Bobbi jo example bobbi jo is reinforced after every

Bobbi Jo Example – Bobbi Jo is reinforced after every three coat-hanging episodes.
Bobbi Jo would learn fairly quickly here. There would be a slight lapse in attention after he
earned his reward; however, his coat-hanging behaviors would continue longer after the rewards
were discontinued.
• Variable-ratio reinforcement (VR). Reinforcement occurs after varying numb of
behavioral responses. This is the most powerful type of reinforcement schedule for learning and
maintaining behaviors. A slot machine best illustrates this type of reinforcement. Sometimes a
payout comes at short intervals, sometimes longer intervals. It is unpredictable and thus, keeps
people coming back. What makes a slot machine even more reinforcing is that the amount or
type of reward also varies. Often is very small, occasionally it is a little bigger, and on rare
occasions there is a huge payout. Variable-Ratio reinforcement results in very high behavioral

Operant Conditioning- 7
© Andrew P. Johnson, Ph.D.
response rates initially, there is little pause after reinforcement, and the greatest persistence of all
the reinforcement schedules. That is, once the reinforcement is discontinued, the response
behaviors continue the longest and have the slowest amount of decline with this schedule of
reinforcement.
Implications
So what do schedules of reinforcement have to do with teaching in your future
classrooms? Answer: If you wish to see a new behavior appear or an old behavior disappear, it
is best to use a continuous reinforcement schedule initially but soon after move to variable-ratio
reinforcement schedule to maintain the behaviors. As the behaviors take shape you should
continue to use a variable-ratio schedule but the reinforcement should slowly become more out
and eventually disappear altogether.
Terms and Concepts Related to Operant Conditioning
The following terms and concepts are also related to operant conditioning:
• Trial and error learning – This is the act of trying a number of different responses in
problem solving until a solution is found. When originally confront with a problem an organism
will engage in multiple responses until one is found to work. In each successive attempt to solve
the same problem the number of attempts is lessened before an answer is found.
• Incremental learning – This is learning that occurs a little bit at a time rather than all
at once see Figure 7.2). (With each successive problem the number of attempts needed to arrive
at the solution diminishes.) Thorndike believed that all learning was incremental not insightful.
• Insightful learning – This is learning that occurs all at once. Using logic and human
reasoning, we can put things together and instantaneously make the S-R connections.
• Connectionism – This is the term used to describe Thorndike’s explanation of
learning. He assumed learning involved the strengthening of neural bonds (connections)
between stimulating conditions and the response to them.