Does Extinction Increase the Likelihood of a Behavior Occuring Again

Bones Principles of Operant Conditioning: Thorndike'due south Law of Effect

Thorndike's law of issue states that behaviors are modified by their positive or negative consequences.

Learning Objectives

Relate Thorndike's police of effect to the principles of operant workout

Fundamental Takeaways

Key Points

• The police force of effect states that responses that produce a satisfying effect in a particular state of affairs become more probable to occur again, while responses that produce a discomforting effect are less likely to be repeated.
• Edward L. Thorndike kickoff studied the law of effect by placing hungry cats inside puzzle boxes and observing their deportment. He chop-chop realized that cats could learn the efficacy of sure behaviors and would repeat those behaviors that allowed them to escape faster.
• The law of effect is at work in every human beliefs likewise. From a young age, nosotros learn which actions are beneficial and which are detrimental through a similar trial and error process.
• While the law of outcome explains behavior from an external, observable point of view, it does not business relationship for internal, unobservable processes that also affect the behavior patterns of human being beings.

Cardinal Terms

• Law of Result: A police developed by Edward L. Thorndike that states, "responses that produce a satisfying issue in a particular state of affairs go more than likely to occur again in that situation, and responses that produce a discomforting effect become less likely to occur over again in that situation."
• behavior modification: The act of altering deportment and reactions to stimuli through positive and negative reinforcement or punishment.
• trial and mistake: The process of finding a solution to a problem by trying many possible solutions and learning from mistakes until a fashion is found.

Operant conditioning is a theory of learning that focuses on changes in an individual'due south observable behaviors. In operant conditioning, new or connected behaviors are impacted by new or continued consequences. Research regarding this principle of learning first began in the late 19th century with Edward Fifty. Thorndike, who established the law of effect.

Thorndike's Experiments

Thorndike'southward most famous work involved cats trying to navigate through various puzzle boxes. In this experiment, he placed hungry cats into homemade boxes and recorded the time it took for them to perform the necessary deportment to escape and receive their food advantage. Thorndike discovered that with successive trials, cats would learn from previous behavior, limit ineffective actions, and escape from the box more quickly. He observed that the cats seemed to learn, from an intricate trial and mistake procedure, which actions should be continued and which actions should be abased; a well-expert cat could quickly recall and reuse actions that were successful in escaping to the food reward.

Thorndike's puzzle box: This image shows an example of Thorndike'south puzzle box alongside a graph demonstrating the learning of a cat within the box. Every bit the number of trials increased, the cats were able to escape more apace by learning.

The Law of Effect

Thorndike realized not only that stimuli and responses were associated, merely also that behavior could be modified by consequences. He used these findings to publish his now famous "law of effect" theory. Co-ordinate to the law of event, behaviors that are followed by consequences that are satisfying to the organism are more likely to be repeated, and behaviors that are followed by unpleasant consequences are less likely to be repeated. Essentially, if an organism does something that brings most a desired result, the organism is more likely to practise it once again. If an organism does something that does not bring about a desired result, the organism is less likely to practice information technology over again.

Law of effect: Initially, cats displayed a diversity of behaviors inside the box. Over successive trials, actions that were helpful in escaping the box and receiving the food reward were replicated and repeated at a college rate.

Thorndike's law of effect now informs much of what we know nigh operant conditioning and behaviorism. Co-ordinate to this law, behaviors are modified by their consequences, and this basic stimulus-response relationship can exist learned by the operant person or animal. Once the association between behavior and consequences is established, the response is reinforced, and the association holds the sole responsibility for the occurrence of that behavior. Thorndike posited that learning was merely a alter in behavior as a effect of a effect, and that if an activeness brought a reward, it was stamped into the listen and bachelor for recall afterwards.

From a young historic period, we learn which actions are beneficial and which are detrimental through a trial and mistake process. For case, a young child is playing with her friend on the playground and playfully pushes her friend off the swingset. Her friend falls to the ground and begins to cry, and and then refuses to play with her for the rest of the day. The child'south actions (pushing her friend) are informed past their consequences (her friend refusing to play with her), and she learns not to repeat that action if she wants to keep playing with her friend.

