7.3 - Operant Conditioning

Question 1

Edward Thorndike

Answer 1

Focused on instrumental behaviours; created a puzzle box to show the Law of Effect

Question 2

Law of Effect

Answer 2

The principle that behaviours that are followed by a “satisfying state of affairs” tend to be repeated, and those that produce an “unpleasant state of affairs” are less likely to be repeated.

Question 3

Operant Conditioning

Answer 3

A type of learning in which the consequences of an organism’s behaviour determine whether it will repeat that behaviour in the future.

Question 4

Operant Behaviour

Answer 4

Behaviour that an organism produces that has some impact on the environment; coined by BF Skinner

Question 5

Reinforcer

Answer 5

Any stimulus or event that increases the likelihood of the behaviour that led to it.

Question 6

Punisher

Answer 6

Any stimulus or event that decreases the likelihood of the behaviour that led to it.

Question 7

What’s the difference between Primary and Secondary Reinforcers

Answer 7

Primary - Satisfy biological needs (food, comfort, shelter, warmth)

Secondary - Are linked/associated with Primary Reinforcers (verbal approval, trophies, money)

Question 8

Overjustification Effect

Answer 8

Circumstances when external awards can undermine the intrinsic satisfaction of performing a behaviour

Question 9

What does “positive” mean in the context of operant conditioning?

Answer 9

It means “adding” something; a stimulus or punishment

Question 10

Immediate vs. Delayed Reinforcement / Punishment

Answer 10

Reinforcers lose effectiveness as time passes

Delaying reinforcement renders it almost completely ineffective

Question 11

Discriminative Stimulus

Answer 11

a type of stimulus that is used consistently to gain a specific response and that increases the possibility that the desired response will occur

Question 12

What is “Stimulus Control”

Answer 12

Develops when a particular response occurs only when an appropriate discriminative stimulus ( a stimulus that indicates that a response will be reinforced) is present.

Question 13

Extinction

Answer 13

As in Classical Conditioning, this happens when reinforcements with operant behaviour stop.

Question 14

Interval Schedules

Answer 14

Based on time intervals between reinforcements

Question 15

Ratio Schedules

Answer 15

Based on the ratio of responses to reinforcements

Question 16

Fixed-Interval Schedule (FI)

Answer 16

An operant conditioning principle whereby reinforcers are presented at fixed time periods, provided that the appropriate response is made.

Question 17

Variable-Interval Schedule (VI)

Answer 17

An operant conditioning principle whereby behaviour is reinforced on the basis of an average time that has expired since the last reinforcement.

(Takes the longest time to learn)

Question 18

Fixed-Ratio Schedule (FR)

Answer 18

An operant conditioning principle whereby reinforcement is delivered after a specific number of responses have been made.

Question 19

Variable-Ratio Schedule (VR)

Answer 19

An operant conditioning principle whereby the delivery of reinforcement is based on a particular average number of responses.

Question 20

Intermittent Reinforcement

Answer 20

An operant conditioning principle whereby only some of the responses made are followed by reinforcement.

Question 21

Shaping

Answer 21

Learning that results from the reinforcement of successive steps to a final desired behaviour

Question 22

Superstitious Behaviour

Answer 22

Rare or odd behaviours may be repeated if they are accidentally reinforced, which may lead to mistaken beliefs regarding causal relationships

Question 23

Intermittent Reinforcement Effect

Answer 23

The fact that operant behaviours that are maintained under intermittent reinforcement schedules resist extinction better than those maintained under continuous reinforcement.

Question 24

Latent Learning

Answer 24

A process in which something is learned, but it is not manifested as a behavioural change until sometime in the future. Not demonstrated immediately

Question 25

Cognitive Map

Answer 25

Mental representation of the physical features of the environment

Tolman’s mice

Question 26

Edward Tolman

Answer 26

Saw operant conditioning as a means-ends relationship.

He provided evidence of a rats cognitive map/mental picture of a maze.

Question 27

What is a mouse’s process for finding food efficiently?

• consider evolutionary foraging method of finding food

Answer 27

Mice won’t repeat/revisit the places they’ve found food in the past.

Question 28

Where are the pleasure centres of the brain located?

Answer 28

Nucleus accumbens

Hypothalamus

Medial forebrain bundle

Question 29

Which parts of the brain deliver rewards through stimulation?

Answer 29

Medial forebrain bundle

Hypothalamus

Hippocampus

Question 30

What do dopamine neurons play an important role in?

Answer 30

Generating the “reward prediction error”

Question 31

Instrumental Behaviours

Answer 31

Behaviour that requires an organism to do something, solve a problem, or otherwise manipulate elements of its environment