# Operant Conditioning

Psychology I · Learning and Emotion · https://tryals.app/learn/psychology-i/operant-conditioning

## Consequences & Shaping

Operant conditioning explains behavior through its consequences. Two dimensions define every consequence: whether something is **added** or **removed**, and whether the behavior becomes **more** or **less** likely.

| | Adds something | Removes something |
|---|---|---|
| Increases behavior | **Positive reinforcement** (adds a treat) | **Negative reinforcement** (removes seatbelt chime) |
| Decreases behavior | **Positive punishment** (adds scolding) | **Negative punishment** (removes phone) |

> **Pitfall:** **Negative reinforcement** is NOT punishment. Reinforcement ALWAYS increases behavior. "Negative" simply means subtraction.

Complex behaviors are built via **shaping**: reinforcing successive approximations toward a target behavior.

Reinforcers split into **primary reinforcers** (innately rewarding, like food) and **secondary reinforcers** (learned value, like money).

## Schedules of Reinforcement

How often behavior is reinforced dictates its response pattern across four **schedules of reinforcement**:

| Schedule | Pattern | Example | Response pattern |
|---|---|---|---|
| **Fixed ratio** | Set number of responses | Piecework pay | High rate, brief pause after |
| **Variable ratio** | Unpredictable number | Slot machines | Highest, steadiest rate; persistent |
| **Fixed interval** | Set amount of time | Weekly paycheck | Scalloped: speeds up near time |
| **Variable interval** | Unpredictable time | Checking texts | Slow, steady rate throughout |

$$\text{Variable ratio} \to \text{highest, most persistent response rate}$$

## Practice questions

5 of this lesson's 10 practice questions, with answers. The full set is in the app.

### 1. A trainer wants a rat to press a lever it has never touched. Waiting for the press and reinforcing it could take forever. What does **shaping** do instead?

A. Reinforces successive approximations toward the target
B. Waits for the behaviour to appear spontaneously, which it eventually will
C. Physically guides the animal through the target behaviour until it learns
D. Punishes every behaviour except the target, narrowing the options

**Answer:** A. Reinforces successive approximations toward the target

**Why:** Reinforcement can only strengthen what occurs, so shaping manufactures the occurrence: reward whatever is closest, then raise the bar. It is how animals are trained, how physiotherapy progresses, and why teaching a hard skill means finding the version of it the learner can already do.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/psychology-i/operant-conditioning/a-trainer-wants-a-rat-to-press-a-lever-it-has-never-touched-waiting

### 2. Match each real-world example to the reinforcement schedule it illustrates.

**Answer:**

- Slot machines paying out after an unpredictable number of plays → Variable ratio
- Piecework pay: money after every set number of items made → Fixed ratio
- A weekly paycheck arriving after a set amount of time → Fixed interval
- Checking a messaging app that updates at unpredictable times → Variable interval

**Why:** Slot machines are variable ratio (unpredictable number of responses), piecework is fixed ratio, a weekly paycheck is fixed interval, and app-checking is variable interval. Ratio vs interval is responses vs time; fixed vs variable is predictable vs not.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/psychology-i/operant-conditioning/match-each-real-world-example-to-the-reinforcement-schedule-it

### 3. A gambler at a slot machine and an office worker paid every second Friday are both on reinforcement schedules. Why is the gambler's behaviour so much harder to extinguish?

A. Because a fixed schedule provides more total reinforcement, so there is more learning to undo.
B. Because the slot machine reinforces on every response, which is the schedule most resistant to extinction.
C. Because a variable ratio gives no way to tell a dry spell from the end.
D. Because gambling produces larger rewards, and larger rewards create stronger associations.

**Answer:** C. Because a variable ratio gives no way to tell a dry spell from the end.

**Why:** Extinction requires detecting that reinforcement has stopped, and the schedule sets how detectable that is: twenty losing pulls is an ordinary run, and so is fifty. The evidence that would end the behaviour looks exactly like continuing to play, which is why giving in occasionally is worse than giving in every time.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/psychology-i/operant-conditioning/a-gambler-at-a-slot-machine-and-an-office-worker-paid-every-second

### 4. Order the steps of shaping a rat to press a lever it has never touched.

**Answer:**

1. Reinforce the rat merely for facing the lever
2. Next, reinforce it only for approaching the lever
3. Then reinforce it only for touching the lever
4. Finally, reinforce it only for a full lever press

**Why:** Shaping reinforces successively closer approximations - facing, then approaching, then touching, then pressing - rather than waiting for the full behavior to appear on its own. Each step raises the bar toward the target, which is how complex behaviors are built.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/psychology-i/operant-conditioning/order-the-steps-of-shaping-a-rat-to-press-a-lever-it-has-never

### 5. Sort each consequence by whether it makes the behavior MORE likely (reinforcement) or LESS likely (punishment).

**Answer:**

- Increases behavior (reinforcement): Removing an unpleasant nagging once the chore is done, so the chore gets done more, Adding praise so a behavior recurs, Ending a headache by taking aspirin, so aspirin-taking increases
- Decreases behavior (punishment): Taking away a favorite toy to reduce hitting, Adding a fine to reduce speeding

**Why:** Reinforcement always increases behavior, whether by adding something pleasant or removing something unpleasant (the nagging, the headache). Punishment always decreases behavior. Removing something can be reinforcement (negative reinforcement) - the trap this sort exposes.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/psychology-i/operant-conditioning/sort-each-consequence-by-whether-it-makes-the-behavior-more-likely