B.F. Skinner and Operant Conditioning Flashcards
_ _ involved an automatic response to a stimulus
Classical conditioning
_ _ involves learning how to control one’s response to a elicit a reward or avoid a punishment
Operant conditioning
In operant conditioning, the _ controls his or her response
subject
Skinner used a process called _ to teach the rats to press the bar for food
shaping
The food in the rat case is referred to as a _, since it reinforces the rat’s behavior of stepping closer to and eventually pressing the bar
reinforcement
In a - schedule, behavior is reinforced after a set number of responses
fixed-ratio
- is when reinforcement is provided after a variable number of responses
Variable-ratio
- when reinforcement is based on a time schedule
Fixed-interval
- when reinforcement is provided from time to time at a variable rate but is not dependent on how many times the rat pressed the bar
Variable-interval
When does the animal press the bar at a slow but steady rate since it has no idea how long it has to wait for it’s reward?
Variable-interval
What is an innately reinforcing stimulus like food or drink?
Primary reinforcer
What is a learned reinforcer that gets its reinforcing power through association with the primary reinforcer?
Conditioned or secondary reinforcer
Any event that strengthens the behavior it follows
Reinforcement
Removing an unpleasant reinforcer
Negative reinforcement
Introducing an unpleasant stimulus or withholding a pleasant stimulus
Punishment
Punishment usually leads to what 6 negative effects?
- Unwanted fears
- No information
- Justifies pain to others
- Unwanted behaviors reappear
- Causes aggression towards the agent
- Unwanted behavior replaces the old behavior
The operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior towards the desired target behavior through successive approximations
Shaping
A reinforcer that occurs instantly after a behavior
Immediate reinforcer
A reinforcer that is delayed in time for a certain behavior
Delayed reinforcer
Reinforces the desired response each time it occurs
Continuous reinforcement
Reinforces a response only part of the time
Partial reinforcement
The desire to perform a behavior for its own sake
Intrinsic Motivation
The desire to perform a behavior due to promised rewards or threats of punishments
Extrinsic Motivation
Which psychologist did the experiment with the Bobo dolls?
Bandura
The adult was praised and received treats at the end of the film; he was rewarded for his aggressive behavior toward the Bobo doll
Aggression-rewarded
The adult was punished by being called a bully, swatted, and made to cower
Agression-punished
The adult was neither rewarded nor punished for his aggressive behavior toward the Bobo doll
No consequences
Children in the - group expressed the fewest aggressive behaviors toward the Bobo dolls
Aggression-Punished
Children in the other 2 groups expressed an equal number of aggressive behaviors and were more aggressive than children in the - group
Aggression-Punished
Researchers observed their behavior and found that the children who had watched the - and the _ _ films were equally likely to behave aggressively toward the Bobo doll
Aggression-Rewarded
No Consequences
When were all 3 groups equally aggressive?
When they were promised rewards
Who did experiments on dogs?
Seligman
Thought dogs would learn to _ shock
Avoid
Dogs placed in harness and given _
Shocks
_ _ research in the late 1960’s addressed the question of how we react to repeated and unavoidable shocks or torture
Martin Seligman’s
Seligman studied the ability of dogs to learn _ _ when given an electric shock
Avoidance Behaviors
He placed dogs into harnesses (much as Pavlov had done) then gave them a series of shocks paired with a _ _ (also similar to Pavlov’s experiment)
Conditioned Stimulus
He gave the _ no opportunity to escape the shock
Dogs
Seligman next placed the same dogs into boxes that allowed them to escape the shock by jumping over a _
Hurdle
Seligman named his discovery _ _, because the dogs had apparently learned that they had no control over their situation
Learned Helplessness
Even when they did gain control and had access to a method by which they could avoid the shock, they had internalized their sense of _ to such a degree that they did not learn how to escape being shocked
Helplessness
Significant in the study of depression in humans
Learned Helplessness
This experiment showed the importance of having a sense of control over the situations in which we find ourselves
Dog experiment
People who have a sense of _ _ are more likely than others to feel depressed because they do not feel that they can control what happens to them
Learned Helplessness
Residents who received control over such decisions as what time to perform various activities and where to sit when guests arrive, or who were given plants to take care of (rather than having the staff take care of the plants), exhibited a greater sense of control and were less _ than residents who did not receive these options
Depressed
