1. Operant Conditioning (Types of Reinforcement) Mr. Koch Psychology Forest Lake High School

2. Operant Conditioning Ways to decrease behavior – Extinction – Punishment Ways to increase behavior – Pairing – Positive reinforcement – Negative reinforcement

3. Operant Conditioning

5. Primary Reinforcers – Associated with needs – Not learned – Ex: food, clothing, shelter Secondary Reinforcers – Associated with something that satisfies a need – Is learned – Ex: $$$, poker chips, food stamps, grades

6. Operant Conditioning Positive Reinforcement – Increases the frequency of a behavior – Is wanted – Ex: food, praise, money, awards Negative Reinforcement – Increases behavior by removing something unpleasant (discomfort, fear, social disapproval, etc) – “reverse reward” – Ex: don’t have to do the dishes all week if you get an A

7. Operant Conditioning Punishment – Consequence that decreases the rate of a behavior Important: – What is reinforcing to one is NOT necessarily to another Ex: Suspension after skipping school = more days off vs. fear of suspension – Increases attendance for some, not for others Ex: Student forced to stay after school = punishment for some vs. now getting teacher’s full attention (positive)

8. Operant Conditioning (Schedules of Reinforcement) Fixed Interval – based on time – Reinforced after a set time period Ex: bell ringing after class Ex: quizzes every Friday Variable Interval – Based on time – Reinforced randomly at different times – Resistant to extinction Ex: pop quizzes

9. Operant Conditioning (Schedules of Reinforcement) Fixed Ratio – Based on responses (behaviors) – After set # of correct responses – Easy to extinguish behavior Ex: piecework in factories, dog treat every 3 rd time trick is performed Variable Ratio – Reinforce behavior after random number of correct responses – Very resistant to extinction (can be addictive) Ex: Gambling, fishing

10. Operant Conditioning Avoidance Conditioning – Eliminate undesirable behavior not yet present – Subject taught to avoid stimulus Counter Conditioning – Applies to already learned undesirable behaviors – Seeking a new response – Unlearning old behavior