Operant Conditioning & Reinforcement/Shaping Flashcards
: Process by which behaviors are increased, decreased, or maintained by their consequences
Operant conditioning
Positive (Sr)
Negative Sr
Positive Punishment
Negative Punishment
Four Basic Contingencies of operant conditioning
Stimulus change, contingent on the occurrence of behavior, increases the future likelihood or probability of behavior
Sr - Reinforcement
stimulus termination or reduction
Escape
stimulus postponement
Avoidance
Removal, reduction, or postponement of a stimulus
Negative Reinforcement
Presentation of a stimulus
Positive Reinforcement
Effective without prior history
Food-Water-Sex
Primary Reinforcer
-Originally a neutral event
- Acquire Sr properties after pairing w/ primary or
Smiling-A+-Applause
Secondary reinforcer
Paired w/ many Sr’s
-Don’t depend on specific source of deprivation
Money-Gold stars
Generalized reinforcers
(“Extrinsic”)
Provided by agent (mediated through the B of another)
Mediated Reinforcers
(“Intrinsic”)
Directly produced by the behavior
Automatic Reinforcers
Sr typically maintains B in natural environ; events that spontaneously follow a behavior
Natural Behavior
= Sr irrelevant to behavioral maintenance in the natural environment; contingencies have been set up for the purposes of training or experimentation
Arbitrary Behavior
Genetic Factors ,History of Reinforcer, Immediacy, Dependency, Amount, quality , alternative sources of reinforcement, “establishing operations”
8 Factors that influence the effectiveness of the reinforcement.
Is consequence excessively large or otherwise inappropriate?
- Who profits from B?
- Is B inappropriate?
- When is the consequence delivered?
Reinforcement Versus Bribery
To establish new B, particularly complex B or B not responsive to instruction/modeling
Purpose of shaping
: Differential Sr of successive approximations of B until the terminal B is exhibited.
Definition of shaping
selective Sr of one B and nonreinforcement (i.e., “extinction”) of another B
Differential Reinforcement
= intermediate form of terminal B
Successive approximation
Observe the person (measure duration of engagement)
ask person or significant other (family members, friends)
How to identify reinforcements.
high probability activity can be used to reinforce a low probability activity
Premack Principle
Avoidance learning involves both respondent and operant conditioning
Recall, Respondent Conditioning:
Two process Theory
Avoidance per se is a reinforcer;
Respondent conditioning unnecessary
one process Theory
