Psychology of Learning

Ms. Ellah L. Macatangay

Psychology Dept.
College of Arts and Sciences
LPU-Cavite

Five Steps
Self-Management Program
1. Self-monitoring
Defining and recording the target
behavior you want to change

2. Graphing
Developing a graph and plotting the
daily level of the target behavior

Five Steps
Self-Management Program
3. Goal Setting
Establishing a goal for the desired
change in the target behavior

4. Intervention
Developing and implementing specific
behavior modification strategies

Five Steps
Self-Management Program
5. Evaluation
Continuing to record the behavior and
plot it on the graph to determine
whether you changed your target
behavior and achieved your goal

Graphing Behavior
6 Essential Features of a Complete
Behavior Modification graph:
Y-axis (vertical) and X-axis (horizontal)
Labels for the y-axis and x-axis
Units for the y-axis and x-axis
Data Points
Phase Lines
Phase Labels

REINFORCEMENT
Operant Behavior a behavior
that is strengthened through
the process of reinforcement
Reinforcer the consequence
that strengthens an operant
behavior

Positive Reinforcement
The occurrence of a behavior is
followed by the addition of a
stimulus or increase in the
intensity of a stimulus which
results in the strengthening of
the behavior

Positive Reinforcement
In positive reinforcement,
the stimulus that is
presented or that appears
after the behavior is called
a positive reinforcer.

Positive Reinforcement

When the child tantrums,

his mother buys him
candy. As a result, he is
more likely to tantrum in
the store.

Negative Reinforcement
The occurrence of a behavior
is followed by the removal of a
stimulus (an aversive stimulus)
or a decrease in the intensity
of a stimulus which results in
the strengthening of the
behavior

Negative Reinforcement
In negative reinforcement,
the stimulus that is
removed or avoided after
the behavior is called
aversive stimulus.

Negative Reinforcement
The mothers behavior of buying
her child candy results in
termination of the childs tantrum
(aversive stimulus). As a result,
the mother is more likely to buy
her child candy when he tantrums
in a store.

Positive or Negative
Reinforcement?
A child cries at night after being
put to bed and her parents
come to her room to comfort her
and calm her down. As a result,
the child now cries more often at
bedtime.

Positive or Negative
Reinforcement?
A teacher smiles at Dennis and
praises him when he stays in
his seat and pays attention in
the classroom. As a result,
Dennis is more likely to sit in
his seat and pay attention.

Positive or Negative
Reinforcement?
When Maria goes to bed while
her husband watches TV, the
noise keeps her up. She uses
earplugs to eliminate the TV
noise and is able to fall asleep.
As a result, she is more likely to
use earplugs when she goes to
bed with the TV on

Positive or Negative Reinforcement?

Instead of paying workers by the
hour, a bicycle manufacturing
company begins paying piece rate,
in which workers on the assembly
line earn a certain amount of
money for each bicycle they
assemble. As a result, the workers
assemble more bicycles each day
and earn more money.

Positive or Negative
Reinforcement
The important thing to
remember about positive
reinforcement and
negative reinforcement is
that both have the same
impact on the behavior.

 Reinforcement is always
defined by the effect it
has on the behavior.
This is called functional
definition.

Is this an example of positive

reinforcement?

A child completes an academic

task independently and his
teacher walks up to his desk,
say Good job, and pats him
on the back.

In analyzing situation and determining

whether it illustrates positive or negaive
reinforcement.
What is the behavior?
What happened immediately after
the behavior? (Was a stimulus
added or removed?)
What happened to the behavior in
the future?

Positive or Negative
Reinforcement?
A woman waiting for a bus
opens up her umbrella when
it rains. The umbrella keeps
the rain from hitting her.
Now she always opens up
her umbrella when it rains.

Positive or Negative
Reinforcement?
When a chef cooks well-done
steaks, it creates smoke. He
turns on the exhaust fan, and
the smoke is sucked out of
the kitchen. He is now more
likely to turn on the fan when
he cooks well-done steaks.

Positive or Negative
Reinforcement?
A college student is answering study
guide questions for her behavior
modification class. When she cant
figure out an answer, she asks her
friend who already took the class.
Her friend tells her the correct
answer. As a result, she is more
likely to ask her friend for answers
to questions she doesnt know.

Social vs Automatic
Reinforcement
Social Reinforcement refers to a
process of reinforcement when a
behavior produces a reinforcing
consequence through the actions of
another person
Automatic Reinforcement when the
behavior produces a reinforcing
consequence through direct contact with
the physical environment

Premack Principle
Type of positive reinforcement
which involves the opportunity to
engage in a high-probability
behavior (preferred behavior) as a
consequence for a low-probability
behavior (less- preferred
behavior), to increase the lowprobability behavior.

Premack Principle

When parents require

their child to complete
his homework before
he can go outside to
play with his friends.

Types of Behavior in
Negative Reinforcement
Escape Behavior results in the
termination of an aversive stimulus
that was already present
Avoidance Behavior occurrence
of the behavior prevents an
aversive stimulus from occurring

Examples:
Escape:
You sit down in a movie theater
near a large group of kids.
They are very loud during the
movie, so you move to a seat
far away from them to escape
the noise.

Examples:
Avoidance:
You walk into a movie theater
and take a seat far away
from a group of kids. In this
way, you avoid the noise
they make

Unconditioned Reinforcers
Function as reinforcers the first
time they are presented to most
human beings; no prior experience
with these stimuli is needed for
them to function as reinforcers
Primary Reinforcers
Have biological importance

Unconditioned Reinforcers

Things we are born to

like rather than learn to
like
Examples: food, water,
proper temperature, and
sexual contact

Conditioned Reinforcers
Secondary Reinforcer
Stimulus that was once neutral but
became established as a reinforcer
by being paired with an
unconditioned reinforcer
Ex.: parents attention, money

Punishment
Positive Punishment
consists of the presentation
of a stimulus (aversive)
following a response, which
then leads to a decrease in
the future strength of that
response

Examples:

Talk back to the

boss
Get
reprimanded

Negative Punishment
Consists of the removal of
a stimulus (pleasant or
rewarding) following a
response, which then leads
to a decrease in the future
strength of that response

Examples:
Stay out past curfew
Lose car privileges
Argue with boss
Lose job

Reference:
Miltenberger, Raymond G. Behavior Modification
Principles and Procedures. International Edition