Behaviorism Flashcards
Operant conditioning
Explains how consequences lead to change in voluntary behavior through reinforcement and punishment
Classical Conditioning
Involves associating an unconditioned stimulus with a neutral stimulus to turn it into a conditioned stimulus
Stimulus
Some environmental event that we hear, see, feel, smell or taste
Neutral Stimulus
Stimulus with no naturally wired response (ringing the bell at the start)
Unconditioned Stimulus
Stimulus that leads to an automatic response (the meat)
Conditioned Stimulus
Stimulus that can eventually trigger a conditioned response (ringing the bell after a while)
Response
Something that we do after detecting a stimulus
Unconditioned Response
Caused by the stimulus naturally (dog salivating at the meat)
Conditioned Response
Learned over time (dog salivating at the bell)
Forward Long-Delay Training
Bell than meat after a sizable wait
Forward Short-Delay Training
Bell then meat, easiest to learn with
Simultaneous Training
Bell and meat
Backwards Training
Meat then bell
Habituation
Occurs when there is a decrease in response to a stimulus after repeated presentations; getting used to something
Flooding
When we try to use habituation to weaken an undesired response
Systematic Desensitization
Occurs when we start out with an easy stimulus and slowly work our way up to the real one
Counter-conditioning
The goal is to replace the undesired response by replacing the association (paying someone $100 every time they saw a spider)
Aversion Therapy
When we try to counter-condition away a positive response with an aversive stimulus
Taste Aversion
Learning to avoid a food that makes you sick–is intriguing to scientists because it has an immediate strong association that resists aversion, can take hold even after a long time between stimulus and response, and is a very selective association (don’t care about other environmental stimuli)
Garcia Effect
The tendency to blame food for illness, even if the food had nothing to do with the illness
Law of Effect
A behavior is more likely to occur if it leads to a desirable effect - thus, even very complicated behavior can be explained in terms of “trial and error” learning rather than intelligent insight
Reinforcers
Stimuli animals want to receive
Punishers
Stimuli animals want to avoid
Primary Reinforcers
Things that are naturally desirable (food, warmth, sexual pleasure)
Primary Punishers
Things that are naturally aversive (bright lights, loud noises)
Secondary Reinforcers
Things we’ve learned to want because they are associated with positive things (dollar bills, audience applause)
Secondary Punishers
Things we’ve learned to want because they are associated with negative things (audience booing, someone shaking their head)
Positive Reinforcement
Presenting a desired stimulus after a desired behavior has occurred with the goal of increasing that behavior (parent gives you more screen time for cleaning your room)
Negative Reinforcement
Removing an aversive stimulus after a desired behavior has occurred (parent nags until you clean your room)
Positive Punishment
Presenting an aversive stimulus after an undesired behavior has occurred with the goal of decreasing that behavior (parent makes you eat more vegetables for not cleaning your room)
Negative Punishment
Removing a desired stimulus after an undesired behavior has occurred (parent takes your phone for not cleaning your room)
Continuous Reinforcement Schedules
You are reinforced or punished every single time the behavior occurs (Dog gets a treat when it sits down, you burn your finger touching a stove) - Behaviors enforced this way are most likely to go away without reinforcement
Partial Reinforcement Schedules
Reinforcements or punishments occur only part of the time
Fixed ratio (partial reinforcement)
Schedule of reinforcement (Getting paid for a set number of items you produce/sell) - Produce high rates of responding that decline immediately after the reinforcer is received (Post-reinforcement pause)
Fixed interval (partial reinforcement)
Wait a specified period of time after completing the correct response before reinforcement (An employee receives a paycheck every two weeks for their job) - Produce overall response rates that are low and increase as time for reinforcement gets closer (scalloped response)
Variable ratio (partial reinforcement)
A response is reinforced after an unpredictable number of responses (Slot machine) - Produce high and steady rates of responding
Variable interval (partial reinforcement)
Waiting an unpredictable amount of time (Waiting for an elevator) - Produce steady rates of responding (Hitting the button over and over when you’re in a rush)
Extinction
The process of unlearning a behavior when reinforcement is no longer associated with it (Dog stops scratching at the door when you stop getting up to let it out)
Extinction Burst
Sudden increase in the behavior (Dog starts scratching the shit out of the door cause it worked before which means it’ll work if it keeps trying) - We are especially likely to see this if the behavior was previously reinforced on a variable schedule and if reinforcement is suddenly removed
Spontaneous Recovery
At some point after a behavior has gone through extinction and stopped, it may suddenly reappear for a bit and then go away again - Can be explained as intelligent animals wanting to see if the “problem” was only temporary
Method of facilitating extinction
Replace the behavior with something else that we want the animal to do (Rewarding the dog for sitting calmly)
Learned Helplessness
Occurs when an individual continuously faces a negative, uncontrollable situation and stops trying to change their circumstances, even when they have the ability to do so