The law of effect has been expanded to various forms of behavior modification. Because the law of consequence is a key component of behaviorism, it does not include any reference to unobservable or internal states; instead, information technology relies solely on what can be observed in homo behavior. While this theory does not account for the entirety of homo behavior, it has been applied to virtually every sector of human life, but particularly in teaching and psychology.

Bones Principles of Operant Conditioning: Skinner

B. F. Skinner was a behavioral psychologist who expanded the field past defining and elaborating on operant conditioning.

Learning Objectives

Summarize Skinner's enquiry on operant conditioning

Central Takeaways

Key Points

• B. F. Skinner, a behavioral psychologist and a student of E. L. Thorndike, contributed to our view of learning by expanding our understanding of conditioning to include operant conditioning.
• Skinner theorized that if a behavior is followed by reinforcement, that behavior is more than likely to be repeated, only if it is followed by punishment, information technology is less likely to be repeated.
• Skinner conducted his inquiry on rats and pigeons past presenting them with positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, or penalty in various schedules that were designed to produce or inhibit specific target behaviors.
• Skinner did not include room in his research for ideas such as free will or individual option; instead, he posited that all behavior could be explained using  learned, physical aspects of the world, including life history and evolution.

Key Terms

• penalization: The act or process of imposing and/or applying a sanction for an undesired behavior when workout toward a desired beliefs.
• aversive: Tending to repel, causing avoidance (of a situation, a behavior, an particular, etc.).
• superstition: A belief, not based on reason or scientific knowledge, that future events may be influenced by ane's beliefs in some magical or mystical way.

Operant conditioning is a theory of behaviorism that focuses on changes in an individual'southward observable behaviors. In operant conditioning, new or continued behaviors are impacted past new or continued consequences. Inquiry regarding this principle of learning was beginning conducted by Edward L. Thorndike in the late 1800s, then brought to popularity by B. F. Skinner in the mid-1900s. Much of this research informs current practices in human being behavior and interaction.

Skinner'due south Theories of Operant Conditioning

Almost half a century later on Thorndike's get-go publication of the principles of operant conditioning and the law of effect, Skinner attempted to prove an extension to this theory—that all behaviors are in some way a result of operant conditioning. Skinner theorized that if a behavior is followed by reinforcement, that behavior is more probable to be repeated, merely if it is followed by some sort of aversive stimuli or penalisation, it is less likely to be repeated. He too believed that this learned clan could finish, or become extinct, if the reinforcement or punishment was removed.

B. F. Skinner: Skinner was responsible for defining the segment of behaviorism known as operant conditioning—a process by which an organism learns from its concrete environment.

Skinner'southward Experiments

Skinner'southward most famous inquiry studies were unproblematic reinforcement experiments conducted on lab rats and domestic pigeons, which demonstrated the well-nigh bones principles of operant conditioning. He conducted almost of his enquiry in a special cumulative recorder, at present referred to equally a "Skinner box," which was used to clarify the behavioral responses of his test subjects. In these boxes he would present his subjects with positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, or aversive stimuli in various timing intervals (or "schedules") that were designed to produce or inhibit specific target behaviors.

In his first piece of work with rats, Skinner would place the rats in a Skinner box with a lever attached to a feeding tube. Whenever a rat pressed the lever, food would exist released. After the experience of multiple trials, the rats learned the clan betwixt the lever and food and began to spend more than of their time in the box procuring nutrient than performing any other action. Information technology was through this early work that Skinner started to empathise the effects of behavioral contingencies on deportment. He discovered that the rate of response—as well every bit changes in response features—depended on what occurred after the beliefs was performed, non before. Skinner named these actions operant behaviors because they operated on the environment to produce an outcome. The process past which one could arrange the contingencies of reinforcement responsible for producing a certain behavior then came to exist called operant conditioning.

