Set 1 Flashcards
Avoidance behavior
Behavior maintained by contingent delay in, or reduction in frequency of, scheduled aversive events.
Behavior
Anything the organism does; any action of the muscles or glands.
Conditioned aversive stimulus
A stimulus that acquired its aversive properties as a function of its association with another aversive stimulus.
Conditioned reinforcer
A stimulus that acts as a reinforcer as a function of its association with another reinforcer.
Consequence
An event that follows a response.
Conditioned Response
A response that is elicited by a conditioned stimulus.
Determinism
The assumption that natural events are caused by other natural events (i.e., functional relations exist).
Differential reinforcement
Reinforcement of some responses and not others.
Discriminated operant
An operant defined in terms of the stimuli occasioning it as well as the reinforcer maintaining it. Example: the teacher says “tie your shoes,” the student ties his shoes, and the teacher praises the student (and praise is a reinforcer).
Discrimination
Differential responding in the presence of different stimuli.
Discriminative stimulus (SD)
A stimulus that differentially signals the availability of reinforcement for responding. This stimulus sets the occasion for (i.e., increases the likelihood of) behavior as a result of a history of reinforcement for responding in the presence of the stimulus.
Empiricism
The philosophical position that knowledge is gained through observation.
Escape behavior
Behavior maintained by contingent termination of an aversive event.
Free operant
A response that may occur at any time. The completion of one response leaves the organism in a position to emit the next.
Habituation
A reduction, over repeated presentations, in the respondent behavior elicited by a stimulus.
Negative Punisher
Any stimulus that, when removed following a response, decreases the rate or probability of that response.
Negative Reinforcer
Any stimulus that, when removed following a response, increases the rate or probability of that response.
Neutral stimulus
An environmental event which brings about no change in behavior.
Neutral stimulus
An environmental event which brings about no change in behavior.
Ontogeny
The life history of an individual organism.
Operant Behavior
Any behavior sensitive to manipulations of consequences.
Operant Conditioning
The process by which the likelihood of behavior is modified through manipulation of consequences.
Operant Extinction (EXT)
The withholding of a reinforcer previously contingent on a response that results in a decrease in the probability of that response.
Parsimony
The notion that, all things being equal, the simplest explanation is the best.
Philosophic Doubt (skepticism)
An attitude that the validity of all scientific theory and knowledge should be questioned.
Phylogeny
The evolutionary history of a species.
Positive Punisher
Any stimulus that, when delivered following a response, decreases the probability of that response.
Positive Reinforcer
Any stimulus that, when delivered following a response, increases the probability of that response.
Respondent Behavior
Behavior elicited by stimuli and insensitive to consequent manipulations.
Respondent Conditioning
The process by which a stimulus that previously had no effect on a respondent (neutral stimulus) acquires the capacity to elicit that respondent.
Respondent extinction
Breaking the pairing between conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus, such that the conditioned stimulus no longer elicits the conditioned response.
Response
An instance of behavior.
S-delta
A stimulus that differentially signals extinction.
Sp
A stimulus that differentially signals punishment.
Stimulus
Any event that affects behavior.
Unconditioned reinforcement (primary)
A reinforcing stimulus which does not depend on a history of conditioning for its reinforcing properties.
Unconditioned response (UR; reflex)
A response that is elicited by an unconditioned stimulus. No learning or conditioning is necessary; instead, it is a product of phylogenic history.
Unconditioned stimulus (US)
A stimulus that elicits an unconditioned response, requiring no conditioning history.
Conditioned Stimulus
A stimulus that elicits a response as a function of its association with another eliciting stimulus.
