Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to explore the examined effects of the subjects' behavior change as a function of a schedule. Rat participants were placed in an operant chamber for sessions of habituation, magazine training, and shaping on a fixed ratio schedule of reinforcement. These rats did not have any previous exposure to the operant conditioning chamber, or any training. These rats were to press a lever for reinforcement on a fixed ratio schedule of four presses by the end of the experiment. The data showed that there was a significant difference in the means. The main effect of fixed ratio reinforcement schedules in conjunction with the means suggests that behavior does in fact change as a function of schedule demands. The rate of lever presses increased as the ratio of fixed lever presses increased.
Fixed Ratio Schedule Training:
Training Laboratory Rats
Animals can learn interesting and complex behaviors through the means of conditioning and other training methods. The two types of conditioning are classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Conditioning incorporates both reinforcement and punishment. Reinforcement will increase the likelihood or a behavior, where punishment, and extinction will decrease it. Lee and Belfiore stated that “reinforcement is one of the most misused and misunderstood terms in the analysis of behavior” (1997). Along with these types of conditioning are other factors that help one train an organism. Habituation, magazine training, shaping, and different schedules of reinforcement help one reach the desired behavior. All these factors are part of training an organism to reach a desired behavior.
Classical conditioning was made famous by...
... middle of paper ...
...7). The role of preliminary magazine training in acquisition of the autoshaped key peck. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 28(2), 99-106.
Hollis, K. (1997). Contemporary research of Pavlovian conditioning: A new functional analysis. American Psychologist, 52. 956-965.
Lee, D. L., & Belfiore, P. J. (1997). Enhancing classroom performance: A review of reinforcement schedules. Journal of Behavioral Education, 7(2), 205-217.
Pavlov, I. P. (1927). Conditional reflexes: An investigation of the physiological activity of the cerebral cortex. Oxford, England: Oxford Univ. Press. Retrieved from www.csa.com
Reynolds, G. S. (1961). Relativity of response rate and reinforcement frequency in the multiple schedule. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 4, 179-184.
Skinner, B. F. (1951). How to teach animals. Scientific American, 185(6), 26-29.
Skinner, B.F. A Brief Survey of Operant Behavior. Cambridge, MA: B. F. Skinner Foundation. 1938
Behavior modification is based on the principles of operant conditioning, which were developed by American behaviorist B.F. Skinner. In his research, he put a rat in a cage later known as the Skinner Box, in which the rat could receive a food pellet by pressing on a bar. The food reward acted as a reinforcement by strengthening the rat's bar-pressing behavior. Skinner studied how the rat's behavior changed in response to differing patterns of reinforcement. By studying the way the rats operated on their environment, Skinner formulated the concept of operant conditioning, through which behavior could be shaped by reinforcement or lack of it. Skinner considered his discovery applicable to a wide range of both human and animal behaviors(“Behavior,” 2001).
The participants were the twenty-seven students of Professor David Otis' Experimental Psychology class. The group of twenty-seven was split into smaller groups. We were not paid with pecuniary funds, but we did receive partial credit towards our final grade in the class.
Watson, John B.; R Rayner, (March 2000) Conditioned emotional reactions, American Psychologist, Vol 55(3), 313-317.
Reinforcement contingencies change the way in which the animal responds,” (Slater 10-11).
In this experiment, we explore the effects of extinction on the subject. In previous exercises, the subject received a food pellet whenever it pressed the bar. However, in this experiment, the operant chamber is modified so that no food pellet will be delivered regardless of any bar pressing that may occur. Additionally, the pellet dispenser will also be muted so there will be no magazine sound that accompanies bar pressing. Therefore, both the primary reinforcer (food) and secondary reinforcer (magazine sound) are removed. For these experiments, the independent variable is the schedule of reinforcement and the dependent variable is the extinction rate. The schedule of reinforcement refers to the schedule that the reinforcer is provided, which in this case is never and the extinction rate refers to the time it takes for an operant response to be extinguished after the reinforcer is no longer provided. We considered extinction to be reached when the subject presses the bar no more than twice in a 5-minute period, as shown in the cumulative
Ivan Pavlov developed a theory called classical conditioning which proposes that learning process occurs through associations between an environmental stimulus and a naturally occurring stimulus. Classical conditioning involves placing a neutral signal before a naturally occurring reflex like associating the food with the bell in Pavlov experiment. In classical conditioning, behavior is learnt by association where a stimulus that was originally neutral can become a trigger for substance use or cravings due to repeated associations between those stimuli and substance use (Pavlov, 1927).
