What is operant conditioning?
The idea that behaviour is shaped and maintained through the consequences of one’s actions h
What are the 2 types of consequences to behaviour?
Reinforcement - makes a behaviour more likely to occur
Punishment - makes a behaviour less likely to occur
What did Skinner suggest?
Learning is an active process where humans & animals operate on their environment
What is positive reinforcement?
Doing a behaviour & getting a reward
What is negative reinforcement?
Doing a behaviour to avoid punishment
What is a positive punishment?
Doing a behaviour and getting punished
What is negative punishment?
Doing something bad and getting something good taken away
What is the main study that researched operant conditioning?
The Skinner box
What happened in the Skinner box?
Hungry rat placed in box and allowed to run around
Accidentally press lever to get food pellet (positive reinforcement) - Would then continue to press the pellet to get more food
Would also be shocked from the floor and might press lever to stop the shocking (negative reinforcement) - Rat would keep pressing lever whenever being shocked after that
What are some other principles of operant conditioning?
Extinction
Spontaneous recovery
What is extinction in the context of the Skinner box?
When the rat presses the lever and doesn’t get a reward - learns there are no more rewards so doesn’t press the lever anymore
Wha this spontaneous recovery in terms of the Skinner box?
After extinction, if the rat presses the lever and gets food, it will make the association faster
What are the 3 schedules of reinforcement?
Continuous reinforcement - getting a reward for every action
Fixed interval - only getting a reward after a certain amount of time
Fixed ratio - only getting a reward after doing something a fixed amount of times
What are the strengths of operant conditioning?
Has practical value - Glowacki (2016)
Skinner had high control of variables
What did Glowacki (2016) find?
Token economy in a hospital reduced the negative symptoms of schizophrenic patients - shows how operant conditoning can be used to reduce symptoms
How did Skinner have high control of variables?
Lab study - changed IV only when he needed
Enabled him to establish cause & effect
What are the weaknesses of operant conditioning?
Skinner ignores free will
Ethical issues of Skinner box
Cannot generalise results of animal studies - humans more complex
Ignores the biological approach
How does operant conditioning ignore free will?
Suggests past experiences that involve operant conditioning controls future behaviour - HOWEVER, doesn’t explain why children do things they get punished for
How does operant conditioning ignore the biological approach?
Can explain how aggression may be a learnt response but doesn’t explain how testosterone can affect aggression
How did the Skinner box have ethical issues?
He used an electric grid to shock animals - caused them pain
Questions whether research was needed
