PSY7709 Week 5 Terminology Flashcards
A motivating operation that decreases the reinforcing effectiveness of a stimulus, object, or event.
abolishing operation
A desirable target behavior that a person seeks to increase in frequency, duration, or intensity.
behavioral deficit
An undesirable target behavior that a person seeks to decrease in frequency, duration, or intensity.
behavioral excess
A metaphor to describe a rate of responding and its resistance to change following an alteration in reinforcement conditions.
behavioral momentum
Schedules of reinforcement that exist at the same time for two or more different behaviors.
compound schedule of reinforcement
Two or more of different behaviors or response options are concurrently available for the person.
concurrent operants
A motivating operation that increases the effectiveness of some stimulus, object, or event as a reinforcer.
establishing operation
A schedule of reinforcement in which the reinforcer is delivered for the first response that occurs after an interval of time has elapsed.
fixed interval
A schedule of reinforcement in which a specific number of responses must occur before the reinforcer is delivered.
fixed ratio
A schedule for the delivery of non-contingent stimuli in which a time interval remains the same from one delivery to the next.
fixed-time schedule
A schedule of reinforcement in which not every instance of the behavior is followed by the delivery of the reinforcer. Includes fixed ratio, fixed interval, variable ratio, and variable interval schedules.
intermittent schedule of reinforcement
A compound schedule of reinforcement consisting of two or more basic schedules of reinforcement that occur in an alternating, usually random, sequence. No discriminative stimuli are correlated with the presence or absence of each element of the schedule, and reinforcement is delivered for meeting the response requirements of the element in effect at any time.
mixed schedule
An environmental variable that (a) alters (increases or decreases) the reinforcing or punishing effectiveness of some stimulus, object, or event; and (b) alters (increases or decreases) the current frequency of all behavior that has been reinforced or punished by that stimulus, object, or event.
motivating operation
A compound schedule of reinforcement consisting of two or more basic schedules of reinforcement that occur in an alternating, usually random, sequence; a discriminative stimulus is correlated with the presence or absence of each element of the schedule, and reinforcement is delivered for meeting the response requirements of the element in effect at any time.
multiple schedule
The absence of responding for a period of time following reinforcement. This effect is commonly produced by fixed interval (FI) and fixed ratio (FR) schedules of reinforcement.
post-reinforcement pause
A schedule that systematically thins each successive reinforcement opportunity independent of the individual’s behavior. Progressive ratio (PR) and progressive interval (PI) schedules are thinned using arithmetic or geometric progressions.
progressive schedule of reinforcement
Occurs when a stimulus change immediately follows a response and increases the future frequency of that type of behavior in similar conditions.
reinforcement
A process in which an item from a preference assessment is delivered contingent on a behavior to see if the behavior increases.
reinforcer assessment
A decrease in the reinforcing effectiveness of a stimulus, object, or event caused by a motivating operation.
reinforcer-abolishing effect
An increase in the reinforcing effectiveness of a stimulus, object, or event caused by a motivating operation.
reinforcer-establishing effect
Specifies which responses will be followed by delivery of the reinforcer; may be continuous or intermittent.
schedule of reinforcement
Changing a contingency of reinforcement by gradually increasing the response ratio or the extent of the time interval, which results in a lower rate of reinforcement per responses, time, or both.
schedule thinning
A schedule of reinforcement identical to the chained schedule except that, like the mixed schedule, the tandem schedule does not use discriminative stimuli with the elements in the chain.
tandem schedule
A schedule for the delivery of noncontingent stimuli in which the interval of time from one delivery to the next randomly varies around a given time.
variable-time schedule
