02. Operant Conditioning

STUDY DESIGN DOT POINT:

behaviourist approaches to learning, as illustrated by classical conditioning as a three-phase process (before conditioning, during conditioning and after conditioning) that results in the involuntary association between a neutral stimulus and unconditioned stimulus to produce a conditioned response, and operant conditioning as a three-phase process (antecedent, behaviour and consequence) involving reinforcement (positive and negative) and punishment (positive and negative)

Operant conditioning is a type of learning where the individual learns based on the consequences of their behaviours. In these instances we are referring to voluntary behaviours, so unlike classical conditioning, the subject is considered active in the process as they have a choice as to how they will behave regardless of the potential consequences.

Similar to Classical Conditioning, Operant Conditioning is considered to be a 3 phase model involving the:

ANTECEDENT – The stimulus that occurs immediately the behaviour. A prompt

Eg, the traffic light turns orange
The antecedent may also be referred to as the antecedent condition or the discriminative stimulus

BEHAVIOUR – The voluntary action that occurs due to the presence of the antecedent

The driver of the car slows down to a stop

CONSEQUENCE – The result of the behaviour

The driver avoids the potential of a fine for running a red light

The consequence of the behaviour will determine the likelihood of that behaviour recurring in the presence of the antecedent. If you are punished for running a red light, then you are less likely to run red lights in the future. If you are rewarded for cleaning your room, then you are more likely to clean your room in the future. But due to the voluntary and subjective nature of these behaviours there is no guarantee that the behaviour will occur again as predicted. Additionally, the reward/reinforcer or punishment would need to be significant enough in the eyes of the subject in order to shape their future behaviour (eg, would you be more likely to clean your room for 10c or $100, technically, both are a reward/reinforcer).

PLEASE NOTE: The antecedent must immediately be followed by the behaviour, or we can't be sure that it was, in fact, the antecedent. The consequence should also occur as closely to the behaviour as possible.

Consider this situation. You walk into your house after school to find that your dog has chewed and destroyed a pillow. You start calling your dogs name in order to reprimand it for its actions. Your dog runs up to you and you begin to scold it and force it to go outside in the rain. In this scenario, you are expecting the dog to make links between a behaviour that happened hours ago and the consequence it has just received. When in reality, the dog is likely to believe it is being punnished for coming when its name was called.

To truely understand the nature of consequences we must understand a couple of things:

was the consequence aimed at continuing or stopping a behaviour
did the nature of the consequence involve giving the subject something, or taking something away from them.

REINFORCEMENT VS PUNISHMENT

A reinforcer is a consequence that encourages the recurrence of the behaviour (a reward)
A Punishment is a consequences that is aimed at stopping the behaviour

POSITIVE VS NEGATIVE

Positive involves the addition of a stimulus as a consequence
Negative involves the removal of a stimulus as a consequence - Reinforcement and punishment can be either positive or negative

We must think about consequences as a combination of the factors listed above

Positive reinforcement – The addition of a desirable or pleasant stimulus to increase the likelihood of the behaviour recurring

$10 for every “A” on your report card

Negative reinforcement – The removal of an unpleasant or undesirable stimulus to increase the likelihood of the behaviour recurring

If you do all of your homework, you don’t have to do the dishes

We can see in both of the above examples we are trying to encourage the behaviour to continue, thus why the addition, or removal of a stimulus must result in a favourable outcome for the subject.

Positive punishment – The addition of an undesirable or unpleasant stimulus to decrease the likelihood of the behaviour recurring

Running an extra lap at training for being late

Negative punishment (also known as "response cost") - The removal of a desirable or pleasant stimulus to decrease the likelihood of the behaviour recurring.

Having your phone taken off you for not doing your homework
The term "response cost" refers to the cost of the response. ie, what did the result of behaviour take away from the subject.This is the preferred language of the study design.

The scientist most notably linked with operant conditioning is BF Skinner. His work focussed on rats and pigeons who were rewarded with food when they accidentally pushed a lever in a small chamber known as a Skinner box. Eventually the animals learned to deliberately push the lever to receive the reward. The longer the experiment went on, the more deliberate, quick and repetitive the responses became. He did similar experiments using a mild electric shock instead of a food reward and found similar results. In each scenario the animal's behaviour was reinforced through either positive reinforcement (the acquisition of a food pellet) or negative reinforcement (the removal of a mild electric shock).

