Negative Reinfocement & Punishment Flashcards
1
Q
- Negative reinforcement– Removal of an aversive stimulus
that leads to increase in behavior - Escape – Performance of a behavior terminates exposure
to the aversive stimulus - Shock (SD) : Cross Barrier (R) →Terminates Shock Exposure (SR)
- Avoidance - Performance of a behavior prevents exposure
to the aversive stimulus - Light (SD) : Cross Barrier (R) → Prevents Shock Exposure (SR)
A
- Negative reinforcement– Removal of an aversive stimulus
that leads to increase in behavior - Escape – Performance of a behavior terminates exposure
to the aversive stimulus - Shock (SD) : Cross Barrier (R) →Terminates Shock Exposure (SR)
- Avoidance - Performance of a behavior prevents exposure
to the aversive stimulus - Light (SD) : Cross Barrier (R) → Prevents Shock Exposure (SR)
2
Q
Avoidance Conditioning and
Phobias
A
- Phobia - Irrational fear of specific object or situation
- Fear is disproportionate to real threat
- Acquisition – Pavlovian conditioning
- Elevator(CS) : Feeling Trapped (US) → Fear (UR)
- Elevator(CS) → Fear (CR)
- Maintenance –Avoidance (negative reinforcement)
- Elevator (SD) : Avoid Elevator (R) → Reduced Fear (SR)
- Avoidance response occurs early (minimizes effort
required) - Early responding reduces likelihood that response can
extinguish (no exposure to US is possible) - Minimal effort is required to make avoidance response
and behavior is resistant to extinction - Phobic response is maintained
3
Q
Discriminated Avoidance
Conditioning
A
- Involves a warning signal of a forthcoming aversive stimulus
- Discriminative stimuli
- Could be a cue for a potential incoming punishment as well
- Main difference are the behaviors
*Increasing avoidance behaviors – neg reinforcement not
punishment
4
Q
Pitfall of Escape and Avoidance
Conditioning
A
- Undesirable behavior may be strengthened
- “I won’t do it again”
- Person giving the punishment becomes a
conditioned aversive stimulus
– Individual responds by avoiding or escaping them - Maintains undesirable behaviors of the teacher or
other caregivers
5
Q
How to use Neg. reinforcement
effectively
A
- Avoidance procedure preferable over escape procedure
- Target behavior should be established by escape
conditioning before it is put on an avoidance procedure - Use warning signal to signal impending aversive stimulus
during avoidance conditioning - Use escape and avoidance conditioning cautiously
- Use positive reinforcement in conjunction with escape and
avoidance conditioning - Individuals should be told about the contingencies
6
Q
Punishment
A
- Positive punishment
* Presentation of an aversive stimulus following a response
→ decreases strength of response
* A stare from the lecturer for talking in class - Negative punishment
* Removal of a desired stimulus following a response →
decreases strength of response
* The lecturer stops smiling when student talks in class
* The stimulus being removed can typically act as a positive
reinforcer (e.g., smile, food, money, sex)
7
Q
- Time-out
A
- Loss of access to positive reinforcers following problem
behavior (e.g., send child to room) - Ineffective if:
- Time-out setting is more reinforcing than setting from which
child is removed - Time-out is too long (cannot reinforce appropriate behavior)
8
Q
- Response cost
A
- Removal of reinforcer for inappropriate behavior (e.g., take
toys away for misbehaving) - Can adjust severity of punisher to suit severity of behavior
- But must clearly identify a reinforce to be effective
9
Q
- Negative punishment vs. extinction
A
- Negative punishment vs. extinction
- Similarities
- Both involve removal of reinforcers
- Both result in decreasing strength of behavior
- Differences
- Extinction – behavior that previously produced reinforcer
no longer does and behavior stops (e.g., whining no
longer produces candy) - Negative punishment – performing the behavior results
in loss of reinforcer that already possessed (e.g., whining
results in candy being taken away)
10
Q
- Intrinsic punishment
A
- The behavior being performed is inherently punishing
(e.g., less likely to lift a heavy object if you experience
pain last time object was lifted) - Extrinsic punishment
- The event that follows the behavior is punishing (e.g.,
child less likely to whine if toys are removed following
whining)
11
Q
- Primary punishers- events that are innately punishing
- Electric shock, intense heat, loud noises, pain, hunger
- Secondary (conditioned) punishers- events that are
punishing through their association with other punishers - Must be learned
- Stage 1
- Tone (CS) : Shock (UCS) → Fear (UCR)
- Tone (CS) → Fear (CR)
- Stage 2
- Wheel Running (R): Tone (SP)
- Generalized punishers – associated with multiple punishers
(e.g., mom look)
A
- Primary punishers- events that are innately punishing
- Electric shock, intense heat, loud noises, pain, hunger
- Secondary (conditioned) punishers- events that are
punishing through their association with other punishers - Must be learned
- Stage 1
