Operant Conditioning
- 1. OPERANT CONDITIONING Presented by: Jaisha K J
- 2. L E A R N I N G Any relatively permanent change in behaviour that occurs as a result of experience LEARNING THEORIES Classical Conditioning OPERANT CONDITIONING Social Learning Cognitive Learning
- 3. OPERANT CONDITIONING A method of learning in which a voluntary response is strengthened or weakened, depending on its favourable or unfavourable consequences. A learning process through which the strength of a behaviour is modified by reinforcement or punishment. It is also a procedure that is used to bring about such learning.
- 4. B. F. SKINNER (1904-1990) Father of operant conditioning Extensively researched animal behaviour and factors that affect the rate of learning
- 5. He believed that the best way to understand behaviour is to look at the causes of an action and its consequences He called this approach OPERANT CONDITIONING
- 6. SKINNER BOX EXPERIMENT • The operant chamber or skinner box comes with a bar or key that an animal manipulates to obtain a reinforcer like food or water. • The bar or key is connected to devices that record the animal’s response.
- 8. PIGEON BOX EXPERIMENT • For doing experiments with pigeons, Skinner made use of another specific apparatus called “Pigeon Box”. • A Pigeon in this experiment had a peck at a lighted plastic key mounted on the wall at head height and was consequently rewarded by receiving grain. • Rewarded when: -it turns towards the peck -it walks towards the peck -it raises its head to the height of the peck -it taps the button with its peck
- 10. OPERANT CONDITIONING Reinforcement Punishment Anything that makes behaviour more likely to occur Anything that makes behaviour less likely to occur Positive PositiveNegative Negative Add something pleasant Remove something unpleasant Add something unpleasant Remove something pleasant Neutral responses Responses from the environment that neither increase nor decrease the probability of a behaviour being repeated
- 11. IN A NUTSHELL
- 13. SCHEDULE OF REINFORCEMENT • When and how often we reinforce a behaviour can that have a dramatic impact on the strength and rate of the response. • A schedule of reinforcement is basically the frequency and predictability of when instances of a behaviour will be reinforced. • In some case, a behaviour might be reinforced every time it occurs. • Sometimes a behaviour might not be reinforced at all.
- 14. FIXED INTERVAL Reinforcement after a set period of time TYPES OF SCHEDULE OF REINFORCEMENT VARIABLE INTERVAL Reinforcement after varying lengths of time FIXED RATIO Reinforcement after a set number of responses VARIABLE RATIO Reinforcement after a varying number of responses
- 16. OPERANT CONDITIONING IN WORKPLACE PRODUCTIVITY PROJECT TEAMS DIVERSITY CUSTOMER SERVICE
- 17. THANK YOU
Editor's Notes
- #17: Productivity Good employee morale can be directly linked to increased productivity in the workplace, and operant conditioning can be useful in keeping both high. According to the Theory positive reinforcement, which is the cornerstone of Skinner's theory, in the form of verbal praise or pay increases, will elicit a desired response, which in the workplace is optimal productivity. Project Teams Many business projects involve teams of employees working together to achieve a common goal. When one team member fails to meet his or her individual projects goals, the entire project can suffer, potentially leading to conflict among team members, punishment from superiors and the loss of repeat business from clients. Keeping all employees accountable for their actions and rewarding high performing teams is one form of operant conditioning that can help ensure projects are completed on time and within a set budget. Diversity The globalization of the workforce has resulted in a high level of ethnic and cultural diversity within most business organizations. Managers who are not adept at communicating with a diverse group of employees risk offending their subordinates and possibly hampering business relations with overseas clients. Leadership training can help support the operant conditioning paradigm by helping to ensure that managers avoid making even one mistake when communicating with a global audience and helping them to maintain positive and, therefore, productive relationships with all involved. Customer Service In the realm of customer service, reinforcement can be immediate, such as when a client purchases a product. According to the Reference for Business Encyclopedia, continuous reinforcement can be helpful when new employees are learning an organization's customer service protocol because it can facilitate the learning process and ensure that proper orders are taken at a more rapid pace.