Outline 2 primary characteristics of Skinner’s work 1. Atheoretical 2. Inductive Built on Thorndike’s work Expanded Thorndike’s law of effect to an entire system of reinforcement Thorndike experiment: Hungry cat learned to pull a string in order to leave a box and eat food from a bowl placed just outside the box Law of Effect:  Behavior is controlled by its consequences Behavior is emitted from the organism A consequence occurs The organism adapts its behavior accordingly Focus on S-R-C (stimulus-response-consequence) Not S-R (stimulus-response) Rewards impact an entire class of behavior Operant is a class of behavior Not a single response Answering the phone Fictions People are responsible for their own behavior; people are autonomous Free will is a superstition It’s intent that counts Reinforcement & Punishment is not in the intent but in the effect   Approach Radical behaviorism S-R theory can account for all overt behaviors Took ideas of Watson to logical extreme Social Darwinism philosophical assumption that we are nothing more than a bundle of behaviors shaped by environment Concentrated on variable and environmental forces, not person Sought general principles of behavior  Relied on animal research (mostly rats and pigeons) Elegantly simplistic theory Functional analysis 1 subject at a time (laws of behavior must apply to every subject) Internal structures are "fiction" can’t be directly observed can’t operationally define can’t systematically test them Unnecessary to posit internal forces personality and personality theories are superfluous internal states (if they exist) are the by-product of behavior Operational definitions Clear definitions not open to interpretation Didn’t infer internal states (hunger, etc) # of hrs not eaten Did not hypothesize drive, insight or any internal process Skinner’s experimental approach Manipulated when a reward was received Built a body of knowledge on replication Used single subject designs (N=1) Rejected statistical analyses    Operant Conditioning Also called instrumental conditioning:  Responses operate on the environment and are instrumental in receiving reward 3 Components 1. Antecedent condition Circumstances that indicate when to respond The antecedent can be in the form of a discriminative stimulus     - green light = cross.     - red light = don’t cross. 2. Behaviour 3. Consequence The outcome, result of the behaviour     Reinforcement = positive outcome     Punishment = negative outcome 2 bi-polar dimensions of consequences Give-take Posit Negate Good-bad Reward Punish 4 consequence conditions Positive reinforcement Positive punishment Negative reinforcement Negative punishment    Reinforcement Definition An environmental stimulus that occurs after the response and increases the likelihood that the response will occur in the future Increases likelihood of operant reappearing 3 types Primary Secondary Generalized conditioned reinforcers Primary Reinforcer satisfies some biological need and works naturally, regardless of a person’s prior experience Secondary Reinforcer a stimulus that becomes reinforcing because of its association with a primary reinforcer Generalized conditioned reinforcers A type of secondary Praise and affection 2 ways to apply give + take -  Positive Reinforcement Process by which presentation of a stimulus after a response makes the response more likely to occur in the future  Negative Reinforcement Negative reinforcement involves a situation in which a response that terminates an aversive  stimulus will strengthen that response Eating an aspirin will reduce the headache and strengthen the behavior of aspirin-eating (sometimes referred to as escape-learning) Avoidance learning:  A response prevents a potentially aversive event from occurring     Child cleans his room to avoid parental nagging Removing impending doom 5 schedules of reinforcement Continuous reinforcement Shaping Reinforcer is obtained for every response Fixed interval (FI) (scalloped) Fixed ratio (FR) Variable interval (VI) (resistant to extinction) Variable ratio (VR) (very resistant to extinction) Intermittent schedules: Reinforcer is not obtained for every response Ratio Schedules Fixed Ratio: Every Nth response Variable Ratio:  The average is every Nth response Interval Schedules: Fixed Interval:  After the elapse of N minutes Variable Interval:  On average, after N minutes Rewards should be given deferentially Parents should reward behaviors they want and ignore (extinguish) behaviors they don’t want.  Behavior can be shaped by rewarding successive approximations Practice without reinforcement doesn’t improve performance    Punishment Punishment (positive and negative) decrease the likelihood an operant reappearing 2 ways to apply: give and take Punishment decreases the likelihood that a response will occur Examples of punishing situations Presentation of an aversive stimulus (Positive punishment) Parent spanks a child for taking candy... Owner swats a dog who has chewed her slippers... Removal of a reward (Negative punishment) Teenager who stays out past curfew  is not allowed to drive the family car for 2 weeks... Husband who forgets anniversary sleeps on couch for a week.  Difficulties in Punishment Learner may not understand which operant behavior is being punished Learner may come to fear the teacher, rather than learn an association between the action and punishment (then avoids the teacher) Punishment may not undo existing rewards for a behavior Using punishment when the teacher is angry Punitive aggression may lead to future aggression Blocks behavior, not eliminate it   Application Teaching pigeons to play table tennis Language development Chomsky Programmed instruction Teaching machine (or books with small quizzes) Small bits of info presented in ordered sequence Each frame or bit of information must be learned before one is allowed to proceed to the next section Proceeding to the next section is thought rewarding Therapy 3 steps identify the behaviors that are maladaptive, remove them and substitute more adaptive and appropriate behaviors No need to review the individual’s past or encourage reliving it not dependent on self-understanding or insight Teaching machines (programmed instruction) Operant conditioning chamber hated the popular title of “Skinner box”) “Baby Tender” crib air conditioned glass box used for his own daughter for two and a half years commercially available not a popular success. Theoretically successful but practically unaccepted applications WWII missile guidance system Pigeons as “navigators” Army rejected it out of hand. Token economy (retarded, industrial, prison)   Social Utopia Walden II (behaviorally engineered society designed by a benevolent psychologist) Beyond Freedom and Dignity (most major problems today (war, etc.) are caused by human behavior   Criticisms Can’t handle intentionality "If as behaviorism maintains people do not initiate actions on their own but simply act in ways in which they have been conditioned they cannot change on the basis of predictions"