PSY260H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Operant Conditioning, Edward C. Tolman, Edward Thorndike
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Process whereby organisms learn to make responses in order to obtain or avoid important consequences. Operant conditioning is based on avoiding or obtaining a specific outcome - it requires an organism operate in its environment to determine the outcome. Edward thorndike first tried to systematically explore how animals learn new behaviours o o o. When the animal"s response was followed by a satisfying outcome, then the probability of that response occurring again in the future would increase. If followed by an unsatisfying response, then the probability if that response occurring again would decrease. If r leads to an undesirable outcome, r will tend to decrease in frequency, weakening the s-r association o. Discrete trials paradigm trials were controlled by the experimenter. Edward tolman argued that the s-r framework was too limiting o. Believed that animals make responses because they understand the consequences that will follow actions. Stimulus s -> response r -> outcome o.
