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OPERANT CONDITIONING

Sociologyindex, Sociology Books 2012, Operant conditioning, Classical conditioning, Punishment, Reinforcement

Operant conditioning is the basic process by which an individual's behaviour is shaped by Reinforcement or by Punishment.

In Psychology, operant is an item of behaviour held not to be a response to a prior stimulus but something initially spontaneous, operating on or affecting the environment so as to produce consequences which may reinforce or inhibit recurrence of that behaviour.

Implications for therapies and treatments using classical conditioning differ from operant conditioning.

Utilization of an Operant Conditioning Model for the Treatment of Character and Behavior Disorders in a Military Setting 
ARTHUR D. COLMAN, Research psychiatrist, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Washington and STEWART L. BAKER JR., Chief, department of psychiatry and neurology, Walter Reed General Hospital - Am J Psychiatry 125:1395-1403, April 1969
The operant conditioning model was applied to a ward program for delinquent military recruits diagnosed as having character and behavior disorders. Early findings reported here indicate that the program has been quite successful in helping such men adjust to Army requirements and return to regular military duty. - ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/125/10/1395

Operant Conditioning in Skinnerbots 
David S. Touretzky, Lisa M. Saksida, Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA 
Adaptive Behavior, Vol. 5, No. 3-4 (1997) © 1997 International Society of Adaptive Behavior
Instrumental (or operant) conditioning, a form of animal learning, is similar to reinforcement learning (Watkins, 1989) in that it allows an agent to adapt its actions to gain maximally from the environment while being rewarded only for correct performance. However, animals learn much more complicated behaviors through instrumental conditioning than robots presently acquire through reinforcement learning. We describe a new computational model of the conditioning process that attempts to capture some of the aspects that are missing from simple reinforcement learning: conditioned reinforcers, shifting reinforcement contingencies, explicit action sequencing, and state space refinement. We apply our model to a task commonly used to study working memory in rats and monkeys—the delayed match-to-sample task. Animals learn this task in stages. In simulation, our model also acquires the task in stages, in a similar manner. We have used the model to train an RWI B21 robot. - adb.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/5/3-4/219

Operant Conditioning of a .300 Hitter? - The Effects of Reinforcement on the Offensive Efficiency of a Barnstorming Baseball Team - William L. Heward, Ohio State University and Indianapolis Clowns Baseball Club - Behavior Modification, Vol. 2, No. 1, 25-40 (1978)
Nine members of a professional touring baseball team served as subjects in an experiment to test the effects of reinforcement on individual and team offensive production. A new baseball statistic, the Efficiency Average (EA), was developed and recorded as the dependent variable. The experiment was conducted via an ABAB design. During the two phases of reinforcement, subjects' EAs were posted in the dugout prior to each game. After seven games, the three players with the highest cumulative EAs for that period were given $5.00, $3.00, and $2.00 respectively by rank order. Six of the subjects increased their offensive efficiency over baseline levels as evidenced by higher EAs during the first phase of reinforcement. Four subjects' EAs decreased with the reinstatement of baseline conditions, and EAs increased for four subjects when reinforcement was continued during the final phase. Team EA and run production was significantly higher for the 28 games when reinforcement was contingent upon EA ranking than for the 42 games when reinforcement was not available. It would also be interesting to see the influence of different baseball batting gloves and bats during the experiment.

Operant Conditioning in a Vietnamese Mental Hospital 
LLOYD H. COTTER M.D., Teaching Consultant for Professional Education, Psychiatric Residency Training Program, Pacific State Hospital, Pomona, Calif
Am J Psychiatry 124:23-28, July 1967 © 1967 American Psychiatric Association
Operant conditioning was applied in the special circumstances of a Vietnamese mental hospital with a largely untreated and idle patient population. Results demonstrated the remarkable effectiveness of this technique for motivating patients to resume productive activity. Interesting aspects of this treatment program, conducted under the difficulties of war-torn South Viet Nam, are described. - ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/124/1/23

