Psychology 1

General Psychology
Christopher Gade, PhD
Office: 3412 Tolman Hall
Office Hours: MW 3:10-4:10
Email: gadecj@berkeley.edu

Class MW 2:00-3:00
155 Dwinelle

Reviewing
In our last class, we learned about:

What behaviorism is all about

Where the field came from, and what its goals
were
How we tend to pair information

Edward Thorndike (1874-1949)

Originated the idea of instrumental
learning
Studied learning
by examining the
trial and error
behavior of cats in
their attempts to
escape from puzzle
boxes

Some of the Thorndike Laws

Law of Recency: the most recent
is likely to reoccur

response

Restaurant choice example

Law of Use: Connections become strengthened with

practice and weakened when practice is discontinued

Exercise at the gym example

Law of Effect: Behaviors followed by favorable

consequences become more likely; behaviors followed
by unfavorable consequences become less likely

B. F. Skinner (1904-1990)
Skinner attempted to expand on
Thorndikes original theories of
instrumental learning. He proposed
that the learning process has a very predictable
response to rewards and punishments. His
work set out to show how those responses to
behavior influenced future behaviors (e.g.
operant conditioning).
The majority of Skinners work was done on
rats and pigeons in elaborate boxes that he
designed. These boxes were called Skinner
Boxes.

15:40

Operant Conditioning
The process of learning to associate a behavior
with a consequence. This typically results in
behavior that maximizes reinforcing and
minimizes punishing events.

Reinforcement: any outcome/response that increases

the future probability of the most recent behavior
Punishment: any outcome/response that decreases
the frequency of the preceding behavior
What makes something reinforcing or punishing?

Biologically useful
Intrinsically satisfying
Restores equilibrium

But theres more

Not only are there reinforcements and punishments in operant
conditioning, but these responses are either positive (adding
something), or negative (taking something away).
The 2x2 Matrix of Operant Conditioning:

Positive reinforcement: an introduction of a pleasurable stimulus after a

behavior, which will increase the likelihood of the future occurrence of
the behavior (e.g. chocolate cake).
Negative reinforcement: a removal of (or the avoidance of) an aversive
stimulus after a behavior, which will increase the likelihood of the future
occurrence of the behavior (e.g. spanking).
Positive punishment: an introduction of an aversive stimulus after a
behavior, which will decrease the likelihood of the future occurrence of
the behavior (e.g. bark collar shock).
Negative punishment: a removal of (or a threatening to remove) a
pleasurable stimulus after a behavior, which will decrease the likelihood
of the future occurrence of a behavior (e.g. taking away your allowance).

What type of conditioning is this?

What about this one?

A review of other related behavioral concepts

Extinction: a return of a
behavior to baseline when
reinforcement/punishment
stops

Generalization: increasing
or decreasing similar
responses due to punishment
or reinforcement

Discrimination: only
increasing or decreasing the
specific response that was
reinforced or punished

Important Terms Found Only in

Operant Conditioning
Primary reinforcers: a reinforcer that
automatically increases the likelihood of a
response

A treat or petting

Secondary reinforcers: a
reinforcer that has been
learned through classical
conditioning to increase the
likelihood of a response

A clicker

Other Concepts in
Operant Conditioning
Shaping: rewarding
successive
approximations of a
behavior thats being
reinforces
Chaining: reinforcing
combinations of learned
behaviors that are the
paired together

Forward chaining
Backward chaining

Different Schedules of Reinforcement

Continuous reinforcement: reinforcement for every correct

response

Partial/intermittent reinforcement: occasional reinforcement for a

correct response
a. Fixed ratio: Reward for a behavior after X responses. Causes
faster responders to get more rewards. Produces high rates of responding,
but quick extinction when the reinforcement is removed.
b. Variable ratio: Reward for a behavior after a variable and
unpredictable numbers of responses. Gambling is a great example of this
reward system. It is very hard to extinguish after the connection is made.
c. Fixed interval: Reward for a behavior after X amount of time
has passed. The responses are rather sparse in down time, but get more
vigorous right before time X.
d. Variable interval: Reward for a behavior after a variable and
unpredictable amount of time. This causes slow, steady responding.

Responses x Time Diagram

Effectiveness of Reinforcement

All things being equal, most people learn fastest

with immediate reinforcement or immediate
punishment
Punishment tends to be less effective than
reinforcement, except when temporarily
suppressing undesirable
behavior
Vicarious conditioning can
also be effective

The Next Few Weeks

Paper 2 will be covered in sections this week and is
due in next weeks sections
Well also be moving from behaviorism to the world
of social psychologythe last topic before exam 2
If you have any questions about this topic, dont
hesitate to ask me them

Have a good day!