This is too funny! However, how accurate does the show portray positive reinforcement? How about negative reinforcement? Or is it punishment - if so why?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JA96Fba-WHk
Positive Reinforcement - The Big Bang Theory
No TrackBacks
TrackBack URL: http://www.psychologicalscience.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-t.cgi/691
I love this show. I can't imagine myself eating all those chocolates. You would eventually think something was up. Sheldon is using positive reinforcement. He is offering chocolate when she does certain behaviors. He believes by doing this, it will increase those behaviors. If he wanted to get back at Leonard, he could remove the stimulus (the chocolate) and Penny would return to her normal self.
The Premack Principle, often called "grandma's rule," states that a high frequency activity can be used to reinforce low frequency behavior. If Sheldon wanted to, he could condition Penny with this method. For example, if Penny hates washing the dishes (Sheldon too), but loves to watch T.V., Sheldon could have her wash his dishes, by rewarding dish washing with watching television in his living room.
I would have to say this clip did a very good job at portraying positive reinforcement. He chose a constant reinforcement schedule which would later become less than ideal, but he was able to condition Penny's behavior. By using single, small pieces of chocolate Sheldon is decreasing the effects of satiation. A whole candy bar, for example, would have been too much. As time passes, if Leonard would have allowed him to continue, smaller pieces and possibly a fixed-ratio schedule would have predicted the same behaviors. Eventually the chocolate would no longer have been necessary.
The end of the clip also showed that not all reinforcers are create equal. An animal, or in this case people, may put forth a greater effort if the reinforcer carries a greater "value".