Chapter 5 - Instrumental Conditioning: Foundations

Question 1

What is the biggest difference between operant conditioning and instrumental conditioning?

Answer 1

Consciousness - instrumental conditioning is not associated with reflexes

Question 2

In instrumental conditioning, how is learning produced?

Answer 2

Learning is a product of reinforcement or punishment

Question 3

What is instrumental conditioning?

Answer 3

A form of learning in which behaviour is modified by administering rewards and/or punishments

Question 4

Compare classical and instrumental conditioning

Answer 4

Classical conditioning: stimulus paired with another stimulus = a conditioned reflexive response
Operant conditioning: behaviour leads to a consequence = increase or decrease of voluntary behaviour

Question 5

Describe the basic steps involved in operant conditioning.

Answer 5

step 1: organism reacts or behaves
sept 2: behaviour modification technique is applied
consequence: the reaction behaviour increases or decreases

Question 6

Define instrumental behaviour?

Answer 6

Behaviour that occurs because it was previously needed for producing certain consequences

Question 7

What is the rationale behind implementing operant conditioning techniques?

Answer 7

1. behaviour that is rewarded or reinforced tends to be repeated (+)
2. behaviour that is ignored or punished is less likely to be repeated (-)

Question 8

Describe the earliest theoretical analysis of operant conditioning

Answer 8

• Done by Edward L. Thorndike (1874-1949)

- created puzzle boxes for cats to escape from

Question 9

Describe Thorndike’s “Law of Effect”

Answer 9

• if a response in the presence of a stimulus is followed by a satisfying event, association between the stimulus (S) and the response (R) is strengthened
• S-R association is weakened if a response is followed by an undesirable event

Question 10

What are the two kinds of operant procedures that exist?

Answer 10

1. discrete-trial procedures: each trial produces instrumental behaviour (ex. puzzle boxes or maze learning)
2. free operant procedures: allow for display of operant behaviour over and over (ex. lever pressing for food); when the instrumental response is defined in terms of its effect on the environment

Question 11

What is the purpose of shaping?

Answer 11

It reinforces any movement in the direction of the desired response
- rewards gradual successive approximations to the goal

Question 12

What is the benefit of shaping?

Answer 12

• it is quicker than waiting for the response to occur by chance and then rewarding it
• it is used effectively to condition humans and animals

Question 13

What are some different types of operant responses?

Answer 13

• lever pressing
• chain pulling
• nose-poking
• pecking

Question 14

In free operant procedures, what is the dependent variable?

Answer 14

1. response rate
2. total number of responses
3. latency to respond

Question 15

What is the purpose of a Skinner Box?

Answer 15

to test instrumental conditioning through shaping

Question 16

What is magazine training?

Answer 16

• trains the animal where it can find the reward

Question 17

What does shaping involve?

Answer 17

Combining familiar response components into a new activity (once more complex behaviour results in an eliminating of reward)
- depends on inherent response variability

Question 18

What are the three problems with punishment?

Answer 18

1. indicates what behaviour is bad, but not what is good
2. leads to negative feelings toward the punisher
3. punishment leads to aggression

Question 19

What is the alternative to using punishment?

Answer 19

Using negative reinforcement (taking away something pleasant)
- withhold reward until desired behaviour is completed

Question 20

What are some strategies for effective punishment?

Answer 20

1. no delay
2. intensity - maximum necessary to suppress problem behaviour
3. consistency - punish every time
4. never punishing out of anger

Question 21

What are primary reinforcers?

Answer 21

They fulfill basic needs for survival

Question 22

What are secondary reinforcers?

Answer 22

Acquired or learned by association with other reinforcers (ex. money, good grades)

Question 23

What are the associations in instrumental conditioning?

Answer 23

Stimulus - Response - Outcome

* the outcome is important

Question 24

What are some factors that influence the Response-Outcome association?

Answer 24

1. the instrumental response
   a) stereotypy vs. behavioural variability
   - possible to maintain variability of responses using reinforcement
   - unless variability is explicitly reinforced, response will be more stereotypical (that is, they will replicate the same behaviour - such as using of the left paw specifically - can be contained within superstitious behaviour
   b) belongingness
   - easier to train responses that belong with the reinforcer (ex. moving a peg to escape vs. yawning to escape)
2. the instrumental reinforcer
   a) quantity of reinforcer
   b) quality of reinforcer
   c) prior experience with the reinforcer
   - change in quality or quantity of the reward changes the instrumental behaviour (similar to surprise)
3. the response-reinforcer relation
   a) temporal relation: how quick in time between the response and the outcome (immediate is most effective)
   - temporal contiguity: reinforcer appears immediately after the response
   b) response-reinforcer contingency: the extent to which the response is necessary and sufficient for occurrence of the reinforcer

Question 25

What is instinctive drift?

Answer 25

Extra responses that are performed instinctively because they are related to the reinforcer - they compete with the response required by the training procedure

Question 26

What is marking?

Answer 26

Giving an indication that a reward will come - this can overcome any time delay

Question 27

What is superstitious behaviour?

Answer 27

Instrumental responding acquired though accidental or adventitious reinforcement

• contiguity, not contingency, is important
• periodic presentation of reinforcer produces behavioural regularities based on the interval

Question 28

What is the learned helplessness effect?

Answer 28

The animal forgoes control of responses due to presentation of unavoidable aversive stimuli

Question 29

What is the learned helplessness hypothesis?

Answer 29

Animals learn that uncontrollable aversive stimulus leads to an expectation of a lack of control in the future

Question 30

What is the activity deficit hypothesis?

Answer 30

The animals try to keep their strength to endure the aversive stimulus

Question 31

How can the learned helplessness effect decrease?

Answer 31

When the aversive stimulus can be predicted