W1 Behaviour Flashcards
What is the focus of our research in the area of behaviour analysis?
Why we do the things we do, and how the environment controls behaviour
What are the 3 Assumptions made in Behavioural Psych?
Assumption 1: All organisms’ behaviors are controlled by the environment in the same way.
Assumption 2: All behaviours are controlled by the environment in the same way.
Assumption 3: All reinforcers control behaviour in the same way.
Give an example of a stimulus, response, and reinforcer for people.
Stimulus: Lit Key
Response: Peck Key
Reinforcer: Food
True or false: We use stimuli, responses, and reinforcers that area easily observable in our experiments because by definition, stimuli, responses, and reinforcers must be easily observable.
Yes.
Explain what “within-subject design” means.
Using the subject as its own control
How you would do a within-subjects design experiment to investigate whether big reinforcers are more effective than small reinforcers.
Use the same pigeon, the test it with big rein, then small for different tasks
Explain how we arrange reinforcers on a VI schedule
VI Variable Interval, at a average rate of X
How do we make sure our participants know what to do in our experiments?
We do preliminary training only with pigeons who have never been in an experiment before. If they have, then it’s not necessary to go through it again.
Explain how transition data are different from stable data
Data collected before responding stabilises are often called transition data. We use these to study how things get learned. Data collected once responding has stabilised are often called stable data.We use these to study what sort of learning has occurred.
What is a session?
Usually an hour. A series of trials run
What is a condition?
Do the same for many sessions, until responding stabilises (stops changing systematically). This constitutes a condition.
