PSYC*2330 Chapter 10: Aversive Control (Avoidance and Punishment) Flashcards
In which type of instrumental procedure does a participant’s behaviour prevent the delivery of an aversive stimulus?
Avoidance procedures
Does avoidance involve a positive or negative contingency between an instrumental response and an aversive stimulus?
Negative contingency
Do avoidance procedures increase or decrease the occurrence of instrumental behaviour?
Increase
T or F: Punishment can also be referred to as “active avoidance”?
False. Punishment is also known as “passive avoidance” and avoidance is also known as “active avoidance.”
In which type of instrumental conditioning procedure does a participant’s behaviour cause the delivery of an aversive stimulus?
Punishment procedures
Does punishment involve a positive or negative contingency between an instrumental response and an aversive stimulus?
Positive contingency
Do punishment procedures increase or decrease the occurrence of instrumental behaviour?
Decrease
Vladimir Bechterev conducted the first of what type of experiment?
The first avoidance experiments with human participants
Why were Vladimir Bechterev’s experiments not instances of classical conditioning?
Participants could cancel the delivery of the US by performing a response, which isn’t possible with classical conditioning procedures
In which type of avoidance conditioning procedure are occurrences of the aversive stimulus signalled by a CS?
Discriminated avoidance procedures
Do discriminated avoidance procedures involve discrete or continuous trials?
Discrete
What are the two types of trials involved in a discriminated avoidance procedure?
- Avoidance trials
- Escape trials
What is an avoidance trial in a discriminated avoidance procedure?
A trial in which the avoidance response is made, causing the CS to be turned off and the aversive US to be omitted
What is an escape trial in a discriminated avoidance procedure?
A trial in which the avoidance response isn’t made and the aversive US is presented
During an escape trial in a discriminated avoidance procedure, when do both the CS and US terminate?
Once the instrumental avoidance response if performed
In which type of avoidance conditioning procedure does the required instrumental response consist of going back and forth between two sides of a shuttle box on successive trials?
Shuttle avoidance procedures
What is the difference between one-way and two-way shuttle avoidance?
- One-way: Animal is placed on the same side of the shuttle box at the start of each trial and always moves from that side to the other
- Two-way: Animal moves in both directions on successive trials
What’s easier to learn, one-way avoidance or two-avoidance?
One-way avoidance
What are the two mechanisms proposed by the Two-Process Theory of Avoidance to explain discriminated avoidance learning?
- Classical conditioning of fear to the CS
- Instrumental reinforcement of the avoidance response though termination of the CS and fear reduction
According to the Two-Process Theory of Avoidance, does classical conditioning or instrumental have to happen first to produce discriminated avoidance learning?
Classical conditioning
What is the reinforcer in avoidance procedures?
The absence of an unpleasant stimulus
In what type of procedure do subjects learn an instrumental response in order to escape from or terminate a CS that elicits fear?
Escape from fear procedures
What is the basic strategy involved in an escape from fear procedure?
- Phase 1: Pure classical conditioning causes a CS to elicit fear
- Phase 2: Instrumental responding turns off the CS and the aversive stimulus is omitted
Do results from escape from fear procedures support or contradict the Two-Process Theory of Avoidance?
Support
If it’s true that fear motivates and reinforces avoidance, what would the relationship between conditioning of fear and conditioning of avoidance behaviour look like?
As conditioning of fear increases, so should conditioning of avoidance (should be highly correlated)
Independent measurement of fear during acquisition of avoidance behaviour is an approach based on what assumption?
Assumes that as conditioning of fear increases, so does conditioning of avoidance (they are highly correlated)
Is the assumption that conditioning of fear and conditioning of avoidance are highly correlated always correct?
No
When are the conditioning of fear and conditioning of avoidance highly correlated?
Only early in training
T or F: Avoidance responding may persist without much fear exhibited towards the CS.
True
T or F: Both people and animals are more fearful as they become more proficient in performing avoidance responses.
False. They are less fearful.
T or F: Avoidance behaviour quickly terminates when the US is no longer presented.
False. It persists for a long time.
What is response blocking?
When the subject is exposed to a fearful CS without the opportunity to make an avoidance response
What is the procedure for extinguishing avoidance behaviour in which response blocking is utilized?
