Behavioral Theory

Part 2: Operant Conditioning

Questions Answers
1. What behaviors are operantly conditioned? 

 

 Behaviors that are operantly conditioned are those that have been reinforced.  These are generally volitional behaviors (whereas the classical conditioned response is typically involuntary).  Skinner's basic principle of operant conditioning is: "A response followed by a reinforcer is strengthened and is therefore more likely to occur again."
2. How do you increase behavior through operant conditioning? 

 

 You reinforce it.  There are 3 important conditions:
  1. The reinforcer must follow the response.
  2. The reinforcer must follow immediately.
  3. The reinforcer must be contingent on the response.
Timing, magnitude, and consistency of reinforcement all can affect the rate at which new behaviors are learned.
3.
 How do you decrease behavior through operant conditioning?  Three methods: extinction, differential reinforcement of other behaviors, and reinforcement of other behaviors.
  • extinction -- making sure that a particular response no longer leads to reinforcement (e.g., for a child trying to get attention through head-banging, strap him in a helmet so he can't hurt himself, and then ignore the behavior (limitations: hard to tell what the specific consequence is that is actually reinforcing a response (i.e., is the head-banging kid trying to get attention, escape, or self-stimulate?)
  • differential reinforcement of other behaviors -- called DRO -- is a procedure whereby an organism is reinforced for not exhibiting a particular behavior during a specified time interval reinforcing incompatible responses {not as widely followed these days?}  (e.g., teacher praises a student who manages to get through recess without fighting)
  • reinforcing incompatible behaviors -- reinforcement of a behavior incompatible with the undesired response (e.g., putting the school litterbug in charge of the campus cleanup campaign and giving him positive reinforcement for his role)
  • punishment -- (1) presentation of an aversive stimulus (e.g., spanking) and (2) removal of a pleasant stimulus (e.g., not being allowed to watch TV).  There is a lot of argument about whether punishment works or not.  Punishment only suppresses the undesired behavior, so it's best coupled with an alternative positive behavior which you hope will replace the undesired behavior.
4.
 What roles do stimulus generalization and discrimination play in operant conditioning?

 

 These roles are primarily related to antecedent stimuli.  When an organism has learned to respond in a certain way in the presence of one stimulus, it is likely to respond in the same way in the presence of similar stimuli (stimulus generalization).  Teachers can encourage good behavior, reminding students by means of cueing (providing additional discriminative stimuli to let students know how to behave, like saying, on the way to the lunchroom, "Walk quietly and in single file.") or by setting events (complex environmental conditions under which certain behaviors are most likely to occur). However, if a particular response has been reinforced in the presence of one stimulus, but not in the presence of another, the organism will most likely exhibit the response only when the former stimulus is presented (stimulus discrimination).
5.
 What problems are associated with using reinforcement and punishment (i.e., when they don't work)? Reinforcement doesn't work if 
  1. the "reinforcer" is not reinforcing -- (e.g., a single reinforcer won't work for all students; can be a case of too much of a good thing, like kids rewarded with so much candy that they get sick of candy, or it can be that the reinforcer is something that the kid would rather avoid, like "do all your chores and ol' Uncle John" (halitosis to the max) "will give you a big kiss")
  2. the reinforcement is not consistent -- continuous, consistent reinforcement brings about more rapid behavior change than intermittent reinforcement; a little reinforcement early is better than a lot of reinforcement later
  3. the individual loses too much, or gains too little, by changing a behavior -- people constantly do "cost/benefit analysis" kinds of evaluations, and the change in behavior has to be "worth it" in the mind of the person changing the behavior (e.g., if a student's change in behavior and the teacher's resulting praise means that the student looses status in his or her group, then that may be too high a cost and the student may revert to previous behavior that doesn't get praised; or, AP students not taking honors because it's just more and bigger assignments)
  4. too much is expected too soon -- shaping proceeds too rapidly (e.g., if a hyperactive student is praised for sitting quietly in his seat for one minute, that behavior at that level needs to be reinforced for a while before moving up to the expectation that the student will sit still for two minutes)
6.
 What can make reinforcement and punishment more effective? To make reinforcement more effective, you have to have reinforcement that is paired (connected with the desired behavior), desired by the learner, and follows the desired behavior.  (It's sometimes called an R--> S relationship rather than a classical S --> R relationship.)  The reinforcer must be reinforcing to the student.  Conversely, to make punishment more effective, you need to dis-enforce the undesired behavior -- using disincentives that the student recognizes as disincentives -- and that are clearly connected or related to the undesired behavior.
7.
 What types of instructional methods are based on operant conditioning? Five educational innovations can be attributed either directly or indirectly to operant conditioning principles: 
  1. instructional objectives
  2. programmed instruction and its offshoot, computer-assisted instruction
  3. mastery learning
  4. contingency contracts
  5. applied behavior analysis
(details)
8.
 How would you design a program of instruction to work on operantly conditioned responses?
  • Start with clearly stated objectives so that instructional (and/or behavioral) goals are clear to the learner.  If appropriate, briefly describe the benefit to the learner of the learning being taught.
  • Use the "mastery learning" approach in chunking  material to be taught. 
  • Provide for students' active response to instruction, with reinforcement or feedback as immediate as possible. 
  • Punishment should be used sparingly, but should be immediate and appropriate to the misbehavior.
  • Mastery checkpoints should be provided at appropriate intervals so students can measure their progress and accomplishment.
  • Sincere praise and appropriate reinforcement  should be included along the way.
  • At the end of the program, there should be closure and appropriate appraisal of progress.
  • "Operant" instruction is designed not only to teach the student one particular subject matter, but also to reward and encourage internalization of good study habits.
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