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Psychology of Learning 7127 > Operant Conditioning I > Flashcards

Operant Conditioning I Flashcards

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1
Q

What does operant conditioning focus on?

A

Focus on reflexive and automatic
responses, where the target is the
outcome and is conditioned through
repeated pairing

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2
Q

What are operant behaviours? How are they different from operant conditioning?

A
  • Actions influenced by their consequences

* Effect on behaviour is operant conditioning

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3
Q

Involves the strengthening or weakening of a behaviour as a result of the ______.

A

Consequence

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4
Q

Behaviours are _____ or goal-directed.

A

Voluntary

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5
Q

The consequence of the behaviour affects future

occurrences of that behaviour- T/F?

A

True

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6
Q

Reinforcers _____behaviours whilst Punishers ____ a behaviour

A

strengthen; reduce

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7
Q

Who was Edwin Lee Thorndike? What did he study?

A 
• The intellectual ability of animals could only be assessed through systematic observation
• Studied animal intelligence by
studying animal learning
• His most famous experiments
involved cats
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8
Q

Explain the puzzlebox study (1898)

A

• Hungry cat placed in
puzzle box with a dish of food outside
• Learning required to escape from the box
• Accidental escape led to (gradual) increase in speed of
escape

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9
Q

What did we learn from the puzzlebox study regarding the law of effect?

A

• Law of Effect:
−Behaviour is controlled by its consequences.
−Behaviours that result in pleasant consequences will be more likely in the future.
−Behaviours that result in unpleasant consequences will be less likely in the future.

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10
Q

Who is B.F Skinner & what was he well-known for?

A 
• “Skinner Box”
• The rat earns food pellets by
pressing a lever
• The experimenter controls the
contingencies, but the rat is free to respond at any time
• Rate of behaviour is controlled by the conditions
• Adapted for pigeons with a
disc
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11
Q

Skinner said there are two types of behaviours- what are they?

A

• Reflexive type (involuntary) named respondent behaviour
• Operant (voluntary) behaviours controlled by
consequences

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12
Q

Skinner focused on _______ of behaviour rather than assumptions about thoughts and feelings

A

Probabilities

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13
Q

What are the three components of the operant conditioning process?

A
  1. A response the produces a consequence (e.g. lever =
    food)
  2. Consequence serves to increase or decrease probability
    of response in 1 (e.g. to press or not to press)
  3. Discriminative stimulus preceding the response signals the consequence is available (e.g. tone = lever = food)
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14
Q

What is a reinforcer & what is the symbol for it?

A

(S^R)

Consequence following behaviour which increases the probability of the behaviour in the future

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15
Q

What is a punisher & what is the symbol for it?

A

(S^P)

Consequence following behaviour which decreases the probability of the behaviour in the future

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16
Q

What is extinction?

A

Reduction of behaviour due to withdrawal of reinforcers

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17
Q

What is a discriminative stimulus & what is the symbol for it?

A

(S^D)
• Indicates that a response will be followed by a contingency
(reinforcer or punisher)
• ‘set the occasion for’… so increases/decreases probability

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18
Q

What is positive reinforcement? Give example.

A

When behaviour is strengthen because it is followed by a reinforcing or rewarding stimulus

Smile at a person → The person smiles at you
R —> SR

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19
Q

What is negative reinforcement? Give example.

A

• When behaviour is strengthen
because it is followed by the removal an aversive (unpleasant) stimulus

Take an aspirin → Eliminate a Headache
R —-> SR

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20
Q

What is positive punishment? Give example.

A

The addition of an unpleasant stimulus to hopefully weaken the tendency of you doing it again

You don’t do your homework —-> your dad hits you :(
P —–> SP

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21
Q

What is negative punishment? Give example.

A

The removal of a pleasant stimulus is used as a punishment to weaken the tendency of you doing it again

You don’t do your homework —-> mum takes away your phone

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22
Q

What is escape learning?

