psyc 337 learning - wordpress.com
TRANSCRIPT
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College of Education
School of Continuing and Distance Education 2014/2015 – 2016/2017
PSYC 337
LEARNING
Session 5 – Instrumental and Operant
Conditioning – Part One
Lecturer: Dr. Inusah Abdul-Nasiru Contact Information: [email protected]
godsonug.wordpress.com/blog
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Session Overview
Slide 2
• Sometimes behaviour is learned when one gets
rewarded (positive consequence) immediately after exhibiting such a behaviour
• The same way, if the consequence of following such a
behaviour is not pleasant, there is the likelihood that such a behavior will not be repeated
• This is another example of learning by association, but this time, the association is between a response
and its consequences
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Session Objectives
Slide 3
At the end of the session, students will be able to:
– Explain Edward Lee ThorŶdike’s IŶstruŵeŶtal/ Trial-and- Error Learning
– Be conversant with Behurt Frederic SkiŶŶer ’s OperaŶt Conditioning
– Explain strategies used in forming and strengthening
Operant Behaviours
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Session Outline
Slide 4
• The key topics to be covered in the session are as
follows:
– Topic One: Edward Lee ThorŶdike’s IŶstruŵeŶtal/ Trial- and-Error Learning
– Topic Two: Behurt Frederic SkiŶŶer ’s OperaŶt Conditioning
– Topic Three: Forming and Strengthening Operant Behaviours
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Reading List
Slide 5
• Relevant text/chapters and reading materials are available on
Sakai
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Topic One
EDWARD LEE THORNDIKE͛S INSTRUMENTAL/TRIAL-AND-ERROR
LEARNING Slide 6
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The Legacy of Edward Lee Thorndike (1874 – 1949)
Slide 7
• Edward Lee Thorndike was the first, American Psychologist in Stimulus-Response theories – Conducted a series of experiments on learning using animals
– Introduced the concept of reward in learning
• This kind of learning referred to as ͞IŶstruŵeŶtal ͟ because – the behaviour of an individual is instrumental in producing
various outcomes, positive or negative
• The learning of reinforced Stimulus-Response connections occurs through trial-and-error
• Gradually, random errors are eliminated
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Thorndike and His Puzzle Box
Slide 8
• Thorndike studied the behaviour of cats trying to
escape from home-made puzzle boxes
Mechanism:
• When first constrained in the boxes, the cats took a
long time to escape
• With experience, ineffective responses occurred less
frequently and successful responses occurred more
frequently,
– the cats escaped in less time over successive trials
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The Laws of Effect, Exercise and Readiness
Slide 9
• Based on the experiment, three laws were propounded:
1. The Law of Effect
2. The Law of Exercise
3. The Law of Readiness
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The Law of Effect
Slide 10
• It states that
– Responses that are followed by pleasant consequences are
strengthened whilst those that are followed by unpleasant consequences are weakened
• Later, Thorndike revised the law to stress that
– the strengthening effect of reward is much greater than
the weakening effect of punishment (Elliot et al., 2000)
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The Law of Exercise
Slide 11
• It states that
– Repeated practise of a Stimulus-Response (S-R) association
strengthens it.
• IŶ other ǁ ords, ͞practice ŵakes perfect.͟
• But later, following several experimentation and criticisms,
Thorndike revised the original law of exercise (Elliot et al., 2000).
– He realized that practise alone was not enough for improvement: There must also be feedback.
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The Law of Readiness
Slide 12
• It states that
– an individual learns better if the individual is physically and
psychologically prepared.
• Thorndike believed that readiness is an important condition of learning.
• This is because satisfaction or frustration depends on
aŶ iŶdiǀ idual’s state of readiŶess.
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Topic Two
BEHURT FREDRIC SKINNER͛S
Slide 13
OPERANT CONDITIONING
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Contributions of Skinner to the Study of Learning
Slide 14
• B.F. Skinner (1904 -1990) forŵulated ͞Operant conditioning͟ – a more detailed analysis of ThorŶdike’s coŶceptioŶ of learŶiŶg
• ͚Operant ͛ because – an organism had to operate on his environment to produce a
certain effect • The basic principle behind operant conditioning is the
fact that – If behaviour is repeatedly followed by outcomes that are
pleasing to the learner, the behaviour is likely to be performed more often, under similar conditions.
– On the other hand, if the behaviour is followed by unpleasant consequences, it is less likely to be repeated.