The problem of generalization in the operant conditioning of social speech in the severely subnormal. Use of reversal to establish generalizability - ES Barton 
The British Journal of Psychiatry 127: 376-385 (1975) © 1975 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 
Many severely subnormal patients talk little to each other. In this experiment, three pairs of subjects were reinforced for talking to each other, and learned to do so quite quickly. Whether social speech would continue to occur without the benefit of external reinforcement was examined by observing the subjects through a one-way mirror in a bare interview room adjacent to the teaching room immediately after each training session. On some occasions untrained subjects were observed in the bare room with the trained subjects. The reinforcement of social speech was demonstrated to be effective by the use of a reversal design (baseline, reinforcement, no reinforcement, reinforcement), where the rate of speech increased considerably when reinforcement was available but decreased when it was discontinued. Generalization of the increased social speech, however, was very poor and only significantly above baseline levels with the pair who seemed responsive to social as well as material reinforcement. The implications of this for training programmes are discussed. - bjp.rcpsych.org/cgi/content/abstract/127/4/376

Teachers and Operant Conditioning - Frey, Sherman 
Abstract: A survey was conducted of 406 elementary, middle, and secondary school teachers to determine their understanding, acceptance, and use of the principle of operant conditioning. The treatment of data was by percent and chi square analysis primarily according to sex, experience, degree, and position. Subjects reported that a) they believed that the nature of the interaction between students and teachers is an influencing factor in student achievement and is deserving of concentrated study; b) they were familiar with the principle of operant conditioning; c) they understood the principle of operant conditioning but they had not decided about accepting it as a principle for governing behavior; and d) they felt that operant conditioning may be used to control the behavior of groups as well as individuals and that the managing of behavior is ethical within the context of the operant model. Subjects' indecisiveness about operant conditioning is reflected in the reporting of its usage in their classrooms: 126 use the technique, 116 do not, and 164 gave no response to the question. - eric.ed.gov

EasyChild Report: Working With Children Through Operant Conditioning Learning 
Abstract: EasyChild is a behavior modification software system designed to encourage children to succeed in life. This behavioral software system is designed to help raise children with consistent rewards for their achievements. EasyChild is a program for behavioral change which is grounded in both behaviorism and common sense with a premise that: “Kids can be whatever you want them to be”, provided we give them the tools and the direction they need to be successful.
EasyChild correlates behavior to the world of work. The values learned have a lasting effect on our children. Built into the program, there is an immediate value and profound effect in a families’ home life. EasyChild is for any parent or teacher who is facing the age old challenge of raising or teaching kids in today’s world. 
Why does EasyChild work? Because it is based on how children learn: Operant Conditioning, where a proper response is the outcome of certain stimuli, such as rewards. However, current talk therapy and counseling espouses that Operant Conditioning may not be an important child raising theory, but that is an anachronism. Research indicates that Operant Conditioning is one of the few approaches to working with children, with and without special needs, that has efficacy.
Why? If this is fact, then “why are we raising a nation of lost children?” (Time Magazine). One domain of thought is attributed to our children’s inability to adjust to their constantly changing environment or perhaps our own inability as parents and teachers to help them manage change. This inability to adapt, and to adopt, is creating children with poor reading skills, study skills, manners and ethics. In other words, perhaps our parenting skills aren’t as ideal as we thought they would be prior to having children. Remember thinking, “We will be the best parents ever, and our children will be super stars because of our parenting skills, wisdom and life’s experiences that we will pass on to them.” For most of us, this is not how our world has turned out.
We need direction in helping our children reach their goals. We have been tracking our children’s progress for years in school grade books and Report Cards, isn’t it time we have more help, whether it be in school performance or successful life practices? EasyChild is designed to do just this. It gives parents and teachers an edge in securing success for the young lives that they touch.
While parents and teachers have reached for books and magazines for years to help them navigate the principles of behavior modification skill sets in the home and the classroom, EasyChild is perhaps the first software product to really move into this skill set niche. It creates consistency for parents and teacher’s who can’t always track, inspire, reprimand or see a child’s behavior at a given moment. It is not a parenting substitute…it is a parenting enhancement.
If child development programs adopt research-based programs like EasyChild, our children’s school performance and behavior can improve, as evidenced in the information that follows. 
This paper serves as a guidebook to the logic, the principles of behavior modification, the thoughts and the premises that have gone into the creation of EasyChild Software. - easychild.com/Documents/EasyChild%20Report.pdf

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