To prove his idea that behaviorism was responsible for all actions, he later on created a "superstitious pigeon." He fed the pigeon on continuous intervals (every xv seconds) and observed the pigeon's beliefs. He constitute that the pigeon's actions would change depending on what it had been doing in the moments before the food was dispensed, regardless of the fact that those actions had nothing to exercise with the dispensing of food. In this way, he discerned that the pigeon had fabricated a causal human relationship between its deportment and the presentation of reward. Information technology was this evolution of "superstition" that led Skinner to believe all behavior could be explained as a learned reaction to specific consequences.

In his operant conditioning experiments, Skinner often used an approach called shaping. Instead of rewarding only the target, or desired, behavior, the process of shaping involves the reinforcement of successive approximations of the target beliefs. Behavioral approximations are behaviors that, over fourth dimension, grow increasingly closer to the actual desired response.

Skinner believed that all behavior is predetermined by past and present events in the objective world. He did not include room in his research for ideas such equally costless will or individual choice; instead, he posited that all behavior could be explained using learned, physical aspects of the world, including life history and evolution. His work remains extremely influential in the fields of psychology, behaviorism, and teaching.

Shaping

Shaping is a method of operant workout by which successive approximations of a target behavior are reinforced.

Learning Objectives

Depict how shaping is used to alter behavior

Key Takeaways

Key Points

• B. F. Skinner used shaping —a method of grooming by which successive approximations toward a target beliefs are reinforced—to examination his theories of behavioral psychology.
• Shaping involves a calculated reinforcement of a "target behavior": information technology uses operant workout principles to train a subject by rewarding proper behavior and discouraging improper behavior.
• The method requires that the discipline perform behaviors that at starting time only resemble the target behavior; through reinforcement, these behaviors are gradually changed or "shaped" to encourage the target behavior itself.
• Skinner's early experiments in operant conditioning involved the shaping of rats' behavior so they learned to press a lever and receive a food advantage.
• Shaping is normally used to railroad train animals, such every bit dogs, to perform difficult tasks; it is also a useful learning tool for modifying human being behavior.

Key Terms

• successive approximation: An increasingly accurate estimate of a response desired past a trainer.
• paradigm: An example serving as a model or pattern; a template, every bit for an experiment.
• shaping: A method of positive reinforcement of beliefs patterns in operant conditioning.

In his operant-workout experiments, Skinner oft used an approach called shaping. Instead of rewarding but the target, or desired, behavior, the process of shaping involves the reinforcement of successive approximations of the target behavior. The method requires that the subject perform behaviors that at beginning simply resemble the target beliefs; through reinforcement, these behaviors are gradually changed, or shaped, to encourage the performance of the target behavior itself. Shaping is useful because information technology is often unlikely that an organism will display anything but the simplest of behaviors spontaneously. It is a very useful tool for training animals, such as dogs, to perform difficult tasks.

Domestic dog show: Dog training oftentimes uses the shaping method of operant workout.

How Shaping Works

In shaping, behaviors are broken down into many small, achievable steps. To test this method, B. F. Skinner performed shaping experiments on rats, which he placed in an apparatus (known as a Skinner box) that monitored their behaviors. The target behavior for the rat was to press a lever that would release food. Initially, rewards are given for even crude approximations of the target behavior—in other words, even taking a footstep in the correct management. And then, the trainer rewards a beliefs that is one step closer, or one successive approximation nearer, to the target behavior. For case, Skinner would advantage the rat for taking a pace toward the lever, for standing on its hind legs, and for touching the lever—all of which were successive approximations toward the target behavior of pressing the lever.

As the subject moves through each beliefs trial, rewards for old, less approximate behaviors are discontinued in order to encourage progress toward the desired behavior. For case, once the rat had touched the lever, Skinner might cease rewarding information technology for simply taking a pace toward the lever. In Skinner'south experiment, each reward led the rat closer to the target behavior, finally culminating in the rat pressing the lever and receiving food. In this fashion, shaping uses operant-conditioning principles to train a subject by rewarding proper behavior and discouraging improper behavior.

