Consequences are anything that takes place after a behavior has occurred

Operant Conditioning is defined as a Form of learning which organisms associate their actions with consequences

3 Types of Consequences:

1. Positive ReinforcementIncreases a behavior because the consequence is

pleasant

2. Negative ReinforcementIncreases a behavior because an unwanted

consequence is eliminated

3. PunishmentDecrease in behavior because it is followed by the

arrival of an unpleasant stimuli

Leonard and Sheldon are roommates

Both are genius students at the California Institute of Technology

Both are Physicists

Leonard starts dating Penny

Penny is their neighbor across the hall

She is an attractive blonde waitress and aspiring actress

Sheldon is easily irritated by Penny

One night, Sheldon decides to condition Penny

Every time she performs a behavior he feels is acceptable, he rewards her with a chocolate

He rewards her when she states that she will not talk as much during his t.v. program

He rewards her when she agrees to take her cell phone call out in the hall

Leonard figures this out and tells Sheldon that he has to stop trying to “train” his girlfriend

Sheldon Quotes:

“You weren’t happy with my previous approach to dealing with her, so I decided to employ Operant Conditioning techniques building on the works of Thorndike and B.F. Skinner.”

Thorndike and B.F. Skinner were both psychologists who studied the workings of Operant ConditioningValid? Yes

Sheldon Quotes:

“Are you saying that I am forbidden from applying a harmless, scientifically valid protocol that would make our lives better?”

Operant Conditioning techniques have been validly demonstrated through scientific laboratory studiesValid? Yes

Leonard: “Yes you are forbidden.”

Sheldon: “Bad Leonard!” While squirting him in the face with water

By squirting Leonard in the face with water, Sheldon was actually demonstrating “Punishment”.Valid? They don’t make a comment either

way.

Sheldon: “You know, using positive reinforcement techniques I could train that behavior out of her in a week.”

Leonard: “No.”

Positive Reinforcement is the technique he has been using on Penny – presenting something positive after the behavior.Valid? Yes

Sheldon: “If you let me use negative reinforcement I could get it done before we go to bed.”

Leonard: “You’re not squirting her in the face with water!”

Sheldon: “No, of course not, we’re talking very mild electric shocks. No tissue damage what’s so ever.”

Here they are implying that presenting something negative after the behavior is called “Negative Reinforcement”.

However Negative Reinforcement has to do with removing something negative after a desired behavior has taken place.

Talking about squirting her in the face with water or the use of electric shocks following undesired behavior should have been referred to as “Punishment”.

However, there was a small misstep in using the phrase “Negative Reinforcement” instead of the word “Punishment”

The writers of the show clearly had done some research or had some basic knowledge in Psychology in order to call this “Operant Conditioning” and also to attempt to utilize a lot of the technical terms (positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement).

Overall, a very decent attempt to integrate psychology into a sitcom.

References used other than our Textbook / Notes

www.wikipedia.com After typing in “The Big Bang Theory”Used for information on the specifics of the

characters