Every time you get a B on a math test, I will

delete one of your Dad’s Youtube videos

 Reinforcement
Reinforcement: any event that strengthens the
behavior.

Positive Reinforcement: innately reinforcing

stimulus, such as one that satisfies a biological need
– think of it as adding something good.
Negative reinforcement: a reinforcement strategy
where an aversive stimulus is removed and this
increases a desired behaviour – think of it as taking
away something disliked
Reinforcement is not always
good – for example blueberries
…and glasses
Punishment
Punishment: an event that decreases the behavior that it
follows. Usually by administering an undesirable
consequence (positive punishment) or withdrawing a
desirable one (negative punishment).

Think of it in terms of adding something you don’t like (ex.

writing lines) or taking away something good (ex. losing
phone/t.v. privileges)

Note: Not effective in the long term – lasting behavioural

change is better achieved through reinforcement
Punishment – Should you spank
your children?
 Punished behavior is not forgotten, it is only
suppressed
 The suppression reinforces the punisher’s behavior –
more likely to choose this form of discipline in the future
 The punished behavior usually reappears in a safe setting,
away from the punisher
 Physical punishment may increase aggressiveness by
demonstrating that aggression is a way to cope with
problems
Which is it?
Reinforcement

Conditioned reinforcement: a stimulus that gains its

reinforcing power through its association with a
primary reinforcer or secondary reinforcer.
hyperlink
Which is the primary reinforcer
and which is the secondary
reinforcer?
Reinforcement

Conditioned reinforcement: a stimulus that gains its

reinforcing power through its association with a
primary reinforcer
Primary is biological – ex. food, drink, and pleasure
Secondary is conditioned – ex. money, grades in schools,
and tokens

hyperlink
Reinforcement Schedules
1) Continuous reinforcement: desired response
is rewarded every time it occurs

2) Partial (intermittent) reinforcement:

responses are only sometimes reinforced
and results in slower acquisition but has
greater resistance to extinction
 There are four types of partial reinforcement
Types of Partial Reinforcement
1) Fixed-ratio schedules: reinforced behavior after a set
number of responses.
i.e. Piece work.
Types of Partial Reinforcement

2) Variable – ratio schedules: provides reinforcer with an

unpredictable number of responses.
i.e. gambling
Types of Partial Reinforcement
3) Fixed-interval schedules:
reinforces the first response
after a fixed time period.
i.e. weekly quizzes

4) Variable-interval schedules:
reinforces the first
response after a varying
time period.
i.e. pop quizzes
Operant Conditioning in popular
culture
As you watch the Big Bang Theory, determine what the
reinforcement schedule is and spot the error that they
make about conditioning
hyperlink
Name it!
 Add desirable
Positive reinforcement
 Remove desirable
Negative punishment
 Remove aversive
Negative reinforcement
 Add aversive
Positive punishment
Skinner
Died believing that cognitive processes – thoughts,
perceptions, expectations do not have a place in
psychology.

He believed that thoughts and emotions are

behaviors that followed the same laws as other
behaviors.

He is criticized for his dehumanized view but added a

great deal to psychology.
Applying Psychology: Systematic
Desensitization
Applying Psychology: Flooding
 Seen in terms of phobia treatment
 a phobia is an unreasoning fear to a non-
dangerous thing or situation
 Somehow this non-dangerous thing has
become associated with the panic response
usually associated with mortal danger. The
idea is that by forcing the phobic to confront
their fear individuals will learn that there is
nothing dangerous about it.
Flooding
Applying Psychology: Token
Economy

 A token economy is an operant conditioning

procedure that rewards a desired behaviour
in order to create behavioural change
 Earn tokens that can later be exchanged for
privileges or treats
Motivation
Intrinsic motivation: desire to perform a behavior for
its own sake and to be effective.

Extrinsic motivation: desire to perform a behavior

due to promised rewards or threats of punishment.
Overjustification – where
reinforcement falls down

Overjustification effect: promising a reward for doing

what one already likes to do.
The person then sees the reward, rather than intrinsic
motivation for performing the task.
Late marks conundrum
 Taking marks off for a late assignment is punishment
which can then negatively impact completion rates
and/or quality of the work AND can disregard real
situations where allowances should be made or lead to
unfair standards
 Providing reinforcers for all students who get work in on
time can negatively impact the motivation of some
students because of the overjustification effect
 Providing reinforcers for some students has the
possibility of stigmatizing students
 In the end, handing in assignments on time needs to be
intrinsically motivating
 Albert Bandura
 Canadian.
 Born 1925 in Northern Alberta.
 B.A. in Psychology from UBC 1949.
 Continues to work at Stanford U.
 Was president of the APA 1973.
 Behavioral Psychologist.
Learning by Observation
Definition: Learning by observing others.

Modeling: process of observing and imitating a

specific behavior.
Bandura’s View
“Learning would be exceedingly laborious not
to mention hazardous, if people had to rely
solely on the effect of their own actions to
inform them what to do”
Crash Course and social learning
theory
https://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=NjTxQy_U3ac
The Good
Prosocial behavior: positive constructive,
helpful behavior. The opposite of antisocial
behavior.

Ex. Charity, volunteering, helping & general good

behavior & deeds.
Television
How do they study the effects of T.V. on Children?
 One way is for researchers go to remote places without
T.V., observe the children and return again once they
receive TV
 These studies have huge problems with their methodology.
 Problems in population size, recruiting factors, cultural differences,
socioeconomic factors etc.
 Researchers also do correlational research looking at time
spent watching tv and behavioural/social outcomes
 Such longitudinal studies are problematic and the actual amount of
T.V. watched is normally unknown.
Television is bad…..
 TV raises the aggression levels in children (Josephson, 1987)

 Women who watched violent TV as children were found to

have “punched, beaten, or choked another adult over four
times the rate of other women” (Huesmann et al., 2003 )

 “Television violence is as strongly correlated with aggressive

behavior as any other behavioral variable that has been
measured” (Murray, 2003 )
Television is not so bad . . .
 there is little evidence to suggest that a heavier diet of TV
violence is linked to concurrent levels of antisocial behavior
(Gunter, 2000)
 in only rare and artificial circumstances that a stimulus such
as television would modify one’s behavior (Ashworth et al.,
1985).
 70% of the subjects felt that television broadens the minds
of children and exposes them to new ideas and concepts
and generally increases their overall knowledge (Bybee et
al. 1985).
Some critical considerations:
Television
Think about certain research issues:

Researchers are selecting the violent content

shown to participants and the children are
watching something they may would not pick for
themselves.
As a result it creates an artificial form of aggression.

Television violence may momentarily increase

aggression, but long term effects have not been
found when it has been introduced to a new
population.
Major Assignment #2
 Decide upon a behaviour you want to change and
create a token economy for yourself.
 Set the goal/target behaviour
 Set the reinforcement schedule (Fixed-interval –
you decide the interval) choose the reinforcer
(something you don’t usually have access to)
 Start tracking data
 Data and analysis due 15 June 2018