Instrumental/operant conditioning

Question 1

what is instrumental/operant conditioning

Answer 1

Process in which animals learn about the relationship between their behaviors and their consequences

Question 2

what does it mean for an operant behaviour to occur?

Answer 2

A behavior that is controlled by its consequences. The simplest example is the rat’s lever-pressing, which is controlled by the presentation of the reinforcer.

Question 3

Reinforcers are what

Answer 3

Any consequence of a behavior that strengthens the behavior or increases the likelihood that it will be performed it again.

Question 4

Punishers are what

Answer 4

A stimulus that decreases the strength of an operant behavior when it is made a consequence of the behavior.

Question 5

when there is a bigger reinforcer or punisher, what does that mean about the learning

Answer 5

It’s stronger and larger

Question 6

What is the reinforcer devaluation effect?

Answer 6

The finding that an animal will stop performing an instrumental response that once led to a reinforcer if the reinforcer is separately made undesirable.

Question 7

What is Thorndlike’s law of effect

Answer 7

The idea that instrumental/operant responses are influenced by their effects. Responses that are followed by a pleasant state of affairs will be strengthened and those that are followed by discomfort will be weakened. Nowadays, the term refers to the idea that operant/instrumental behaviors are lawfully controlled by their consequences

Question 8

Exctinction

Answer 8

Decrease in the strength of a learned behavior that occurs when the behavior is no longer reinforced