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SkiŶŶer ’s Experiments (Courtesy: Rubin, 2006)
Slide 15
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SkiŶŶer’s EdžperiŵeŶts
Slide 16
• Skinner used this box in his experiments.
Mechanism:
• A hungry rat was put in Skinner box and after roving
about; it will accidentally press a lever, which allows it to move out to get food in another chamber
• Skinner observed that after a period of time, the rat could get the food quickly by pressing the lever in a
short time to get out.
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Basic Components of Operant Conditioning
Slide 17
• Skinner then identified the following components which facilitate operant conditioning.
• Reinforcer: Any event that follows behaviour and
strengthens the behaviour – Reinforcers may be positive or negative
• Positive reinforcer: an event whose presentation follows
an operant behaviour and increases the likelihood of that behaviour occurring again under the same circumstances – E.g. ŵakiŶg ͞A͟ iŶ a test ǁ ould likelLJ iŶcrease LJour desire to
learn hard to receive more good grades.
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Basic Components of Operant Conditioning
Slide 18
• Negative Reinforcers: It is an aversive event whose
removal follows an operant behaviour and increases
the likelihood of that behaviour occurring again
under the same circumstances
– E.g Taking care of a headache in a football player gets him/her to play better than when the headache was on.
• Note: Reinforcers, whether positive or negative, always strengthen behaviour
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Basic Components of Operant Conditioning
Slide 19
• Primary reinforce: It is an innately satisfying stimulus
– Primary reinforcers satisfy biological needs
• Examples are food, water and sex.
• Secondary reinforce: It is a conditioned reinforcer or an event that gains its reinforcing power through its
association with a primary reinforcer
– For instance, money is a secondary reinforcer because you
can use it to acquire primary reinforcers such as food and
water
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Basic Components of Operant Conditioning
Slide 20
• Punisher : It is an aversive stimulus which decreases the
behaviour it follows
• Punishers may be positive or negative
• Positive Punishers: It is a stimulus, whose presentation
decreases the operant response it follows
– A positive punisher adds aversive stimuli to the environment and ensures that it deters you from repeating the behaviour that warranted it
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Basic Components of Operant Conditioning
Slide 21
• Negative Punisher: It is any stimulus whose
removal weakens the response it follows
– Negative punishers take away pleasant stimuli
from the environment, so as to weaken certain
behaviours.
• For instance, parents take away certain privileges away
from their children when they misbehave, to minimize
or stop the unruly behaviour.
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Basic Components of Reinforcement/Punishment
Basic Paradigms of Reinforcement/Punishment
Slide 22
Operant Response
Increases Operant Response
Decreases
Stimulus Presentation
Positive Reinforcement Positive Punishment
Stimulus Removal
Negative Reinforcement
Negative Punishment
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Topic Three
FORMING AND STRENGTHENING
Slide 23
OPERANT CONDITIONING
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Forming and Strengthening Operant Conditioning
Slide 24
A: Shaping/The Method of Successive Approximation • The most important mechanism used in forming operant
behaviour is shaping – This refers to the use of selective reinforcement to bring about certain
desirable changes in the behaviour of an organism
• It is a procedure in which reinforcers guide behaviour toward
a desired goal • To use shaping, break down the final expected complex
behaviour into a number of smaller steps • Reinforce each sub-skill and reinforce improvements in
performance till the expected behaviour is exhibited
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Forming and Strengthening Operant Conditioning
Slide 25
B: Timing of Reinforcement
• When should you reinforce an appropriate behaviour?
• There should be close temporal proximity between
response and reinforcement so that the person sees
the relationship between his/her behaviour and the
reinforcement
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Forming and Strengthening Operant Conditioning
Slide 26
C: Size of Reinforcement
• The size is equally important in forming operant conditioning
• If the size, or amount, of the consequence is large
enough, it will increase the rate at which an
individual will form the operant behaviour
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Forming and Strengthening Operant Conditioning
Slide 27
D: Type of Reinforcement Used
• Some reinforcers may be much more appealing to
certain individuals than others.
• It is therefore important to know what appeals to the
person and use that as a reinforce
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Forming and Strengthening Operant Conditioning
Slide 28
E: Superstitious Behaviour in Learning
• A superstitious behaviour is one that becomes established due to its
association with a correct response and is therefore accidentally reinforced
• It is the linking or associating of two behaviours which occur closely
together with the belief that the first action caused the second action
• It is said to be superstitious because one cannot prove really that the first
caused the second action to occur – For instance, it cannot be proven that it is the colour of the jersey worn that makes
a team win a particular game