Operant conditioning

Question 1

Operant conditioning define

Answer 1

a type of learning for which the likelihood of a particular response occurring is determined by the consequences of that response.

Question 2

DBC conditioning

Answer 2

Antecedent (discriminative stimulus)-Behaviour-Consequence

• Skinner noted that before the behaviour occurred, the conditions needed to be right.

Question 3

DBC conditioning - operant response

Answer 3

o Operant response: the behaviour that occurs as a result of the antecedent condition or can be modified by consequences.

Question 4

DBC conditioning - discriminative stimulus

Answer 4

• o Discriminative stimulus/antecedent condition: the condition that influences behaviour by predicting the likely outcome of a behaviour

Question 5

DBC - stimulus

Answer 5

o Consequence: the stimulus that forms as a result of the response.

Question 6

Reinforcement

Answer 6

applying a positive stimulus (action or event) or removing a negative stimulus to strengthen or increase the likelihood of a response.

Question 7

Positive reinforcement

Answer 7

being rewarded which strengthens a response by providing a pleasant or satisfying consequence (e.g. a student receives $100 from her parents for getting an A+ on her mid-year exam, and thus continues to work harder to get better results on her end-of-year exam).

Question 8

Negative reinforcement

Answer 8

the removal, reduction or prevention of an unpleasant stimulus (e.g. taking tablets to fix a headache will increase the chances of taking the tablets next time to get rid of a headache).

Question 9

Punishment

Answer 9

any stimulus that weakens or decrease the likelihood of a response (behaviour)

Question 10

Positive punishment

Answer 10

when a behaviour is followed by a negative consequence (e.g. getting smacked by parents when you use profanity).

Question 11

Negative punishment

Answer 11

when something desirable is removed (e.g. being fined for speeding on the roads in which the desirable stimulus is money)

Question 12

Continious reinforcement

Answer 12

when every correct response is reinforced

Question 13

Partial reinforcement

Answer 13

when only some correct responses are reinforced; responses conditioned under particular reinforcement are stronger in that they usually take longer to extinguish than responses conditioned using CRF.

Question 14

Fixed ratio schedule

Answer 14

reinforcement is delivered after a set number of correct responses (e.g. payment of $10 for every 100 newspapers sold. - Moderately resistant to extinction. - Predictability of the reinforcement often leads to reduced response rate just after the delivery of the reinforcer until the reinforcer is getting close.

Question 15

Variable ratio schedule

Answer 15

reinforcer is given after an irregular number of correct responses (e.g. poker machines). - Effectively maintains targeted behaviour, due to unpredictability of the reinforcement - Extinction of behaviour takes longer than fixed ratio.

Question 16

Fixed interval schedule

Answer 16

reinforcement is delivered after a set period of time following correct responses (e.g. getting paid $10 per hour worked).

• Not very resistant to extinction (would you turn up to work if they weren’t getting paid?)

Question 17

Variable interval schedule

Answer 17

reinforcer is given after variable periods following correct responses (e.g. every tenth response on avarage, but with variations from 5th to 15th response)

• Effectively maintains targeted behaviour due to unpredictability of timing of reinforcement.
• Highly resistant to extinction (particularly compared to fixed interval schedule).

Question 18

Exctinction

Answer 18

when the conditioned response disappears over time after reinforcement as ceased.

Question 19

Spontaneous recovery

Answer 19

the reappearance of an extinguished response after a rest period.

Question 20

Generalisation

Answer 20

when a behaviour occurs as a result of a discriminative stimulus that is similar to the original.

Question 21

Discrimination

Answer 21

when a human or animal learns to know the circumstances under which responses will be reinforced and when they will not.

Question 22

Shaping

Answer 22

a procedure in which a reinforcer is given for any response that gets closer and closer and eventually leads to the desired response.

Question 23

Token economies

Answer 23

a form of behaviour modification in which tokens are earned for performing target behaviours and these tokens can be exchanged later for some reinforcer (reward) that is valued by the learner.