In summary, the process of shaping includes the following steps:

• Reinforce whatever response that resembles the target behavior.
• Then reinforce the response that more closely resembles the target behavior. Yous will no longer reinforce the previously reinforced response.
• Next, begin to reinforce the response that even more closely resembles the target beliefs. Go on to reinforce closer and closer approximations of the target beliefs.
• Finally, simply reinforce the target beliefs.

Applications of Shaping

This procedure has been replicated with other animals—including humans—and is now common practice in many training and teaching methods. It is commonly used to train dogs to follow verbal commands or get house-cleaved: while puppies can rarely perform the target behavior automatically, they tin be shaped toward this behavior by successively rewarding behaviors that come close.

Shaping is as well a useful technique in human learning. For example, if a father wants his girl to larn to clean her room, he tin can employ shaping to assist her master steps toward the goal. Beginning, she cleans up one toy and is rewarded. Second, she cleans upwards five toys; then chooses whether to pick upward ten toys or put her books and wearing apparel abroad; then cleans up everything except two toys. Through a series of rewards, she finally learns to clean her entire room.

Reinforcement and Penalty

Reinforcement and punishment are principles of operant conditioning that increase or decrease the likelihood of a behavior.

Learning Objectives

Differentiate among primary, secondary, conditioned, and unconditioned reinforcers

Cardinal Takeaways

Key Points

• " Reinforcement " refers to any outcome that increases the likelihood of a detail behavioral response; " punishment " refers to a consequence that decreases the likelihood of this response.
• Both reinforcement and penalty can exist positive or negative. In operant conditioning, positive means you are adding something and negative ways yous are taking something away.
• Reinforcers can be either main (linked unconditionally to a beliefs) or secondary (requiring deliberate or conditioned linkage to a specific beliefs).
• Main—or unconditioned—reinforcers, such equally water, food, sleep, shelter, sex, touch on, and pleasure, have innate reinforcing qualities.
• Secondary—or conditioned—reinforcers (such as money) accept no inherent value until they are linked or paired with a main reinforcer.

Central Terms

• latency: The delay between a stimulus and the response information technology triggers in an organism.

Reinforcement and punishment are principles that are used in operant conditioning. Reinforcement means you are increasing a beliefs: information technology is any consequence or outcome that increases the likelihood of a particular behavioral response (and that therefore reinforces the behavior). The strengthening effect on the behavior can manifest in multiple ways, including higher frequency, longer duration, greater magnitude, and short latency of response. Penalty means you are decreasing a beliefs: it is any upshot or outcome that decreases the likelihood of a behavioral response.

Extinction , in operant workout, refers to when a reinforced behavior is extinguished entirely. This occurs at some point later reinforcement stops; the speed at which this happens depends on the reinforcement schedule, which is discussed in more detail in another department.

Positive and Negative Reinforcement and Penalisation

Both reinforcement and punishment can be positive or negative. In operant workout, positive and negative practice not hateful good and bad. Instead, positive ways you are calculation something and negative ways you are taking something abroad. All of these methods can manipulate the beliefs of a subject area, but each works in a unique fashion.

Operant conditioning: In the context of operant conditioning, whether you are reinforcing or punishing a behavior, "positive" always means you lot are adding a stimulus (not necessarily a good ane), and "negative" always means y'all are removing a stimulus (not necessarily a bad one. See the bluish text and yellow text above, which correspond positive and negative, respectively. Similarly, reinforcement always ways you are increasing (or maintaining) the level of a behavior, and penalisation always means you are decreasing the level of a behavior. See the green and ruddy backgrounds in a higher place, which represent reinforcement and penalization, respectively.

• Positive reinforcers add a wanted or pleasant stimulus to increase or maintain the frequency of a behavior. For instance, a child cleans her room and is rewarded with a cookie.
• Negative reinforcers remove an aversive or unpleasant stimulus to increase or maintain the frequency of a behavior. For case, a child cleans her room and is rewarded by not having to wash the dishes that night.
• Positive punishments add together an aversive stimulus to decrease a beliefs or response. For example, a child refuses to clean her room and and then her parents brand her launder the dishes for a week.
• Negative punishments remove a pleasant stimulus to decrease a beliefs or response. For case, a kid refuses to make clean her room and then her parents refuse to let her play with her friend that afternoon.

