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EPPP-K > Operant Conditioning > Flashcards

Operant Conditioning Flashcards

1
Q

Edward L. Thorndike

A

Law of effect: positive consequences increase behavior; negative ones often have little or no effect

  • His research on cats in puzzle boxes provided information about trial and error learning

** “predicts that behaviors that are followed by satisfying consequences will tend to occur again”

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2
Q

B.F. Skinner

A

** Skinner believed that bx is determined by the consequences that follow it and that, when a bx is reinforced, it increases.

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3
Q

Operant Conditioning

A

method of learning that employs rewards and punishments for bx

To answer these questions:

  • First identify the target bx and determine if that bx is more or less likely to occur
  • Then determine if the stimulus following the bx is being reinforced or punished.
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4
Q

Reinforcement:

A

Increases bx it follows

- Always involves an increase in bx

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5
Q

Punishment:

A

Decreases bx that precedes it

- Always involves decrease in bx

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6
Q

Positive

A

Application of a stimulus

“apply”

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7
Q

Negative

A

Withholding or removing stimulus

“withdraw”

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8
Q

Negative Reinforcement

A

an undesirable stimulus is removed to encourage the behavior

a graduate student smokes cigarettes in order to alleviate anxiety he feels about his ability to receive good grades in class”
- The student’s smoking continues b/c smoking removes (alleviates) anxiety

** “A person consistently avoids an object that produces a classically conditioned anxiety response because avoidance is negatively reinforced”

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9
Q

Positive reinforcement

A

A desirable stimulus is introduced to encourage certain behavior

the introduction of a desirable or pleasant stimulus (reward) after a behavior

Ex: Giving a child a treat when they were polite to their sister

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10
Q

Negative punishment

A

removal of a stimuli following a bx decreases the bx

Ex: charging telephone customers for using directory assistance to obtain phone numbers to decrease their use of directory assistance”

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11
Q

Positive punishment

A

introducing an undesirable stimulus (punishment) to discourage a specific behavior

Ex: spanking a child when rude to sister

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12
Q

Operant Extinction

A

gradual decrease in the response rate of a bx by the organism no longer being reinforced

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13
Q

Extinction burst

A

temporary increase in responding during extinction trials

Ex: rat has been reinforced for bar-pressing, sudden withdrawal of reinforcement will initially cause rat to press the bar more

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14
Q

Fading

A

gradual removal of a prompt

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15
Q

Behavioral contrast (aka positive behavioral contrast):

A

If reinforced for 2 dif bxs and reinforcement for 1 bx is withdrawn, the other bx is likely to increase

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16
Q

Reinforcers

A

a. Primary Reinforcer (unconditioned reinforcer): inherently desirable and do not depend on experience to acquire their reinforcing value (food, water)
b. Secondary Reinforcer (conditioned reinforcer): acquire their value only through repeated association w/ primary reinforcers (tokens, applause, gold stars)
c. Generalized secondary reinforcer: when a secondary reinforcer is paired with several different primary reinforcers (money)

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17
Q

Schedules of Reinforcement

A
  • fixed interval
  • variable interval
  • fixed ratio
  • variable ratio
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18
Q

Fixed interval

A

reinforcement is delivered after a fixed period of time regardless of the number of responses made (hourly, weekly wage)

  • Produces low rates of responding b/c the number of responses is unrelated to the delivery of the reinforcement
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19
Q

Variable Interval

A

interval time b/w delivery of reinforcers varies in an unpredictable manner from interval to interval (“pop quizzes” throughout the semester)

  • Produces steady but relatively low response rate
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20
Q

Fixed Ratio

A

reinforcer is delivered each time the subject makes a specific number of responses (piecework: workers receive payment after completion of a specific number of units)

  • Produce relatively high, steady rate of responding
    • “post-reinforcement response pauses”
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21
Q

Variable Ratio

A

reinforcers are provided after a variable number of responses (gambling)

  • Produce the highest rates of responding and most resistant to extinction
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22
Q

Matching Law

A

organisms distribute their bx b/w two or more concurrent schedules of reinforcement.

