Operant conditioning

• What is operant conditioning?

  > Learning due to the consequences of a behaviour

  > An association is made between a behaviour and a consequence (reinforcement or punishment)

  > Developed by Skinner
• What is reinforcement?

  > Strengthens the likelihood of a behaviour being repeated

  > Positive; gain something pleasant

  > Negative; removal of something unpleasant
• What is the token economy?

  Encourage desirable behaviour through a system of reward and reduce undesirable behaviour through the withdrawal of reward (punishment)
• What are the reinforcers?

  > Primary; something which fulfills a basic need and aids survival

  > Secondary; something which doesn't fulfill a basic need but can lead to it
• What is punishment?

  > Weakens behaviour happening again

  > Positive; shouted after behaviour

  > Negative; removal of something pleasant
• What did 'Skinner's box' involve?

  Positive + Primary;

  - Hungry rats placed in a box where they had to press a lever to obtain food

  - Explored the box where they accidentally pressed the lever

  Negative;

  - In later trials, rats had to press the lever to switch off the electric current
• Define 'schedules of reinforcement'?

  Precise rules/timings that are used to reinforce a specified behaviour
• What is a continuous schedule?

  Reinforcement is given after every target behaviour
• What is a fixed interval schedule?

  Fixed period of time between reinforcements
• What is a fixed ratio schedule?

  Fixed number of behaviours which must occur between reinforcements
• What is a variable interval schedule?

  Variable amount of time between reinforcements
• What is a variable ratio schedule?

  Variable number of behaviours which occur between reinforcements