Chapter 5: Reinforcement

Question 1

Backward chaining

Answer 1

A chaining procedure in which training begins with the last link in the chain and adds preceding links in reverse order.

Question 2

Behavior chain

Answer 2

A series of related behaviors, the last of which produces reinforcement.

Question 3

Chaining

Answer 3

In operant training, the procedure of establishing a behavior chain. (See behavior chain; forward chaining; backward chaining.)

Question 4

Contrived reinforcer

Answer 4

Any reinforcing event that has been arranged by someone, usually for the purpose of modifying behavior. (C’. natural reinforcer.)

Question 5

Discrete trials procedure

Answer 5

An operant training procedure in which performance of a behavior defines the end of a trial. (C’. free operant procedure.)

Question 6

Dopamine

Answer 6

One of the brain’’s major neurotransmitters and one source of a natural high. It is thought to play an important role in reinforcement.

Question 7

Drive

Answer 7

In Hull’’s theory of reinforcement, a motivational state (such as hunger) caused by a period of deprivation (as of food).

Question 8

Drive-reduction theory

Answer 8

The theory of reinforcement that attributes a reinforcer’’s effectiveness to the reduction of a drive.

Question 9

Epinephrine

Answer 9

An important neurotransmitter that is thought to be important in reinforcement. More commonly known as adrenaline.

Question 10

Escape-avoidance learning

Answer 10

A form of negative reinforcement in which the subject first learns to escape, and then to avoid, an aversive.

Question 11

Extinction burst

Answer 11

A sudden increase in the rate of behavior during the early stages of extinction.

Question 12

Forward chaining

Answer 12

A chaining procedure in which training begins with the first link in the chain and adds subsequent links in order. (C’. backward chaining.)

Question 13

Free operant procedure

Answer 13

An operant training procedure in which a behavior may be repeated any number of times. (C’. discrete trials procedure.)

Question 14

Generalized reinforcer

Answer 14

Any secondary reinforcer that has been paired with several different reinforcers.

Question 15

Law of effect

Answer 15

The statement that behavior is a function of its consequences. So called because the strength of a behavior depends on its past effects on the environment. Implicit in the law is the notion that operant learning is an active process because it is usually the behavior of the organism that, directly or indirectly, produces the effect.

Question 16

Motivating operation

Answer 16

Anything that establishes conditions that improve the effectiveness of a reinforcer. Also called establishing operation.

Question 17

Natural reinforcer

Answer 17

Any reinforcing event that follows automatically (naturally) from a behavior. (C’. contrived reinforcer.)

Question 18

Negative reinforcement

Answer 18

A reinforcement procedure in which a behavior is followed by the removal of, or a decrease in the intensity of, a stimulus. Sometimes called escape training. (C’. positive reinforcement; punishment.)

Question 19

Negative reinforcer

Answer 19

Any stimulus that, when removed following a behavior, increases or maintains the strength of that behavior.

Question 20

One-process theory

Answer 20

The view that avoidance and punishment involve only one procedure—operant learning. (C’. two-process theory.)

Question 21

Operant learning

Answer 21

Any procedure in which a behavior becomes stronger or weaker (e.g., more or less likely to occur), depending on its consequences. Also called instrumental learning. See also law of effect.

Question 22

Positive reinforcement

Answer 22

A reinforcement procedure in which a behavior is followed by the presentation of, or an increase in the intensity of, a stimulus. Sometimes called reward training, although the term reward is problematic. (C’. negative reinforcement.)

Question 23

Positive reinforcer

Answer 23

Any stimulus that, when presented following a behavior, increases or maintains the strength of that behavior.

Question 24

Premack principle

Answer 24

The observation that high-probability behavior reinforces low-probability behavior.

Question 25

Primary reinforcer

Answer 25

Any reinforcer that is not dependent on another reinforcer for its reinforcing properties. (C’. secondary reinforcer.)

Question 26

Reinforcement

Answer 26

The procedure of providing consequences for a behavior that increase or maintain the strength of that behavior. (See positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement; C’. punishment.)

Question 27

Relative value theory

Answer 27

Theory of reinforcement that considers reinforcers to be behaviors rather than stimuli and that attributes a reinforcer’’s effectiveness to its probability relative to other behaviors.

Question 28

Response deprivation theory

Answer 28

The theory of reinforcement that says a behavior is reinforcing to the extent that the organism has been deprived (relative to its baseline frequency) of performing that behavior. Also called equilibrium theory.

Question 29

Resurgence

Answer 29

The reappearance during extinction of a previously reinforced behavior.

Question 30

Reward learning

Answer 30

Changes in behavior due to positive reinforcement.

Question 31

Reward pathway

Answer 31

Formerly reward center, the neural pathways believed to be associated with positive reinforcement. It is thought to be an area in the septal region, the area separating the two cerebral hemispheres and running from the middle of the brain to the frontal cortex (part of the thinking area of the brain).

Question 32

Satiation

Answer 32

A reduction in the effectiveness of a reinforcer due to exposure to or consumption of the reinforcer. Food can be reinforcing when a person is hungry, but it loses some of its effectiveness with each bite.

Question 33

Secondary reinforcer

Answer 33

Any reinforcer that has acquired its reinforcing properties through its association with other reinforcers. Also called conditioned reinforcer. (C’. primary reinforcer.)

Question 34

Shaping

Answer 34

In operant training, the procedure of reinforcing successive approximations of a desired behavior.

Question 35

Sidman avoidance procedure

Answer 35

An escape avoidance training procedure in which no stimulus regularly precedes the aversive stimulus. Also called unsignaled avoidance. Sign tracking See autoshaping.

Question 36

Task analysis

Answer 36

The procedure of identifying the component elements of a behavior chain.

Question 37

Three-term contingency

Answer 37

The essential elements of all operant earning, often represented by the letters ABC, for antecedent, behavior, and consequences.

Question 38

Two-process theory

Answer 38

The view that avoidance and punishment involve two procedures—Pavlovian and operant learning. (C’. one-process theory.)