Unit 4 - Ch. 6,7&8

Question 1

Noncontingent reinforcement (NCR)

Answer 1

The procedure of providing reinforcers regardless of what the person does.
May actually reduce the frequency of undesirable behaviour (they don’t have to use problematic behaviours to get the reinforcer)

Question 2

Self-control techniques

Answer 2

Deprivation, distraction, distancing

Question 3

What was the purpose of Gordon Gallup’s study?

Answer 3

The purpose of Gordon Gallup’s mirror study was to determine whether chimps showed evidence of self-awareness.

Question 4

Karen Pryor study

Answer 4

In her work with porpoises, Karen Pryor gradually realized that what she had to do to get novel behaviour from the animals was to reinforce novel behaviour.

Question 5

Superstitious behaviour

Answer 5

Coincidental reinforcement can cause superstitious behaviour

Question 6

How can you prevent learned helplessness?

Answer 6

Immunization training: giving one group of dogs 10 escape trials in the shuttle box before exposing them to inescapable shock allowed them to perform in later escape trials like dogs that had never been shocked .

Question 7

Herbert Quay is known for

Answer 7

His evidence that the topics discussed by psychotherapy clients may be influenced by reinforcement.
In his study, Quay reinforced recollections of family experiences in one group, and reinforced recollections of anything BUT family recollections in the other. Whichever was the positively reinforced subject, that was the one to increase. This suggests that the tendency of clients to talk about family relationships may have less to do with their importance to the client than with the reinforcement they get from the therapist.

Question 8

Rocky and Johnny study

Answer 8

In the Rocky and Johnny study, after viewing the videotape where children were reinforced for aggressive behaviour, children were more aggressive.
Whether children imitate an aggressive model depends largely on whether the model’s behaviour is reinforced or punished.

Question 9

Disadvantages of extinction

Answer 9

Disadvantages of extinction include emotional outbursts, slowness, and that the reinforcers maintaining the behaviour cannot always be eliminated

Question 10

Who first demonstrated vicarious operant learning in animals?

Answer 10

Carl Warden

Question 11

4 Processes in observational learning

Answer 11

Attentional (paying attention to what’s relevant)
Retentional (acting/repeating to aid recall)
Motor Reproductive (physically able to do it)
Motivational (observer can expect reinforcement from imitated behaviour)
(Bandura’s social learning theory)

Question 12

What do positive and negative punishment have in common?

Answer 12

Both decrease the frequency/strength of behaviour

Question 13

What do negative punishment and negative reinforcement have in common?

Answer 13

Both take something away

Question 14

How can you increase the effectiveness of punishment?

Answer 14

Make sure the punishment is strong enough from the outset, and offer sources of reinforcement for alternative behaviours.

Question 15

What increases creativity?

Answer 15

Reinforcing novel behaviour

Question 16

Disruption theory of punishment

Answer 16

The disruption theory of punishments says that response suppression is due to the disruptive effects of aversive stimuli. The punished behaviour is suppressed, more or less effectively, by an emotional reaction.

Question 17

What are the problems with punishment?

Answer 17

EAAA!
Escape 
Apathy 
Aggression 
Abuse

Question 18

What is an alternative to punishment?

Answer 18

Response prevention, extinction

Question 19

What is response prevention?

Answer 19

Response prevention involves preventing a behaviour from occurring by altering the environment. Instead of seeking to modify the behaviour through conditioning, the circumstances that allow the behaviour to occur are removed (oven mitts to prevent scratching, breakables under lock and key, etc.)

Question 20

What is differential reinforcement?

Answer 20

Differential reinforcement is a procedure wherein the frequency of a behaviour is changed by using extinction in combination with reinforcement.
2 kinds: DRL and DRH
A differential reinforcement of low rate (DRL) is a form of differential reinforcement that involves providing reinforcers for a behaviour, but only when it occurs infrequently. This might mean for example slowing a behaviour down by reinforcing only when the behaviour is performed at least 2 seconds apart.

Question 21

What is DRO?

Answer 21

A differential reinforcement of zero responding (DRO) involves reinforcement contingent on NOT performing the behaviour for a specified amount of time. Since the delivery of reinforcement coincides with some behaviour other than the unwanted behaviour, it’s also known as differential reinforcement of other behaviour.

