Operant Conditioning Flashcards
operant conditioning
aka instrumental conditioning
- certain responses are learned because they operate on, or affect, the environment
What is Thorndike’s law of effect?
the tendency of an organism to produce a behavior depends on the effect the behavior has on the enviornment
How did Thorndike study learning?
He used the puzzle box with cats and food. He discovered that animals will keep doing things if they like the consequences.
How did Skinner study learning?
He believed in “radical behaviorism,” that behavior is controlled by its consequences.
What is a Skinner box? (operant chamber)
It gets animals to learn behavior. HE placed a hungry animal in a box and if they press a button they receive food. Receiving the food pallet is the reinforcer because it teaches the animal the behavior that they should do and it increases bar pressing
Define reinforcement
conditioning process that increases the probability that a response will occur.
Define punishment
conditioning process that decreases the probability that a behavior will occur
What is shaping?
reinforcing closer and closer approximations of the desired response
What is successive approximations?
reinforcing little steps toward the final behavior????
Define positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment and negative punishment?
PR - presentation of a stimulus after a behavior makes the behavior more likely to occur again (given M+M for going to the bathroom)
NR - behavior is made more likely because it is followed by the removal of an aversive stimulus (take away HW for being quiet)
PP - unpleasant stimulus follows behavior -> decreases probability of behavior (extra HW for being loud)
NP - removal of pleasant stimulus -> decreases probability of behavior (take away recess for behaving badly)
Define continuous reinforcement
consequences are the same each time the behavior occurs (best for quick immediate learning)
Define intermittent (partial) reinforcement
consequences are given only some of the times the behavior occurs (best for long term learning)
What are the two types of schedules of reinforcement? Define them
ratio schedules of reinforcement - organism is reinforced for some proportion of responses (based on # of times)
interval schedules of reinforcement - rewards are delivered according to intervals of time (based on time passing)
What is fixed ratio?
reinforcement for a fixed proportion of responses emitted
What is variable ratio?
reward for some percentage of responses, but number of responses required before reinforcement is unpredictable (less likely to stop behavior)
