operant conditioning

Question 1

what is operant conditioning

Answer 1

if you want to change behaviour then you must change the antecedents (what has already happened) or the consequences

Question 2

what is reinforcement

Answer 2

when the desired nah joke is rewarded so it’s more likely to be repeated

Question 3

what is positive reinforcement

Answer 3

rewards the desired behaviour by adding something pleasant

Question 4

what is negative reinforcement

Answer 4

rewards the desired behaviour by removing something unpleasant (taking away distress or pain)

Question 5

what is primary reinforcement

Answer 5

when the reward is something that we want naturally (food water)

Question 6

what is secondary reinforcement

Answer 6

a reward we have learned to value (money)

Question 7

what is positive punishment

Answer 7

punishes the desirable behaviour by adding something unpleasant (electric shock)

Question 8

what is negative punishment

Answer 8

punishes the desirable behaviour by removing something pleasant (taking away phone)

Question 9

what is contingent

Answer 9

when there is a clear link between the persons behaviour and the consequences it produces so you know what you’re being rewarded or punished for

Question 10

what is contiguent

Answer 10

the consequence follows soon after the behaviour. if there is too long of a delay, the conditioning is weakened

Question 11

Skinners Rat

Answer 11

• placed a rat in a box with a lever a light and a food dispenser
• if the rat pressed the lever the light came on and food came into the behaviour (positive reinforcement)
• the rats were pressing the lever by accident at first but learned to press the lever for food

Question 12

what is fixed interval

Answer 12

• provided reinforcement at set times so the desirable behaviour increases in the run up to the reward
• the rate of learning is medium and the rate of extinction is medium

Question 13

what is variable interval

Answer 13

• reinforcement is given after varying time intervals but you can’t be sure when e.g applauding an atheists or performer
• rate of learning is fast but rate of exticincton is slow

Question 14

what is fixed ratio

Answer 14

reinforcement is given after a certain number of responses so if you don’t do the behaviour you get nothing e.g skinners rats get nothing if they don’t press the level

Question 15

what is variable ratio

Answer 15

reinforcement is dispensed randomly e.g the rats getting good every 1 hit then 3
learning is fast but extinction is slow

Question 16

Skinner’s superstitious pigeons

Answer 16

• pigeons in a cage
• fixed interval of time, reward came into the cage with no behaviour needed to be carried out
• pigeons started to do random behaviour (flapping wings or jumping)
• pigeons paired own behaviours with the reward as they thought those behaviours were getting rewards

Question 17

evaluation for operant conditioning

Answer 17

• every step is observable so it’s credible
• supported by many studies on both animals (Skinners box) and humans (Chase 2015= human brains have systems that relate to reinforcement) making it valid
• operant conditioning can only explain how existing behaviours are strengthened or weakened not where they originate so not reliable
• operant conditioning can be applied to educations as teachers can give star stickers for good work