Page 264 - Understanding Psychology

Operant Conditioning
Reader’s Guide
Exploring Psychology
Saved by a Theory
The therapists noted that the depressed woman did not eat; she was
in critical danger of dying of starvation. What should they do? The woman did seem to enjoy visitors at the hospital and the TV set, radio, books and magazines, and flowers in her room. The therapists moved her into a room devoid of all these comforts, and put a light meal in front of her; if she ate anything at all, one of the comforts was temporarily restored. The therapists gradually withheld the rewards unless she continued to eat more. Her eating improved, she gained weight. Within months she was released from the hospital. A follow-up consultation with her 18 months later found her leading a normal life.
—from The Story of Psychology by Morton Hunt, 1993
s Main Idea
Operant conditioning occurs when the consequences that follow a behavior increase or decrease the likelihood of that behavior occurring again.
s Vocabulary
• operant conditioning
• reinforcement
• primary reinforcer
• secondary reinforcer
• fixed-ratio schedule
• variable-ratio schedule
• fixed-interval schedule
• variable-interval schedule
• shaping
• response chain
• aversive control
• negative reinforcement
• escape conditioning
• avoidance conditioning
s Objectives
• Outline the principles of operant
conditioning.
• Describe applications of operant
conditioning.
operant conditioning:
learning in which a certain action is reinforced or pun- ished, resulting in correspond- ing increases or decreases in occurrence
Suppose your dog is wandering around the neighborhood, sniffing trees, checking garbage cans, looking for a squirrel to chase. A kind neighbor sees the dog and tosses a bone out the kitchen door to it. The next day, the dog is likely to stop at the same door on its rounds, if not go to it directly. Your neighbor produces another bone, and another the next day. Your dog becomes a regular visitor.
Both stories are examples of operant conditioning—that is, learn- ing from the consequences of behavior. The term operant is used because
250 Chapter 9 / Learning: Principles and Applications