Week 7- Negative Reinforcement, Punishment Flashcards
Negative Reinforcement
Removal of an aversive stimulus
Sidman Avoidance Task
US comes on fixed interval
Subject needs to have a sense of time to produce response at right time
Foot shock delivered at regular basis
If subject develops avoidance response, will jump just before shock delivered (if they jump after the shock is delivered, it is an escape response, not an avoidance response)
Escape From Fear as a Reinforcer
Group 1: light/tone-> shock
Group 2: light/tone-> no shock
Test: Light/tone presented, rat can terminate by jumping
Animal will learn to jump to turn off shock
Problems with 2 Factor Theory: Response Problem
Animal still responding even though it is not being shocked (reinforcer) anymore…. No extinction…why?
Termination of conditioned fear state results in maintained responding
Problems with 2 Factor Theory: Species- specific Defense Reactions (SSDR)
Rat jumping because they are scared (innate response), not because they learned that jumping will turn off shock
Problems with 2 Factor Theory: Fearless Problem
Level of fear displayed throughout avoidance task changes (not stable)
Beginning of avoidance training- not really fearful
Middle of training- fearful
End of training- fear is gone, but still responding (no extinction)
Fear goes through extinction (no more shocks)
Behaviour maintained based on expectation of shock (if I don’t respond I will get shocked)
Flooding
Exposure to CS without US to prevent response
i.e. scared of spiders, put them in a room full of spiders
Put rat in box, present light/tone, prevent them from jumping… after enough exposure to light/tone, animal will stop responding (extinction)
Positive Punishment
Presentation of aversive stimulus
Effectiveness of Punishment
Effect due to punishment doesn’t produce long lasting effect on behaviour- response comes back (no advantages over reinforcement)
Punishment: Intensity
Need strong stimulus, if aversive stimulus is not strong enough, builds up tolerance, requires huge intensity to reduce behaviour
Punishment: Delay
Needs to be delivered immediately following response, even a short delay will result in lack of decrease in responding
Punishment: Schedule
Needs to follow CRF schedule
Punishment: Stimulus Control
Need multiple people delivering punishment, or decrease in behaviour will only occur in presence of one person
Punishment: Verbal Explanation
Explaining why punished more effective than if no explanation given
(only for moderate intensity)
Side Effects of Punishment
Fear and anxiety Reduced Interest Impaired attention Aggression Learned Helplessness
Agression
Pain causes rats to bully other rats
Place 2 rats in box, shock one, that rat will start biting the other rat
Pain results in aggression
Modelling:
Spanking kid teaches kid that violence is a response to unwanted behaviour
i.e. someone steals kids toy, kid responds by hitting
Learned Helplessness
Escapable shock group and inescapable shock group tied together but in different boxes
Escapable- get shock, run to other side, shock turns off
Inescapable- same intensity, duration of shock as escapable group, but they can’t turn it off, depends on their partner (escapable shock rat- once escapable shock rat gets to other side, shock turns off for both rats)
Animals in inescapable animal put into situation where they can escape, but they won’t (just sit there)
Aversion Therapy
Form of behaviour therapy
Ineffective
Makes person nauseous, give them a cigarette, pair nausea with smoking
Smoking will make him nauseous (but he still wants to smoke), once stimulus is gone, go back to smoking
Rebound effect can occur, causes them to drink more
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
Most effective form of treatment Reformulate thoughts and feelings that someone has in response to environmental situations Changes thought pattern
After 12 months of therapy, behaviour still reduced
Side Effects of Punishment
Fear and anxiety Reduced Interest Impaired attention Aggression Learned Helplessness
Agression
Pain causes rats to bully other rats
Place 2 rats in box, shock one, that rat will start biting the other rat
Pain results in aggression
Modelling:
Spanking kid teaches kid that violence is a response to unwanted behaviour
i.e. someone steals kids toy, kid responds by hitting
Learned Helplessness
Escapable shock group and inescapable shock group tied together but in different boxes
Escapable- get shock, run to other side, shock turns off
Inescapable- same intensity, duration of shock as escapable group, but they can’t turn it off, depends on their partner (escapable shock rat- once escapable shock rat gets to other side, shock turns off for both rats)
Animals in inescapable animal put into situation where they can escape, but they won’t (just sit there)
Aversion Therapy
Form of behaviour therapy
Ineffective
Makes person nauseous, give them a cigarette, pair nausea with smoking
Smoking will make him nauseous (but he still wants to smoke), once stimulus is gone, go back to smoking
Rebound effect can occur, causes them to drink more
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
Most effective form of treatment Reformulate thoughts and feelings that someone has in response to environmental situations Changes thought pattern
After 12 months of therapy, behaviour still reduced
