Choice, Matching and Self Control Flashcards
What are concurrent schedules?
simultaneous presentation of two or more independent schedules, each leading to a reinforcer (respond to one reinforcer or another?)
What is the matching law?
holds that the proportion of reinforcers emitted on a particular schedule matches the proportion of reinforcers obtained on that schedule (proportion NOT number)
What is undermatching?
proportion of responses on the richer schedule vs the poorer schedule is less different than would be predicted by matching (undermatching-less different)
What is overmatching?
proportion of responces on the richer schedule vs the poorer schedule is more different than would be predicted by matching (overmatching-more different)
What is the change over delay?
short period of time that must pass before any response can produce a reinforcer (from act of switching from one alternative to another)
What is Bias from Matching?
occurs when one response alternative attracts a higher proportion of responses than would be predicted by matching, regardless of whether that alternative contains the richer or poorer schedule of reinforcement
What is the Melioration Theory?
the distribution of behaviour in a choice situation shifts towards those alternatives that have higher value regardless of the long term effect on overall amount of reinforcement
What can overindulgence in a highly reinforcing behaviour alternative result in?
habituation to that alternative, thus decreasing its value as a reinforcer
Skinner believed that a __ response is there to alter the frequency of a __ responce
controlling, controlled
What is physical restraint?
physically manipulating environment to prevent the occurence of some problem behaviour
What is the problem with self reinforcement/punishment
short-circuiting, better in theory
How can deprivation and satiation be used for self control?
motivating operations; alter extent to which something is reinforcing
How does lack of control arise from a temporal perspective?
from the fact that our behaviour is more heavily influenced by immediate consequences than by delayed consequences (smaller sooner, larger later - immediate more impact)
What is Mischel’s Delay of Gratification Paradigm?
resistance to temptation greatly enhanced by not attending to the tempting reward (focus on desired outcome and conceptualising it as desired, leads to impulsivity)
What is the Ainslie-Rachlin model of self-control?
focuses on that fact that preference changes over time; based on assumption that the value of a reward is a hyperbolic function of it’s delay
According to the Ainslie-Rachlin model, the value of a reward __ more and more sharply as delay __ and attainment of reward becomes imminent.
increases, decreases
What makes people less impulsive?
as they grow old, after repeated experiences with responding for delayed rewards, avialability of other sources of reinforcement, subgoals
What is a commitment response?
action carried out at an early point in time that serves either to eliminate or greatly reduce the value of an upcoming temptation
What is the small-but-cumulative effects model?
each individual choice on a self control task has only a small, but cumulative effect on our likelyhood of obtaining the desired LT outcome (can explain why self control is so difficult)
In the Ainslie-Rachlin model of self control, what does it mean by the phrase: the value of rewards is upwardly scalloped?
reward value increases more rapidly as delays decrease and reward becomes imminent
