module 21 operant conditoning

Question 1

learn

Answer 1

the process of acquiring through experience new and relatively enduring information or behaviors.

Question 2

associative learning

Answer 2

learning that certain events occur together. The events may be two stimuli (as in classical conditioning) or a response and its consequence (as in operant conditioning).

Question 3

stimuli

Answer 3

any event or situation that evokes a response.

Question 4

respondent behavior

Answer 4

behavior that occurs as an automatic response to some stimulus.

Question 5

operant conditioning

Answer 5

a type of learning in which a behavior becomes more likely to recur if followed by a reinforcer or less likely to recur if followed by a punisher.

Question 6

operant behavior

Answer 6

behavior that operates on the environment, producing a consequence.

Question 7

law of effect

Answer 7

Thorndike’s principle is that behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely and that behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely.

Question 8

operant behavior

Answer 8

in operant conditioning research, a chamber (also known as a Skinner box) containing a bar or key that an animal can manipulate to obtain a food or water reinforcer; attached devices record the animal’s rate of bar pressing or key pecking.

Question 9

operant chamber

Answer 9

in operant conditioning research, a chamber (also known as a Skinner box) containing a bar or key that an animal can manipulate to obtain a food or water reinforcer; attached devices record the animal’s rate of bar pressing or key pecking.

Question 10

reinforcement

Answer 10

in operant conditioning, any event that strengthens the behavior it follows.

Question 11

shaping

Answer 11

an operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior.

Question 12

positive reinforcement

Answer 12

increasing behaviors by presenting a pleasurable stimulus. A positive reinforcer is any stimulus that, when presented after a response, strengthens the response.

Question 13

negative reinforcement

Answer 13

increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing an aversive stimulus. A negative reinforcer is any stimulus that, when removed after a response, strengthens the response. (Note: Negative reinforcement is not punishment.)

Question 14

primary reinforcers

Answer 14

an innately reinforcing stimulus, such as one that satisfies a biological need.

Question 15

conditioned reinforcers

Answer 15

a stimulus that gains its reinforcing power through its association with a primary reinforcer. (Also known as a secondary reinforcer.)

Question 16

reinforcement schedules

Answer 16

a pattern that defines how often a desired response will be reinforced.

Question 17

continueous reinforcment schedule

Answer 17

reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs.

Question 18

partial (intermittent) reinforcement schedule

Answer 18

reinforcing a response only part of the time; results in slower acquisition of a response but much greater resistance to extinction than does continuous reinforcement.

Question 19

fixed ratio schedule

Answer 19

in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses.

Question 20

variable ratio schedule

Answer 20

in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses

Question 21

fixed-interval schedule

Answer 21

in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed.

Question 22

variable interval schedule

Answer 22

in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals

Question 23

punishment

Answer 23

an event that tends to decrease the behavior that it follows.