Learning Principles

Fall 1997

Module 4 -- Operant Conditioning

Learning Objectives 

• Students will be able to diagram several examples of operant conditioning in the S^D—R—S^REINF  Model.
• Students will be able to describe extinction in the classroom.
• Students will understand the various reinforcement schedules that can be constructed.
• Detail which reinforcement schedule is most appropriate for transfer of stimulus control.
• Identify 2 basic functions of reinforcement.
• Provide examples of behavior shaping.
• Describe some of the aversive consequences that regulate classroom behavior.
• Identify potential problems of using positive reinforcement in the classroom.
• Describe the teacher's function in the classroom according to Skinner.
• Discuss the factors which control behavior.
• Describe the basic problems with education according to the behavioral model.
• Identify terms including: operant, stimulus reinforcer, stimulus discriminant, variable rate,  generalization, negative, positive (in reference to reinforcement), punishment, primary and secondary reinforcers, contrived, generalized and natural reinforcers
• Offer a definition for the Premack principle.
• Discuss contingency management in the classroom.

Content Overview 

• An expanded look at operant conditioning

Practice 

1) Describe and diagram in S^d - R - S^reinf format two examples of operant conditioning that may increase complex behavior in infants.

        Tips for checking your work

2) Consider at least two examples of how your behavior has been shaped by teachers, parents, law enforcement, or supervisors.  Skinner believes that society too often uses aversive means rather than positive reinforcement to shape behavior.

        Do your two examples support Skinner's view?

3) Diagram the S^d - R - S^reinf that is represented in each of the scenarios below:
 
    a) Teacher A finds that his second period class takes an inordinate amount
        of time to settle down and get ready for class work after the tardy bell has
        rung.  Daily, he addresses critical remarks to the worst offenders, but his
        method has not remedied the problem.

    b) Several times per week, Teacher B gives her fifth period math students
        in-class problems to practice new material she has presented.  She allows
        the class 30 minutes to complete the exercise.  The class always has trouble
        getting down to work and staying on task.  Few students complete their
        assignments.  Teacher B continually nags students through the work period
        to stop talking and playing with their neighbors and to get to work.  Her
        method is not successful.

        Check your work here6215m4p1.htm

3)  Using the scenarios above, identify alternative approaches and diagram them.

        Are your suggestions based on positive reinforcement or punishment?

4) Consider the following example then respond to the 2 questions which follow:
          A twelve-year-old male experiences extreme anxiety in situations involving
     mathematical calculations and symbols.  Each time he is presented with a task
     involving these manipulations, he becomes anxious and typically fails the task.
     When questioned concerning the boy's problem, his parents reported that the
     problem began in second grade, but they were not certain what caused its
     onset.

        a)  Assume that the problem was learned through classical conditioning.
             Explain what the conditioning event may have been that initiated the
             child's anxiety over math.  Be sure to use terms connected to classical
             conditioning.

        b) Explain the process using operant conditioning that could be used to help
            the child overcome his anxiety in the presence of math tasks.  Be sure to
            use terms that are connected with operant conditioning.

Links to Resources 

• A PowerPoint presentation from Loyola University

Homework 

Gedanken

     You are awakened in the middle of the night by a phone call.  It is the Secretary of Psychology, calling from Washington, D.C.  "Can you be ready to leave in five minutes?" she asks.  Sleepily, you say yes.

     Before you know it, you are whisked away to the nation's capital aboard Air Force One.The Secretary seems quite agitated. "We have asked you here," she says, "because you are the world's foremost authority on operant conditioning.  And we have a problem here that not even B.F. Skinner would have foreseen."  You are intrigued, and you motion for her to continue. "It seems that certain soft drink machines are exhibiting life-like behavior.  So far, these machines are restricted to the southern California region, particularly around Venice Beach."
You are not surprised (after all, it is California!).

     She continues, "Anyway, these machines all act the same.  A person puts in 75 cents for a drink, and the machine withholds the soda.  Nothing seems to help--- putting in more money, kicking the machine, shaking it, not even unplugging it.  Finally, when the poor unsuspecting person reaches up the slot to see if the can is jammed, this happens."  She shows you some very grisly pictures.  You get the idea.  "So far, there are only five machines that have exhibited these behaviors.  But we have no way of knowing how many others exists across the nation, or when other machines might spring into action.  Can you help us?"

Draw up a plan to:
    a) explain why the machines act the way they do
    b) control their violent behavior, and
    c) disguise the fact that they are alive.

Gedanken Alternative 1

Draw up a plan to:
    a) explain why this child has taken to biting other students
    b) control this obviously inappropriate behavior, and
    c) set the stage for appropriate behavior long-term.

When complete- mail me your response so the world will have a way to deal with this menace.

Communication  

E-mail the instructor

Connect to the class bulletin board

Connect to the class distribution list

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