Operant conditioning: concepts and main techniques

March 30, 2024

Within behavioral procedures, operative or instrumental conditioning is probably the one with the most numerous and varied applications.

From the treatment of phobias to the overcoming of addictions such as smoking or alcoholism, the operating scheme allows to conceptualize and modify practically any habit from the intervention on a few elements.

But What exactly is the operant conditioning? In this article we review the key concepts to understand this paradigm and detail its most frequent applications, both to increase behaviors and to reduce them.

Antecedents of operant conditioning

The operant conditioning as we know it was formulated and systematized by Burrhus Frederic Skinner based on the ideas previously raised by other authors.

Ivan Pavlov and John B. Watson had described the Classical conditioning, also known as simple conditioning or Pavlovian.

For his part, Edward Thorndike introduced the law of effect, the clearest antecedent of operant conditioning. The law of effect states that if a behavior has positive consequences for the person doing it, it will be more likely to be repeated, while if it has negative consequences, this probability will decrease. In the context of Thorndike's work operant conditioning is called "instrumental".

Related article: "Behaviorism: history, concepts and main authors"

Difference between classical and operant conditioning

The main difference between classical and operant conditioning is that the former refers to the learning of information about a stimulus, while the latter involves learning about the consequences of the response .

Skinner believed that behavior was much easier to modify if its consequences were manipulated than if stimuli were simply associated with it, as in classical conditioning. Classical conditioning is based on the acquisition of reflex responses, which explains a lower amount of learning and its uses are more limited than those of the operator, since it refers to behaviors that the subject can control at will.

Related article: "Classical conditioning and its most important experiments"

Concepts of operant conditioning

Next, we will define the basic concepts of operant conditioning to better understand this procedure and its applications.

Many of these terms are shared by behavioral guidelines in general, although they may have specific connotations within the operant paradigm.

Instrumental or operant response

This term designates any behavior that carries a certain consequence and it is susceptible to change depending on it. Its name indicates that it serves to obtain something (instrumental) and that it acts on the medium (operant) instead of being provoked by it, as it happens in the case of the classic or respondent conditioning.

In behavioral theory the word "response" is basically equivalent to "behavior" and "action", although "response" seems to refer more to the presence of antecedent stimuli.

Consequence

In behavioral and cognitive-behavioral psychology, a consequence is the result of a response. The consequence can be positive (reinforcement) or negative (punishment) for the subject who carries out the behavior; in the first case, the probability that the answer is given will increase and in the second case it will decrease.

It is important to bear in mind that the consequences affect the response and, therefore, in operative conditioning what is reinforced or punished is said behavior, not the person or animal that carries it out. At all times we work with the intention of influence the way in which stimuli and responses are related , since behavioral philosophy avoids departing from an essentialist view of people, placing more emphasis on what can change than what always seems to remain the same.

Reinforcement

This term designates consequences of behaviors when they make it more likely that they give themselves again. Reinforcement can be positive, in which case we will be talking about obtaining a reward or reward for the execution of a response, or negative, which includes the disappearance of aversive stimuli.

Within the negative reinforcement we can distinguish between avoidance and escape responses . Avoidance behaviors prevent or prevent the appearance of an aversive stimulus; For example, a person with agoraphobia who does not leave home because he does not feel anxiety is avoiding this emotion. Instead the escape responses cause the stimulus to disappear when it is already present.

The difference with the word "reinforcer" is that it refers to the event that occurs as a consequence of the behavior instead of the procedure of rewarding or punishing. Therefore, "reinforcer" is a term closer to "reward" and "reward" than to "reinforcement".

Punishment

A punishment is any consequence of a determined behavior that decreases the probability of it repeating itself.

As reinforcement, the punishment can be positive or negative. The positive punishment corresponds to the presentation of an aversive stimulus after the response occurs, while the negative punishment is the withdrawal of an appetitive stimulus as a consequence of the behavior.

The positive punishment can be related to the use that is generally given to the word "punishment", while the negative punishment refers more to some type of penalty or fine. If a child does not stop screaming and receives a slap from his mother to shut up he will be applying a positive punishment, while if instead he removes the console to which he is playing will receive a negative punishment.

