CHP 9 MOTIVATION, REINFORCER, EFFICACY, AND HABIT FORMATION Flashcards
Mentalistic “motivation”
- Motivation is mentalized so it becomes a reified thing that both CAUSES and is EVIDENCE of behavior (circular explanation)
- If motivation is mentalized and is the cause of behavior, if you LOST motivation, you lose the ability to affect behavior
Motivating Operation
an observable environmental and/or biological event that 1) temporarily alters the value of a specific reinforcer and 2) increases/decreases the probability of behaviors yielding that reinforcer
Establishing Operation (EO)
an environmental and/or biological event that 1) temporarily increases the value of a specific reinforcer and 2) increases the probability of behaviors yielding that reinforcer
Abolishing Operation (AO)
an environmental and/or biological event that 1) temporarily decreases the value of a reinforcer and 2) decreases the probability of behaviors that yield that reinforcer
Reinforcer survey
a structured interview or written survey that asks the individual to identify highly preffered activities/thing they would like to do if given the opportunity.
It’s used to identify potential effective incentives/reinforcers.
Stimulus preference assessment
a rank-ordered list of preferred stimuli that is obtained by observing choices between stimuli. It’s used for animal and non-verbal subjects to identify potentially effective incentive/reinforcers.
Preference hierarachy
a list of stimuli rank-ordered from least to most preferred
Premack Principle
access to a high-probability behavior will function as a reinforcer when made contingent upon a low-probability behavior
ex. rats run (high-probability behavior) more than drink water (low-probability behavior). IF drink –> THEN access to the running INC the instances of drinking so it’s a reinforcer
Breakpoint
the maximum amount of behavior the reinforcer will maintain (the highest price the individual will actually pay for the reinforcer), tells us how much more reinforcing one stimulus is than another
4 Dimensions of Reinforcer Efficacy
Reinforcement contingency: if you reinforce non-contingently the reinforcer is free and becomes an Abolishing Operation (AO) and becomes ineffective
Reinforcer size: the larger the reinforcer the more effective it will be, but also satiation will occur sooner (AO), which will lead to behavior ending. Make the reinforcer large enough, but not so large that the accumulated reinforcers have an AO effect
Reinforcer quality: the subjective value of a reinforcer, which can vary from one individual to the next
Reinforcer immediacy: reinforcers are more effective when they’re obtained immediately
Habit
an operant behavior that 1) is evoked by an antecedent stimuli and 2) persists despite the imposition of an AO
Habit Formation
an operant response has been repeatedly reinforced hundreds if not thousands of times in the presence of the same antecedent stimulus in the same setting
5 strategies for forming good habits/getting rid of bad habits
1) Identify the antecedent stimuli that reliably evokes the bad habits
2) Replace those stimuli with stimuli that will evoke good habits
3) Use shaping to break goal into small approximations
4) Reinforce the desired behavior
5) Gradually increase the daily goal
