Psychology-Chapter 6: Learning-operant conditioning

Question 1

What is operant conditioning?

Answer 1

Learning controlled by the consequences of the organism’s behaviour. The organism’s behaviour is shaped by what comes after it.

Question 2

What is instrumental conditioning?

Answer 2

Psychologists also refer to operant conditioning as instrumental conditioning because the organism’s response serves an instrumental function.

Question 3

What are operants?

Answer 3

Refers to the behaviours produced by the animal to receive a reward because the animal “operates” on its environment to get what is wants.

Question 4

How does operant conditioning differ from classical conditioning?

Answer 4

In three important ways:
1- in CC, the organism’s response is elicited. In operant conditioning, the organism’s response is emitted. So this is more voluntary than automatic.
2- In CC, the animal’s reward is independent of what it does. In operant conditioning, the animal’s reward is contingent on its behaviour.
3- In CC, the organism’s responses depend primarily on the autonomic nervous system, OC is more dependent on the somatic nervous or skeletal muscle system.

Question 5

What is the law of effect?

Answer 5

If we are rewarded for a response to a stimulus, we’re more likely to repeat that response to the stimulus in the future.

Question 6

Early behaviourism is denoted as __-__ psychology.

Answer 6

S-R, stimulus-response.

Question 7

What is S-R psychology?

Answer 7

According to S-R theorists, most of our complex behaviours reflect the progressive accumulation of associations between stimuli and responses. S-R theorists maintain that almost everything we do voluntarily results from the gradual buildup of S-R bonds due to the law of effect.

Question 8

What is insight?

Answer 8

Grasping the underlying nature of a problem.

Question 9

What is the aha reaction?

Answer 9

Once the animal solves the problem, it gets it correct just about every time after that.

Question 10

What is a Skinner Box?

Answer 10

Electronically records an animal’s responses and prints out a cumulative record of the animal’s activity.

Question 11

What is reinforcement?

Answer 11

Meaning any outcome that strengthens the probability of a response.

Question 12

What is positive reinforcement?

Answer 12

The consequence consists of presenting something pleasant.

Question 13

What is negative reinforcement?

Answer 13

Where the consequence to the behaviour consists of removing something unpleasant.

Question 14

What is punishment?

Answer 14

Any outcome that weakens the probability of a response.

Question 15

What is positive punishment?

Answer 15

Involves administering a stimulus that the organism wishes to avoid.

Question 16

What is negative punishment?

Answer 16

Involves the removal of a stimulus that the organism wishes to experience.

Question 17

According to Skinner, what are the disadvantages of punishments?

Answer 17

1-Punishments tell the organism what not to do and not what to do.
2- Punishment often creates anxiety, which can interfere with learning.
3- Punishment may encourage subversive behaviour (prompting people to become sneakier about forbidden situations)
4- Punishment from parents may provide a model for children’s aggressive behaviour.

Question 18

When is punishment most effective?

Answer 18

When its delivered consistently and follows the undesired behaviour promptly.

Question 19

What is a discriminative stimulus?

Answer 19

Any stimulus that signals the availability of reinforcement.

Question 20

What is extinction in operant conditioning?

Answer 20

Occurs when we stop delivering reinforcement to a previously reinforce behaviour.

Question 21

What is extinction burst?

Answer 21

Shortly after withdrawing reinforcement, the undesired behaviour initially increases in intensity. (Think of a kid screaming louder to get something he wants)

Question 22

What is a schedule of reinforcement?

Answer 22

The pattern of delivering reinforcement.

Question 23

What is continuous reinforcement?

Answer 23

In the simplest pattern of schedule reinforcement, continuous reinforcement, we reinforce a behaviour every time it occurs.

Question 24

What is partial reinforcement?

Answer 24

Also called intermittent reinforcement, occurs when we reinforce responses only some of the time.

Question 25

What are key distinctions between continuous and partial reinforcement?

Answer 25

Continuous reinforcement allows animals to learn new behaviours more quickly but partial reinforcement leads to a greater resistance to extinction.

Question 26

What are the two dimensions in which the principle of reinforcement schedules varies?

Answer 26

1- Consistency of administering reinforcement. Can have fixed or variable contingencies.
2- The basis of administering reinforcement. Can be ratio schedules or interval schedules.

Question 27

What is a fixed basis?

Answer 27

Reinforcement is provided on a regular basis.

Question 28

What is a variable basis?

Answer 28

Reinforcement is provided on an irregular basis.

Question 29

What is a ratio schedule?

Answer 29

The experimenter reinforces the animal based on the number of responses it has emitted.

Question 30

What is an interval schedule?

Answer 30

The experimenter reinforces the animal based on the amount of time elapsed since the last reinforcement.

Question 31

What is a fixed ratio schedule?

Answer 31

Reinforcement is provided after a regular number of responses. (ex: FR15 would be giving a rat a food pellet for every 15 responses)

Question 32

What is a fixed interval schedule?

Answer 32

Reinforcement is provided for the first response after a specified amount of time has passed. (ex: FI2, give rat a food pellet for the first lever press it makes after 2 minutes have expired)

Question 33

What is a variable ratio schedule?

Answer 33

Reinforcement is provided for a variable number of responses with the number varying along some average.

Question 34

What is a variable interval schedule?

Answer 34

Reinforcement is provided for the first response after a variable time interval varying along some average.

Question 35

Between ratio schedules and interval schedules, which yields higher rates of response?

Answer 35

Ratio

Question 36

Between variable schedules and fixed schedules, which yield more consistent rates of response?

Answer 36

Variable

Question 37

What do fixed schedules tend to produce after each reinforcement?

Answer 37

A pause, this is because the reinforcement is necessarily some distance away.

Question 38

Which type of schedule yields the highest rates of response?

Answer 38

VR

Question 39

What is shaping by successive approximations?

Answer 39

Using shaping, we train a new target behaviour by reinforcing behaviours that aren’t exactly the target behaviour but, are progressively closer versions of it.
Used to train animals.

Question 40

What is fading?

Answer 40

Decreasing the frequency of reinforcement for the not-exactly right behaviours during shaping.

Question 41

What is chaining?

Answer 41

Linking of a number of interrelated behaviours to form a longer series. Each behaviour becomes a cue for the next one. (think of learning the alphabet and why its so easy to go from a to z but not from the middle or in reverse order)

Question 42

How would one overcome procrastination?

Answer 42

When putting off studying, pair it with something you would usually do if given the chance only after having done studying.

Question 43

What is superstitious behaviour?

Answer 43

Actions linked to reinforcement by sheer coincidence. There is no actual association between superstitious behaviours and reinforcement, although the animal acts as if there is.

Question 44

What is a token economy?

Answer 44

Systems, often set up in psychiatric hospitals, for reinforcing appropriate behaviours and extinguishing inappropriate ones.

Question 45

What are secondary reinforcers?

Answer 45

Neutral objects that have become associated with primary reinforcers.

Question 46

What are primary reinforcers?

Answer 46

Things such as a favourite food or toy that naturally increases the target behaviour.

Question 47

Why are token economies controversial?

Answer 47

Because they don’t always apply to the outside world.

Question 48

What is ABA?

Answer 48

Applied behaviour analysis. Used for autism and makes extensive use of shaping. Use of primary reinforcers as individuals with autism reach progressively closer approximations of certain words and, eventually, complete sentences.

Question 49

What is two process theory?

Answer 49

We need both CC and OC to explain the persistence of anxiety disorders. This is an example of two-process theory.

Question 50

How do phobias display two-process theory?

Answer 50

People acquire phobias in part by CC. Their phobias are then reinforced (negatively) by voluntarily avoiding the stimulus.