Reinforcement Flashcards
The portion of the organism’s interaction with its environment that is characterised by displacements in space through time of some part of the organism and that results in a measurable change in at least one aspect of the environment.
Behaviour
The measurable unit of analysis in the science of behaviour. Measured in terms of repeatability and occurrence in time.
Response
A collection of responses that share a common form.
Topographical response class
A collection of responses that share common functional relations with classes of antecedent and consequent stimuli.
Functional response class
Any physical event or set of events that is not part of a behaviour and may include other parts of the organism.
Environment
A particular aspect of the environment that affects behaviour.
Stimulus
Primarily influences behaviour.
Stimulus change
A group of stimuli that share specified common elements along formal, temporal, and/or functional dimensions.
Stimulus class
Operant conditioning.
Any behaviour whose future frequency is determined by its consequences
Selected, shaped and maintained by the consequences that have followed it in the past.
Operant behaviour
A dependent relationship between a response class and one or more stimulus classes.
Contingency
- environmental situation in which that consequence influences future probability of response.
- a precise definition of the limits and range of response topographies.
- produced a specified consequence.
3 term contingency ABC
- Antecedent
- Behaviour
- Consequence
A stimulus that follows behaviour and affects the probability that behaviour will occur again under similar circumstances.
Consequence
Reinforcer
A consequence that increases the probability of a response.
Positive reinforcement (SR+)
The addition of a stimulus after a behaviour that results in an increase in the probability of the behaviour occurring again under similar circumstances.
Sd
Signifies the availability of reinforcement.
Three conditions of positive reinforcement
- A response produces a stimulus.
- The response occurs more often.
- The response occurs more often because of the response-consequence relationship.
1 second less effective than…
0 seconds.
Reinforcement needs to be immediate.
Circular reasoning
When an effect is mistaken as a cause.
eg. does a child have a reading problem due to his learning disability, or a learning disability due to his reading problems?
Motivation
Influences the effectiveness of reinforcement.
Automatic reinforcement
Some behaviours produce their own reinforcement independent of the mediation of others.
eg hair pulling, babbling, finger-nail biting
Unconditioned reinforcers
A reinforcer that does not depend on a relation to another reinforcer.
Food, water, oxygen, warmth
Conditioned reinforcers
A reinforcer that has become effective due to its relation with another reinforcer.
Generalized reinforcer
A conditioned reinforcer that has been paired with various reinforcers and does not depend on a current EO.
Eg. money and social attention
Negative reinforcement (SR-)
The removal of a stimulus after a behaviour that results in an increase in the probability of that behaviour occurring again under similar circumstances.
Stimulus changes
Distinction between positive and negative reinforcement is based on the type of stimulus change that occurs following a response.
Escape contingency
A response terminates a stimulus which is present.
Avoidance contingency
A response prevents or postpones the presentation of a stimulus.
SR+ and SR-
Both produce an increase in responding.
Positive adds a stimulus, whereas negative removes a stimulus.
Factors influencing effectiveness of reinforcement.
- Stimulus change occurs immediately after the response.
- Magnitude of reinforcement, larger the better.
- Reinforcement is consistent each time the target response occurs.
- Reinforcement is unavailable for non-target responses.
