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Barsleeby Alex Daniel

II nd M.Sc Psychology





Ý ¬lassical conditioning involves respondent
behavior that occurs as an automatic response to a
certain stimulus. Operant conditioning involves
operant behavior, a behavior that operates on the
environment, producing rewarding or punishing
stimuli.
6



Ý 6dward Lee Thorndike was born in August 31, 1874.
Ý 6dward Lee Thorndike was a son of a Methodist
minister in Lowell, Massachusetts
Ý After graduating from Weslyan University enrolled at
Harvard in order to study under William James.
Ý He completed a study of maze learning in chicks, but
for personal reasons, Thorndike did not complete his
education at Harvard.
Ý ¬attell invited him to go to ¬olumbia University where
he continued his animal research
Ý He switched from chicks to cats and dogs, and made
good use out of his own designed "puzzled boxes.Dz
Ý In 1898, he was awarded the doctorate for his thesis,
"Animal Intelligence: An 6xperimental Study of the
Associative Processes in Animals", in which he
concluded that an experimental approach is the only
way to understand learning and established his
famous "Law of 6ffectDz.
Ý Upon graduation, Thorndike returned to his initial
interest, 6ducational Psychology.
Ý In 1899, after a year of unhappy, initial employment at
the ¬ollege for Women of ¬ase Western Reserve in
¬leveland, Ohio, he became an instructor in
psychology at Teachers ¬ollege at ¬olumbia
University, where he remained for the rest of his
career, studying human learning, education, and
mental testing.
Ý On August 29, 1900, he wed 6lizabeth Moulton and
they had five children.
Ý 6dward L. Thorndike's pioneer investigations in the
fields of human and animal learning are among the
most influential in the history of Psychology..
Ý In 1912, he was recognized for his accomplishments
and elected president of the American Psychological
Association.
Ý In 1934, the American Association for the
Advancement of Science elected Thorndike as the only
social scientist to head this professional organization.
Ý Thorndike retired in 1939, but worked actively until his
death ten years later
¬



Ý ô term often used to describe Thorndike `s
explanation of learning since he assumed learning
involved the strengthening of neural bonds
(connections) between stimulating conditions and
the responses to them.
Ý There are many forms of connectionism, but the most
common forms use neural network models.
Ý he constructed devices called "puzzle boxes.
Ý Whereas classical conditioning depends on developing
associations between events ,
 

 
  



  

.
Ý Skinner wasnǯt the first psychologist to study learning
by consequences. Indeed, Skinner's theory of operant
conditioning is built on the ideas of 6dward
Thorndike.
Ý 
 studied learning in animals
(usually cats). He devised a classic experiment in
which he used a puzzle box to empirically test the laws
of learning.
Ý He placed a cat in the  
!, which was
encourage to escape to reach a scrap of fish placed
outside. Thorndike would put a cat into the box and
time how long it took to escape. The cats
experimented with different ways to escape the puzzle
box and reach the fish.
Ý 6ventually they would stumble upon the lever which
opened the cage. When it had escaped it was put in
again, and once more the time it took to escape was
noted. In successive trials the cats would learn that
pressing the lever would have favorable consequences
and they would adopt this behavior, becoming
increasingly quick at pressing the lever.
Ý This evaluation led Thorndike to conclude that
animals learn, solely, by  
, or 
"
and 
. Thorndike used the cat's behavior
in a puzzle box to describe what happens when all
beings learn anything.
Ý All learning involves the formation of connections,
and connections were strengthened according to the
law of effect.
Ý Intelligence is the ability to form connections and
humans are the most evolved animal because they
form more connections then any other being.
Ý He continued his study with learning by writing his
famous ô
 

. In this he argued that we
study animal behavior, not animal consciousness, for
the ultimate purpose of controlling behavior.
Ý Today, he is known for his early animal studies and the
founding principle of Instrumental Learning, "The
Law of 6ffect".
Ý The Dz6"  6
# only pleasurable consequences
had an effect on the strength of a connection .
Ý It refers to strengthening or weakening of the
connection between a stimulus and a response as a
result of a consequence of response .
Ý 
$" 
!

$ held that the more an S-R
(stimulus response) bond is practiced the stronger it
will become as with the law of effect, the law of
exercise also had to be updated when Thorndike found
that practice without feedback does not necessarily
enhance performance.
Ý 
$"  

$ : because of the structure of
the nervous system, certain conduction units, in a
given situation, are more predisposed to conduct than
others.
  


Ý Born March 20, 1904 Ȃ Died August 18, 1990 of
leukemia
Ý From a small Pennsylvania town of Susquehanna
Ý His father was a lawyer
Ý His mother was a housewife
Ý Received his BA in 6nglish from Hamilton ¬ollege in
upstate New York
Ý Skinner started his career as an 6nglish major, writing
poems and short stories. After this...
Ý Skinner attended Harvard where he got his masters in
psychology (1930) and his doctorate (1931), and stayed
there to do research until 1936.
Ý Studied in the field of psychology (Behaviourist)
Ý Skinner married Yvonne Blue in 1936 and they had
their first child, Julie, in 1938.
Ý In 1944, during World War II, Skinner worked on
the DzProject Pigeondz which trained pigeons to
direct bombs by pecking at a target.
Ý In 1943, when Yvonne was pregnant for the
second time, Skinner designed the Dzbaby tender,dz
a crib that was designed to be safer than a normal
crib.





