chapter 6 notes
Another name for operant conditioning is instrumental learning, introduced by Edward L. Thorndike 1913.
Thorndike began studying “animal thinking”.
Cat experiment: cat would perform a specific response, such as pulling a wire or a lever and was rewarded food after each escape.
“law of effect” behavior is influenced by its consequences
First book published, the behaviour of organisms 1938.
Skinner demonstrated that organisms tend to repeat those responses that are followed by favourable consequences. This fundamental principle is embodied in skinner’s concept of reinforcement.
Reinforcement occurs when an event following a response increases an organism’s tendency to make that response. A response is strengthened because it leads to rewarding consequences.
Example.
Skinner says: operant conditioning shapes behaviour as a sculptor shapes a lump of clay.
An operant chamber/skinner box is a small box enclosure in which an animal can make a specific response that is recorded while the consequences of the response are systematically controlled.
Emit means to send forth.
Reinforcement contingencies are the circumstances or rules that determine whether responses lead to the presentation of reinforces.
The key dependent variable in most research on operant conditioning is the subjects’ response rate over time.
Cumulative recorder creates a graphic record of responding and reinforcement in a skinner box as a function of time.
Operant responses are usually established through a gradual process called shaping which consists of the reinforcement of closer and closer approximations of a desired response.
Shaping is necessary when an organism does not, on its own emit the desired response.
Example. Training a puppy to ring the bell when needed to go to the bathroom but every time the dog rung the bell quite too often, the owner suggested that the puppy may be ringing it just so it could see her running towards him.
Operant responses are regulated by discriminative
Thorndike began studying “animal thinking”.
Cat experiment: cat would perform a specific response, such as pulling a wire or a lever and was rewarded food after each escape.
“law of effect” behavior is influenced by its consequences
First book published, the behaviour of organisms 1938.
Skinner demonstrated that organisms tend to repeat those responses that are followed by favourable consequences. This fundamental principle is embodied in skinner’s concept of reinforcement.
Reinforcement occurs when an event following a response increases an organism’s tendency to make that response. A response is strengthened because it leads to rewarding consequences.
Example.
Skinner says: operant conditioning shapes behaviour as a sculptor shapes a lump of clay.
An operant chamber/skinner box is a small box enclosure in which an animal can make a specific response that is recorded while the consequences of the response are systematically controlled.
Emit means to send forth.
Reinforcement contingencies are the circumstances or rules that determine whether responses lead to the presentation of reinforces.
The key dependent variable in most research on operant conditioning is the subjects’ response rate over time.
Cumulative recorder creates a graphic record of responding and reinforcement in a skinner box as a function of time.
Operant responses are usually established through a gradual process called shaping which consists of the reinforcement of closer and closer approximations of a desired response.
Shaping is necessary when an organism does not, on its own emit the desired response.
Example. Training a puppy to ring the bell when needed to go to the bathroom but every time the dog rung the bell quite too often, the owner suggested that the puppy may be ringing it just so it could see her running towards him.
Operant responses are regulated by discriminative