PSY 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Operant Conditioning Chamber, Operant Conditioning, Reinforcement
Document Summary
Using thorndike"s law of effects as a starting point, skinner developed the operant chamber to study operant condition. Shaping: a procedure in which reinforcers guide an animal"s actions toward desired behavior. Reinforcement: any response that strengthens or increases of the frequency of a behavior happening again. Positive reinforcement: add a desirable/rewarding stimulus, rat receives food pellet, person receives money. Negative reinforcement: remove an unpleasant stimulus, rat can escape water to a dry spot, child has chores taken away. Conditioned reinforcer: a stimulus that gains its power to reinforce through its association with a primary reinforcer. Continuous: every target behavior results in reinforcement. Once the response is firmly attached, reinforcement is usually switched to a partial reinforcement schedule. Fixed ratio schedule: reinforcement after an exact number of target behaviors, rat gets food pellet for every 5 level pushes. Variable ratio schedule: reinforcement after variable number of target behaviors, rat gets food pellet every 1-10 lever pushes (randomly)
