Lecture 15: Operant Conditioning i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. vii. viii. ix. Operant Conditioning a. Operant conditioning forms association between behaviors and resulting events b. Behavior that operates on environment, producing consequences Thorndike’s Experiment a. Law of effect- rewarded behavior is likely to recur Skinner Box (Operant Chamber) a. Could train animals to do unnatural behaviors Shaping a. Reinforcers guide behavior closer towards a desired behavior b. Called successive approximations c. Can train animals to discriminate many types of objects and events Types of Reinforcers a. Any event that strengthens the behavior it follows b. Positive reinforcement i. Increasing behaviors by presenting positive stimuli c. Negative reinforcement i. Increasing behaviors by removing negative stimuli Punishment a. An adverse event that decreases the behavior that it follows Skinner Criticized a. Skinner believed in inner thought processes and biological underpinnings i. But he discounted them b. Cognitive processes play a role in learning Cognition & Operant Conditioning a. Rats exploring a maze (no obvious reward) i. Develop a cognitive map b. As soon as reinforced (food), rats show latent learning i. Learning that is apparent when incentive to demonstrate Biological Predispositions a. Biological constraints predispose organisms to learn associations that are naturally adaptive