Related article: "8 reasons not to use corporal punishment towards children"

Discriminative stimulus and delta stimulus

In Psychology, the word "stimulus" is used to designate events that elicit a response from a person or animal. Within the operant paradigm, the discriminative stimulus is one whose presence indicates to the subject of learning that if it carries out a certain behavior it will have as its consequence the appearance of a reinforcer or of a punishment .

By contrast, the expression "delta stimulus" refers to those signals that, when present, inform that the execution of the response will not entail consequences.

What is operant conditioning?

The instrumental or operant conditioning is a learning procedure that is based on the probability that it occurs a certain response depends on the consequences expected. In operant conditioning behavior is controlled by discriminative stimuli present in the learning situation that transmit information about the probable consequences of the response.

For example, an "Open" sign on a door tells us that if we try to turn the knob, it will most likely open. In this case the poster would be the discriminative stimulus and the opening of the door would work as a positive reinforcement of the instrumental response of turning the knob.

The applied behavioral analysis of B. F. Skinner

Skinner developed operant conditioning techniques that are encompassed in what we know as "applied behavior analysis". This has proved particularly effective in the education of children, with a special emphasis on children with developmental difficulties.

The basic scheme of applied behavioral analysis is as follows. In the first place, a behavioral goal is proposed, which will consist in the increase or reduction of certain behaviors. Based on this, the behaviors that are to be developed will be reinforced and the existing incentives for the performance of the behaviors to be inhibited will be reduced.

In general the withdrawal of reinforcers is more desirable than punishment positive since it generates less rejection and hostility on the part of the subject. However, punishment can be useful in cases in which the problem behavior is very disruptive and requires a rapid reduction, for example if violence occurs.

Throughout the process, it is essential to monitor progress systematically in order to objectively verify if the desired objectives are being produced. This is mainly done through data recording.

Operant techniques to develop behaviors

Given the importance and effectiveness of positive reinforcement, operant techniques to increase behavior have a demonstrated utility. Next, we will describe the most relevant among these procedures.

1. Techniques of instigation

Inciting techniques are considered those that they depend on the manipulation of discriminative stimuli to increase the likelihood of a behavior occurring.

This term includes instructions that increase certain behaviors, physical guidance, which consists of moving or placing parts of the body of the trained person, and modeling, in which a model is observed performing a behavior in order to imitate it and learn what its consequences. These three procedures have in common that they focus on teach the subject directly how to perform an action determined, either verbally or physically.

2. Molding

It consists of gradually approaching a certain behavior to the objective behavior, starting with a relatively similar response that the subject can perform and modifying it little by little. It is carried out by steps (successive approximations) to which reinforcement is applied .

Shaping is considered especially useful for establishing behaviors in subjects who can not communicate verbally, such as people with profound intellectual disabilities or animals.

3. Fading

Fading refers to the gradual withdrawal of aids or instigators that had been used to reinforce a goal behavior. It is intended that the subject consolidates a response and later can carry it out without the need for external aid.

It is one of the key concepts of operant conditioning , since it allows the progress made in therapy or training to be generalized to many other areas of life.

This procedure consists essentially of replacing a discriminative stimulus with a different one.

4. Chain

A behavioral chain, that is, a behavior composed of several simple behaviors, is separated into different steps (links). Then the subject must learn to execute the links one by one until the complete chain is completed.

The chaining can be done forward or backward and has the peculiarity that each link reinforces the previous one and works as a discriminative stimulus next's.

In certain aspects, many of the skills that are considered talents for showing a high degree of skill and specialization in them (such as playing a musical instrument very well, dancing very well, etc.) can be considered as a result of some form of chaining, since from the basic skills it is progressing until reaching other much more worked.

5. Reinforcement programs

In an operant learning procedure, the reinforcement programs are the guidelines that establish when the behavior will be rewarded and when not.

