So in the previous videos, we talked
about classical conditioning.
And what classical conditioning basically involves
is the pairing of stimuli and the association
that results between the two.
So a behavior that would normally
be the result of one stimulus becomes the result
of another one because of that association that's created.
Now, obviously classical conditioning
is little more complicated than that.
But that's basically what it boils down to.
In this video I want to talk about a concept called
operant conditioning.
And what operant conditioning basically focuses on
is the relationship between behavior
and their consequences, and how those consequences in turn
influence the behavior.
So I'm going to write here "behaviors have consequences."
And in terms of operant conditioning,
there are two main types of consequences.
You have reinforcement and punishment.
And when it comes to reinforcement and punishment,
there are two types, positive and negative.
And the same goes for punishment.
There are two types, positive and negative.
So we're going to go over each one of these
in the context of an example.
And we're going to use a goal behavior or a target behavior
to help solidify this example.
So I want to say the goal behavior
for this is safe driving.
So we see these two types of consequences, reinforcement
and punishment.
What reinforcement means is it's going
to increase the tendency that the goal behavior will
occur again.
And you can do that through positive reinforcement
and negative reinforcement.
When you see the word "positive" in this context,
it means something is being added.
And something is being added in positive reinforcement
to increase the tendency that the behavior will occur again.
Negative reinforcement means something is being taken away
in an effort to increase the tendency that the goal
behavior will occur again.
So for positive reinforcement, since we're
adding something-- let's say if someone is a safe driver
and they're following all the rules,
they're rewarded with a gas gift card.
Free gas, sounds good to me.
So I'll write "gas."
A gas gift card is being presented in an effort
to increase the tendency that the safe driving
behavior will occur again.
And negative reinforcement means you're
going to take something away in order
to increase the tendency that the safe behavior will
occur again.
So one really common example is when you get your car,
before you put your seat belt on-- here's
a seat belt-- sometimes you'll hear a loud buzzing sound.
It's very annoying.
That buzzer just keeps going until you perform
the behavior of putting on your seat belt.
And performing the behavior of putting on your seat belt
takes away the sound of the buzzer.
So that taking away of the sound of the buzzer
is the negative of negative reinforcement.
And it's negative reinforcement because you're taking something
away-- that's the buzzing sound-- in an effort
to increase the behavior that safe driving will occur again.
Punishment, on the other hand, means
it will decrease the tendency that a behavior will
occur again.
So if we're going to use the example of safe driving,
we want to punish behaviors that are unsafe.
So positive punishment means something's
being added in an effort to decrease the tendency
that a behavior will occur again.
So let's think of at a bit unsafe behavior in terms
of driving.
One of those examples could be speeding.
And what happens when you speed?
Sometimes when you get caught speeding,
you'll receive a speeding ticket.
So if you're caught speeding, a police officer
will present a ticket to you.
So something's been added here, being the ticket, in an effort
to decrease the tendency that that unsafe behavior will occur
again.
So that's why people get speeding tickets.
On the other hand, negative punishment
mean something is being taken away
in an effort to decrease the chance that a behavior will
occur again.
So if you want a decrease in unsafe driving
by taking something away, one extreme example
is sometimes when people consistently break the law
and they show that they're not safe drivers,
courts will take their license away.
And by taking away their license,
they're decreasing the chances that they
can perform more unsafe driving.
So these are the four types of consequences.
You have positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement,
positive punishment, and negative punishment.
And one last thing I want to illustrate here
is that all of these have a reciprocal relationship.
All of these consequences influence and shape
the behavior.
And that's what makes operant conditioning unique.
It's this relationship, this reciprocal relationship
between behavior and consequences
and how these behaviors are all influenced
by their consequences.
And these consequences will influence the behavior.
So these are different types of reinforcement and punishment.