1.7 The Effects of Choice on Behaviour Flashcards
what is the simplest logical breakdown of motivation in the belief-desire model?
- a person knows that doing an action leads to an outcome
- the person desires the outcome
- the person does the action
what does the equation B = kR mean?
B = rate of behaviour
R = rate of reinforcement
k = slope constant
the frequency or intensity of a behavior (B) is directly proportional to the amount of reinforcement (R) it receives, with the constant (k) adjusting for individual differences and specific situations.
what is the matching law?
- the distribution of behaviour can be predicted by the history of the distribution of reinforcement
- the relative rate of a behaviour compared to other behaviours matches the relative rate of reinforcement of that behaviour compared to other behaviours
what is the Differential Reinforcement of Other behaviours? (DRO) (simple)
don’t punish the unwanted behaviour; instead, you reinforce an alternate but competing behaviour
why is DRO an effective alternative to punishment? when does it work best?
- people can only do one thing at a time, so this forces them to choose one
- works best is the alternate behaviour has the same FUNCTION as the unwanted behaviour in that situation
what is inter-temporal choice?
- the choice between an outcome NOW and an outcome in the FUTURE, as opposed to two current outcomes
why does a drop in subjective value of a future reward occur with increasing delay? what shaped curve does this trend follow?
- risk of losing reward: the longer you go w/o getting the reward there is a risk that the reward might be lost
- expected transaction costs: immediate rewards can be taken now with no extra effort –> normally need to invest extra effort to collect a delayed reward
- impulsivity: forgoing a larger long-term reward for immediate gratification
how can we increase self-control? (2)
control the antecedents, control the value of competing choices
how can we control the antecedents?
- remove option to do the impulsive behaviour
- remove triggers for the impulsive behaviour
- make the longer-term rewards or risks more salient (mood board)
- set rules and expectations
how to control the value of competing choicess?
- punish impulsive behaviour through removing access to other activity
- delay the impulsive choice –> every time you decide to have a cigarette, wait 5 mins
explain the monkey with pyramids, cherries, and peanuts study when it is paired with tone/light
1) pavlovian conditioning
* light paired w cherry, sound w peanut
2) pairing fruit w shaped object
3) monkey given choice btwn shaped objects paired w fruit; tone/light played and “choice” is biased towards response that causes the same outcome predicted by the cue
what is a cue induced craving
when you come into the presence of a cue that used to signal a reward, you begin to crave that reward
* e.g. return of drug-seeking behaviour
what is the pattern of cue induced craving in
