mn Skinner box does not know how to press levers or bars. Thera u come about making the correct response through trial and ery, *s can be gyaded up through the process of shaping. In the beginny, inyenter can reinforce the rat when it moves to the part of the tains the har Once this behaviour is learnt reinforcement can bea the aniinal moves closer to the bar, then closer still, then only: ine dar with its paw and then, finally, when it actually presses the bar“ Shaping is often used to train animals to perform tricks in a, or marine park. These animals are trained to perform complex behaviours like monkeys playing the piano, bears riding bina} jumping through hoops, elephants marching to a drum beat ay | Shaping is also used in our daily lives when a person is taughta Neve example, a child who is being taught how to swim might receive ver, forcement from the instructor (telling the child she is doing ‘very wey, 0 time she successfully performs a new step in the series of steps egg) develop a proper technique, A technique called programmed lean! | used in shaping educational efforts, Programmed learning is the self: ing} tion in which information and questions are arranged in a sequence Oty) steps to permit active responding by the learner. Many study guides wy technique where rapid and frequent reinforcement of learning is give giving immediate feedback. This feedback is reinforcing to the person correctly answering the questions. It helps to shape complex through gradual and orderly reinforcement of small part responses. Extinction In classical conditioning, we read that extinction occurs when the CS is, edly presented in the absence of the UCS. In a similar manner, in o| conditioning extinction isthe process by which responses arc gradually wa ened and finally eliminated when previously available reinforcement is absea| In the Skinner box, the bar pressing response of the rat will be extinguished; the reinforcement is withheld. Human behaviour is also extinguished in| similar manner. A child who exhibits crying behaviour routinely at bedtimes reinforced by the attention showered by its parents. The parents might try t stop this behaviour by not attending to the child at that time. The child may increase its crying behaviour for some time but it eventually stops. In the same Way, if 2 person repeatedly raises her hand in class to answer questions but is never called upon, she might eventually stop raising her hand. Stimulus Generalization and Discrimination Skinner's original experiments were conducted on pigeons that were placed in the Skinner box. The box contained small illuminated disks that the ‘Red Orange Yellow Green Blue gure 5.7 Stimulus discrimination pigeons. | (Alter Reynolds, 1968) Tesponses to simi rq 3 Pigeons could peck to receive bits of grains from a food tray Skinner found that generalization of stimuli | occurs. The pigenn that green disk 1s likely to peck at another colour. The rate of pecki that-are less similar to the original green Discrimination occurs when the otganssm ke distinguish between a stimulus that | forced and other stimuli that Stmuus | Tesponse to the original stimulus trinforced for pecking ata nay be si timuli are not + crimination occurs. The pigeon, in this ca reinforced for pecking a green disk but not for peck ing a yellow one (Figure 5.7) Though operant conditioning is ultima: trolled by its consequences, there are certain stimuli that response and can thus exert influence on it. These stimuli beg Cues or signals indicating that the response might lead to reinto not. For example, the disk pecking of a pigeon may be reinforced only wh a light behind the disk is lit. When there ts no light any pecking wo lead to reinforcement. Children are not likely to ask their parents when they are frowning but only when they are smiling. Such stimu signal whether a certain response or behaviour is likely to be rewarded, ignored or punished are called discriminative stimuli. Stimulus discrimination allows both human beings and animals to learn what is appropriate and inappropriate in particular situations. hh that Reinforcement: Strengthening a Response Toreally understand operant couaiuoning, it is necessary to study the basic Principles of reinforcement. We have already said that reinforcement is a stimulus or event that increases the probability of a recurrence of the response that preceded it. Any behaviour that is followed by such a stimulus or event is likely to happen again. In our everyday lives we come across abundant examples of reinforcement. A person who studies long hours might get good grades; a person who works well at his job might get an extra increment; a child who behaves appropriately might be praised by his or her parents and so on. The above behaviours of studying long hours, behaving appropriately and working very hard are strengthened because of reinforcement. We must remember that reinforcement is not necessarily a reward + and the experience of pleasure, The fundamental process in reinforcement is the strengthening of the response tendency. A stimulus or event that isreinforcing in a situation may not function as a reinforcer later on q same way, a stimulus that is a reinforcer for one person will not fung, a reinforcer for another. Behaviour can be strengthened by using ejy, both of the two kinds of reinforcers—positive and negative. Positive Reinforcement Most of us are familiar with positive reinforcement. Positive reinforc, occurs when a response is strengthened because it is followed by the sentation of a rewarding stimulus (Figure 5.8). All the examples the, have mentioned like increments, good grades and attention are all reinforcers. These behaviours are continued because they are rewarded something that is desirable. Negative Reinforcement In contrast to positive reinforcement that increases the probability response through delivery of a stimulus, negative reinforcement incre the probability of a response occurring through the removal of an a stimulus (Figure 5.8). It is important to understand that even though & term ‘negative’ is used, it is still reinforcement as it strengthens the tendency. The properties of reinforcement are associated with the removal Figure 5.8 Pos | BEHAVIOUR L_ Increased Probably of Behaviour ive and negative reinforcement.teaming | 128 an unpleasant stimulus. Consider the example of a rat that is placed in a Skinner box with a shock delivered through the floor every 50 seconds. The rat could avoid this shock for some time by pressing a lever. The response tendency of pressing a lever is strengthened because of the removal of the aversive stimulus (shock). Human behaviour is significantly influenced by a negative reinforcement. A person rushes into a building to avoid the rain, studies to avoid losing a scholarship, cleans the house to get rid of pests, gives a child what it wants in order to avoid the crying behaviour and so on. The effects of negative feinforcement are usually seen in escape and avoidance learning. Most of us avoid facing difficult and awkward situations or problems. The origin of avoidance is in escape learning. In escape learn- ing, an organism acquires a response that decreases or ends some aversive stimulation. For example, a rat in a Skinner box receives a shock just strong enough to cause it to thrash around and press a lever, thus, avoiding the shock. In human beings avoidance learning is shown when people learn to escape from the summer heat by turning on the fan or go away from a party where their friends are teasing them. Escape learning does not necessarily mean leaving the place of the aversive stimulus or event. Any kind of behav- iour that helps in getting rid of the aversive stimulation is escape learning. In avoidance learning, the organism learns a response that helps it to escape from an aversive stimulus. In the Skinner box, a signal is given that the shock is about to be delivered. The rat learns that when a signal like a buzzer or a light is presented, it has to avoid the occurrence of the shock by pressing on the lever. In the beginning, the rat might run only when it receives a shock (avoidance learning), but gradually it learns to press the lever to avoid the shock. Similarly, closing the windows shut before going ‘ut to avoid the heat after coming back, or quitting parties in order to avoid teasing are examples of avoidance learning in human beings. Both escape and avoidance learning are adaptive in some circumstances but not in others. We learn to keep the room cool, which is adaptive, but keeping away from a dentist in order to avoid painful dental procedures can lead to more serious problems like tooth loss. A person may start taking alcohol or drugs to escape from certain troubles, but problems from alcohol and drug abuse can make the initial difficulties worse. Avoidance learning can be used to explain both adaptive behaviours as well as irrational fears. An important exception to the ability of human beings and other ani- mals to escape and avoid aversive situations or stimuli are those involving learned helplessness. Research has suggested that when people or animals are repeatedly exposed to situations which cannot be avoided, they learn to helplessly suffer the punishment. Learned helplessness is a passive accep- tance to aversive conditions learnt by repetitive exposure to those events that are inevitable.