The affective extension of the sometimes-opponent process (AESOP) is a model that focuses on affection and sensory stimuli. The AESOP model has regulations on how the stimulus is to be represented hence showing how learning occurs either as a primary or secondary component. The theories associated with the learning process assume that experiences are documented in the hypothetical memory structure. This theory assumes that a stimulus whether conditioned or unconditioned has a response that could be conditioned or unconditioned. Pavlov carried out trials that exhibited that a dog would drool when it a bell is rung or when hungry. The sound of a bell or hunger is stimuli that trigger a response of salivating in the dog. Pavlov saw that both conditioned
Watson, J. B. (1920). Conditioned emotional reactions. The American Psychologist, 55(3), 313-317. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.southuniversity.libproxy.edmc.edu/
Pavlov’s dogs. Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/pavlov.html 11. McLeod,S., (2007). Psychology Perspectives from http://www.simplypsychology.org/perspective.html 12. Lybarger,M. (2014).
Regarding punishment in the two-factor theory, this Pavlovian conditioning must bring about fear within the subject. When the punished response is made the subject will experience fear, however, should the subject experience any response other than the punishment res...
The psychologist B. F Skinner believed that “changes in behavior are the result of an individual’s response to events (stimuli) that occur in the environment” (All About Operant Conditioning, 2006, Para 2). The following paper will discuss a learning situation in which an exercise routine is thought. The paper will evaluate the application of instrumental conditioning to this learning situation. As part of the analysis the learning situation will be described, the paper will compare and contrast the concepts of positive and negative reinforcement as related to learning situation, and explain the role of reward and punishment in learning an exercise routine. Finally, the paper will explain which form of instrumental conditioning would be most effective in teaching someone an exercise routine. Instrumental conditioning is the learning procedure that believes that “the organism must act in a certain way before it is reinforced; that is, reinforcement is contingent on the organism’s behavior” (Hergenhahn & Olson, 2005, pg 23). The major contributors of Instrumental conditioning are B.F Skinner, John Watson, and Edward Thorndike. These three theorists believed that “learning is the result of the application of consequences; that is, learners begin to connect certain responses with certain stimuli” (Huitt & Hummel, 1997, Para 1). In society the behaviors individuals manifest are learned behaviors which are learned through some form of conditioning.
Overall, Behaviorism is an important topic in today’s society. Although the main focus was in the 20th century, Behaviorism is still talked about today by many psychologists. Three important figures like Watson, Pavlov and Skinner were only a few that came up with their own experiments in order to prove that behaviorism all depends on observable behavior. Hence, Behaviorism is known to be behaviors that are acquired through conditioning in the
Learning through operant conditioning allows a conditioned behaviour to increase or decrease in the presence of reinforcement or punishment. However, this process can be affected by instinctive behaviours that would disrupt the conditioned behaviour. According to a study conducted by Breland and Breland (1961) they tried to condition a raccoon to pick up coins and drop them into a container. The raccoon however spent time rubbing the coins together and rubbing the coin on the inside of the container before finally dropping it in and receiving its food reinforcement. Even after conditioning, the raccoon’s need to rub the coins together became worse as he spent more and more time just rubbing the coins. This is known as instinctive drift where the raccoon’s instinctive behaviours limited its ability to perform the conditioned response. Therefore the raccoon failed to learn due to its innate tendencies that acted as a biological constraint and operant conditioning failed in teaching the raccoon through reinforcement.
Weiner, I. Healy, A. Freedheim, D. Proctor,R.W., Schinka,J.A. (2003) Handbook of Psychology: Experimental psychology,18, pp 500