Ý ¬hanges in behavior is the outcome of an
individual responding to occurrences in the
environment ()
Ý If the subject is correctly stimulated it will give the
suitable 


Ý When a stimulus-response pattern is reinforced

(rewarded), the individual is 
 to
respond in a certain manner .
u






Ý Reinforcement is any procedure that increases the
response
Ý Punishment is any procedure that decreases the
response
Ý Types of reinforcers:
Ý Primary: e.g. food or water
Ý Secondary: money or power
6



Ý Skinner tested out the theory of operant conditioning
on rats
Ý Rats were placed in metal cages with a number of
levers. At first the rats would nose around the cage and
accidentally press the levers, an action that would
cause food or water to drop into a dish. After repeating
the action, the rats saw that they could receive food
and water by pressing the lever. (Learned this
behaviour)
Ý So, when the rats were rewarded they were
conditioned to repeat this positive action to continue
being rewarded
 


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Ý ahat is a reinforcer?
Ý Definition: a reinforcer is any stimulus which, when
delivered to a subject, increases the probability that
a subject will emit a response.
Ý Primary reinforcers, e.g., food
Ý Secondary reinforcers, e.g., praise
Ý One can only know if a stimulus is a reinforcer
based on the increased probability of occurrence of
a subjectƞs behavior
~







Ý ahat is positive reinforcement?
Ý a procedure where a pleasant stimulus is delivered to
a subject contingent upon the subjectƞs emitting a
desired behavior
Ý Schedules of reinforcement
Ý reinforcement schedules may be used to decrease the
probability that a response pattern in a subject will
extinguish
~







Ý Schedules of reinforcement
Ý there are 4 types of reinforcement schedules
Ý fixed ratio schedule of reinforcement
Ý fixed interval schedule of reinforcement
Ý variable ratio schedule of reinforcement
Ý variable interval schedule of reinforcement
Ý each of these schedules will produce different
response patterns in subjects; the variable ratio
schedule best for most resistant to extinction
~







Ý Shaping behaviors
Ý the use of positive reinforcement in the differential
reinforcement of successive approximations is
called Ơshapingơ
Ý shaping can be used to create a new response
pattern in a subject
Ý shaping must be done carefully and one must rely
on the differential reinforcement of successive
approximations to the target behavior





Ý ¬

 


: Every time the rat does the appropriate
behavior, he gets a pellet.

Ý Ê 
 : If the rat presses the pedal three times, he gets a
pellet«or five times, or twenty times, or x times. There is a fixed ratio
between behaviors and reinforcers.

Ý Ê 

: If the rat presses the bar at least once during a
particular period of time, say 20 seconds, he gets a pellet. But whether he
presses the bar once or a hundred times within that 20 seconds, he only
receives one reinforcer.

Ý X

 : You change the x each time. First it takes 3
presses to get a pellet, then 10, then 4, etc.

Ý X


: You keep changing the time period. First 10
seconds, then 35, then 5, then 40.




 


D







Ý Degative reinforcement
Ý a procedure where an aversive stimulus is removed
from a subject contingent upon the subjectƞs
emitting a desired behavior
Ý the reinforcing consequence is the removal or
avoidance of an aversive stimulus
Ý Escape conditioning: the behavior is reinforced because
it stops an aversive stimulus
Ý Avoidance conditioning: behavior reinforced because
aversive stimulus is prevented
D







Ý Examples of negative reinforcement in the real
world include:
Ý taking out the trash to avoid your mother yelling at
you
Ý taking an aspirin to get rid of a headache
Ý using a condom to avoid contracting a fatal disease
Ý paying your car insurance on time to prevent
cancellation of your policy
~


Ý Punishment defined
Ý a procedure where an aversive stimulus is
presented to a subject contingent upon the
subject emitting an undesired behavior.
Ý punishment should be used as a last resort in
behavior engineering; positive reinforcement
should be used first
Ý examples include spanking, verbal abuse,
electrical shock, etc.
~


Ý Dangers in use of punishment
Ý punishment is often reinforcing to a punisher
(resulting in the making of an abuser)
Ý punishment often has a generalized inhibiting effect
on the punished individual (they stop doing AD
behavior at all)
Ý we learn to dislike the punisher (a result of classical
conditioning)
~


Ý Dangers in use of punishment
Ý what the punisher thinks is punishment may, in
fact, be a reinforcer to the Ơpunishedơ individual
Ý punishment does not teach more appropriate
behavior; it merely stops a behavior from occurring
Ý punishment can cause emotional damage in the
punished individual (antisocial behavior)
~


Ý Dangers in use of punishment
Ý punishment only stops the behavior from occurring in
the presence of the punisher; when the punisher is
not present then the behavior will often reappear and
with a vengeance
Ý the best tool for engineering behavior is positive
reinforcement
Thank You