Exam 3: Terms

Question 1

Operant Conditioning

Answer 1

a procedure in which a behavior becomes stronger or weaker (is more likely to happen) depending on its consequences.

Question 2

Extinction

Answer 2

when a desired consequence is discontinued, the behavior producing that consequence will be weakened. E.g. when lever pressing no longer leads to food, rats will decrease lever pressing behavior.

Question 3

Spontaneous Recovery

Answer 3

a previously extinguished behavior returns if there is a break in training. E.g. if rats who no longer lever press are removed from the experimental apparatus for 24 hours, lever pressing will return.

Question 4

Discrete Trial Procedure

Answer 4

a procedure where the behavior of the participant ends the trial.

Question 5

Free Operant Procedure

Answer 5

a procedure where the behavior of the participant can be repeated many times.

Question 6

Reinforcement

Answer 6

the rate or probability of the occurrence of a behavior is increased when something (a reinforcer) is presented or removed following the behavior.

Question 7

Punishment

Answer 7

the rate or probability of the occurrence of a behavior is decreased when something (a punisher) is presented or removed following the behavior.

Question 8

Positive Reinforcement

Answer 8

behavior is strengthened when it is followed by the appearance of (or an increase in the intensity of) a stimulus, or positive reinforcer

Question 9

Negative Reinforcement

Answer 9

behavior is strengthened when it is followed by the removal of (or a decrease in the intensity of) a stimulus, or negative reinforcer.

Question 10

Positive Punishment

Answer 10

behavior is weakened when it is followed by the appearance of (or an increase in the intensity of) a stimulus, or positive punisher.

Question 11

Negative Punishment

Answer 11

behavior is weakened when it is followed by the removal of (or a decrease in the intensity of) a stimulus, or negative punisher.

Question 12

Establishing Operations

Answer 12

a procedure that produces a change in an individual’s environment that alters how effectively something functions as a reinforcer.

Question 13

Primary (unconditioned) Reinforcers

Answer 13

stimuli that are innately reinforcing (no learning required), such as food, water, sex, social contact, relief from temperature extremes, drugs etc.

Question 14

Secondary (conditioned) Reinforcers

Answer 14

stimuli that are reinforcing because of their association with other reinforcers (including other secondary reinforcers). These include praise, recognition, smiles, money etc.

Question 15

Shaping

Answer 15

reinforcing successive approximations of the target behavior.

Question 16

Chaining

Answer 16

training an animal or person to perform a chain of behaviors (though once a chain is established, it can be thought of as one act or unit of behavior).

Question 17

Task Analysis

Answer 17

The first step in chaining is to break the task down into its individual elements.

Question 18

Forward Chaining

Answer 18

the first task is reinforced until it is performed reliably.
- Then the first two tasks are required for reinforcement, until they are both performed reliably, and so on.

Question 19

Backward Chaining

Answer 19

the last element is trained first, then the second to last etc. (note that the behavior is not performed backwards!).
- Shaping may be used to train individual elements in the chain.

Question 20

Intrinsic Reinforcement

Answer 20

Reinforcement that is provided by the mere act of performing the behavior.

Question 21

Extrinsic Reinforcement

Answer 21

Reinforcement provided by a consequence that is external to the behavior.

Question 22

Contrafreeloading

Answer 22

animals of all species tested (expect cats!) at least sometimes prefer to “work” for food than get it for free.

Question 23

Positive Contrast

Answer 23

enhanced responding for a large reward because of prior experience with a less attractive outcome.

Question 24

Negative Contrast

Answer 24

depressed responding for a small reward because of prior experience with a better outcome.

Question 25

Instinctive Drift

Answer 25

the preparedness of the animals interfered with particular types of learning

Question 26

Extinction Burst

Answer 26

Though the overall effect is a weakening of behavior, there is often an abrupt increase in the behavior when the consequence is removed.

Question 27

Resurgence/Regression

Answer 27

happens when a behavior that was reinforced at some time in the past suddenly reappears

Question 28

Relative Value Theory

Answer 28

different kinds of behavior have different values relative to one another