Flooding
What is the most effective extinction procedure for avoidance behaviour?
Flooding
Do longer or shorter exposures to the CS without US lead to more successful extinction of avoidance responding?
Longer exposures
T or F: Blocking access to an avoidance response can facilitate extinction of avoidance, even if response blocking doesn’t increase CS duration.
True
Can instrumental avoidance responses still be learned if there is no warning stimulus (CS) prior to an aversive US?
Yes
In which type of avoidance conditioning procedure are occurrences of the aversive stimulus not signalled by external stimuli?
Non-discriminative avoidance procedures
What are the two time intervals that construct non-discriminative avoidance procedures?
- The shock-shock (S-S) interval: Time between shocks in the absence of an avoidance response
- The response-shock (R-S) interval: Period of safety created by the avoidance response
In non-discriminative avoidance procedures, what serves as the safety signal/conditioned inhibitor of fear?
Response cues
In non-discriminative avoidance procedures, what serves as the reinforcement for avoidance behaviour?
The safety period that occurs after responding
In non-discriminative avoidance procedures, do shorter or longer S-S intervals result in faster learning?
Shorter S-S intervals
In non-discriminative avoidance procedures, do shorter or longer R-S intervals result in faster learning?
Longer R-S intervals
In non-discriminative avoidance procedures, which interval must be longer for participants to learn that their response has an effect?
The R-S interval must be longer than the S-S interval
T or F: Non-discriminative avoidance procedures require the participant to have temporal awareness.
True
What are response feedback cues?
The internal stimuli produced by making skeletal responses
What are safety signals?
Stimuli that signal the absence of an aversive event
What does the safety-signal hypothesis propose?
The response feedback cues of an avoidance response become safety signals and provide reinforcement for that avoidance response
What does the shock-frequency reduction hypothesis propose?
That a reduction in the frequency of shock rather than the complete avoidance of shock serves to reinforce avoidance behaviour
Is the shock-frequency reduction hypothesis supported by evidence?
No
T or F: A lack of concern with what an organism does during the first few trials of avoidance conditioning is a weakness of many theories.
True
What are species-specific defence reactions (SSDRs)?
Species-typical responses performed during aversive situations
What is assumed to control an organism’s behaviour during the early stages of avoidance training?
Species-specific defence reactions (SSDRs)
What is the major prediction of the SSDR theory?
Instrumental responses similar to the SSDR will be more easily learned in avoidance experiments than responses unrelated to SSDRs
Has more attention been focused on studying avoidance or punishment?
Punishment
What did Thorndike and Skinner wrongly conclude about punishment?
That punishment wasn’t effective for controlling behaviour and only had temporary effects
T or F: If applied incorrectly, punishment procedures can have unintended collateral effects.
True
If a punishment procedure is effective, what happens to the target response?
It becomes suppressed
How do laboratory studies of punishment typically begin?
With a preliminary phase in which the target response is first established with positive reinforcement
What term refers to the period during which the opportunity to obtain positive reinforcement is removed?
Time-out
T or F: Time-outs are inherently aversive.
False
What type of punishment discourages behaviour by requiring the individual to go beyond simply rectifying a mistake?
Overcorrection
Is the intensity of stimuli positively or negatively correlated to its effectiveness?
Positively (as intensity increases, so does its effectiveness)
T or F: How an organism responds during their initial expose to punishment determines how they will respond to subsequent punishment.
True
T or F: Gradually increasing the intensity of a stimulus is more effective for punishment than exposure to an intense stimulus from the beginning.
False
Does initial exposure to mild punishment produce more or less response suppression when exposed to the mild punishment again?
Less suppression
Does initial exposure to intense punishment produce more or less response suppression when later exposed to the mild punishment?
More suppression
What is response-contingent aversive stimulation?
The aversive stimulus is triggered by the instrumental response
What is response-independent aversive stimulation?
The aversive stimulus is presented regardless of behaviour
Is response-contingent or response-independent aversive stimulation more effecting in suppressing behaviour?
Response-contingent aversive stimulation
Does increasing the delay of punishment cause more or less suppression of behaviour?
Less
Is a high or low FR schedule of punishment more effective at suppressing behaviour?
Low FR schedule
