimulus. For example, let's suppose that the smell of food is an unconditioned stimulus, a feeling of hunger in response the smell is a unconditioned response, and a the sound of a whistle is the conditioned stimulus. The conditioned response would be feeling hungry when you heard the sound of the whistle.classical conditioning

 Classical Conditioning Video Classical Conditioning Video

 Classical Conditioning Video # 2 Classical Conditioning Video # 2