Theories of Operant Conditioning (2)

Question 1

What did Hull believe individuals to lack during the drive-reduction process according to his operant conditioning theory?

Answer 1

• Mentalistic processes, such as an emotional assessment of a reward or punishment.
• Sense impression (unelaborated, elementary awareness of stimulation).

Question 2

On which concepts was Hull’s emphasis in relation to his operant conditioning theory?

Answer 2

• Experimentation
• An organised theory of learning
• The nature of habits (which he argued were associations between a stimulus and a response).

Question 3

According to Hull’s theory of operant conditioning, by what were behaviours influenced?

Answer 3

By goals that sought to satisfy drives (such as hunger, thirst, sex, and pain avoidance).

Question 4

According to Hull’s operant conditioning theory, what is the reward of being driven to satisfy a physiological need?

Answer 4

The satisfaction of that physiological need.

Question 4

What is motivation, according to Hull?

Answer 4

A state of physiological need.

Question 5

What is an example of Hull’s theory of operant conditioning in practice?

Answer 5

• An organ sensing activity, causing the movement of muscles (this process is energised depending on level of drive), and resulting in the receipt of food.
• The resulting drive reduction stamping in the connections between organ sensation and muscle movement.