PSYCH 104 Final (Learning: Operant conditioning)

Question 1

Respondent conditioning function and controlling event?

Answer 1

Function: behavior is elicited by a stimulus
Controlling event: stimuli preceding response

Question 2

Operant conditioning function and controlling event?

Answer 2

Function: behavior is emitted to produce/remove a stimulus
Controlling event: Stimuli following the response

Question 3

Operant conditioning (Definition)

Answer 3

The study of how consequences effect behavior

Question 4

Operant conditioning chambers (What are they designed to do?)

Answer 4

• Operant conditioning chambers
  ○ Designed to exhibit maximum control over all variables

Question 5

What does a reinforcer result in?

Answer 5

Increased behavior = reinforced

Question 6

What does a punishment result in?

Answer 6

Decreased behavior = punish

Question 7

What are the 5 effects of reinforcers?

Answer 7

Effect of reinforcing consequences
- Increase frequency
- Increase duration
- Increase intensity
- Increase in quickness
- Increase in variability

Question 8

Two ways of reinforcing (What are they?)

Answer 8

Two ways of reinforcing
- Add a stimulus + positive reinforcement
- Remove a stimulus - negative reinforcement

Question 9

What is important to remember about Rewards?

Answer 9

Reward (does not always =) reinforcer
- (if you give a dog a treat for rolling over that does not mean he will do it again)

Question 10

Learning (Operant conditioning: reinforcement)

Answer 10

• Reinforcement:
  ○ The procedure of providing consequences for a behavior that increase or maintain the probability of that behavior occuring in the future

Question 11

Learning (Operant conditioning: reinforcer)

Answer 11

• Reinforcer:
  ○ any event or stimulus that follows an operant response and increases or maintains its future

Question 12

Learning (Operant conditioning: Positive reinforcement)

Answer 12

• Positive reinforcement:
  ○ Any event or stimulus that, when presented as a consequence of a behavior, increases or maintains the future probability of that behavior

Question 13

Learning (Operant conditioning: negative reinforcement)

Answer 13

• Negative reinforcement:
  ○ Any event or stimulus that, when removed as a consequence of a behavior, increases or maintains the future probability of that behavior

Question 14

Two ways of punishing (What are they?)

Answer 14

Two ways of punishing
- Add a stimulus + positive punishment
- Remove a stimulus - negative punishment

Question 15

What are punishments defined by?

Answer 15

• Punishment
  ○ Punishers are defined by their effect on behavior
  § If the behavior doesn’t decrease the behavior its not a punishment
  ○ Can be highly effective and work over the long term when used properly
  ○ Drawbacks (this list is not exhaustive):
  § Only decreases behavior (it doesn’t teach new acceptable behaviors)
  § Will usually foster undesirable emotional responses
  □ Aggression
  □ Fear and anxiety responses
  □ Crying
  □ Apathy and/or depression
  § Can foster subversive practices to escape punishment
  § Limitation of the punisher

Question 16

What does punishment have to do in order to be one?

Answer 16

(it has to actually elicit a change in the probability of occurrence to actually be a punishment)

Question 17

Operant conditioning (Discriminative stimulus)

Answer 17

Discriminative stimulus
- A stimulus or event that sets the occasion for reinforcement
○ Example: signals that a behavior will be reinforced when it occurs

Question 18

Operant conditioning (Discrimination)

Answer 18

Discrimination:
- The effect of response being more likely to occur in the Prescence of the discriminative stimulus or event than its absense
○ Example: the rat is more likely to press the lever when the light is on than when it is off
§ The light is said to be “controlling” the rats behavior

Question 19

Three term contingency (What is it?)

Answer 19

1. The discriminative stimulus
2. The behavior
3. The reinforcer

Question 20

Operant conditioning (Operant/stimulus generalization)

Answer 20

• Operant/stimulus generalization:
  ○ When an organism responds to values of the discriminative stimulus that are different than the originally trained values
  § Produces a generalization gradient

Question 21

Operant conditioning (Generalization gradients)

Answer 21

• Generalization gradients: a description about how much control a stimulus has over behavior
  ○ Discrimination = only one stimulus is likely
  ○ Generalization = several stimulus may be present

Question 22

Operant conditioning (operant extinction)

Answer 22

• Operant extinction:
  ○ The procedure of withholding reinforcers that maintain a behavior

Question 23

Operant conditioning (Spontaneous recovery)

Answer 23

• Spontaneous recovery:
  ○ The tendancy for extinguished behavior to occur again in situations similar to those it had been previously reinforced after time has elapsed
  ○ Repeated sessions of extinction (usually in multiple settings) are required to prevent spontaneous recovery
  § Demonstrates that extinction is not simply “forgetting” what was learnt

Question 24

Operant conditioning (Excitation bursts)

Answer 24

• Excitation bursts:
  ○ Short lived rapid burst in responding following the initial exposure to extinction
  
  • Extinction also produces
    ○ Aggression
    ○ Variability of responding

Question 25

Operant conditioning (Schedule of reinforcement)

Answer 25

• Schedule of reinforcement:
  ○ A rule describing the delivery of reinforcement
  ○ Different schedules produce unique schedule effects
  § Schedule effect: particular pattern and rate of behavior over time
  ○ Over the long term effects are very predictable
  ○ Can make behaviors more resistant to extinction
  ○ Occur in numerous species (humans included)

Question 26

Scheduled reinforcement (What basically is it?)

Answer 26

(ESSENTIALLY IF YOU REINFORCE SOMEONES ACTIONS EVERY NOW AND THEN EVEN IF IT IS NOT EVERY TIME THEY WILL KEEP DOING IT)

Question 27

Operant conditioning (Shaping)

Answer 27

• Shaping:
  ○ Different reinforcement of successive approximations of a target behavior
  ○ Example: training a rat’s lever press
  1. Reinforce approaches to lever
  2. Reinforce sniffing the lever
  3. Reinforce touching with paw
  4. Reinforce a full depression of the lever

Question 28

What is shaping basically?

Answer 28

(ESSENTIALLY DEVELOPING A BEHAVIOR THROUGH REWARDING FOR DOING THE STEPS THAT BUILD UP TO DESIRED BEHAVIOUR)

Question 29

Shaping unwitting university students (What was this test?)

Answer 29

• Shaping unwitting university students
  ○ Used Zener cards
  ○ Judged them by the loudness of their response to correctness
  ○ Those who gave a louder response were told their response to the last one is right
  ○ The opposite was also true with getting people to be quieter