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Unconditioned
Conditioned Unconditioned Response:
Stimulus: RABBIT Stimulus: NOISE STARTLE/CRY
EFFECT ON BEHAVIOR:
Student turn in homework
on time again
BEHAVIOR: CONSEQUENCE:
You take aspirin for Your headache
a headache goes away
EFFECT ON BEHAVIOR:
You take aspirin again the
next time you have a headache
TYPES OF DESCRIPTION
REINFORCER
Primary reinforcer A stimulus that is innately
satisfying and works naturally,
regardless of a person’s prior
experience
EFFECT ON BEHAVIOR:
You clean up your room to
avoid being nagged about it
CONSEQUENCE:
BEHAVIOR: You are not allowed to
You come home ver y late go out with your friends
for two weeks
EFFECT ON BEHAVIOR:
You don’t come home lat e the
next time you are allowed to go
go out with your friends.
• Do we apply the positive
reinforcement every time a
child does something positive?
• Do we punish a child every time
he does something negative?
• These questions pertain to the
schedules of reinforcement.
• Continuous
reinforcement—
behavior that is reinforced
every time it occurs (e.g.
getting a raise after every
successful project or
getting spanked after
every negative behavior)
• Partial
reinforcement—
behavior that is
reinforced some but not
all of the time
• A fixed ratio schedule refers to
applying the reinforcement after a
specific number of behaviors.
• Example: spanking a child if you
have to ask him three times to
clean his room is an example.
• Critique: The behavior does not
tend to change until right before
the preset number.
• Applying the reinforcer after a
specific (fixed) amount of time
is referred to as a fixed
interval schedule.
• Example: getting a raise
every year and not in between
• Critique: People tend to
improve their performance
right before the time period
expires so as to "look good"
• When reinforcement is applied
on an irregular basis, they are
called variable schedules.
• Variable Ratio—this refers to
applying a reinforcer after a
varying number of responses
rather than after a fixed
number.
• Example: gambling
• Variable Interval—time between
reinforcements varies around
some average rather than being
fixed
• Example: A boss who checks
employee’s work periodically
tends to have employees who
work hard because they don’t
know when the next ‘check-up’
might come.
• The variable schedules are
more powerful and result in
more consistent behaviors.
• This may not be as true for
punishment since consistency
in the application is so
important, but for all other types
of reinforcement they tend to
result in stronger responses.
CONCEPTS DESCRIPTION
Generalization Giving the same response to a
similar stimuli
Discrimination Responding to stimuli that signal a
behavior will or will not be
reinforced
Extinction Becoming less likely to perform a
previously reinforced behavior
when it is no longer followed by the
reinforcer
Spontaneous Refers to the temporary recovery in
recovery the rate of responding
We learn every day in our lives
based on the natural
consequences of previous
actions.
For positive actions, if
something done results in a
positive outcome, we are likely
to do that same activity again.
CLASSICAL OPERANT
CONDITIONING CONDITIONING