Primary and Secondary Reinforcers

The stimulus used to reinforce a sure behavior can be either primary or secondary. A primary reinforcer, also called an unconditioned reinforcer, is a stimulus that has innate reinforcing qualities. These kinds of reinforcers are not learned. H2o, food, slumber, shelter, sex, touch, and pleasance are all examples of master reinforcers: organisms do not lose their bulldoze for these things. Some primary reinforcers, such as drugs and booze, merely mimic the effects of other reinforcers. For almost people, jumping into a cool lake on a very hot day would be reinforcing and the cool lake would be innately reinforcing—the water would cool the person off (a concrete demand), every bit well as provide pleasure.

A secondary reinforcer, also called a conditioned reinforcer, has no inherent value and only has reinforcing qualities when linked or paired with a principal reinforcer. Before pairing, the secondary reinforcer has no meaningful effect on a subject. Money is ane of the best examples of a secondary reinforcer: information technology is only worth something because y'all can use it to purchase other things—either things that satisfy basic needs (nutrient, water, shelter—all primary reinforcers) or other secondary reinforcers.

Schedules of Reinforcement

Reinforcement schedules determine how and when a beliefs will be followed by a reinforcer.

Learning Objectives

Compare and contrast unlike types of reinforcement schedules

Key Takeaways

Primal Points

• A reinforcement schedule is a tool in operant conditioning that allows the trainer to control the timing and frequency of reinforcement in order to elicit a target behavior.
• Continuous schedules reward a behavior after every performance of the desired behavior; intermittent (or partial) schedules only advantage the behavior afterwards certain ratios or intervals of responses.
• Intermittent schedules can be either fixed (where reinforcement occurs afterwards a set corporeality of time or responses) or variable (where reinforcement occurs after a varied and unpredictable amount of time or responses).
• Intermittent schedules are also described as either interval (based on the time between reinforcements) or ratio (based on the number of responses).
• Different schedules (fixed-interval, variable-interval, fixed-ratio, and variable-ratio) accept different advantages and answer differently to extinction.
• Compound reinforcement schedules combine two or more than simple schedules, using the same reinforcer and focusing on the same target behavior.

Key Terms

• extinction: When a behavior ceases because information technology is no longer reinforced.
• interval: A period of time.
• ratio: A number representing a comparing between two things.

A schedule of reinforcement is a tactic used in operant conditioning that influences how an operant response is learned and maintained. Each type of schedule imposes a rule or program that attempts to make up one's mind how and when a desired behavior occurs. Behaviors are encouraged through the use of reinforcers, discouraged through the employ of punishments, and rendered extinct by the complete removal of a stimulus. Schedules vary from simple ratio- and interval-based schedules to more complicated compound schedules that combine one or more unproblematic strategies to manipulate beliefs.

Continuous vs. Intermittent Schedules

Continuous schedules reward a behavior after every functioning of the desired beliefs. This reinforcement schedule is the quickest fashion to teach someone a beliefs, and it is specially effective in teaching a new behavior. Simple intermittent (sometimes referred to as fractional) schedules, on the other hand, only reward the behavior after certain ratios or intervals of responses.

Types of Intermittent Schedules

At that place are several different types of intermittent reinforcement schedules. These schedules are described as either fixed or variable and every bit either interval or ratio.

