Theories of Operant Conditioning (1) Flashcards
Which three psychologists have developed theories of operant conditioning?
- Thorndike
- Hull
- Tolman
What does Thorndike’s law of effect state in relation to operant conditioning?
That behaviours followed by pleasant or rewarding consequences are more likely to be repeated, whereas behaviours followed by unpleasant or punishing consequences are less likely to be repeated.
How did Thorndike describe the process of learning in relation to his theory of operant conditioning?
As a gradual “stamping out” of connections between a stimulus (S) and the incorrect instinctive response (R), and the gradual “stamping in” of connections between S and the correct R.
In what way can Hull’s operant conditioning theory be characterised as a mechanistic stimulus-response conception of behaviour?
As he believed that learning consists in the bonding together of some stimulus event (such as a light, a tone, or a maze) with some response of an organism (such as salivating, running, or turning).
What does Hull’s drive-reduction theory claim in its simplest form?
That no learning occurs unless a drive produces tension and impels an organism into activity to procure a reward that will reduce the drive, and satisfy its related physiological need.
To what does Tolman’s cognitive map concept refer?
To a type of mental representation which serves an individual to acquire, code, store, recall and decode information about the relative locations and attributes of phenomena in their everyday or metaphorical spatial environment.
Which effect initially observed by Thorndike is similar to what is often represented by a “halo” floating above the heads of saints, angels, and Jesus in religious paintings?
The effect involving people generalising from one outstanding attribute to form a favourable view of a person’s whole personality.
How does Thorndike’s stimulus-response theory propose that people learn?
Through trial and error.
How did Thorndike believe that connections were either “stamped in” or “stamped out”?
By an individual being either rewarded or punished for a particular behaviour.
What type of theory is Thorndike’s operant conditioning theory?
An association theory.
What is the groundwork of Thorndike’s operant conditioning theory and his depiction of animal associations?
As opposed to the association of ideas, Thorndike believed animal associations to consist of the association of an idea, or sense-impression, with an impulse.
What is an example of the impression-impulse association, as corresponds to Thorndike’s animal association theory of operant conditioning?
An animal being in a box (sense impression), and pressing a lever inside of the box (impulse)- the consequence of which being the reception of food and the ensuing satisfaction “stamping in” these associations, causing the animal to continue pressing the lever in the future.