  • the frequency of responding to two or more alternatives (e.g., pressing two or more levers) matches the frequency of being reinforced for doing so.
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23
Q

Superstitious bx

A

accident, non-contingent reinforcement leads to superstitious bx

(feeding every 15 seconds regardless of what the pigeons were doing)

24
Q

Stimulus Control (aka stimulus discrimination)

A

when the occurrence of a bx is affected by the presence of discriminative stimuli, the bx is under stimulus control

The discriminative stimulus occurs before the bx and are said to control the bx

25
Q

Positive and Negative Discriminative Stimuli

A

a. Positive discriminative stimulus: increases the bx (S-D)
b. Negative discriminative stimulus: does not reinforce the stimulus (S-Delta)
c. **Boy learned that if he starts crying as soon as his mother begins to yell at him for misbehaving, his mother will stop yelling and will play with him instead, which is that the boy wanted in the first place. The mother’s yelling is acting as a discriminative stimulus

  • A discriminative stimulus is a cue (antecedent) that signals that a particular response will be followed by a reinforcer
26
Q

Stimulus Response and Generalization:

A

occurs when a similar stimuli elicit the same response; the stimuli that evoke the response are positive discriminative stimuli

27
Q

Escape Conditioning (mx by negative reinforcement):

A

a bx increases bc its performance allows the organism to escape undesirable (aversive) stimulus

28
Q

Avoidance Conditioning (mx by negative reinforcement):

A

established by two-factor learning; more complex than escape conditioning

  • Present a cue immediately before the aversive stimulus is applied so that the individual can avoid the aversive stimulus by engaging in the target bx as soon as the cue is presented
29
Q

Interventions based on Operant Conditioning

A

Increasing bx w/ reinforcement
Decreasing bx w/ punishment
Decreasing sxs w/ extinction
modifying bxs

30
Q

Increase effectiveness of positive reinforcement by:

A
  • Contingency: reinforcer should only be available
  • Immediacy: reinforcer should be delivered immediately after the target bx (esp. w/ new bx)
  • Schedule of reinforcement
  • Magnitude: up to a point, the greater the amount of positive reinforcement the greater its effectiveness. Past that point = satiation
  • Verbal clarification: effectiveness is enhanced when the contingent relationship b/w bx and reinforcer is verbally clarified
  • Prompts
31
Q

Satiation

A

Satiation: the reinforcer has lost its reinforcing value

  • Primary reinforcers = more susceptible to satiation than secondary reinforcers
  • Continuous schedule = more susceptible to satiation than intermittent schedule
32
Q

Fading

A

gradual removal of a prompt

“promptly fade my removal”

33
Q

Schedules of reinforcement:

A
  • Est. of new bx: continuous schedule

- Mx of bx: intermittent schedule

34
Q

Thinning

A

reducing the proportion of reinforcements from continuous to intermittent

“I have a thin schedule”

35
Q

Shaping

A

reinforcing successive approximations to the desired bx; aka providing reinforcement only for bxs that come closer and closer to the desired one

** “the use of shaping to establish a complex bx depends on: positive reinforcement”

-When using shaping to establish a new bx, responses that come closer and closer to the desired bx are successively reinforced

36
Q

Chaining

A

establishment of a behavior chain

“three-term contingency” or discriminative stimulus-behavior-consequence: accounts of acquisition of most complex bxs

  • Forward chaining: begin w/ the first component of a chain and gradually work through the entire chain
  • Backward chaining: the components of the chain are established in reverse order
37
Q

Premack Principle

A

a high probability bx is used to reinforce a low probability bx (watch tv only if do 1 hour of homework)

38
Q

Increasing bx w/ positive reinforcement ixs

A

shaping
chaining
Premack principle
Differential Reinforcement

39
Q

Differential Reinforcement

A

combines positive reinforcement with extinction; involves reinforcing alternative bxs while ignoring the target bx

