1. Unit 5: Learning (Behaviorism)
WHS AP Psychology
Unit 5: Learning (Behaviorism)
Essential Task 5-3: Predict the effects of operant conditioning with specific attention to (primary, secondary, immediate, or delayed) positive/negative reinforcement and punishment.
Logo Green is R=8 G=138 B= Blue is R= 0 G=110 B=184
Border Grey is R=74 G=69 B=64

2. Essential Task 5-:
Outline
Predict the effects of operant conditioning with specific attention to 
Reinforcement increases behavior
Positive and Negative
Primary Reinforcers vs. Secondary Reinforcers
Immediate vs. Delayed Reinforcers
Punishment decreases behavior
Positive an Negative

3. Operant Conditioning
The type of learning in which behaviors are emitted to earn rewards or avoid punishments
In classical conditioning the response to the stimulus was automatic. In operant conditioning the participant operates on the environment to gain something desired or avoid something unpleasant.

4. Elements of Operant Conditioning
Reinforcer
A stimulus or event that follows a behavior and makes that behavior more likely to occur again
Punisher
A stimulus or event that follows a behavior and makes that behavior less likely to occur again

5. Edward L. Thorndike Animals placed in puzzle boxes
String pulled, latch released, animal jumps out and receives food
Learning by random trial and error
Law of Effect – Thorndike’s principle that responses are “stamped in” by rewards and “stamped out” by punishments.

6. Skinner’s Experiments
Skinner’s experiments extend Thorndike’s thinking, especially his law of effect. This law states that rewarded behavior is likely to occur again.
OBJECTIVE 11| State Thorndike’s law of effect, and explain its connection to Skinner’s research on operant conditioning.
Yale University Library

7. Walter Dawn/ Photo Researchers, Inc.
Operant Chamber
Using Thorndike's law of effect as a starting point, Skinner developed the Operant chamber, or the Skinner box, to study operant conditioning.
Walter Dawn/ Photo Researchers, Inc.

8. Operant Chamber
The operant chamber, or Skinner box, comes with a bar or key that an animal manipulates to obtain a reinforcer like food or water. The bar or key is connected to devices that record the animal’s response.

9. Shaping
Shaping is the operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior towards the desired target behavior through successive approximations.
OBJECTIVE 12| Describe the shaping procedure, and how it can increase our understanding of what animals and babies can discriminate.
A rat shaped to sniff mines. A manatee shaped to discriminate
objects of different shapes, colors and sizes.

10. Types of Reinforcement
Positive reinforcer (+)
Adds something rewarding following a behavior, making that behavior more likely to occur again
Giving a dog a treat for fetching a ball is an example
Negative reinforcer (-)
Removes something unpleasant that was already in the environment following a behavior, making that behavior more likely to occur again
Taking an aspirin to relieve a headache is an example
Golf claps
Low grade electrical shock only removed when you performed the task

11. Types of Reinforcers
Any event that strengthens the behavior it follows. A heat lamp positively reinforces a meerkat’s behavior in the cold.
OBJECTIVE 13| Compare positive and negative reinforcement, and give one example each of a primary reinforcer, a conditioned, an immediate, and a delayed reinforcer.
Reuters/ Corbis

14. Primary & Secondary Reinforcers
Primary Reinforcer: An innately reinforcing stimulus like food or drink.
Conditioned Reinforcer: A learned reinforcer that gets its reinforcing power through association with the primary reinforcer.

15. Immediate & Delayed Reinforcers
Immediate Reinforcer: A reinforcer that occurs instantly after a behavior. A rat gets a food pellet for a bar press.
Delayed Reinforcer: A reinforcer that is delayed in time for a certain behavior. A paycheck that comes at the end of a week.
We may be inclined to engage in small immediate reinforcers (watching TV) rather than large delayed reinforcers (getting an A in a course) which require consistent study.

16. An aversive event that decreases the behavior it follows.
Punishment
An aversive event that decreases the behavior it follows.
OBJECTIVE 15| Discuss the ways negative punishment, positive punishment, and negative reinforcement differ, and list some drawbacks of punishment as a behavior-control technique.

17. Punishment
Goal of punishment is to decrease the occurrence of a behavior
Effective punishment
Should occur as soon as possible after the behavior
Should be sufficient, i.e., strong enough
Should be certain, occurring every time the behavior does
Should be consistent

18. Punishment
Although there may be some justification for occasional punishment (Larzelaere & Baumrind, 2002), it usually leads to negative effects.
Results in unwanted fears.
Conveys no information to the organism.
Justifies pain to others.
Causes unwanted behaviors to reappear in its absence.
Causes aggression towards the agent.
Causes one unwanted behavior to appear in place of another.

20. Operant Conditioning is Selective
Operant conditioning techniques work best with behaviors that would typically occur in a specific situation
Superstitious behavior
Tendency to repeat behaviors that are followed closely by a reinforcer, even if they are not related
For example, a particular pair of socks might become “lucky” if something good happened when you wore them

21. Learned Helplessness
Failure to try to avoid an unpleasant stimulus because in the past it was unavoidable
Possible model for depression in humans

22. Behavioral Change Using Biofeedback
Biofeedback is an operant technique that teaches people to gain voluntary control over bodily processes like heart rate and blood pressure
When used to control brain activity it is called neurofeedback

24. Outline