Chapter 11 Positive Reinforcement

Question 1

Conditioned reinforcer

Answer 1

A previously neutral stimulus that has acquired the capability to function as reinforcer through stimulus-stimulus pairing with one or more unconditioned reinforcers or conditioned reinforcers

learned during an individuals lifetime

also called secondary reinforcer or learned reinforcer

Question 2

generalized conditioned reinforcer

Answer 2

a conditioned reinforcer, that s a result of having been paired with many unconditioned and conditioned reinforcers, does not depend on a current EO for any particular form of reinforcement

Question 3

positive reinforcement

Answer 3

occurs when a response is followed immediately by the presentation of a stimulus and, as a result, similar responses occur mor frequently in the future

Question 4

positive reinforcer

Answer 4

the stimuls presented as a consequence and responsible for the subsequent increase in resonding

Question 5

Premack principle

Answer 5

states that making the opportunity to engage in a behavior that occur at a relatively high free operant rate contingent on the occurrence of low-frequency behavior will function as reinforcement for the low-frequency behavior

Question 6

reinforcer assessment

Answer 6

a variety of direct, data-based methods used to present one or more stimuli contingent on a target response and then measuring the future effects on rate of responding

Question 7

response-deprivation hypothesis

Answer 7

a model for predicting if access to behavior functions as reinforcement for another behavior based upon the baseline rate of each behavior and whether access to the contingent behavior is a restriction compared to the baseline level of engagement

Question 8

stimulus preference assessment

Answer 8

a variety of procedures used to determine the stimuli that a person prefers, the relative preference values of those stimuli, the conditions under which those preference values remain in effect, ad their presumed value as reinforcers

Question 9

unconditioned reinforcer

Answer 9

a stimulus change that functions as reinforcement even though the learner has had no particular learning history with it.

the product of the evolutionary history of a species (phylogeny) and phylogenic development of species

also called primary reinforcer and unlearned reinforcer

Question 10

motivating operants (MO)

Answer 10

environmental variables that

1. alter the operant reinforcing effectiveness of some specific stimuli,objects, or events (the value altering effect)
2. alter the momentary frequency of all behavior that ha ben reinforced by those stimuli, objects or event (the behavior-altering effect).

Question 11

Establishing operation (EO)

Answer 11

An MO that increases the current effectiveness of a reinforcer

adding the EO to a discriminated operant results in a four-term contingency

basically EO determines what an individual want at any particular moment

ex. food deprivation makes food more effective as a reinforcer

Question 12

Abolishig operaion (AO)

Answer 12

an MO tat decreases the current effectiveness of a reinforcer

EX. food ingestion reduces the effectiveness of food as a reinforcer

Question 13

discriminative stimulus SD

Answer 13

an antecedent stimulus correlated with the availability of reinforcement for a particular response class

responding in the presence o the SD produces reinforcement, an responding in the SD absence (a conditioned called stimulus delta S^) does not

under stimulus control once a person learns to make more responses in the presence of the SD than in its absence

with the addition of the SD, the two-term contingency for reinforcement is transformed to the three-term contingency of the discriminated operant

Question 14

free operant observation

Answer 14

observing and recording what activities the target person engages in hen she can choose during a period of unrestricted access to numerous activities

Question 15

trial-based methods

Answer 15

stimuli are presented to the learner in a series of trials and the learner`s responses to the stimuli are measured as an index of preference

approach responses typically include any detectable movement by the person toward the stimulus, a contact is tallied each time the person touches or holds the stimulus, and engagement is a measure of the total time or percentage of observed intervals in which the person interacts with the stimulus

Question 16

progressive-ratio schedule of reinforcement

Answer 16

provide a framework for assessing the relative effectiveness of a stimulus as reinforcement as response requirements increase. the response requirement for reinforcement are increased systematically over time independent of the participant`s behavior

Question 17

Control

Answer 17

demonstrated by comparing response rates in the absence and presence of a contingency, and then showing that with the asence ad presence of the contingency the behavior can be turned on and off, or up and down.

Control condition is the absence of the contingency

Experimental condition is the presence of the reinforcement contingency

Question 18

noncontingent reinforcement (NCR)

Answer 18

the presentation of a potential reinforcer on a fixed-time FT or variable-tim VT schedule independent of the occurrence of the target behavior

Thomas and Iwata (2005) concluded this condition provides the ideal control procedures for positive reinforcement

Reversal technique entails at minimum 5 phases:
ABCBC- A is the baseline condition, B is an NCR conditio, where the potential reinforcer is presented on a fixed-or variable-interval schedule independent of the target behavior and C is a condition in which the potential reinforcer is presented contingent on he occurrence of the target behavior

persistent responding is a limitation of this procedure

Question 19

Differential reinforcement of other behavior DRO

Answer 19

delivers a potential reinforcer whenever the target behavior has not occurred during a set time interval. Allows for the continued presentation of the reinforcement contingency during the reversal phases of the control procedure.

Reversal technique includes minimum of 5 phases:
ABCBC- A is a baseline condition, B is a reinforcement condition, in which the potential reinforcer is presented contingent on the occurrence of the target behavior and C is the control condition in which the potential reinforcer is presented contingent on the absence of the target behavior

Question 20

Differential reinforcement of an alternative behavio (DRA)

Answer 20

used as a control condition, the potential reinforcer is presented contingent on occurrences of a desirable alternative to the target behavior

reversal includes minimum of 5 phases:
ABCBC- A is baseline condition, B is reinforcement condition in which the potential reinforcer is presented contingent on the occurrence of the target behavior and C is a condition in which the potential reinforcer is presented contingent on the occurrence of an alternative behavior

Question 21

Automatic reinforcement

Answer 21

A behavior-reinforcement relation that occurs without the presentation of consequences by other people