SOME TRICKY EXAMPLES:

In the case of someone who has been given a ticket for speeding, what category do you think this consequence falls under? dont get confused and mistake this for positive punishment. While they were given a ticket, the ticket itself is not the consequence, it is the money that needs to be paid as a result of the ticket. In this scenario it is considered to be response cost (or negative punishment), because the behaviour has led to the removal of the desired stimulus of money

In an even trickier scenario, lets consider a student who has been given a detention. Have they acquired the undesired stimulus of a detention, or have they had the desired stimulus of their free time taken away from them. Due to the subjective nature of the consequence, either answer could be correct, but you would have to explicitly state why you have chosen either in your response.

CLASSICAL VS OPERANT CONDITIONING: SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES

Both classical and operant conditioning involve the long term change of behaviour in response to experience (they are processes involving learning).
In classical conditioning the learner is considered passive as the response is reflexive, they have no control over the involuntary behaviour. Operant conditioning involves voluntary behaviour and as such the leidered active (they still have a choice in their behaviour despite the presence of reinforcement or punishment).
In classical conditioning, the stimulus directly produces the behaviour. In operant conditioning, the antecedent doesn't directly produce the behaviour, it is the potential outcome of the behaviour that does so.

EXAM QUESTION

EXAM ANSWER

LEARNING ACTIVITY 2.1

1. **(2 marks)** Define operant conditioning and explain how it differs from classical conditioning.

2. **(3 marks)** Describe what is meant by the term "antecedent" in the context of operant conditioning.

3. **(3 marks)** Explain the concept of positive reinforcement and provide an example.

4. **(3 marks)** What is negative reinforcement? Give an example that clearly illustrates this concept.

5. **(4 marks)** Describe positive punishment and provide an example of how it can be used to modify behavior.

6. **(4 marks)** Explain negative punishment and give an example of its application.

7. **(5 marks)** What is meant by "response cost" in operant conditioning? Provide an example to illustrate your answer.

8. **(5 marks)** Compare and contrast negative reinforcement and positive punishment, including an example of each.

9. **(8 marks)** Scenario: A teacher is trying to reduce disruptive behavior in their classroom. They decide to implement a system where students earn points for completing their work quietly and lose points for speaking out of turn. At the end of the week, students can exchange points for extra recess time. Using the 3-phase model, analyze this scenario in terms of antecedent, behavior, and consequence. Identify which aspects of operant conditioning are being applied.

10. **(10 marks)** Scenario: A parent wants to encourage their child to do homework daily. They set up a system where the child earns a sticker for each day they complete their homework (positive reinforcement) and loses 15 minutes of TV time for each day they do not (response cost). After a month, the child is doing homework regularly. Analyze this scenario using the 3-phase model (antecedent, behavior, consequence), and discuss how both positive reinforcement and response cost effectively changed the child's behavior. Include any potential long-term effects of this approach on the child's behavior and attitude towards homework.

LEARNING ACTIVITY 2.1 ANSWERS

### 1. Define operant conditioning and explain how it differs from classical conditioning. (2 marks)

- **Operant conditioning** is a learning process through which the strength of a behavior is modified by reinforcement or punishment. It involves an association between a behavior and a consequence. (1 mark)

- Unlike **classical conditioning**, which involves learning to associate two stimuli together to produce a new learned response, operant conditioning is about learning from the consequences of our actions, which means it involves a behavior followed by a consequence. (1 mark)

### 2. Describe what is meant by the term "antecedent" in the context of operant conditioning. (3 marks)

- An **antecedent** is a stimulus or event that precedes a behavior. It sets the stage for the behavior to occur. In operant conditioning, the antecedent is the context or environment that triggers a specific behavior before any consequence has occurred. For example, a teacher asking a question in class can serve as an antecedent for students raising their hands to answer. (3 marks)

### 3. Explain the concept of positive reinforcement and provide an example. (3 marks)

- **Positive reinforcement** involves the addition of a rewarding stimulus following a desired behavior, making it more likely that this behavior will occur again in the future. (1.5 marks)