- Tone (CS) : Shock (UCS) → Fear (UCR)
- Tone (CS) → Fear (CR)
- Stage 2
- Wheel Running (R): Tone (SP)
- Generalized punishers – associated with multiple punishers
(e.g., mom look)
12
Q
Problems with punishment
A
- Punishment of inappropriate behavior does not
strengthen appropriate behavior, and might suppress all
behavior
* Example
* Removal of privileges for swearing does not strengthen
appropriate verbal interactions. The child might withdraw
from all verbal interactions. - Person delivering punishment becomes SD for punishment,
response suppressed only in person’s presence
* Example
* “Wait till your father gets home”!!! Father delivers punishment
and child misbehaves in presence of mother
* 3. Individual being punished might avoid person delivering the
punishment
* Example
* A child who is punished by her father might begin to avoid
interacting with her father - Punishment elicits strong emotional response that can
interfere with subsequent teaching of appropriate behaviors
* Example
* Smacking a child for inappropriate play can result in a tearful
emotional reaction that is not conducive to teaching the child
appropriate play behaviors - Punishment can produce aggression
* Example
* Following a disciplinary meeting with the boss at work the
person being punished might become aggressive to their boss
or to their partner upon arriving home - When effective, the use of punishment teaches the
person that punishment is an effective means of controlling
behavior
* Example
* Individuals who are severely punished or abused as
children sometimes grow up to abuse others - Punishment can be rewarding for those that deliver the
punishment
* Example
* A police officer who issues a speeding fine experiences
the immediate satisfaction of knowing that the motorist
will stop speeding (at least for a while!). In this case the
behavior of issuing a fine has been strongly reinforced.
The reinforcing effect of issuing the fine might encourage
the officer to issue more fines, possibly in situations that
are not warranted.
13
Q
Benefits of punishment
A
- Can lead to increase in social behavior
- Appeasement gestures tend to be evoked by punishment
- Example
- Getting time out for arguing with sibling could lead to
more cooperation after time out session. - Can lead to an improvement in mood
- May stop agitation if that is the cause of bad behavior
- Increase attention to environment
- May motivate more attention to surroundings which can
be beneficial for those to tend to ignore them (e.g.,
autism)
14
Q
Effective use of punishment
A
- Punishment should be immediate rather than delayed
* Example
* In animals and children who have not developed
language ability punishment should occur immediately so
that it is associated with the unwanted behavior - Punishment should be consistent
* Intermittent punishment has little effect on unwanted
behaviors. Once the behavior has been suppressed
through punishment, intermittent punishment might be effective. - Punishment should be as intense as reasonably possible
* Example
* Responding to a behavior with a mild punishment often has
little effect. To modify future occurrences of the behavior a
more intense punishment is needed than would have been
necessary at the outset. - Negative punishment vs. positive punishment
* Negative punishment is preferred to positive punishment
because it is less likely to produce many of the side-effects
associated with punishment. - Punishment is more effective when accompanied by an
explanation
* Explanations can clarify the exact reasons for punishment
and can result in reduced likelihood of future occurrences
of the specific behavior. Feedback should included what
was done well and what was not done well to facilitate
learning appropriate behavior - Punishment of inappropriate behavior should be
combined with positive reinforcement of appropriate
behavior (the golden rule!!!)
* Example
* Timeout for being naughty should be supported with
praise for good behavior
15
Q
Noncontingent punishment
A
- Learned helplessness
- The harmful effects of non-contingent punishment produce learning
decrements & depression-like symptoms - Seligman Maier & Overmaier (1967)
- Two groups of dogs
- Group 1: naïve
- Group 2: pre-trained – inescapable shock
- Dogs placed in harness (escape/avoidance not possible) and delivered
64 strong shocks - All dogs placed in a shuttle-box with barrier in center
- 10-s warning light - followed by 50-s electric foot-shock
- Dogs could avoid (jump when light appears) or escape (jump when
shock starts) the foot-shock - Results
- Naïve dogs learned to avoid shock quickly (1-2 trials)
- Pre-training group –Laid down on bottom of cage &
whimpered until shock terminated (they just ‘gave-up’) - No sign of learning over subsequent trials
- On rare trials they did avoid/escape shock
- But…on subsequent trials avoid/escape behavior not
repeated (naïve group had rapid learning) - Interpretation
- Dogs learned they were helpless (could not escape shock)
- When placed in shuttle-box made no effort to escape
