Schedules of Reinforcement

1. Fixed ratio.
Buy 4 coffees, get your fifth one free.
In operant conditioning, a fixed-ratio schedule is a schedule of reinforcement where a response is reinforced only after a specified number of responses.

> See earlier post on the Goal Gradient Effect




2. Variable ratio.
Fishing
In operant conditioning, a variable-ratio schedule is a schedule of reinforcement where a response is reinforced after an unpredictable number of responses. This schedule creates a steady, high rate of responding.

 













3. Fixed interval.
Footballer signs contract whereby his salary increases are renegotiated every three years.
In operant conditioning, a fixed-interval schedule is a schedule of reinforcement where the first response is rewarded only after a specified amount of time has elapsed.

4. Variable interval.
Waiting for a taxi.
In operant conditioning, a variable-interval schedule is a schedule of reinforcement where a response is rewarded after an unpredictable amount of time has passed.

SIMPLES

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Properly used, positive reinforcement is extremely powerful ~ B. F. Skinner

Twitter Psychology

Does social networking already function like a game?

 

Twitter is a massively multiplayer online game in which you choose an interesting avatar and then role play a persona loosely based on your own - attempting to accrue followers by repeatedly pressing lettered buttons to form interesting sentences.

 

It could be viewed as a game; as it's about small achievements adding up to bigger ones.

 

''Gameification'' means applying the mechanics of videogames to real life. Now often this boils down to incentivising people to perform the same action over and over again. Each time Mario head-butts a block, he gets a coin; when he gets one hundred coins he gets an extra life.

 

And these perpetual little pats on the head compel you to bash those blocks for hours!



@Koopa is now following you

Celebrities goad one another by enquiring about how many followers the other has on Twitter, adding substance to their self-worth bank account. And yet this isn't too dissimilar to when we were kids and enquired with our mates about how many 'points' you got or what their high scores on a certain game was.

 

By supplying a constant stream of fun-sized rewards, social networking has by accident ''gameified'' whole aspects of our lives. Every second another little gold coin (or follower) for you to collect; more followers, more retweets, compelling you to interact over and over again.

 

 

These are basically games we don't even realise we're playing.

 

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Charlie Brooker ~ How Video Games Changed the World

Establishing Operations

The application of behavioural theory is regularly used in consumer settings such as bars and restaurants.

 

For example, publicans cannot control the behaviour of their customer’s drinking rate, however they can introduce items like free salty snacks to make drinking alcohol more reinforcing (Vargas, 2009).

 

An establishing operation is a procedure that increases the effectiveness of an objects reinforcement, and the most commonly used establishing operation in behavioural science is a deprivation of primary reinforcement (Pierce & Cheney, 2013).

 

Although bar owners cannot force the consumer to drink more, they make use of value-altering establishing operations (the salty foods) to make drinking liquids more reinforcing.

So drink up you lab rats...there's no manipulation to see here!  

________________________________________________________________________

Well now, I was in a bar in Dublin, and it had one of those coasters. And it said, "Drink Canada Dry," so I thought I'd give it a shot. ~ Brendan Behan; on why he visited Canada.

 

Fear Conditioning

One form of learning that plays a prominent role in consumer’s behaviour is fear conditioning.

In Watson and Rayner’s seminal experiment with “Little Albert” (1920), they showed how fear can become a conditioned emotional reaction. Marketers may also be incorporating some of Watson and Rayner’s behavioural theories to influence their consumer’s behaviour.

People often learn by information and instruction which situations to fear (Rachman, 1977). Mowrer (1939) argued that fear “may effectively motivate human beings” and that the curtailment of fear “may serve powerfully to reinforce behaviour that brings about such a state of relief or security”.

Accordingly, companies that market their products often use forms of fear conditioning in an attempt to increase their revenue.

Clearasil, a skin care product for the treatment of acne, ran television advertisements portraying spotty teenagers looking glum and downbeat; but joyful and surrounded by attractive women once the product had been discovered. Similar advertising themes exist with Lynx body spray. The product is advertised as a potent solution for men to acquire more attention from women, a “spray more - get more” mantra of fear conditioning.  

Both advertisements suggest an attempt at fear conditioning to promote their product to possibly insecure adolescent males. The fear can be conditioned by frequent repetition of the association between the new conditioned stimulus and the fear. Therefore, individuals (consumers) are driven to purchase these products in an attempt to avoid negative outcomes and successfully reduce their fear (Rachman, 1977). It can be further argued that avoidance conditioning is employed in these advertisements; as the consumer learns a response (buy product) and thus avoid an aversive stimulus (e.g. not being attractive).

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"...because then you're watching television, you're watching the news, you're being pumped full of fear, there's floods, there's AIDS, there's murder, cut to commercial, buy the Acura, buy the Colgate, if you have bad breath they're not going to talk to you, if you have pimples, the girl's not going to fuck you, and it's just this campaign of fear, and consumption, and that's what I think it's all based on, the whole idea of keep everyone afraid, and they'll consume." ~ Marilyn Manson (Bowling for Columbine, 2002).