Variations:

  1. Dif reinforcement of incompatible bxs (DRI)
  2. Differential reinforcement of alternative bxs (DRA)
  3. Differential reinforcement of other bxs (DRO)
40
Q

Increase effectiveness of decreasing bx w/ punishment

A 
Immediacy
Consistency: continuous schedule
Intensity: moderate 
Verbal Clarification
Removal of all positive reinforcement
Reinforcement of alt bxs
41
Q

Habituation

A

Punishment loses its effectiveness

42
Q

Criticisms of punishment

A
  • Criticized on ethical, legal, and practical grounds
  • Institutions = illegal
  • Punishment does not actually eliminate bx, but merely suppresses it
43
Q

Types of punishments

A 
Verbal reprimands
Overcorrection
Negative Practice
Response Cost
Time-Out from reinforcement
44
Q

Verbal reprimands

A

saying no or stop

  • Inconsistent effects
  • May act as positive reinforcer and increase target bx
  • Effects of reprimands are temporary if not backed up or followed by other consequences
45
Q

Overcorrection

A

form of positive punishment = applying a penalty following undesirable bx in order to eliminate it.

May involve:

  • Restitution: correct any negative effects of the bx
  • Positive practice: practice more appropriate bxs, usually in exaggerated way
  • Physical guidance: may require physically guiding individual through corrective bxs
46
Q

Negative Practice

A

Opposite of positive practice of overcorrection. Deliberately repeat the undesirable bx to the point that it becomes aversive or the person becomes fatigued

  • Useful for: nail biting, hair twisting, pica, motor tics, stuttering, smoking
47
Q

Response Cost

A

application of negative punishment = removing specific positive reinforcer each time the target bx is performed

  • Taking away allowance each time a kid misbehaves
48
Q

Time-out from reinforcement

A

removing all sources of positive reinforcement for a brief, prespecified period of time following a bx in order to decrease that bx.

  • Different from extinction: time-out involves removal of all sources of reinforcement for a specified time period following a bx that may or may not have been established or mx’d by reinforcement; extinction involves continuous removal of a reinforcer from a previously reinforced response
49
Q

Increasing effectiveness of Operant Extinction

A
  • Consistency
  • Schedule of reinforcement: the schedule of reinforcement that previously established and mx’d the bx affects the rate of extinction
  • Magnitude and duration of reinforcement
  • Reinforcement for other bxs: most effective when used w/ reinforc. of alt bxs
50
Q

Rate of extinction

A

More rapid extinction = bx has been reinforced on a continuous schedule than on intermittent (harder to extinguish when conditioned on fixed or variable interval schedules)

51
Q

Types of modifying behavior ixs

A

Contingency contracts
Token economy
Social skills training
Function-Based interventions

52
Q

Contingency Contracts

A

formal written agreement that defines modified bxs, rewards/punishments to be used

53
Q

Token economy

A

structured env. in which desirable bxs are increased by reinforcing them with tokens (generalized secondary reinforcers) that can be exchanged for desired items, activities, and other back-up (primary) reinforcers, while undesirable bxs are decreased by withhold or removing tokens following those bxs

  • Permits an immediate delivery of reinforcement
  • Be tailored to meet individual needs
  • Less susceptible than primary reinforcers to satiation
54
Q

Social Skills Training

A

improve communication, assertiveness, problem-solving, and other socially adaptive skills

55
Q

Function-Based Interventions

A
  • Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA): conducted to determine the purpose of an undesirable bx and identify substitute bx that serves the same purpose
  • Eliminate antecedents and consequences that are mx-ing the undesirable bx and providing antecedents and consequences to support alternative bx
    • “A functional behavioral assessment is conducted to identify controlling behaviors”
  • FBA is used to identify the factors that are controlling the target behavior so that those factors can be altered

EPPP-K (15 decks)

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