- For example, giving a child a piece of candy for cleaning their room is positive reinforcement. The candy is a positive stimulus that increases the likelihood of the room-cleaning behavior being repeated. (1.5 marks)

### 4. What is negative reinforcement? Give an example that clearly illustrates this concept. (3 marks)

- **Negative reinforcement** involves the removal of an aversive stimulus to increase the likelihood of a behavior being repeated. It strengthens behavior because it stops or removes an unpleasant experience. (1.5 marks)

- An example is turning off a loud alarm by getting out of bed. The alarm is an aversive stimulus, and its cessation reinforces the behavior of getting out of bed when the alarm sounds. (1.5 marks)

### 5. Describe positive punishment and provide an example of how it can be used to modify behavior. (4 marks)

- **Positive punishment** involves the addition of an unpleasant stimulus following a behavior, with the aim of decreasing the likelihood of that behavior occurring again. (2 marks)

- An example is a parent scolding a child immediately after the child hits their sibling. The scolding is an unpleasant stimulus that decreases the likelihood of the child hitting their sibling in the future. (2 marks)

### 6. Explain negative punishment and give an example of its application. (4 marks)

- **Negative punishment** involves the removal of a pleasant stimulus following a behavior, with the aim of decreasing the likelihood of that behavior occurring again. (2 marks)

- For example, taking away a teenager's video game privileges because they missed curfew. The removal of the video game privileges (a pleasant stimulus) decreases the likelihood of the teenager missing curfew again. (2 marks)

### 7. What is meant by "response cost" in operant conditioning? Provide an example to illustrate your answer. (5 marks)

- **Response cost** is a form of negative punishment where a positive reinforcer is removed following an undesirable behavior, with the aim of decreasing the frequency of that behavior. (2.5 marks)

- An example is a teacher taking away a student's tokens (which can be exchanged for extra playtime) each time the student speaks out of turn. The loss of tokens serves as a cost for the undesirable behavior, aiming to reduce its occurrence. (2.5 marks)

### 8. Compare and contrast negative reinforcement and positive punishment, including an example of each. (5 marks)

- **Negative reinforcement** increases the likelihood of a behavior by removing an unpleasant stimulus, whereas **positive punishment** decreases the likelihood of a behavior by adding an unpleasant stimulus. (2 marks)

- For negative reinforcement, an example is buckling a seatbelt to stop the car's beeping sound. The removal of the beep (unpleasant stimulus) reinforces the behavior of buckling the seatbelt. (1.5 marks)

- For positive punishment, an example is receiving a speeding ticket for driving too fast. The ticket is an added unpleasant stimulus that decreases the likelihood of speeding in the future. (1.5 marks)

### 9. Scenario: A teacher is trying to reduce disruptive behavior in their classroom... (8 marks)

- **Antecedent**: The teacher's request for quiet work. (1 mark)

- **Behavior**: Students completing work quietly or speaking out of turn. (1 mark)

- **Consequence**: Earning or losing points, which can be exchanged for extra recess time. (2 marks)

- The application of **positive reinforcement** is seen when students earn points for quiet work, increasing the likelihood of this behavior. **Negative punishment** (response cost) is applied when students lose points for speaking out of turn, aiming to decrease this behavior. (4 marks)

### 10. Scenario: A parent wants to encourage their child to do homework daily... (10 marks)

- **Antecedent**: The setup of a daily homework routine. (1 mark)

- **Behavior**: The child completing their homework. (1 mark)

- **Consequence**: Earning a sticker (positive reinforcement) or losing TV time (response cost). (2 marks)

- The use of **positive reinforcement** (stickers) encourages the continuation of homework completion by adding a pleasant stimulus. The **response cost** (losing TV time) serves as negative punishment, removing a pleasant stimulus to decrease the likelihood of not doing homework. (3 marks)

- Potential long-term effects could include improved study habits and a positive attitude towards completing assignments due to the rewarding system. However, reliance on external rewards may affect intrinsic motivation. Balancing reinforcement with encouragement of internal satisfaction from learning is crucial. (3 marks)

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