Operant Conditioning Flashcards
Who discovered Operant Conditioning?
B.F. Skinner
What is Operant Conditioning?
When the consequences of a behaviour tend to modify that behaviour in the future
What is a response and a reinforcer?
Response is a consequence and a reinforcer increases the probability of a response to occur
What are some factors influencing Operant Conditioning?
- Magnitude of reinforcement
- Immediacy of reinforcemen
- Learner’s level of motivation
What are reinforcements/reinforcers?
A consequence that increases the likelihood that a particular response will be repeated
What are the types of reinforcers?
Positive, negative, primary and secondary
What is the difference between a positive and a negative reinforcer?
A positive reinforcer is the probability of a behaviour to occur again because the consequence is desirable.
A negatve reinforcer is the probabiltity of a behaviour to reoccur because an unpleasant stimulus is removed.
What is the difference between a primary and a secondary reinforcer?
A primary is somthing that fulfills basic survival need.
A secondary is something that we learned is beneficial.
What are the schedules of reinforcement?
Continuous and partial reinforcement and ratio and interval schedules
What is the difference between a continuous and a partial reinforcement?
Continuous happens after every desired response.
Partial only happens after some, but not all of the desired responses
What is a punishment/punishers?
A consequence that reduces the likelihood that a particular response will be repeated. The removal of a pleasant stimulus or application of an unpleasant stimulus.
What are some drawbacks of punishment?
- Often doesn’t work
- Better to use: extinction, positive and negative reinforcement
What are some things to consider if you wish to punish?
Timing (during or immediately after), intensity and consistency
What happens in the experiment by Seligman ‘Learned Helplessness’?
First the dogs try to escape because of the electric shocks and can’t but after they are shocked again they know they won’t be able to escape.
What is the difference between Classical Conditioning and Operant Conditioning?
CC depends on the relation between two stimuli
OC relies on the relation between a response and its consequence
