Operant Conditioning

Question 1

What is Operant Conditioning?

Answer 1

Operant Conditioning is learning through consequences. Subjects learn to do more or less of something because of the consequences that follow the action

Question 2

How does operant conditioning differ from classical conditioning?

Answer 2

In operant conditioning, learning occurs through consequences. In classical conditioning, learning occurs through associations.
Operant conditioning tends to relate to voluntary behaviour, whilst classical conditioning generally relies on automatic responses.

Question 3

What are the two fundamental principles of operant conditioning?

Answer 3

1: reinforcements
2: punishment

Question 4

What are the two other concepts of operant conditioning?

Answer 4

1: positive
2: negative

Question 5

Name the four different kinds of consequences associated with operant conditioning

Answer 5

1: positive reinforcement
2: negative reinforcement
3: positive punishment
4: negative punishment

Question 6

What is positive reinforcement?

Answer 6

Positive reinforcement strengthens a behaviour by presentation of a pleasant or desired stimulus.

Question 7

What is negative reinforcement?

Answer 7

Negative reinforcement strengthens a behaviour by removal of an unpleasant stimulus

Question 8

What is positive punishment?

Answer 8

Positive punishment weakens a behaviour by presentation of an unpleasant stimulus

Question 9

What is negative punishment?

Answer 9

Negative punishment weakens a behaviour by removal of a pleasant or desired stimulus

Question 10

In operant conditioning, what does positive mean?

Answer 10

Positive means adding a stimulus, we are adding something to the situation.

Question 11

In operant conditioning what does negative mean?

Answer 11

Negative means taking away a stimulus, we are subtracting something from the situation.

Question 12

What does reinforcement do?

Answer 12

Reinforcement strengthens a response, making it more likely that the behaviour for which the reinforcement is being applied will be repeated in the future.
Positive reinforcers are often called rewards.

Question 13

Why do people sometimes confuse negative reinforcement with punishment?

Answer 13

Negative reinforcement is not another term for punishment. Often the word ‘negative’ seems to imply an unpleasant stimulus, however,in the context of operant conditioning, negative means the removal of a stimulus.

Question 14

What is punishment?

Answer 14

Punishment is an outcome that weakens or decreases the likelihood of a behaviour occurring again.

Question 15

What is a primary reinforcer?

Answer 15

A primary reinforcer has intrinsic value that does not need to be leaned e.g. food.
They are often associated with a biological drive.

Question 16

What is a secondary reinforcer?

Answer 16

Secondary reinforcers do not have intrinsic value, rather their value is learned. For example, money.

Question 17

What is shaping?

Answer 17

Shaping is a method of reinforcement that rewards actions that are more and more like a target behaviour. That is, rewarding successive approximations.

Question 18

In operant conditioning what does extinction mean?

Answer 18

Extinction refers to the weakening or elimination of a previously reinforced behaviour when the reinforcement is no longer applied.

Question 19

What contributes to the effectiveness of operant conditioning?

Answer 19

The effectiveness of operant conditioning is related to how often and reliably the reinforcement, either positive or negative, is presented. This is know as the schedule of reinforcement

Question 20

What is the schedule of reinforcement?

Answer 20

This refers to how often and how reliably the reinforcement, either positive or negative, is applied.

Question 21

What are the two types of reinforcement schedules?

Answer 21

1: continuous reinforcement
2: partial (intermittent) reinforcement

Question 22

What is continuous reinforcement?

Answer 22

Continuous reinforcement rewards every instance of a behaviour.
It is the most effective form of reinforcement for establishing behaviour quickly, but when stopped the behaviour is rapidly lost.

Question 23

What is partial reinforcement?

Answer 23

Partial reinforcement occurs when a behaviour does not receive a reward every instance. It may take longer to learn behaviours using this type of reinforcement, but once learned the behaviours are less subject to extinction.

Question 24

How do variable schedules of reinforcement vary?

Answer 24

Partial reinforcement schedules vary according to whether the rate of reinforcement is fixed or variable,and whether the schedule is determined by a ratio or by the time taken between reinforcement (known as interval).

Question 25

Describe Fixed Ratio Reinforcement

Answer 25

In a fixed ratio reinforcement schedule, reinforcement is provided after a regular number of responses.
For example, we could give a rat a pellet after it presses the lever in a Skinner box 15 times.

Question 26

Describe variable ration reinforcement.

Answer 26

In a variable ration reinforcement schedule, reinforcement is provided after a specific number of responses on average, but the precise number of responses required during any given period varies randomly.
For example, a pigeon on a variable ratio schedule with an average ratio of 10, might receive a piece of bird feed after 6 pecks, then after 12 pecks, then after 1 peck, then after 21 pecks, with the average of these ratio’s being 10.
Variable ratios schedules usually yield the highest rates of responding of all.

Question 27

Describe a Fixed Interval schedule

Answer 27

In a fixed interval schedule, reinforcement is provided for producing the response at least once after a specified amount of time has passed.
For example, a worker in a toy factory might get paid the same time every Friday afternoon for the work she has done, so long as she has generated at least one toy during that one week interval.

Question 28

Describe a variable interval schedule.

Answer 28

In a variable interval schedule reinforcement is provided for producing the response after an average time interval, with the actual interval varying randomly.
For example, we could give a dog a treat for performing a trick on a variable interval schedule with an average interval of 8 minutes. This dog may have to perform the trick sometime during a 7 minute interval the first time, then during a 1 minute interval the second time, a 20 minute interval the next, and a 4 minute interval the next, with the average of these intervals bring 8 minutes.

Question 29

Summary of reinforcement scheduled

Answer 29

Continuous Reinforcement: rewarding a behaviour every time it occurs.
FI: behaviour is rewarded after a set amount of time
FR: set number of responses must occur before a behaviour is rewarded.
VI: behaviour is rewarded after unpredictable amounts of time have passed
VI: number of responses differ before a behaviour is rewarded.