Question 22

What is the difference between DRL and DRO?

Answer 22

Both DRL and DRO involves getting the subject to space out the behaviour more, but DRL focuses on reinforcing the behaviour at the end of the period, whereas DRO focuses on reinforcing the behaviour only if the behaviour DOESN’T happen for a specified amount of time.

Question 23

What is Differential Reinforcement of Incompatible Behaviour (DRI)?

Answer 23

A differential reinforcement of incompatible behaviour (DRI) involves reinforcing a behaviour that is incompatible with the unwanted behaviour. By increasing the rate of a behaviour that is the opposite of the unwanted behaviour, you decrease the unwanted behaviour. Providing positive reinforcement for the opposite then: smiling instead of frowning, sitting instead of walking, whispering instead of screaming, etc.

Question 24

What is the advantage of differential reinforcement?

Answer 24

An advantage of differential reinforcement types is that it strengthens desirable behaviours rather than focusing on suppressing undesirable ones, so subjects can re-channel their behaviour and still get reinforcers. You have to put the undesirable behaviour on extinction though.

Question 25

What is Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behaviour?

Answer 25

In differential reinforcement of alternative behaviour (DRA), reinforcers that were available for the problem behaviour are made contingent on some more desirable behaviour. A different way of getting those reinforcers is introduced.

Question 26

What is self-control (in behavioural terms)?

Answer 26

We say someone has self-control when they act in their own self-interest despite possible short-term reinforcers. To have self-control means to choose wisely between competing outcomes, and to choose to do things that are in our best long-term interests.

Question 27

What are some self-control techniques?

Answer 27

self-control techniques (physically restrain and d-d-dim that behaviour!)
physical restraint
distancing
distraction
deprivation and satiation, informing others of your goals monitoring behaviour

Question 28

What did Ulysses do to restrain himself from heading for the Sirens?

Answer 28

Physical restraint- he tied himself to the mast of his ship and had crew put wax in their ears.

Question 29

In behavioural terms, what is a problem?

Answer 29

A problem is a situation in which reinforcement is available, but the behaviour necessary to produce it is not.

Question 30

In behavioural terms, what is creativity?

Answer 30

In behavioural terms, to be creative is to behave in original ways.

Question 31

Functional Assessment

Answer 31

A functional assessment is involves observing the behaviour under study (usually in a natural setting) to identify naturally occurring event that might be influencing it. Hypotheses are formed about the reinforcers at play, which are then tested in a controlled way, which can suggest an effective treatment. Functional assessments are so useful that many therapists now consider it unethical to treat a problem without first doing one.

Question 32

Vicarious learning

Answer 32

Vicarious learning is a change in behaviour due to the experience of observing a model.

Question 33

Vicarious accidental reinforcement

Answer 33

Vicarious accidental reinforcement: The ability to imitate many different novel behaviours without reinforcement for each instance of imitation (Imitation of superstitious behaviour).

Question 34

Generalized imitation

Answer 34

Generalized imitation is the tendency to imitate modelled behaviour even when imitation of the behaviour is not reinforced.

Question 35

Vicarious learning. What conditions influence it?

Answer 35

• Consequence of the model’s behaviour (+/-, consistency)
• Does it pay off for the observer?
• Is the model someone you’d want to imitate/be like?
• Observer’s age
• Observer’s learning history
• Emotional state of observer (Venus effect)
• Modelled task complexity
• Memorable/emotive model

Question 36

Covert modelling

Answer 36

a stealth conditioning process wherein the patient pictures a role model, visualizes acting as this individual may, so because of this visualizes specific positive impacts of the behaviors.

Question 37

Participant modelling

Answer 37

Participant modelling is a therapeutic technique that combines modelling with traditional counterconditioning. The observer first watches as the model performs the desired act, then the model guides the observer through the same behaviour.

Question 38

What are the 4 types of punishers?

Answer 38

pain-inducing
reprimand
timeout
response cost

Question 39

2 kinds of timeout punishers?

Answer 39

Exclusionary timeout: removing an individual briefly from a reinforcing situation immediately following a behavior

Non-exclusionary timeout: introducing a stimuli associated with less reinforcement into the situation