Fixed vs. Variable, Ratio vs. Interval

Fixed refers to when the number of responses between reinforcements, or the corporeality of time betwixt reinforcements, is ready and unchanging. Variable refers to when the number of responses or amount of time between reinforcements varies or changes. Interval ways the schedule is based on the time betwixt reinforcements, and ratio means the schedule is based on the number of responses between reinforcements. Simple intermittent schedules are a combination of these terms, creating the post-obit four types of schedules:

• A fixed-interval schedule is when beliefs is rewarded after a set amount of time. This type of schedule exists in payment systems when someone is paid hourly: no matter how much piece of work that person does in 1 hour (behavior), they will be paid the same corporeality (reinforcement).
• With a variable-interval schedule, the discipline gets the reinforcement based on varying and unpredictable amounts of time. People who like to fish experience this blazon of reinforcement schedule: on average, in the same location, yous are likely to catch virtually the same number of fish in a given fourth dimension period. Even so, you practice not know exactly when those catches will occur (reinforcement) within the fourth dimension menses spent line-fishing (behavior).
• With a fixed-ratio schedule, there are a set number of responses that must occur before the behavior is rewarded. This can be seen in payment for piece of work such equally fruit picking: pickers are paid a certain corporeality (reinforcement) based on the amount they option (beliefs), which encourages them to pick faster in order to brand more coin. In another case, Carla earns a commission for every pair of spectacles she sells at an eyeglass shop. The quality of what Carla sells does non matter because her commission is not based on quality; it's only based on the number of pairs sold. This distinction in the quality of performance can help determine which reinforcement method is most appropriate for a particular situation: fixed ratios are better suited to optimize the quantity of output, whereas a fixed interval can lead to a college quality of output.
• In a variable-ratio schedule, the number of responses needed for a reward varies. This is the most powerful type of intermittent reinforcement schedule. In humans, this type of schedule is used by casinos to attract gamblers: a slot motorcar pays out an average win ratio—say v to one—simply does non guarantee that every fifth bet (behavior) will be rewarded (reinforcement) with a win.

All of these schedules have dissimilar advantages. In general, ratio schedules consistently elicit higher response rates than interval schedules because of their predictability. For example, if you are a mill worker who gets paid per item that yous manufacture, you will exist motivated to manufacture these items quickly and consistently. Variable schedules are categorically less-predictable and then they tend to resist extinction and encourage continued behavior. Both gamblers and fishermen alike can understand the feeling that one more pull on the slot-machine lever, or one more 60 minutes on the lake, volition modify their luck and elicit their respective rewards. Thus, they continue to hazard and fish, regardless of previously unsuccessful feedback.

Simple reinforcement-schedule responses: The four reinforcement schedules yield different response patterns. The variable-ratio schedule is unpredictable and yields high and steady response rates, with little if any intermission later reinforcement (eastward.thou., gambling). A stock-still-ratio schedule is anticipated and produces a high response rate, with a short pause after reinforcement (due east.g., eyeglass sales). The variable-interval schedule is unpredictable and produces a moderate, steady response rate (e.g., angling). The stock-still-interval schedule yields a scallop-shaped response pattern, reflecting a significant suspension after reinforcement (e.m., hourly employment).

Extinction of a reinforced behavior occurs at some point after reinforcement stops, and the speed at which this happens depends on the reinforcement schedule. Among the reinforcement schedules, variable-ratio is the almost resistant to extinction, while stock-still-interval is the easiest to extinguish.

Unproblematic vs. Compound Schedules

All of the examples described above are referred to as uncomplicated schedules. Compound schedules combine at least two simple schedules and use the same reinforcer for the aforementioned behavior. Chemical compound schedules are oftentimes seen in the workplace: for example, if you are paid at an hourly rate (fixed-interval) but besides take an incentive to receive a pocket-sized commission for certain sales (fixed-ratio), yous are being reinforced by a compound schedule. Additionally, if there is an end-of-year bonus given to merely 3 employees based on a lottery system, y'all'd be motivated by a variable schedule.

At that place are many possibilities for compound schedules: for example, superimposed schedules use at to the lowest degree two elementary schedules simultaneously. Concurrent schedules, on the other hand, provide two possible simple schedules simultaneously, only allow the participant to respond on either schedule at volition. All combinations and kinds of reinforcement schedules are intended to elicit a specific target beliefs.

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Source: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-psychology/chapter/operant-conditioning/

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