A

learning of a response that allows a subject to escape an aversive stimulus (e.g. switch off an electric shock)

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23
Q

What is avoidance learning?

A

Learning of a response that allows a subject to avoid an aversive stimulus (e.g. learning that when a light comes on the shock is about to start and they must press the bar to prevent the electric shock).

24
Q

What is the differenc between a reinforcer & a punisher?

A

Reinforcement refers to strengthening a
behaviour – punishment refers to weakening a
tendency to make a response.

25
Q

What are two types of reinforcers?

A

• Primary reinforcers: unlearned, inherently
reinforcing because they satisfy a biological
need (e.g. food, water, warmth, sex).

• Secondary reinforcers: (conditioned reinforcers)
that are learnt or become reinforcers after being
associated with primary reinforcers (e.g. money).

26
Q

What are other terms used for primary & secondary reinforcers?

A

• Intrinsic (e.g. enjoyment) vs Extrinsic reinforcers
(e.g. money)

• Natural vs Contrived reinforcers

27
Q

It is important for learning that an organism wants to
take part in activities and learns new skills via desired
behaviours, not because it is scared of a
consequence/being punished. T/F?

A

True

28
Q

What are the fice variables affecting OC?

A
  • Contingency
  • Contiguity
  • Reinforcer characteristics
  • Behaviour characteristics
  • Motivating operations
29
Q

How does contingency affect OC?

A

The extent to which the behaviour and the
consequence are correlated.
• The stronger the correlation, the more effective the reinforcer
is likely to be.
• Hammond (1980): If rats were just as likely to get
food by not pressing a leaver, than they were if they
pressed the leaver they would stop pressing the
leaver.

30
Q

How does contiguity affect OC?

A

• The gap between a behaviour and its consequence –
in this case the reinforcement
• In general, the shorter the interval the faster learning occurs.
• If we leave too much time between a behaviour and
the consequence there may be room for other
behaviours to have occurred and what is learned then
becomes confused.
• However, learning can occur despite a delay in
reinforcement, particularly if the delay is preceded by
a particular stimulus.

31
Q

The ____ and ______ of a reinforcer can influence conditioning

A

size; strength

32
Q

Do smaller or larger reinforcers work best?

A

Generally, a large reinforcer will be more effective
than a small one. BUT frequent small reinforcers may
work better.

33
Q

Certain aspects of a behaviour may be easier to learn

than others: T/F? Why?

A

True. Task difficulty will vary with species and
that it is easier to train/teach behaviours that are
somewhat aligned to an animals natural behaviour

34
Q

What is a motivating operation?

A

Anything that changes the effectiveness of a consequence – either in terms of increasing or decreasing its effectiveness

35
Q

What are the two types of motivating operations?

A

• Establishing operations: increase the effectiveness of
a consequence
- The greater the deprivation the more powerful the reinforcer

• Abolishing operations: decrease the effectiveness of
a consequence

36
Q

What are the four theories of reinforcement?

A
  1. Drive Reduction Theory (Hull)
  2. Premack’s Principle (Premack)
  3. Response Deprivation Hypothesis
    (Timberlake & Allison)
  4. Bliss Point Approach (Staddon)
37
Q

Explain Drive Reduction Theory (Hull).

A

The event is reinforcing if it is associated with
a reduction of physiological drive

hunger drive –> search out food —> fridge —> eat food—-> no hunger :)

38
Q

What is incentive motivation & how does it go to disapprove Hull’s DRT?

A

• Motivation derived from a property of the reinforcer
rather than an internal drive state
• e.g. video games, concert, collecting footy card

39
Q

What is Premack’s Principle?

A

• Helps us understand what can be used as a reinforcer
• High probability behaviour can be used to reinforce a
low probability behaviour
• Reinforcers as behaviours and reinforcement as a
sequence of two behaviours
1. Behaviour being reinforced
2. Behaviour that is the reinforcer
* pressing lever –> low probability behaviour
* eating food (when hungry) —> high probability behaviour
• High probability behaviour (at the time) the reinforcer

40
Q

What is the Response Deprivation Hypothesis?

