Escape, Avoidance, and Punishment

Question 1

Explain the avoidance theory of punishment.

Answer 1

Punishment involving a type of avoidance conditioning where the avoidance response consists of any behaviour other than the behaviour being punished.

Question 2

Explain the conditioned suppression theory of punishment.

Answer 2

The assumption that punishment does not weaken a behaviour, but produces an emotional response that interferes with the occurrence of the behaviour.

Question 3

What is the exposure and response prevention (ERP)?

Answer 3

A method of treating obsessive-compulsive behaviour that involves prolonged exposure to anxiety-arousing events while not engaging in the compulsive behaviour pattern that reduces the anxiety.

Question 4

Define extrinsic punishment.

Answer 4

Punishment that is not an inherent aspect of the behaviour being punished but that simply follows the behaviour.

Question 5

What is a generalised (or generalised secondary) punisher?

Answer 5

An event that has become punishing because it has in the past been associated with many other punishers.

Question 6

Define intrinsic punishment.

Answer 6

Punishment that is an inherent aspect of the behaviour being punished.

Question 7

What is learned helplessness?

Answer 7

A decrement in learning ability that results from repeated exposure to uncontrollable aversive events.

Question 8

What is the Premack principle of punishment?

Answer 8

A low-probability behaviour (LPB) can be used to punish a high-probability behaviour (HPB).

Question 9

What is a primary (or unconditioned) punisher?

Answer 9

Any event that is innately punishing.

Question 10

Define response cost.

Answer 10

A form of negative punishment involving the removal of a specific reinforcer following the occurrence of a behaviour.

Question 11

What is a secondary (or conditioned) punisher?

Answer 11

An event that has become punishing because it has in the past been associated with some other punisher.

Question 12

Define time-out.

Answer 12

A form of negative punishment involving the loss of access to positive reinforcers for a brief period of time following the occurrence of a problem behaviour.

Question 13

What is the two-process theory of avoidance?

Answer 13

The theory that avoidance behaviour is the result of two distinct processes: classical conditioning, where a fear response is elicited by a conditioned stimulus, and operant conditioning, where moving away from the conditioned stimulus is negatively reinforced by a reduction in fear.

Question 14

Negative reinforcement is associated with two types of behaviour:

Answer 14

Escape behaviour, and avoidance behaviour.

Question 15

What is the shuttle avoidance procedure used to demonstrate?

Answer 15

How organisms first learn to escape from a behaviour, and then to avoid it.

Question 16

Give another name for the two-process theory of avoidance.

Answer 16

The two-factor theory of avoidance.

Question 17

Who created the two-process theory of avoidance?

Answer 17

Mowrer.

Question 18

Give two problems with the two-process theory of avoidance.

Answer 18

Avoidance responses are persistent, and avoidance responses occur so quickly they cannot be easily extinguished.

Question 19

Explain the anxiety conservation hypothesis.

Answer 19

Avoidance responses occur so quickly that there is insufficient exposure to the conditioned stimulus for the conditioned fear to fully extinguish.

Question 20

Explain the one-process theory of avoidance.

Answer 20

The act of avoidance is negatively reinforced by the lower rate of aversive stimulation with which it is associated.

Question 21

Who invented the species-specific defence reaction theory?

Answer 21

Bolles.

Question 22

Explain the species-specific defence reaction theory.

Answer 22

Many avoidance behaviours are actually elicited behaviours rather than operant behaviours.

Question 23

Give Mineka’s two limitations in applying models of experimental avoidance to human phobias.

Answer 23

In experimental avoidance conditioning, the animal avoids the unconditioned stimulus, but in phobias, people avoid the conditioned stimulus; and the avoidance behaviour seems to condition less readily and tends to be less certain than avoidance behaviour in a phobia.

Question 24

Stampfl proposed that an adequate experimental analogue of human phobias would require: (3)

Answer 24

The reliable establishment of a fear response with only a single, brief pairing of the US and CS, and subsequent avoidance of the CS as well as the US, the occurrence of successful avoidance on 100% of trials.

Question 25

What is central to Stampfl’s procedure?

Answer 25

The phobic individual learns to make the avoidance response early on in the chain of events so as to minimise the effort of avoiding.

Question 26

There are two basic types of negative punishment:

Answer 26

Time-out, and response cost.

Question 27

How do we distinguish between extinction and negative punishment?

Answer 27

If behaviour grows weaker because performing the behaviour no longer leads to something, it’s extinction, but if behaviour grows weaker because performing the behaviour leads to the removal of something that you would otherwise possess, it is negative punishment.

Question 28

Why do behaviourists have a bias against punishment? (6)

Answer 28

Punishment of an inappropriate behaviour does not directly strengthen the occurrence of appropriate behaviour, and may result in a generalised suppression of behaviour; the person delivering the punishment could become a discriminative stimulus for punishment; punishment may cause the individual to avoid the person who delivered the punishment; punishment can elicit a strong emotional response or aggressive reaction; it could teach the individual that punishment is an acceptable way to control behaviour; and punishment can be strongly reinforced if it has an immediate effect in stopping behaviour.

Question 29

Give three beneficial side effects of punishment.

Answer 29

It can sometimes lead to an increase in social behaviour, improve mood, and increase attention to the environment.

Question 30

Give six circumstances in which the application of punishment is justified and beneficial.

Answer 30

Punishment should be immediate, not delayed, it should consistently follow each occurrence of the unwanted behaviour, it should be intense enough from the outset to suppress the target behaviour, negative punishment is preferable to positive, punishment is more effective when accompanied by an explanation, and punishment of an inappropriate behaviour should be combined with positive reinforcement for appropriate behaviour.

Question 31

What is the shuttle avoidance procedure?

Answer 31

Where an animal has to shuttle back and forth inside a box to avoid an aversive consequence.

Question 32

Give the attractive aspect of one-process theory.

Answer 32

There are no references to internal states.