There are two basic types of reinforcement programs: those of reason and those of interval. In the reason programs, the reinforcer is obtained after a specific number of responses are given, while in the interval programs this occurs after a certain time has elapsed since the last reinforced behavior and this has occurred again.

Both types of program can be fixed or variable, which indicates that the number of responses or the time interval needed to obtain the reinforcer can be constant or oscillate around an average value. They can also be continuous or intermittent; this means that the reward can be given each time the subject carries out the objective behavior or occasionally (although always as a result of a broadcast of the desired response).

Continuous reinforcement is more useful for establishing behaviors and the intermittent to keep them. Thus, theoretically a dog will learn faster to give the leg if we give him a prize every time he offers us the leg, but once learned the behavior will be more difficult to stop doing it if we give the reinforcer one of every three or five attempts .

Operant techniques to reduce or eliminate behaviors

When applying operant techniques to reduce behaviors, it should be kept in mind that, since these procedures can be unpleasant for the subjects, it is always preferable to use the less aversive ones when possible. Likewise these techniques are preferable to positive punishments .

Below we present a list of these techniques in order from least to greatest potential to generate aversion.

1. Extinction

It stops rewarding a behavior that had been reinforced before. This decreases the likelihood that the response will happen again. Formally extinction is the opposite of positive reinforcement.

Long-term extinction is more effective in eliminating responses than punishment and the rest of operant techniques to reduce behaviors, although it may be slower.

A basic example of extinction is getting a child to stop kicking by simply ignoring him until he realizes that his behavior does not have the desired consequences (for example, the anger of the parents, which would work as a reinforcer) and get fed up.

2. Omission training

In this procedure, the subject's behavior is followed by the absence of the reward; that is to say, if the answer is given, the reinforcer will not be obtained . An example of the omission training could be that parents prevent their daughter from watching television that night by having spoken to them in a disrespectful way. Another example would be the fact of not going to buy the toys that the children ask for, if they behave badly.

In educational environments, it also serves to favor that the efforts that other people make are valued more to please the little ones and that these, having become accustomed to these deals, do not value.

3. Differential reinforcement programs

They are a special subtype of reinforcement program that is used to reduce (not eliminate) target behaviors by increasing others alternative answers For example, a child could be rewarded for reading and for exercising and not for playing the console if the latter behavior is intended to lose reinforcing value.

In the differential reinforcement of low rates, the response is reinforced if there is a certain period of time after the last time it occurred. In the differential reinforcement of omission the reinforcement is obtained if, after a certain period of time, the response has not occurred. The differential reinforcement of incompatible behaviors consists of reinforce incompatible responses with the problem behavior ; This last procedure is applied to tics and onicofagia, among other disorders.

Four.Response cost

Variant of the negative punishment in which the execution of the problem behavior causes the loss of a reinforcer . The drivers' points card that was introduced in Spain a few years ago is a good example of a response cost program.

5. Time out

Time out consists of isolating the subject, in general children, in a non-stimulating environment in case the problematic behavior occurs. Also a variant of the negative punishment, it differs from the response cost in that what is lost is the possibility of accessing the reinforcement , not the reinforcer itself.

6. Saciation

The reinforcement obtained by carrying out the behavior is so intense or large that it loses value I had for a subject. This can take place by satisfying response or mass practice (repeat the behavior until it ceases to be appetitive) or by stimulus satiation (the reinforcer loses its appetite for excess).

7. Overcorrection

Overcorrection consists of applying a positive punishment related to problem behavior . For example, it is widely used in cases of enuresis, in which the child is asked to wash the sheets after urinating on it during the night.

Contingency organization techniques

The systems of organization of contingencies are complex procedures through which you can reinforce some behaviors and punish others .

Chip economics is a well-known example of this type of technique. It consists of handing out chips (or other equivalent generic reinforcers) as a reward for the performance of the target behaviors; later subjects can exchange their chips for prizes of variable value. It is used in schools, prisons and psychiatric hospitals.

Behavioral or contingency contracts are agreements between several people, usually two, through which they commit to perform (or not perform) certain behaviors. The consequences are detailed in the contracts if the agreed conditions are met or not met.