A

If we don’t know both the probabilities …
Behaviour can serve as a reinforcer when:
1. Access to the reinforcing behaviour is restricted
2. Frequency of the reinforcing behaviour falls below the
preferred level of occurrence

41
Q

Give an example of the RDH

A

A pigeon prefers 20 pellets per (freely available) day
We give him 5

  1. The pigeon’s reinforcing behaviour (eating 20 pellets) is restricted
  2. Frequency of the reinforcing behaviour has fallen below the preferred
    level (of 20 pellets)
  3. This makes it willing to work due to a state of deprivation to get closer to their preferred level
42
Q

What is the Behavioural Bliss Point Approach?

A

• An organism that has free access to alternative
activities will organise its behaviour to maximise its
overall (optimal) reinforcement
• Within constraints of our life, we distribute our time
so as to optimise reinforcement

43
Q

What are the two theories of avoidance?

A

Escape behaviour: performing a behaviour stops an
aversive stimulus, and as such strengthens that
behaviour

• Avoidance behaviour: performing a behaviour
prevents an aversive stimulus from happening, and as
such strengthens that behaviour

44
Q

What is the Shuttle Avoidance Procedure?

A

an animal has to shuttle back and forth in a box to avoid an aversive stimulus. This demonstrates that we first learn escape from an aversive stimulus and then to avoid it

45
Q

What is the Two Process Theory of Avoidance?

A
  1. Classical conditioning of Fear Response

2. Operant procedure of negative reinforcement

46
Q

Draw out the Two Process Theory of Avoidance on paper if you were scared of driving because of a crash?

A
  1. CC

2. OC

47
Q

What is a problem with the TPTOA?

A
  • Problem: avoidance responses can be extremely persistent
  • Possible explanation: anxiety conservation hypothesis: avoidance behaviours occur so quickly that there is insufficient exposure to the CS for extinction to take place
48
Q

Give an example of the TPTOA & Anxiety Conservation Hypothesis

A

A dog doesn’t wait to see that a light means he will get shocked because he will just run away to avoid it, therefore no extinction of the fear of lights.

49
Q

What does the One Process Theory of Avoidance state?

A

Escape and avoidance behaviours are reinforced by

the reduction of the aversive stimulus

50
Q

Name the three stages of the OC process

A
  1. Acquisition
  2. Shaping
  3. Exinction
51
Q

What is acquisition?

A

The initial stage of learning - learning a
pattern of responding or the association between behaviour and reinforcer.
• A gradual process that requires shaping

52
Q

What is shaping?

A

The reinforcement of closer and closer approximations of the desired behaviour
• Important when subject does not on its own perform the desired response

53
Q

What is Extinction?

A

The gradual weakening and elimination of the response tendency.
• Achieved through halting the reinforcement. The time this takes depends on how resistant the subject is to extinction.

54
Q

Give an example of shaping.

A

We may reinforce a rat when it approaches the lever, when it gets closer to the leaver, etc.

Rats don’t usually press levers so reinforcing the steps via shaping will help the rat do what we want\

55
Q

What is chaining?

A

Training a person or animal to perform a sequence of
behaviours.
• Involves breaking down a behaviour or sequence into its components using task analysis. Then reinforcing the performance of each component.

56
Q

Think about our rat who was undergoing shaping before- create a behaviour chain for him.

A
  1. rat moves to lever- reinforice
  2. Rat gets up on hind legs near the lever- reinforce
  3. Rat touches lever- reinforce
  4. rat presses lever- reinforce
57
Q

What are the two types of chaining?

A

Forward chaining: reinforce the first component, then when this is performed we add the second component reinforcing performance of the two together until this is completed without hesitation, then add the third and so on.

• Backward chaining: Starting with the last link in the chain and
building towards the first component.
• This is often the more efficient and easier approach.

Psychology of Learning 7127 (12 decks)

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