Operant conditioning

Operant conditioning

1. Three-phase model of operant conditioning

   • 1. Discriminative stimulus (Sd), occurs before a particular response
   • 2. The response (R), that occurs due to the discriminative stimulus
   • 3. The consequence (C), to the response

2. Skinners Box

3. Elements of operant conditioning

   • Reinforcement
     • Reinforcer
     • Positive reinforcement
       • Positive reinforcer
     • Negative reinforcement
       • Negative reinforcer
   • Punishment
     • Positive punishment
     • Negative punishment
     • Response cost
     • Factors that influence the effectiveness of reinforcement and punishment
       • Order of presentation
       • Timing
       • Appropriateness
   • Schedules of reinforcement
     • Continuous reinforcement
     • Partial reinforcement
     • Fixed-ratio schedule
     • Variable-ratio schedule
     • Fixed-interval schedule
     • Variable-interval schedule

4. Key processes in operant conditioning

   • Acquisition
   • Extinction
   • Spontaneous recovery
   • Stimulus generalisation
   • Stimulus discrimination

5. Applications of operant conditioning

   • Shaping
   • Token economy