operant conditioning

Question 1

what is operant conditioning concerned with?

Answer 1

voluntary behaviours such as pressing a lever

Question 2

when does learning occur in operant conditioning?

Answer 2

learning occurs due to the consequences of an action

Question 3

how fid they discover the theory?

Answer 3

-E.L Thorndike created various puzzle boxes in which animals would be placed.
-outside the box he placed food
-in order to escape and reach the food they had to perform some act such as pulling a string or lever.
-after some time in the box the animals managed to pull the string or pless the lever and escape.
-next day were put back inside and timed, after a few trials they escaped immediately

Question 4

explain the Thorndike (1911) experiment?

Answer 4

-conducted an experiment where he put a cat in the cage with a latch on the door and a piece of salmon outside.
-after first trying to reach through the cage the cat hit the latch and was able to escape.
-qith the repetition of this experiment, the amount of time and effort spent on the futile activities of reaching and scratchung by the cats decreased and the releasing of the latch occured sooner.

Question 5

what was Thorndike analysis of the behaviour seen?

Answer 5

was that the behaviourthat produced the desired effect became dominant and therefore, occured faster in the next experiments.

Question 6

explain the law of effect?

Answer 6

Thorndikea assumed that the animals learned the association between a stimulus and a response because escaping and eating gave them pleasure.

Question 7

explain ‘skinner boxes’ 1948?

Answer 7

Animals placed in box were required to press a lever which released a food pellet into a food tray. the box also had lights and speakerd that could be used to trigger a behaviour and a shock generator was connected to the floor. E.g, if the animal pressed the lever when a red light was on it was shocked. Skinners rats soon learnt to press the lever

Question 8

what did Skinner learn?

Answer 8

-a number of things apart from food or escape would act as rewards and not all animals would respond in the same way.
-the stimulus response assosciation was only learnt if the consequence of the pairing was was a positive one
-a negative consequence would weaken the stimulus response link
-discomfort might also act as a reinforcer

Question 9

what is a reinforcer?

Answer 9

the event that leads to the increased likelihood of the behaviour being repeated

Question 10

what is a primary reinforcer?

Answer 10

this is when a reward has a biological significance, e.g food, sex, shelter

Question 11

what is a secondary reinforcer?

Answer 11

this is when the rewards become assosciated with a primary reinforcer, e.g, money which buys food

Question 12

what is a positive reinforcer?

Answer 12

when something pleasant is being introduced after a behaviour, e.g, smile or praise after holding open a door

Question 13

what is a negative reinforcer?

Answer 13

when something unpleasant is removed after a behaviour, e.g, leaving a loud cafe

Question 14

what is a punishment?

Answer 14

this is when an event following a behvaiour makes it less likely to occur/repeat again

Question 15

what is a positive punishment?

Answer 15

takes place when something unpleasant is intrpoduced following a behaviour, e.g, getting into an argument and getting slapped

Question 16

what is a negative punishment?

Answer 16

when something nice is removed following a behaviour, e.g, phone being taken away

Question 17

schedules of reinforcement?

Answer 17

Skinner stopped reinforcing the animals everytime they gave correct responses. instead they were given reinforcement every other time or every third time. There are five possible ways of reinforcing

Question 18

continuous reinforcement?

Answer 18

where the desired effect is reinforced every time it occurs, e.g, dog training, dog given treat everytime it sits to reinforce behaviour

Question 19

fixed ratio reinforcement?

Answer 19

such as every fifth, tenth, twelfth or any other such regular correct response is reinforced, e.g, loyalty cards, free coffee every five items

Question 20

variable ratio reinforcement?

Answer 20

where the number of necessary correct responses is constantly altered, e.g, gambling, rewards are unpredictable

Question 21

fixed interval reinforcement?

Answer 21

reinforcement made once every fixed number of minutes as long as there has been at least one correct response during that time, e.g, salary based jobs, you get paid for every month you work just for showing up almost.

Question 22

variable interval reinforcement?

Answer 22

where the time between reinforcements is varied, e.g, spot checking homework.

Question 23

how can gambling behaviour be explained by operant conditioning?

Answer 23

Skinner found that we are much more motivated by reinforcements which are not predictable but which we know we will get eventually, for example, variable ratio reinforcement which is where the number of necessary correct responses is altered which is used in gambling.
biological approach too, dopamine released when gambling.

Question 24

explain behaviour shaping?

Answer 24

Skinner believed that complex behaviours, e.g, language, can be learned through operant conditioning through the process of behaviour shaping. a complex behaviour is broken down into a series of simple behaviours, that are then taught one by one using reinforcement and punishment and gradually combined.
- Initially any behaviour which vaguely resembles what we are looking for is reinforced.
- Reinforcements become more selective, only given to behaviours whuch closely resmble what we are looking for.

Question 25

how is behaviour shaping used to treat severe autism?

Answer 25

Also used to treat severe autism, researchers have noted that behaviour shaping is more effective when speech attemps are reinforced than when speech production is expected. when unsuccessful eforts to produce speech are rewarded the child feels inspired to make a greater effort, which may lead to actual speech.

Question 26

what is behaviour shaping widely used as?

Answer 26

Used as therapeutic tools for the treatment of various disorders, especially those affecting verbal behaviour, e.g, mutism.