Operant conditioning

• what is positive punishment?

  receipt of something undesirable
• what is negative punishment?

  removal of something desirable
• what is positive reinforcement?

  receipt of something positive
• what is negative reinforcement?

  removal of something undesirable
• what is a primary reinforcer?

  something that occurs naturally - food, water, shelter
• what is a secondary reinforcer?

  something that can be exchanged for a primary reinforcer
• what is a token economy?

  place where secondary reinforcer is exchanged for primary reinforcer
• what is continuous reinforcement?

  behaviour being rewarded every time it is done
• what is a fixed ratio

  a reinforcement schedule in which desirable behaviour is rewarded every nth time
• what is variable ratio?

  a reinforcement schedule in which desired behaviour is rewarded every nth time on average
• what was skinner ABC method?

  • A - antecedent the stimulus that triggers the behaviour
  • B - behaviour the response made that can be observed
  • C - consequence reward/punishment following the behaviour
• what is the positive evidence?

  • thorndike and skinner - operant conditioning can be done on animals: cats, rats and pigeons
  • in laboratory studies we can use variable reinforcement schedules, their findings have good reliability
• what is the negative evidence?

  so focused on animals that the results are difficult to generalise to humans - humans are more cog and emotionally complex
• what is the application?

  • training of dogs - police and guide dogs
  • retail users using reward points
  • society - if you work, you are paid and the money can be exchanged for primary reinforcers
• what is the strength of this theory?

  it is based on scientific framework with replicable and objective evidence to support it unlike a psychodynamic approach
• what are the shortcomings?

  • research on animals created problems about generalising animals to humans
  • ethical use of animals for the experiment?
  • lack of ecological validity as behaviours that are learnt aren't always rewarded
• what are the alternate theories?

  biological theories suggest that animals may be born with instincts or are predisposed to learn certain behaviours - this is ignored by operant conditioning