Operant Conditioning:�Biological Limits & Contrasts with Classical Conditioning�Module 3.8b

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Learning Targets:

• Explain ways to apply Operant Conditioning to everyday life.
• Explain how biological constraints affect operant conditioning.
• Explain the characteristics that distinguish operant and classical conditioning.

Operant Conditioning is Everywhere!

• Basic rule of shaping: Notice people doing something right and affirm them for it.
• School – immediate feedback and personalized study plans
• Sports – break down complex actions into small parts and reinforce each
• Computers – AI – computers learn from success and failures and repeat what led to success
• Work – management rewards workers for specific, achievable behaviors
• Parenting – give attention for good behaviors, ignore the bad

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How to change your OWN behavior…

• State a realistic goal and announce it.
• Decide how, when, & where you will work toward your goal. – Make a plan!
• Monitor how often you engage in the desired behavior.
• Reinforce the desired behavior. – Reward yourself!
• Reduce the rewards gradually as your new behavior becomes a habit.

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Biological Limits on Operant Conditioning�

• Nature sets limits on what an animal can learn
• Behaviors that are tied to our biological predispositions are most easily learned and retained.

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Biological Predispositions

• Animal training issues – easier to train behaviors that are closer to natural behaviors using a natural reinforcer (food).

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• Instinctive drift - naturally occurring behaviors that interfere with operant responses.
• What happens when a trained tiger shows instinctive drift?

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Classical v. Operant

Conditioning

Classical vs Operant

• Both use acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalization, and discrimination.�
• Classical conditioning uses respondent/reflexive behavior - behavior that occurs as an automatic response to some stimulus that comes before the behavior.
• Ask:
• Is the behavior something the animal can control? NO.
• Does the animal have a choice in how to behave? NO.
• Operant conditioning uses a voluntary behavior that operates on the environment to produce a reward or avoid a punishment – voluntary behavior that is shaped by consequences that come after the behavior
• Ask:
• Is the behavior something the animal can control? YES.
• Does the animal have a choice in how to behave? YES.