Operant Conditioning

Question 1

Operant conditioning

Answer 1

The learning process in which an action’s consequences determine the likelihood that the action will be performed in the future

Question 2

Law of effect

Answer 2

Behaviours that are followed by a satisfying state of affairs tend to be repeated and those that produce an unpleasant state of affairs are less likely to be repeated.

Question 3

Operant behaviour

Answer 3

Behaviour that an organism produces that has some impact on the environment

Question 4

Reinforcer

Answer 4

any stimulus or event that functions to increase the likelihood of the behaviour that led to it

Question 5

Punisher

Answer 5

any stimulus or event that functions to decrease the likelihood of the behaviour that led to it.

Question 6

Positive reinforcement

Answer 6

Increased behaviour while stimulus is presented

Question 7

Negative reinforcement

Answer 7

Increased behaviour when stimulus is removed

Question 8

Positive punishment

Answer 8

Decreased behaviour while stimulus is presented

Question 9

Negative punishment

Answer 9

Decreased behaviour when stimulus is removed

Question 10

Shaping

Answer 10

learning that results from the reinforcement of successive steps to a final desired behaviour. Used in treating addictions

Question 11

Superstitious behaviour

Answer 11

Arises when the delivery of a reinforcer or punisher occurs close together in time (temporal contiguity) with an independent behaviour, increasing the likelihood of that behavior occurring again.

Question 12

Continuous reinforcement

Answer 12

Leads to rapid learning + rapid extinction but is rare outside the laboratory

Question 13

Partial reinforcement

Answer 13

More common. Can be given in a fixed schedule, variable schedule, interval schedule, or ratio schedule

Question 14

Variable ratio schedule

Answer 14

Schedule of reinforcement where a response is reinforced after an unpredictable number of responses. This schedule creates a steady, high rate of responding. (e.g. gambling, lottery) Strongest reinforcement

Question 15

Fixed ratio schedule

Answer 15

A schedule of reinforcement where a response is reinforced only after a specified number of responses.

Question 16

Variable interval

Answer 16

The time periods that must pass before reinforcement becomes available will “vary” but must average out at a specific time interval.

Question 17

Fixed interval

Answer 17

reinforcement becomes available after a specific period of time

Question 18

Partial-reinforcement extinction effect

Answer 18

Greater persistence of behavior under partial reinforcement than under continuous reinforcement

Question 19

Behaviour modification

Answer 19

The use of operant-conditioning techniques to eliminate unwanted behaviors and replace them with desirable ones

Question 20

Stimulus control

Answer 20

Develops when a particular response only occurs when an appropriate discriminative stimulus is present. Context determines discriminative stimulus (e.g. how you act with friends vs. how you act around your boss)

Question 21

Reward centres

Answer 21

Limbic system + medial forebrain bundle. Activated during sex, eating, drinking by dopaminergic neurons.

Question 22

What does recent research suggest about dopamine?

Answer 22

Dopamine is more involved in the expectation of a reward than receiving the reward

Question 23

What do experiments with rats in a maze tell us about the evolutionary components of operant conditioning?

Answer 23

Contrary to behaviorist predictions, rats - a foraging species - who find food in one arm of a maze in one trial will go down a different arm the next trial.